The New York Herald Newspaper, December 4, 1874, Page 6

6 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. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Hzrarp will be gent free of postage. All business or news letters and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New Yorn Herarp. 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. €ubscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. «ne No. 338 Volume XXXIX.......... AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENIN ACADEMY OF MU-<IC. . Fourteenth street PHILHARMONIC REHEARSAL, at 2 . SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, Broadway, corner of Twenty-ninth strevt.—NEGRO MINSTRELSY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10 P, M, GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30P. M, Miss Jennie Hoghes LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue.—THE GRAND — atS P.M; closes at 10:45 P.M. Miss bmily ne. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street—ULTIMO, at 8P. M. r or rhiraeth, surest —CINDRRELLA Broadway, corner rteth stree 2 J and bya ata, M.; RICHARD UL, at 8P. M.; Clowes at 10: METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No. ea ree at 8 P. M.; closes at WP. OLYMPIC THEATRE, fo,sm Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 ¥. ML; closes at 10:45 GRAND OPERA HOUSE, third streetand Kighih avenue,—THE BLACK at P.M. ; closes at ll P. M. ‘Twent CKOO. PARK THEATRE, BroMiway, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second etreets—GILDED AGE, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P. M. Mr. John T. Raymond. Matinee at2P. M. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, Fourteenth street.—Opens at 10 A. M. ; closes at 5 P. M. BROOKLYN TH LAW IN NEW YORK, AE veuart Robson, UOMIQUB, THEA fe gg Broadway.—VARIZTY, at 6 P. M.; closes at 10:30 BOOTH’S THEATRE, corner Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue.—RED TAPE and THE WIDOW HUNT, at 8 P. M.; closes ac 10:0P, M. Mr. John 8. Clarke. ROMAN HIPPODROMR, Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenue.—PETE AT PBKIN, afiernoon and evening, at 2and & WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—THE SHAUGHRAUN, at8P. M.; closesat W40. Bir. Boucicault. TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE. Fifty-eighth street and Lexington avenue.—VARIETY, até P. M. ; closes at 10:30 P.M. Matinee at2 P. M. NEW PARK THEATEF, BROOKLYN. MARY WABNER, at 8F. M. Miss Carlotta Leclercq. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, Bowery.—DER FLEDERMAUS. Miss Lina Mayr. FIFTH AVENUE fExaTee, ‘Twenry-cighth street and Rroadway.—TUZ HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN, at 8 P. M.; closes at 1030P.M. Miss Fanny Davenport, Mr. Fisher. BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, ‘ect Twenty-third street. near Sixth avenoe.—NEGRO wi MINSTRELSY, &c., at 6 P.M; closes atlOr. M. Lan Bryant MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROUKLYN THEATRE. THE LIitTiB TREASURE. CAMILLE; OR, THE CRACKED HEABT. Mr. Stuart Robson. ASSOCIATION HALL, PROFESSOR RUBERTS’ READINGS, at 8 P. M. sTONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, ‘Fo. 201 Bowery.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10P. M TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Friday, Dee. 4, 1874. are that light rain or snow will fall to-day, fol- lowed by clearing and colder weather. Wax Street Yesterpay.—The stock mar- ket was dull and devoid of interest. Prices were lower. Gold opened at 112} and closed et 112}. Money shows a hardening tendency. Frvsnc celebrated the introduction of water into that enterprising village yesterday. Juvar Durex, of the United States District Court of Louisiana, explains, in an interview with ao reporter of the Heraup, that he has resigned simply to be able to speak out and set himself right before the country. This fis a great task, and the Judge will astonish most people if he accomplishes it. Tae Lenrency Towanp Twzep which it is alleged has been shown by Warden Liscomb hhas occasioned some qxcitement in official circles, Commissioner Laimbeer has resigned in consequence and the Warden has received intimations that unless his conduct is capable of explanation his removal will be necessary. Tr Is To Br Reonretrep that Governor Dix has thought proper to veto the bill for the extension of the Greenwich street railroad. This is the only rapid transit we at present have, and the extension of the road, which has proved a practical success, would have been a great accommodation to the residents of the west side of the city. Botren’s Lament.—The feature of the last meeting of the Woman's Suffrage Association ‘was a letter from General Butler in which he avowed his belief that his advocacy of woman's suffrage cost him five hundred votes. Like a good little boy, the General is not disheart- ened by this untoward result, and he is still ‘for the cause. We presume the good women of the Suffrage Association join with him in his lament. Present MacManon's Messace to the French Assembly is positive in the demand for the definitive powers of the Septennate ond unqualified in the avowal of the chief of ‘an intention to hold office for the full term for which it was originally granted. This makes a direct issue with the Assembly, and that body must either accede to Mac- Mahon's demands or dissolve. NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.