The New York Herald Newspaper, October 22, 1874, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1874. _ TRIPLR SHEET. NEW YORK ¢ HERALD : BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- nual subscription price $12, ———_ All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yoru ‘Hupavp. Letters ard packages should be properly | sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. 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, 295 Volume XXXIX = On = AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. LYCEUM THEATRE, { Fourteenth street and sixth ayeuue.-ROMEO AND | JULIKT, at 8 P M.; closes at 0:45 P.M. Miss Neilson, | Mr. Barnes. AMERICAN INSTITUTE, Third avenne, between, Sixty: third. aiid Sixty-tourta | Sireets INDUSTRIAL EXHIBIT | uM, Broad. corner of Thirty-fitth strect.-STORM OVER | Fatih and MES. JARLEY'S WAX WORUS, at 230 P. | M. and 745 P.M. WOOD'S MUSE Broadway, corner of Ihirtieth el ones, at 4 0PM, BAST LYS: 10:90 PB. Jenme Morton and Lu P.M; le Western. OLYMPIC THEATE fro, ome Broadway.—VARIETY, ats closes at 10:45 THEATRE COMIQU bee Broadway.—VARIETY, at ; closes at 10:30 PARK THEATRE, | Proadway. between Twenty firs: nd Twenty-second streets GILDED AGE, at closes at 10:30 P.M. Mr. John T. Raymond. BROOKLYN ACADEMY UF MUSIC, ‘Italian Opera—RUY BLAS. Signora Potentini, Cary, Signor Carpi. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street —-BEGONE DULL CARE, at 8P. M.; sioses at lUP. M. Frederic Maccave. Miss « GERMANIA THBATRE, Fourteenth » street.—CATO VON EISEN, at8 P. M.; ‘et 1030 P. closes BOOTH'S THEATAR, } gommer of Twenty third street and Sixth, ayenue.— HBNRY VIL, at 8 P. M-; closes at 10:30 P.M. Mise | THEATRE, | E UP A POOR YOUNG 10:30 PM. Miss Ada Dyas, | | ALLA! yay f _Tue ROM P. M.; closes dir. Montague. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—LEUTURK ON acsP.M. Bayara Taylor. SCIENT EGYPT. | Broadway, between Frince and DELUGE, at 8 P. M.; closes at 11 Famuy. ‘on streets.—THE | YM, the Kiraliy FIFTH Twenty eighth sires OR THE EW \G, at® P.M. ; closes at 1 P. pn Fanny See Miss sara’ Jewett, Louis | MRS. CONWAY'S Yi FRIYZ, at 8 P.M. ; close M. Jos K. Emmet. | Sixteentn pron ixisenth street, between Broad: Fi — | Tae ry ee ple een Broadway and Fifth avenue. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenne.—NEGRO MINSTRELSY, at 8 P.M; Closes at 10. M. van Bryant, | METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No, 585 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M; sg closes at 10 TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, Vo. Wi Bowery.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes'at 19 P. M. SAN PRANCISCO MINSTELS, Broadway. corner of ‘went MINSTRELSY, ato P. M. : close: TRIPLE SHEET. Thursday, it New ¥ ork, NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC. Oct. aa, 1874. Owing to the great pressure on our adver- tising columns, advertisers would favor us by xending in their advertisements early in the day. This course will secure a proper classifi- cation, helping the public and the Henaxp. Advertisements intended for our Sunday issue «may be sent with great advantage in the earlier ‘days of the week; it will prevent confusion and mistakes arisitg from the immense quantity of work to be done on Saturdays. Advertisements will be re- ceived daily at this office, the branch office, No. 1,265 Broadway, between Thirty-first and Thirty-second streets, and the Brooklyn | branch office, corner of Fulton and Boeram streets, up to nine P. M., and at the Harlem branch office, 124th street and Third avenue, up to half-past seven P. M. Let advertisers remember that the earlier their advertisements are in the Hera office the better for them- selves and for us. From our reports this morning the probabilities | are that the weather (o-day will be foggy or partly | slowly. Stocks were a trifle stronger and more active. Money ad- vanced on call loans to 5 per cent. Gold was firm at 110} a 110}. Wat Srever Yesterpay.—t Spam anp St. Dominoo.—A treaty of amity has been concluded between Spain and the republic of Dominica. A flank movement in that quarter upon Cuban filibusters, Tue Unston Leacve.