The New York Herald Newspaper, December 9, 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 Youu Hxnarp will be sent free of postage. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Henawp. Rejected communications wil} not be re- | ¢urned. 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. ANUSESIENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVESING | —_>—__—_. WOOD's MUSEUM, Br , corner of Thirteth street—THE OFGAN Fen e's Poms closes ue W048 PM. Mr. Domuick Murray. Matinee at2 P. M. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No, 58 Proadwuy.—VARISTY, at 8 P. M. ; closes at 10:30 ¥,M. Matinee at 2 P.M. OLYMPIC THEATRE, | No. 624 Broadway. ae ats P. M.; closes at 1045 P.M Matinee at 2 P. ‘Twen: Gnook, PARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second sireets —GILDED AGE, at P. Maj closes at 40:30 P.M. Asx John T. Raymond. THEATRE COMIQUE, =. 514 Broadway.—VARIETY, at oP. M.; closes at 10:30 @.M. Matinee at2 P.M. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, third street and ong avenue.—THE BLACK ats P. M., closes atli P.M. BOOTH’S THEATRE, ¢orner Twenty-third street and Sixth avenne.—RED | TAPE and iHE WLDOW HUNT, at P.M; closes at | 1040 P.M. Mr. Jobo 5. Ciarke. ROMAN HIPPODROME, street and Fourth aveane.—FETE AT | Twenty-« “thcrnous and evening. at3 aud & PEIN, WALLACK’S THEATRE, | —THE SHAUGHRAUON, at8 P. M.; closes at Beater Wu PL Mr. Boucicault TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, By cae street and aie avenue.—VABIETY, ato P. Mi. ; closes at 10:30 NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, Bowery.—DURCHGEGANGE WEIBBR, at 8 P. M.; closes ut 10:20 P.M. Miss Lina Mayr. FIFTH AVENDR THEATRE, at ag aes and Brosdway.—YORICK and MY ILL, at 8 FM: closes at 10:30 P.M. Miss | — DNvLI Sara Sewets Mr. Louis BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenue. a 4c, at 8 P.M.; closes at 10 P. BROOKLYN THEATRE. JANE EYRE, at8P. M. Miss Charlotte Thompson. pradeee SAN FRANOISCO rc ge a h_ corner of enty-ninth street.—N: MINSTRELSS, at P.M. : closes at 10 ni z NEW PARK Pig rig PROOKLEM. THS HOODLUM. Mr. W A. Mestayer. ROBINSON HALL, = street—cEGONE DOLL CARE. Mr. Mac- GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway. —vaRIEit. as ; closes at 10:30 P.M. MissJenuie Hughes. Matine: . Me LYCEUM THEATRE, ‘fourteenth street and Sixth Cor —CHILPERIC, at 8 . M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Miss Emily Suldene. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street. DEK ESSeere ater. Me TRIPLE SHEET. York, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1874. #rom our reports this morning the probabilities @re that the weather to-day will be generally clear. ‘Watt Sraeer Yestzrpay.—Stocks were quiet and the market dull Gold declined to 110§. Money on call loans ranged from 2} to 4 per cent. Foreign exchange was unchanged. Jous Mrrcuet spoke about Ireland and “Home Rule’ to a number of his countrymen at the Cooper Institute last night, and was wery warm and decided on the subject. Tae Spamse Repvstican Treasury is about to be relieved by a loan which will be advanced from the Paris branch of one of the | most eminent banking houses in the world. | ‘This looks well for the Madrid Republic. Tue Pagtiamentary Panties x THE Frenca AssEMBLx are negotiating and balancing interests, with the view of organizing an effective opposition to the constitutional—as they are termed—bills of the Paris Ministry. ‘Tue Conservatives oy Great Bartram have | commenced in earnest to consider the most important question which presents to them, as politicians, who among them will succeed Mr. Disraeli as leader of the party. The present condition of health of the distin- guished Premier is not by any means satisfac- | tory to his friends. Tae Gnassorrers’ victims in Nebraska aro 4 lamentable state of destitution, according to General Brisbin and ex-Governor Sanders | from that State, who addressed the membors | of the Produce Exchange yesterday on the subject. This insect plague seems to be as | disastrous in its effects as the one which de- | vastated the banks of the Nile in the days of | Pharaoh. Tuz Poor or St. Peterssuna have sus- | tained an aggravation of their daily misery by the severe visitation which has reached | them in consequence of a sudden inundation | of the lower portion of the Russian capital, | the result of a storm. The government of the Czar is, however, charitable as wellas mag- nanimous, and there is little doubt that official measures will be promptly taken for the relief | of the poverty-stricken population. Tae Svnczon Genenat’s Repont.