—-TRIPLE SHEET. The Coming of Congress. We already have all the indications of the approaching session. The ‘‘Personal” columns of the newspapers note the coming to New York of Congressmen on their way to the capi- tal. The politicians in New York are holding what we may call « preliminary session in New York city to counsel what is best to be done— by the republicans to retrieve the late defeat, by the democrats to consolidate their victory. The President is said to have finished his Mes- sage. We are told that it will be more elab- orate than his previous Messages. There are a good many things that the President can say it he only chogses to say them. We can well understand why he should be anxious to unburden his mind to the country. But all is dark as to the purport of the Message. There are the usual number of rumors; some, that he will indirectly favor inflation; others, that he will recommend more stringent measures of contraction. There are hints also of a “large’’ policy in reference to public improvements, and a “‘bold’’ policy asto foreign affairs. There is also a possi- bility, but only a dim one, that the President will surprise the country by ar amazing act of statesmanship. at the beginning of the session. We give them for what they are worth, which is not very much, we fear. The President will most likely give us a Message of the old fashion, and not make any daring ventures into un- known realms of policy, for Congress meets under peculiar circumstances. This body came into power with the second election of Grant, and represents, perhaps, the largest popular majority we have ever given to a rep- resentative body. It came flushed with tri- umph, and it ends its career in disaster. The country which, two years ago, called this Congress into being with such unexampled approval, now dismisses it as altogether un- worthy of confidence and in no sense repre- sentative of the wishes and aims of the peo- ple. Many public men long prominent in national affairs go out with it, some with honor, but more in dishonor and disgrace. It is the last year of the old order of things, and of necessity itis in some degree preparatory to the new order which is coming. It must work under disheartening influences, and it is mot possible that it will be able to regain in the few weeks of the short session what it deliberately threw away in the many months of its pre- vious deliberations. The handshakings of the leaders will be sorrowful, for they have only met to separate, and they will never come together again. The year 1875, like 1850, is to be an epoch of new men, and the men of the war, like the champions and the foes of the Missouri Compromise, give place to a new class ‘of statesmen, who, it is to be hoped, will bring to their duties sounder ideas and fresher thoughts. There will be two temptations to this Con- gress at this the final session of the House. We of course refer to the republican party, which is the majority. One wing of that party will represent the recklessness of despair—the feeling that the party has been irretrievably deteated, that it is about to pass forever from public life, that upon it has fallen peculiar condemnation. The members have but a few more hours for work and they must labor while it is day. From this party we expect all manner of schemes; jobs for this railroad and for that railroad, subsidies for water routes and for land routes, vigorous assaults upon the revenues, appropriations for river and harbor improvements and all manner of desperate attempts upon the Treasury. They will feel that now is their only opportunity, and, unless they improve it, the time will swiftly come when they can work no longer. There is another section of conservative, cautious men who still believe in the higher purposes of republicanism. They cannot feel that this long dominant and illustrious party has really fallen into disgrace. They regard the lessons of the canvass as an admonition and nota condemnation. They feel that evil counsels have led their party into evil ways, imto folly and disaster. They fear that the President has not been wise, that he has al- lowed unholy ambitions to generate around him, that he has permitted violations of the constitution at variance with the spirit of true democracy. They fear that Congress has failed to comprehend the true wants of the ‘country, that instead of legislating for the welfare of the nation it has simply pandered to the ambition of desperate leaders. Re- construction in the South has been aban- doned to adventurers of the worst class. Financial questions have been avoided, and the country has been driven, as it were, step by step into depression, business saxiety, bankruptcy, stagnation in commerce and labor, and general hardship in all classes. They feel that all this can be remedied, that the country will be willing to trust a reformed republican party rather than take the chances of sending to Washington the representatives of a democracy which was once an ally of se- cession, and may again be controlled by the friends of disunion and repudiation. These are the two influences that are acting upon the: present Congress, Which is the stronger? With which will the President act? If he feels that the elections are simply a re- buke to Congress and not to himself, in his stubborn, obstinate way; that his Cabinet is not simply a group of staff officers; that his appointments in the Southern States are not a | dishonor to the public service, then we shall find him with the party who believe that there is nothing for this Congress but to take ull it | can from the Treasury and pass