—The leaders of the Union League have been holding a sort of general council at Baltimore. They are afraid, no doubt, that the rebellion is not yet | ended. Cuna—A Gevenat Amnesty. —It is reported that General Concha igs deliberating upon a general amnesty to the Cubans. If this expe- dient had been tried five or six years ago it might have saved a hundred thonsand soldiers to Spain ; butit is never too late for the cause of humanity. Tae Loyo Istaxp Baprist Association has dropped from its list of churches the Lee avenue church, of Brooklyn, for departing from the faith in admitting parties not regu- lar church members to the Communion of the Lord's Supper. The Rev. Hyatt Smith's powerful protest defines his position. Hicuwarmen on Lona Isuaxp are becom. | ing somewhat impudent and dangerous. | Trom the account of their exploits which we | give this morning there is evidently an organ- ized band of these ontlaws established some- where in the woods between Jamaica and | u, and they ought to be hunted out, ———— | rein ener. } Judge Black om the Louisiana Ques- tion. The controversy which has been for several weeks in progress in the columns of the Henap on the legal points involved in the Louisiana question receives a great accession of interest in the forcible letter of Mr. Jeremiah S, Black which we print to-day. Judge Black is one of the most noted public men of our time, No statesman or lawyer of his standing has such marked pecu- liarities of individual character. In the long list of great lawyers who have held the office of Attorney General of the United States there is none who brought with him to that station a more masculine cast of intellect, greater legal astuteness, superior political courage, or a more admirable capacity for clear and forcible writing. In strength and manliness of style Judge Black has hardly an | equal among the members of the Amer- ican Bar, Disdaining trivial ornaments and flights of vulgar rhetoric, he ranks with the masters of a style of compo- | sition of which the merit consists in express- ing with clearness what one thinks with vigor. It is always refreshing, even to those who dis- | sent from Judge Black’s opinions, to read o paper by him on any important subject. He | is so explicit, so downright, so courageous; his arguments are so direct and telling, his language is so strong and sinewy, the air of deep conviction which pervades every sen- tence betokens so sincere and robust a nature, that even his prejudices seem respectable, and every reader is constrained to admit that there is at least one man in American politics who is no trimmer. This strong flavor of genuineness, both in substance and style, which characterizes all the productions of | Judge Black makes him one of the most de- | lightful of writers to keenly logical minds, He is a provoking, and thereforean exciting | | Teasoner; for, although he often compels dis- | sent, the reader feels that an equipment of intellectual reasoners is needed to refute him. The Heraxp finds nothing to reward its | self-complacency in Judge Black’s strong and able letter, At the time he wrote it he could not have seen the Heraup’s recent arguments, undertaking to prove that the de facto govern- | ment of a State is the only one which the | President ean legally recognize, and yet this position is the very pivot of all Judge Black | bas tosay. It is the central thread of his letter on which all his other arguments are | Strung. “It is the call of the de facto gov- ernment,” says J ‘adge Black, ‘that the Presi- dent must respond to."’ This principle per- vades all law, municipal and international, | and its observance is absolutely necessary to | the preservation of our domestic tran- | | quillity, as well as the peace of the world.” Of course we fee] flattered and strengthened to have our main position so strongly indorsed by a veteran jurist of Judge Black’s eminent | standing. Supported in this position by the | great authority of Webster in the last genera- tion, and of Judge Black among our contem- poraries, our confidence in our own legal per- ceptions is justifiably strengthened. We are } encouraged to believe that we hit the great central consideration by which this con- troversy must be determined. No statesman knows better than he that it has been the uniform practice of our government to recognize every de facto foreign government, without inquiring into the legitimacy of its title But—we put the question to his candor, and feel certain of the answer which must be supplied by his information—has our gov- ernment ever recognized any foreign govern- ment as de facto without waiting a reason- able time to , judge of its prospects of stability? Nobody knows better than Judge Black that our diplomatic history furnishes no such instance. We have never recognized any foreign government as de facto when it was only one day or half a day old. But President Grant was applied to by Kellogg for assistance against domestic violence in Louisiana before the Penn movement had been three hours in possession, and it would have been contrary to all precedents to have recognized the latter as the de facto govern- ment. The a practice on this subject is stated by Mr. .Web- ster, in a passage in his celebrated Hulsemann letter. He was speaking of Hun- gary, in connection with the mission of Mr. Dudley Mann, who had been sent to observe the progress of affairs. Mr. Webster said: — “It was only in the event that the new gov- ernment should appear, in the opinion of the agent, to be firm and stable, that the Presi- dent proposed to recommend its recognition.”” This is the only safe rule in reference to new governments. It would not become the dig- nity of the President to recognize them on the instant without taking time to inform himself. The authority of the previous gov- ernment always continues to be acknowledged until authentic information and proper de- liberation satisfy the President that it has been effectually overthrown. It would be preposterous for him to decide so gravea question at a moment’s notice. When Kellogg’s application for assistance came to him at midnight, and he was obliged to decide on it at once, it would have been perfectly absurd for him to have recognized the McEnery claims. At the time he made his decision the McEnery affair had performed no function ofan actual government. It had never passed any act of legislation. Jt had never levied or collected a tax. No man had ever brought a suit under its authority. No officer had ever made an arrest under it in pursuance ofa legal process. It had never discharged one of the many functions which devolve on a gov- ernment. Mr. Webster, in his great argu- “ment in the Rhode Island case, scouted the claims of the Dorr government on the ground that it existed only two days. ‘Its birth,” he said, “its whole life and its death were ac- complished in forty-eight hours.’ But if forty-eight hours are not time enough to entitle a new State government to de facto recognition, assuredly three hours of mob supremacy in a single city are not sufficient. The Prosident is bound to follow the same sound and cautious rule in recognizing State governments which has al- ways been adhered to in the case of foreign governments. Judge Black fully concedes this so far as relates to the necessity of always We must confess, however, that our battery | bas been turned against us by Judge Black's | dexterous logic. From the same impregnable premises which we employed to justify the | President in his support of Kellogg Judge | Black deduces the precisely opposite con- clusion that the President ought to have rec- ognized McEnery at the time of the Septem- ber outbreak in Louisiana. He dissents alike from the position of Mr. Johnson and the position of Mr. O'Conor, and contends that the duty of the President to recognize the de facto government bound him to recog- nize McEnery, because McEnery had gained possession, and in virtue of his possession of the State authority was entitled to be recog- nized as the de facto Governor of the State. We admire the logical dexterity with which our main argument is thus turned against us, but we are glad that the true hinge of the controversy has at last been recognized by a jurist of sufficient weight to make his opinions respected. We believe that the duty of the President to recognize the de facto government of a State, which Judge Black, in unconscious indorsement of the Hxznaup’s position, so strongly maintains, is the true way to a correct solution of this difficult prob- | lem, and we do not despair of showing that | Judge Black’s ingenious application of this | fandamental principle is not quite warranted. When jurists of such deserved, eminence as those who have been heard in our columns differ on such a subject we cannot be charged with presumption in having an opinion of our own. When the guides we have summoned point in contrary ways we must select our own path. Our opinions, of course, must count for nothing except so far as we support them by reasons which the legal mind of the country will recognize as having some weight. We must stand or fall, like the other par- | ticipants in this interesting controversy, with | the logical force of our arguments, Judge Black thinks that, as a strict conse- quence of the duty of the President to recog- | nize the de facto government of a State, he ought to have recognized the McEnery gov- ernment in September, when it had got pos- | seasion. None of Judge Black’s admirers | can appreciate more fully than we do the log- ical keenness of his plausible conclusion from | premises to which we stand committed; but | we hope to convince even him that this argu- ment of his is more specious than solid. He is too experienced and well read a publicist to need to be reminded of facta which we feel obliged to state for the information of readers who must judge between us. At what point in the existence of a government it is en- | titled to be recognized as de facto is the hinge on which this controversy turns as between the Henatp and Judge Black. We are in perfect agreement with ‘him on first principles, and our difference as to their application is a mere question of time and not a question of substance. Was the McEnery government entitled to be con- sidered as de facto from the moment that | Kellogg fled and took refuge in the New | Orleans Custom House? On this