every scheme | that can be log-rolled through the legislative halls. If, on the other hand, the President takes a wise view of the elections, and urges upon Congress immediate reforms; if he will put his veto power firmly down upon every scheme to establish private monopolies at the expense of the public credit, to bring back in- flation or complicate us with other nations, then he may do a great deal toward giving the republican party new life. At all events he has s higher ambition than to serve any party. He owes to his office and his fame a rigid, severe opposition to every mad, wild, | corrupt scheme that will come into life in the next three months. We do not expect from this Congress any | new departure in the way of legislation. The less that is done the better it will be for the country. By the forms of our government a year must pass before the democratic House assembles. At the same time the present Congress rests under the ban of public opin- All these rumors only indicate that we are® do dent to take liberties with the Treasury. legislation, under the feeling that now is the only time and that it must be employed. The motto of the true men in Congress should be, “Economy, patience, retrenchment and peace.” And if Congress ean only be held weeks of its life, redeem something of the confidence which brought it into power two years ago, and which has passed away in so sudden and extraordinary a manner. 4 The Transportation Question. The Cheap ‘Transportation Convention which has been in session at Richmond does not seem to have had much practical value, although the debates are interesting. The value of conventions of this kind is not so much iv what they do as what they say. It |. ig impossible for a company of able men, who have special knowledge on any subject, to assemble without throwing light upon it This question of transportation largely con- cerns the future of America. Much of the prodigious growth of New York is due to the genius which inspired the Erie Canal; and there is no element in reconstruction so valu- able as the proposal to open up lines of com- munication in the Southern States, Whoever connects Virginia, for instance, with the West by a shorter route than any now existing will confer upon the people of that State the greatest benefit. One of the gentlemen—a Mr. Southall, of Virginia—presented a report, in which he argued against the idea that railroads would answer for heavy transportation, and insisted on four great water routes—the first, the con- nection of the city with the great lakes; the second, a central route between the Ohio River and the Chesapeake Bay, via the James River ard the Kanawha Canal; third, the opening of the Tennessee and Georgia Canal ; fourth, the improvement of the Mississippi River. Much has been said in favor of these two plans of tran: of argument woul the railway. The mistake of part of the members of this Convention is to insist upon Oongress sub- sidizing certain railroads; nor do we think it wise for them to discuss the question of national interference in railway trafic. It would be a great misfortune for Congress to enter into any scheme for subsidizing the proposed railways to the Pacific. We can understand that such a measure could be passed under pressure, and that the dominant elements in Congress in the last days of the term, with no hope of returning to power, might rush through the required bills Nothing would be more certain to destroy the republican party than the passage of these measures, not so much that we do not desire the building of the Pacific railways, and as many railways asthe country needs, but the time has not yet come. A railway run- ning through the wilderness, from nowhere to geem to rest in favor of nowhere, without population to support it, | without agriculture to give it traffic, seems an idle waste of money. Our experience with the present Pacific Railway has not been cal- culated to increase our confidence in corpo- rations. The developments of the Crédit Mobilier affair showed that it was possible for the highest intellects in Congress to be vir- tually bribed into silently acquiescing in a scheme of robbery. What assurance can we have that the men controlling these Northern and Southern Pacific railways would deal with the government in a franker spirit than the men who control the present enterprises? However, the whole question is one of trans- cendent importance. There can be no harm in giving it the widest discussion. It is one of those things to which we had better grow in the natural proeess of events than seek to anticipate by a premature, artificial and forced legislation. The Progress of the English Empire. Mr. Disraeli in his Guildhall speech felici- tated his government on the fact that there had already been two accessions to the Empire; the first, the Gold Coast annexation, which came with the satisfactory conclusion of the Ashantee war; and the second, the acquisition of the Fiji Islands. We observe in recent despatches that the Queen had used her influence for the abolition of slavery and that the African chiefs of the Gold Coast had consented to this measure. These indications, trifling os they may ap- pear in the presence of the great events now absorbing the world, show the steady policy of England. In a remarkable letter written by Theodore Parker, more than twenty years ago, he speaks of this English tendency, alluding to the remarkable peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon race that they never fought for glory, but