question | | Judge Black assumes the affirmative; but we thitik we can successfally maintain the nega- | tive. At any rate, this point is the pinch of | the question in dispute, Now, Judge Black has been Secretary of State, and, aside from | his having held that office, he is one of the best informed men in the country on all sub- | jects connected with our foreign relations. recognizing the de facto government in both cases, and the only point of difference between him and the Hxzaxp relates to the claim of the McEnery government to be considered de facto at the time when Kellogg made his last application. The chief fault of his argument is that itis not precise enough in marking dates. Kellogg applied for support on the instant, before his supplanters had performed any act which entitled them to be regarded as @ government, undit was the duty of the President to decide on the state of facts exist- ing at the point of time when the application was made. General Dix and the Third Term. As will be seen elsewhere, General Dix has declared himself to our reporter upon the question of the third term. The General an- nounces that he is opposed to the whole scheme—to the very idea of a third term as repugnant to our institutions. If any one will write him a letter on the subject he will make his views known in an emphatic form. So that if any of our autograph hunting fel- low citizens have a fancy for the Governor's manly writing they have only to address him a letter on the third term to receive a response. It is too late! Centennial Dix did not wait until the rebellion was over—and he was sure which side would win—before he issued his order to shoot any man on the spot who ventured to profane the American flag. He took sides in the beginning, and commended ‘himself to the patriotism of the country by the prompt blow he struck at exultant and aspiring treason. Here for cighteen months the third term has been stalking over the land, growing more and more mighty every day, menacing the peace and liberty of the country, and Centennial Dix, like the rest of the republican leaders, was afraid to speak, lest he might offend the President. But Ohio and Indiana spoke, and now the General finds ® yoice, ‘What o great impression Centennial Dix would have made had he said eighteen months, oreven six months ago, ‘‘Whoever ventures to haul down the flag of republicanism for the fing of Cesarism should be shot on the spot!’’ But it is too late—too late ! No Law vor Spzecxrep Trovr.—In the case tried on Tuesday for the enforcement of the Game law prohibiting the sale of speckled trout in this city at certain times of the year it was clearly made out that the fish sold was of the kind described in the law, and there was no dispute that the fish was sold at a period within the terms of the prohibition. It was claimed that the fish was caught in a foreign country, but not claimed that it came within the exceptions to the prohibition made in the law. The sale was therefore undoubt- ‘edly unlawful, and sportsmen had every rea- son to anticipate s conviction. Moreover, under the charge made to the jury, it would seem impossible for the offenders to have been acquitted ; yet acquitted they were. Does | this flow from an inherent hostility on the part of jurors to game laws, or is ita desperate resolve to have trout when they can be had, law or no law? But the Sportsman's Club will probably not let so clear a case end there, Gonz In.—Phelps was received in the Albany Penitentiary yesterday with the customary honors. The fifteen years ac- corded him will give him amplo time for reflection, The Election of Aldermen. It is anid that the Tammany chiefs have decided to disregard that part of the city charter which regulates the choice of Alder- men. By the charter six new Aldermen are elected by the city at large each year, but no citizen can vote for more than four of the six, which gives the political party which is in the minority an opportunity of electing two. The Tammany people contend that this law is unconstitutional, and that every citizen has a right to vote for every Alderman. They found their argument on that provision of the State constitution which declares that every citizen possessing the requisite qualifica- tions for voting at all ‘‘shall be entitled to vote for ajl officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people."’ It is hence inferred that the electors of this city havea right to vote foras many Aldermen as are to be chosen, and not merely for two-thirds of them. The party advantage of disregarding the char- ter in this particular is manifest. Instead of choosing four of the Aldermen, Tammany will elect the whole six, if it proves to be a majority in the city, The words of the constitution The City Estimates. The Board of Apportionment met yesterday, and adjourned in order to allow tha Comp- troller to make out a budget for 1875. Mr. Green's recent financial statement, addressed to Mr. William A. Booth and others, proves the necessity of a large reduction in the esti- mates of the present year for the expenses of the city government, Leaving out of the cal- culation the revenue bonds, which are simply money raised in anticipation of taxes, and paid as the taxes come in, we have the fol- lowing comparative condition of the debt in 1871 and 1874, by Mr. Green’s showing: — Sept, 16, 1871. ak, 18 AHN, 21,798,073 $137,925,892 93,943,658 Funded debt.. Temporary debi Total bonded debt, . . . $93, Debt in September, isii.. Increago tn three years. 543, 082,294 If we give Mr. Green the benefit of all he claims in his last financial stump speech the fact is still before the taxpayers that they owe just upon forty-four million dollars more than they owed when Mr. Green took charge of the city finances, The practical questions are, not who made this debt or who is to be blamed seem to stipport the view on which the Tani { for its rapid accumulation, but how is it to many politicians intend to proceed, but it will remain for the courts to decide whether they correctly interpret the constitution. It is ob- vious that its languago cannot be taken quite literally. If the Aldermen were chosen in single districts no citizen would be entitled to vote for more than one. We suppose there is no question of the right of the Legislature to district the city and thus restrict each citizen to voting for only one member of the Board. It is not unconstitutional {therefore to restrain a citizen to voting for less than the whole number, Whether the form of restricting his vote adopted by the charter is also constitu- tional is a legal point which can be gettled only by a judicial decision. But it is evidently rather a question of form than of substance. Under the single district system the minority would have a chance of carrying some of the districts, and it is fair, evon if it is not consti- tutional, to allow them an equivalent advantage on the general ticket system. Mr. Howard and the Drama. Mr. Bronson ©. Howard, in a letter we printed yesterday, declares that his comedy of “Saratoga” is not an adaptation from the French. Mr. Howard is a young author of conspicuous merit who has won fame as a dramatist. We are glad to think he has kept away from French ways and French plots in his writings. We are especially glad because it indicates on the part of young writers a desire to work in American mines and with American ores. It has been a wonder to us that our dramatists did not see the immense advantage of home themes for their plays. American character is as full of angles and observant points as French or English character. We have os many scenes worthy of illustration as in France or England, and we tire of the end- less chateau and wooded grange. In humor our literature already surpasses that of any other English writing and English speaking nation. We send the humor of Mark Twain, Artemus Ward and Bret Harte to England, as well as the romances of Cooper, the poetry of Longfellow, the essays of Emer- son and the his tories of Motley and Bancroft. Our authors are read and quoted as household words. Why is it that we have made no such impression upon English, or even upon Ameri- can taste with our dramas? Why is it, also, that America has produced no really great or even relatively great dra- matic work? We have had many bright, sprightly, clever things like ‘Moorcroft,”’ ‘Saratoga,’ “Belle Lamar’ and the “Gilded Age,’’ but nothing really great. “Rip Van Winkle” and “Uncle Tom's Cabin” have made a profound dramatic impression, and might in some respects be ran ked among high creations, But they are based upon novels, and their whole merit is that they are works of fiction, not merely dramatic works. Inthe “Gilded Age,’’ which is now the current sensation, the play rests upon one part alone. This character—Colonel Sellers—is virtually character part, like Solon Shingle, and would be almost effective as a recitation. Beyond this the play has only indifferent merit, and its success may be accepted as an indication of the great desire of the American people to find something of their own in dramatic art. Our dramatists should take courage from this to attempt something new and bold. Why should not our dramas be the work of more than one man? Let Mr. Hay, Mr. Harte, Mr. Howard, Mark Twain and some other of our young men of genius combine and write a play, just as it is said the wits around the court of Elizabeth wrote the plays of Shakespeare. In this age many minds are as necessary to compose a first class play as to compose o first class newspaper. Mr. Howard has had so much success as a dramatist that perhaps he will lead in the work. Let us see if we can have a first class play. America has succeeded in too many things to fail in the drama, A Terrie Storm mv Enouanp swept over the northern section of that country and along its seacoast yesterday, involving the destruc- tion of a great amount of property and of many lives, it is feared, from the losses re- ported. An October tempest on this side the Atlantic may be the next development from this atmospheric disturbance on the other side. It is the season of the year for a wide range of storms in all these latitudes, cities dindatnencsisasae Lovrstana Arrarrs continue in an inexplic- ably mixed up condition ; but as every day in which extreme measures are postponed is a day gained for negotiation between the con- stending parties we hope that negotiations will be persevered in until a full and satisfac- tory compromise is reached, or at least until the meeting of Congress. Ler Tem Try Ir.—The Council of the Board of Trade at Quebec having been ad- vised that the St. Lawrence River and Gulf from that city to the sea can be navigated in winter by steam vessels, have recom- mended the experiment to the Dominion government, Let them try it. It may be news to. many of our readers that Quobec is cut off from the sea during the winter. A Teretric Borter Exproston was the most notable event in Baltimore yesterday. A rot- ten boiler, or eareless management, and no- body to blame, will probably, as usual, be the conclusion of the investigation. be paid and what measures can be adopted to prevent its further increase? If Mr. Green is not working faithfully and intelligently to that end he is unfit to be at the head of the financial department of the city government. The Comptroller claims by some unintelli- gible process of figuring to have reduced the debt in three years thirteen million dollars, and elsewhere in his statement alleges that five million five hundred thousand dollars of the money raised by taxation in 1872, 1873 and 1874 has been spplied to the payment of the public debt, Both assertions are equally false. The following items of the tax levies of those three years are all that bave been ap- plied to the payment of the public debt: — 1872—Redemption of city qep + $685,420 1873—Redemption of city 680,763 Reduction of city debt, 260,000 1874—Redemputon of ‘city debt. 21,265,788 Total in three years...,.... te eeeeeeteeee $2,881,946 In these three years there fell due stocks and bonds of the city and county amounting in round numbers to sixty million dollars. We therefore paid of our liabilities, as they became payable, less than three million dollars, and gave new evidences of indebtedness for, or ‘bridged over,"’ fifty-seven millions. This is as if a merchant should pay five cents on the dollar as his notes fell due and give new notes for ninety-five cents on the dollar. Every business man knows how long such a merchant would remain outside the list of bankrupts. Yet, while we have paid only one- twentieth of the amount of our debts as they became due in the last three years, we raised for the expenses of the government, in 1872, $34,036,290; in 1878, $31,061,690, and in 1874, $35,312,816, It must be clear to every man of sense that the true method of financial reform is to enforce the economical administration of the affairs of the municipal departments, to cut off all needless expenditures and to devote as much as possible of the money raised by tax- ation to the payment of our bonds as they fall due. The pruning knife should be unspar- ingly applied and the heads of departments should be compelled to manage their public business us they would their private business, and not use the people's money as,a tund to increase their personal patronage or to pro- mote their selfish interests. The financial department can be run for $150,000 at the outside. Every other department should be similarly reduced, and, above all, no public officer should be allowed to add any portion of the expenses of his office to the debt account. The people look to Messrs. Vance and Wheeler to force such a reform in the estimates as is now imperatively demanded in the interests of the taxpayers; and as Mr. Havemeyer is about to relieve the city of his official company he cannot do better than to give his voice also in favor of a wholesome and radical change in the departmental expenditures. A Total Eclipse of tne Moon. Throughout the United States and over all this Continent and far out in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific the total eclipse of the moon, which will take place in the evening of the 24th and the morning of the 25th inst., or in the night between Saturday and Sunday, will be visible at all points not cut off by a veil of clouds from the beautiful phenom- enon. The moon will enter the penumbra or light shadow of the earth to the observer on Manhattan Island at forty-eight minutes past eleven P. M. Saturday. She will