for gain. ‘France,” he observed, “is poorer for all her glorious victories— England is richer; and while France covets old countries England covets new ones. Look,” he said, ‘‘at her possessions now— Great Britain, Gibraltar, Malta, Greek Islands, 1 footing in Greece, right of way in Egypt, little bits of land all along the Gulf of Guinea, South Africa, is now fighting the Caffirs and will soon have all the east of Africa, India, a footing in Siam, and, is marching by that route to China, a footing in China, New Holland, New Zealand, a foot- ing in Borneo, multitudes of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Jamaica, Bermudas, half of North America. She has now one hundred and fifty millions of subjects, and is horribly rich and formidably wise.” This, remember, was twenty years ago, and since then England has been advancing in the same path. She has increased her possessions in Africa, in Asia, in the Pacific, and has been quarrelling with the United States, even to the point of war, about a little island on the northwestern coast. The Americans have had the same ‘ust for land” as the English. We have not done as much in the way of annexation and acquir- ing new countries, partly because the war has arrested all such schemes and partly because the tendency of our national policy is to con- solidate what we have before acquiring new possessions. If we take America as it was at the close of the Revolutionary war and as it is to-day we will find that thg young Republic has emulated the mother Empire in the “lust for land." Already we have ion. It is a condemned Legislature, and has consequently lost its best power and usefulness. Every act will be jealously watched by the country. Nothing will the republican party and the Presi- more harm than for this Congress By this we mean to attempt any extraordinary true to this legend then it may, in the closing tation, but the balance ‘ driven the Spaniard and the Frenchman from the northern part of this Continent, We have annexed Alaska, and thus extinguished Russian power in America. If Grant had been wise we should have probably had St. Domingo and Ouba by this time Mexico gravitates more and more toward the United States, and there are no statesmen in England who do not see that union between Canada and the United States s as inevitable as the union between Prussia and Hanover in Germany. It is interesting to mark this progress of the British Empire, and when the administration passes into better hands than those which have governed it within the last few years we shall probably mark the same progress in our own. General Newton’s Report—The Harlem River. General Newton's rejort of the work of river and harbor’ improvements done by the United States engineer corps during the Inst fiscal year, some further extracts from which we publish to-day, is full of interest. The ac- count of the survey of the Harlem River is especially attractive to the citizens of New York. The full improvement of the passage between the Hudson River and Long Island Sound will be a most valuable aid to the com- merce of the metropolis, and the day will, no doubt, arrive, when it will be the highway for large fleets of vessels passing from river to river, The obstructions to safe channel navigation in the Harlem River are: first, three piers of the old bridge off the foot of East 114th street; second, the candle factory reef at 122d street; third, the flat rock off 125th street; fourth, a small mid-channel rock off the same street, between four and five hundred feet from the shore, and, fifth, o« small rock at the mouth of Mott Haven Canal. To remove these obstructions and secure a minimum depth in the improved Harlem River of not less than twelve feet at mean low water will, according to the estimate, cost a little under one hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars, including fifteen per cent contingencies on the estimated items. The old piers can be easily removed at a cost of about four thousand dollars. The expense of removing the mid- rock is also set down at less than five thonsand dollars. The most costly of the yposed improvements is the removal of the dle factory reef, the expense of which is estimated at nearly eighty-four thousand ' dollars, or about half the whole amount. As ‘this reef has already been the cause of a num- ber of accidents and of considerable loss of property it is a matter of surprise that the work was not done long ago. It is not en- couraging to read that only ten thousand dol- lars is now available from the appropriation of the present year for the removal of these obstructions. This sum will be used for the removal of the piers of the old bridge and the small rock off East 125th street. The annexation of the Westchester towns to the city gives additional importance to the improvement of the Harlem River and the opening of the water channel between the North River and the Sound to navigation. It is curious to think how trifling will be the cost of the improvement when we reflect upon the benefits it will confer on commerce and the revolution it will work in the business of the metropolis. The time may come when the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek will form the boundary of the business portion of the city, and when beyond its busy docks will stretch out into the new wards and into what is still at present Westchester county the private residences of our merchant princes, The report suggests the necessity for a well considered system of local improvements in connection with the bridges and tunnels at the Harlem River, and reminds us that those works should be conceived and carried out with a view to the future use to be made of its waters. Tae Governor or Virginia on THE SovrH AND THE Democratic Panty, in his Message to his State Legislature, is very enthusiastic in his estimates from the late elections of the near approach of the millennium tothe South. He thinks it will come with a democratic res- toration at Washington, and that this impor- tant event is looming into view all round the political horizon. But 1876, our centennial year, is stilla good way off; and, meantime, in this age of rapidly changing political events, conditions and forces, we know not what a day may bring forth. It is enough for the present that, while the late elections express the general dissatisfaction with the existing national administration, they do not establish the relative strength of the opposing parties or their character or pretensions for the grand national contest of ’76 nor for the preliminary State skirmishes of 1875. Imporrant Action in THE Licensx Case.— In our law reports appears the clear and co- gent opinion of Judge Donohue allowing a writ of error, with a stay of proceedings and bail, in the case of the convicted unlicensed liquor dealer. A strong appeal was made to the Court in the nature of argumentum ad hominem by the District Attorney against this course ; but the Judge, very properly relying upon s General Term decision that was par- ticipated in by Justice Miller, just elected to the Court of Appeals, and Justice Daniels, of this district, holds strictly to the legal rights of a prisoner to have his conviction sustained upon the law as well as upon the facts. The legal question will reach the upper Courts early in January. Meanwhile the District Attorney has announced that he is on the war- path for fresh victims. ‘ New Hamrsume Powrrics—Tuz Tempen- axcz Parry.—The temperance or prohibition party of New Hampshire have resolved, as an independent party, to stand their ground here- after. They have accordingly nominated their State and Congressional ticket for their coming State election, and as these prohibitionists are nearly all drawn from the republican ranks the republican party in the approaching New Hampshire election will most likely suffer an- other defeat. If so it will for the republicans be a gloomy beginning of the campnign of 1875. Janvis AND Jackson, the two colored men on trial for the South Oyster Bay murder, have been convicted and sentenced to death. The murder was at first one of those mysteries for which Long Island is remarkable, and it is 8 matter of congratulation that the real criminals have been discovered and condemned, especially es unwarranted suspicion at one time attached to innocent neraony The Schoolship Mereury. There is a rumor that the Nautical School attached to the Department of Charities and Correction is to be discontinued and the Schoolship Mercury sold. It isto be hoped that the rumor is unfounded. If o reduction of the expenditures of the department is necessary it should not be made in this direc. tion. The Nautical School, which was estab- lished by an act of the State Legislature passed in 1868, has proved a very useful por- tion of the reformatory division of the depart- ment. Its object is to give street boys, other. wise unprovided for, an education that will fit them for the sea, and by this means, while preventing crime, to furnish good ordinary seamen to the United States Navy and to the merchant service. The statistics prove that the school has fully justified the expectations formed of its usefulness, Since 1870 over two thousand boys have been received on board the Mercury. Of these the greater number were entirely destitute of home and friends, or so wild and unrestrain- able as to be considered incorrigible. If they had not been assigned to the schoolship they must have passed in due course of time into the penitentiaries or State prisons. There they would have enjoyed but little oppor- tunity to fit themselves for future self-sup- port, while on the schoolship they have had an incentive to work and a prospect opening up before them of a happy and an honorable future, The statistics of the department show thats large portion of the boys thus received have passed from the school into honorable pursuits and become good mem- bers of society. Between four and five hun- dred of them have shipped as sailors, and, so far as they could be kept track of, have done good credit to their training. Taking the last fifteen months the statistics show the following results: — Number discharged from the Mercury.... Of which there were shipped as sailors Taken back by te i a Nos reformed.. Not accounted residence or errors in addiess.. It thus appears that ninety per cent of those discharged have turned from their former vicious habits, and either gone back to their homes or joined’ the profession for which they have been trained> It must be remembered, too, that the course of instruc- tion on Hart's Island and on board the schoolship is not confined to the mere fitting of a boy to serve before the mast, but contemplates his future preferment in his profession. While the practical experi- ence on board the Mercury teaches a smart boy rapidly the ordinary duties of a seaman and fits him to enter the navy or the mercan- tile service the higher branches of navigation are not neglected. Trips have been made by the schoolship, during which the more ad- vanced and promising