begin to melt away in the earth’s darker or com- plete shadow at fifty minutes past midnight. She will be totally eclipsed or melted away into darkness at four minutes past two A. M., and at fifty-six minutes past three A. M., reap- pearing in all her glory, we shall, with favor- ing skies, again see ‘Meek Dian’s crest Float through the azure air an island of the blest. A full description of the eclipse, with ac- companying illustrations of its various phases and a brief historical review of eclipses of the sun and moon from the earliest records of these phengmena, we give on another page of this paper. Of all the celestial wonders of the passing year, excepting Coggia’s comet, this eclipse to the people of this Continent will be remembered as the most interesting, for with fair sky they will havé the opportunity to see, from the beginning to the end, the passing of the moon through the shadow cast across her path by the earth. There was a total eclipse of the sun on the 16th of April last, but it was invisible in North America; there was a partial eclipse of the moon on the 1st of May, but it was invisible in the United States; there was an annular eclipse ot the sun on the 10th of this present month (that peculiar eclipse in which the sun’s disk is wholly obscured by the moon’s shadow ex- cept a bright ring around the border), but it was invisible in America, In December there will be a partial eclipse of the sun, in tho transit of the planet Vonus—that is, if a small black speck gliding over the face of tho sun may be calledeven a partial eclipse; but it will be visible only in Asia, Australasia, apart of Africa aad some of the South Sea islands. This eclypse of Saturday night will be the first and the last for this year of celestial eclipses visible in the United States, and it may therefore be distinguished here- | after as the great Amerigan eclipse of the moon of 1874. For scientific rurposes an eclipse of the jmoon is of little or no value. It may, per- | haps, serve through powerful telescopes to tnt bring into bolder relief along the line of the retreating and returning light over the moon the hideous volcanic projections and cavities of her rugged surface; but otherwise it is of no scientific value beyond the confirmation so far of the ascertained clockwork of our solar system. Far different in its importance ta the world of science will be the approaching transit of Venus, whereby the true distance of our great central luminary from this little satellite which wa inhabit is to be fixed and established, and whereby the sailor upon the high seas is to be correctly guided in his reckonings. We hope that an unclouded or favoring sky through Saturday night, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, will afford the American people an inviting occasion for a full observation of a total eclipse of the moon; but upon this point they will doubtless, during the day, be en- lightened, so far as possible, from our national clerk of the weather. Tue Army oF THE James.—This society had @ pleasant reunion in this city yesterday at the theatre of the Union League Club. The address of welcome to the members by Gen- eral Butler was the leading feature of the day, and a fine banquet, largely attended, was the evening’s entertainment. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Chancellor John V. lL, Pruyn, of Albany, ts at the Brevoort House. State Senator Jarvis Lord, of Rochester, is stay- ing at the Metropolitan Hotel. Major Thomas J. Haines, United States Army, has arrived at the Glenbam Hotel. Paymaster John F. Tarbel, United States Navy, 1s quartered at the Windsor Hotel. State Engineer Sylvanus H. Sweet, of Albany, is stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel. Colone! Lorenzo Sitgreaves, United States Army, 1s registered at the Clarendon Hotel. General Bepjomin ¥, Batier, of Massachusetts, is sojourning at tue St. James Hotel. Secretary Robeson arrived in this city last éveni- ing, and is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Mintster Avery satled from Yokohama, Japan, for Shanghal, China, on the 24th of September. Ex-Governors 0. A. Hadley, of Arkansas, and S. H, Elbert, of Colorado, are at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Genera! William Gurney, of South Carolina, is among the iatest armvals at the Winchester House. ‘The latest book about animals bears the savage title, “Paws and Claws, being True Stories of Clever Creatures.” * Generais Hancock, Newton, Gilmore and Tower have visited within a few days Walker's picture of “The Battle Above the Clouds,”” “La Baronne de Sombreuil,”’ so called, of Paris, aged twenty-three, died October 5 from the conse. quences of a cold caught at Longchamps. William Gould, the law publisher, who, was struck with paralysis while on the witness stand in Albauy on Thursday, still liesin