scholars were instructed in navigation, and it has been found ‘that many of them can determine the position of a ship at sea as accurately as the officers in com- mand. The higher advantages of the reform- atory school are proved by the fact that one of its graduates is now in-command of a ship, while two others fill the responsible positions of first and second mate. |. The Mercury isa ship of twelve hundred tons burden. In her short trips at sea in the summer and in her longer winter cruises she has been handled by six able-bodied seamen only in addition to the pupils. The expense of her maintenance is, therefore, compara- tively trifling when the good accomplished is considered, and it would be a very short- sighted and reprehensible economy to aban- don the system. The Commissioners of Charities and Correction can find some method of saving money more honorable to themselves and less injurious to the public interests. A Nezpep Rzrorm.—A meeting of West- ern railroad men has been held in Chicago for the purpose of abolishing the free pass system. A resolution was adopted announcing that after the 1st of January, 1875, “‘no free pass shall be granted over the roads represented in the meeting to any person or persons for any purpose whatsoever.’’ This is a movement in the right direction. The whole system of free passes is corrupt and degrading. It has been used to bribe poverty-stricken editors and easy-going legislators, and putting citizens of standing and influence under obligations to corporations. There is no more réison why @ railroad should carry a man fres because he is an editor or a politician than that the tailor should make his clothes for nothing or the grocer give him his provisions, CasteuaR Cominc to Amentca.—The an- nouncement that Sefior Castelar has been ap- pointed Commissioner to the United States, on the occasion of the coming centennial celebration ot independence will be read by all who admire the genius and courage of this young statesman. Castelar has been con- spicuous among the liberals in Europe for his admiration of the United States. There are no speeches so—we might almost say extta- vagantly—eulogistic of America and her great men as those of Castelar. If he comes, it will be as an honored guest, as a man that Americans should all delight to honor, not so much because of his friendship to us, but be- cause of his genius, his devotion for freedom and the singular probity and beauty of his life, ‘ Tue Report or THe Atrornzxy GENERAL is summarized in another column; and, though it is a close array of figures, it is none the less interesting on that account. It will. be ob- served that Mr. Williams has some sugges- tions in regard to a jury law for the United States Court, a subject which ought to receive the immediate attention of Congress, bat is likely to go over to a more convenient season, Insecurity mm Curtcaco.—The special com- mittee of the National Board of Fire Under- writers has made a report from which it appears there is still great insecurity from fire in that city. In many respects the ar- rangements of the Fire Department are defi- cient, and it will be some years before all the deficiencies can be supplied. Tux Forzrat Anraxcements for the inter- ment of the remains of the late Mayor Have- meyer have been completed, and will be found reported in another column. Tue Avabama Ciarms Commmsion has re- @ termination of these interminable contro- versieg, newed its sessions, and perhaps it may not | be in vain to expect within a reasonable time | i Idle Rumors—The Position of Mayor Vance. The idle rumors that have been set afloat in regard to intended removals by Mayor Vance are set at rest by the sensible announcement of the Mayor that he means to confine himself to such official acts as it may be necessary for him to perform during his brief term of office. The supposition that he could make no removals, if he were disposed to make any, until ten days after his accession to office, is altogether erroneous, the ten days’ restriction in the charter referring only to cases in which the President af the Board of Aldermen may be called on to act as Mayor ‘‘in consequence of the sickness or absence from the city” of the elected Mayor. As Mr. Vance is abso- lutely Mayor he could have performed any act of the executive office immediately after having taken the official oath. While Mayor Vance’s announcement is proof of his good sense we do not suppose that he will evade any duty it may be proper that he should perform. The interests of the city require that he should replace in office the Commissioners of Accoupta, who wore ar- bitrarily removed in order that the reports of their investigation of some of the public departments might be suppressed. As a mem- ber of the Board of Apportionment and as President of the Board of Aldermen Mr. Vance is aware of the injustice and impolicy of the removals and of the motives by which they were prompted. The charter requires that “the accounts of the City Treasury shall be annu- ally closed on the last day of November and shall be examined in the month of December in said year by the Commissioners of Ao- counta.’’ The late Commissioners had been a year and a half in office when they were removed, and had become familiar in that time with the business and with the intricate acoounte of the Finance Department, The new Commissioners are entirely without expe- rience, It is desirable that fhe city should have the advantage of the old Commiagjoners’ services in making this examination during the present month, especially as they have received the salary attached to the office as the price of the experience they have gath- ered. One of the first official acts done by Mr. Vance should, therefore, be to replace the 1d Commissioners of Agcounts and to.instruct them to complete the investigations in which they were engaged at the time of their re- moval, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. : Congressman WUtam P. Frye, of Maine, is staye ng at the Windsor Hotel. Congressman H. H, Starkweather, of Connecti cut, is sojourning at the Astor House. Mr. Delos De Woll, of Oswego, is among the latest arrivals at the Metropolitan Hotel. : Commissary General Gardiner, of the British Army, is registered at the New York Hotel, Commodore Edward W. Carpender, United btates Navy, is quartered at Barnum’s Hotel, Assemblyman Harvey G. Eastman, of Pough- keepste, has arrived at the Filth Avenue Hotel Mr. Gostevick, of London, will soop publish @ work entitled “German Poets and Their Times,” Captain R. F. Ward, of Governor General Duffer- {n’s staf, bas apartments at the Brevoort House, Major V. Sanchez and Captain L. Moragues, of the Spanish Army, have quarters at the Hoffman House, Judge John L. Talcott, of the New York Supreme Court for the Eighth Judicial District, is at the Gik sey House. Congressman-elect Elias W. Leavenworth, ef Syracuse, bas taken up his residence at the Windsor Hotel. E. Parent, Under Secretary of State of the Dos munion government, is so seriously ill that nis life is despaired of. Mr. D. ©. Ellis, Superintendent of the Bank De- partment, arrived from Albany yesterday at the Metropolitan Hotel, Ruatem Effendi Jourdan, Secretary of the Turk- ish Legation at Wasbington, is residing at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. An elaborate “History of Democracy,” by Mr. Nahum Capen, of Boston, will be published in Hartrord in three volumes, Congressmen Robert S. Hale of New York; George W. Hendee, of Vermont, and W. H. B. Stowell, of Virginia, ure at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Allan Pinkerton’s new story, “The Expressman and the Detective,’ just out in Obicago, deals with the mysteries of the detective police bual- ness. Wilbur F. Storey, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Times, was married in that city on Wednesday evening to Mrs, Eureka 0. Pearson. The wedding was quite private, only a few iriends of both parties being present, * Chatto & Winders will publish next month a book of grotesque designs and historical notes about the births, deaths and characteristics of some “kings, queens and other things,” drawn and written by the Princess Hesse-Schwarzbourg. The work wiil be beautifully printed in gold and many colors, Tbe terrivly accurate New York Times says that the Paris butchers sold in three months *'284,110 kilometres of meat’? from horses, donkeys ana mules, Each kilometre 1s equal to about three- quarters of a mile, 80 that the total quantity is really upward of 200,000 miles. That is a great deal of meat “The Greville Memoirs” are pronounced by the Spectator the most readable book of the season, Mr. Greville was Clerk of the Privy Council for forty years and was an English aristocrat to the bone. He thought George IV. and William LV, nearly mad and Lord Brougham quite mad. Mr. Greville’s opinions, however, are not very impor- tant for their accaracy, and his book is far more curious than valuable. Baron Salgburg, Consul General of Austria at Copenhagen, and the Viscount Richemond Rich- ardson, of the Frerich Legation, at the same capi- tal, went all the way from Copenhagen to Brussels to fight a duel, but could not agree on the weapons. The Viscount’s seconds proposed foils, without buttons, of course, but the German had never handled the sword. The Frenchman's friends thereupon proposed pistols, of which one only should be loaded and should be drawn by lot, and the parties to stand within the length of a hand- kerchics, This was declined and all left the ground, sncepeutaiintimintiabigupetes aie ART MATTERS. Mr. Ives, sn American sculptor well known ia Rome, last night gave @ private view of a number of works, comprising statues, statuettes and busts, executed im marble, at No. 39 Union square, Most of these are replicas of former works, but the most important and pretentious is the latest product of the artist's skill, It {is called “Ino and Bacchus.” The tines of the figure of Ino are remarkaoly gracetul, and so far as could be judged in the pad ition of light the modelling is well executed, peyrtyt bust of “A Sailor Boy's also very = jted and modelled with considerable power. \x- teen works \n all compose tne collection and bear evidence to the industry of Mr. Ives, Much satis. Jaction Was eXpressed by the visitors with the rks. wr James C. Thom has just finished two inter. esting pictures. The larger canvas represents @ Brittany shepherd conducting bis Nock to pasture in the early morning. The color and sentiment are romarkably tender, ‘the second picture deals with one of those pretty incidents of country life which this artist depicts with much happiness of conceit. A young peasant girl 1s Ore feeding some goslings, ‘Ihe motive is very slight, but bor- rows interest from its treatment. In color it is fresh with the greenness of early spring. Both works are very creditable to Mr, Thom, who seems resolved to maintain the reputation in | Burope he acquired by close attention vo his art. Both works are on exhibition in the Lhirty-iourt Streat Art Galler.