asemi-conscious state, Leslie Coombs, of Kentucky, hopes to die under a reputiican government, honestly administered. He will have to go to Louisiana or the- District of Columbia. Dr. George Hartwig, having exhausted all the kingdoms of the earth and the sea, has now taken his stand in infinite apace in 4 Volume entitled “The Aerial World." Penknives to the value of $6,000 were fecently served out to the clerks in the Treasury Depart- ment at Wasbington. This means tuat they must be prepared to cut stick. Mr, Thomas W. Pittman !s at the Delavan House, Albany, laid up with a damaged ankle, the conse- quence of a severe injury received at Troy, He is in the hands of Dr. Swinburne. ‘Takaki and Tomita, appointed consuls of Japan at San Francisco and New York respectively, will leave Yokohama Jor their destinations by the next mail steamer from that port for America, Alter many changes Once a Week will in future appear a8 @ humorous magazine, containing novels and sketches in the Lover, Smediey ana Lever atyle. The magazine will be illustrated and altered in size. Colonel Fred D. Grant and bride arrived at St. Louls yesterday, and took rooms at the Lindell Hotel They spent the day at the old homestead, a Jew miles from the city. They will remain in the city several days. : Yung Wai Chung, Yung Yuen Poo and Yeh Sha Tung, the Chinese Educational Commissioners, who have been visiting the schools of New Eng- land, arrived at the Windsor Hotel yesterday morning from Hartford. A Tennesseean shot a poor fellow just because his name was Moses Bogardus Smith. What atrocity will this barbarian not be guilty of if he once hears that there is such a man as Junius Henri Browne?—Courter-Journal, The latest Sunday school prodigy, naving listened to & discourse on the necessity of offering a firm front to the evil one, said he’d “be scared of the oid devil, but if he came across one of the little ones he’d knock the stuffing out of him.” The Czar iniorms the young men of his country that they have no right to enter monasteries be- fore they have reached the military age, and nos then anless in the conscription they have drawn the lucky stay-at-home numbers. M. Koupernik, @ distinguished Russian advo- cate, was recently engaged for the defence of several murderers, but was so norrified by the ae- tails of the crime that when called upon to plead he gave nis clients up and said, “Let justice be done.” Whether the Caucasian is played out or not, itis becoming manifest that the heathen Chinee is coming up. The number of Chinese and Japanese grammars, dictionaries, phrase books and other elementary aids to the languages that constantly appear indicates this. a The International Workingmen’s * Society ts greatly bothered oy the fact that when its dele- gates come together from different countries each is ignorant of any language but his own, and they are in the position of those famous workingmen who tried to build “a tower whose top might reach unto heaven.”” Fritz Landry, of Neufchatel, Switzerland, a pupil of the medallist, Antoine Bovy, has made a die of the head of Agassiz, and medals gre to be struck at Geneva. Around the head is written, “L Agassiz, 1807-1873," On the other side, between two branches of laarel, are the words, ‘Viro in- genio, labore scientim, priestantissimo.’? Unaer the last Empire eighteen frotieurs or foor polishers were appointed to keep in order the floors and stairways of the Palace of St. Cloud. Although the palace was bombarded and the Prussians camped in and over tt, though there is scarcely &® wall left and certainly not @ floor, the Jrotteurs still hold office and draw pay, and a new one 18 appointed if one dies, A family quarrel among the Murats. Prince Achille Murat hag cited nis wife and his four chil- dren before @ court of justice to show why they should not among them provide for his support by an allowance of 26,000f. @ year. His chil- dren are the Duchess de Mouchy and the Princesa Louis, Joachim and Achille Murat. His wite ts separated from him. Sheis the Princess Salomé de Mingrelle. The school-book introducing rivalry, which has decome @ first class nuisance, has got into the courts in Iilinots. The Bloomington School Boara, who threw out “McGuffey’s Readers” ana tntro- duced the “Independent Readers,” ouying them at wholesale and supplying them at cost to the schol- ars, have deen enjoined from trafficking in books, on the ground that such trafic is contrary to law Are you fond of your coffee? An oficial investi- gation has just been made in Paris as to the ma- terials of which this “delicious beverage" 1s made. There are five principal compounds ;:— 1, Burned bread and coffee grounds, £ Powdered chiccory, sand and orick dost. 3. Chiccory and burned bones, 4 Ghiccory burned, mixed with butcer and cot- | Ored with Prussian ced, 6, Burned cabbage roota and boiled horse itver. a