—Our army is certainly an active little force. It ap- pears by the Surgeon General’s report that in the past year two hundred and seventy-six men in every thousand were wounded—more than one-quarter of the whole force wounded, therefore, in the year— | he had no right to feel personally aggrieved | toa sharpness of tone which does not quite | Congress to which this Message is addressed NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1874. Reception of the Message. this city and in Wasbington, that the Presi- dent’s Message isa failure, if judged by any influence it is likely to exert on the legisla- tion of this seasion, This results partly from the impracticability of the most im- portant of his recommendations and partly from the tone he assumes toward the body to which the Message is addressed. The evi- dent -attempt to cast upon Congress the re- sponsibility for the shortcomings and failures which have brought the administration into discredit is not well received by the mem- bers of that body, who came together in no very amiable temper toward the President. He reminds Congress that he invited their action on the Louisiana case last winter and that they treated his suggestions with total neglect. Had they acted and solved the difficulty they would have relieved him from an odious responsibility and might have ended the Louisiana troubles instead of leaving them to plague the President and damage tbe party. But, if Congress were disposed to retort, it might tell the President that he got himself into the Louisiana scrape by his own action, without their advice, and that after he had created a spurious govern- ment in that State on his own responsibility that he was left to bear the consequences, If he had not chosen to intermeddle the McEnery government would have been peace- ably installed, and the State have escaped the turmoil and the republican party the scandal of these two years, The President seems also to mE Con- gress with the failure of civil service reform, and in this part of the Message he gives way befit so grave a document. He threatens to abandon the experiment unless Congress comes at last to his relief. Here, again, Congress might retort upon him that he was a volunteer in this business; that, in adopting the civil service rules, he acted on his own mere discretion; that if a law of Con- gress was necessary to make the rules effective he should have foreseen that neces- sity, have recommended suitable legislation at the outset and not have begun the experi- ment until the conditions existed for making it successful. The President is put by his rather ill-tempered threat in this dilemma: — If a law of Congress was necessary he should not have started without it; if Executive dis- cretion was sufficient there is no excuse for impetuously abandoning the reform. Had it succeeded he would have taken the sole credit, and since it has failed Congress may reason- ably decline any partiof the blame. Be this as it may, the temper he éxhibits toward Con- gress is not calculated to secure its indulgent judgment of the Message. It must be further borne in mind that the is the same Congress whose majority he con- fronted and humiliated by his veto last spring. They silently swallowed their indig- nation and chagrin lest the party should be weakened by an open breach with the President. Many of them are more free- spoken now, and as they feel sure of retaining the compromise currency bill which the Presi- dent concluded to sign there is nothing to be Tt seems to be the general verdict, both in | that the Message, so far as it relates to this momentous subject, will have no weight with Congress, and nothing will be done at thisses- sion to improve the financial situation. It is deeply to be regretted that President Grant has been unable to make recommenda- tions which have any chance of ‘adoption by Congress. If the President and the repub- lican majority in the two houses were of one mind on the great subjects requiring legis- lative action the republican party might recover the ground it has lost. As it is, the heavy republican majority will be of no use, and a great opportunity will pass unim- proved, never, perhaps, to return. This is to be regretted more for the sake of the country than for the sake of the republican party, but it is only by wise action and sound measures that the party has any chance of re- gaining public confidence, Congress Yesterday. Mr. Kelley brought up his grotesque scheme in the House yesterday for the purpose of giving everybody all the money they needed, and, of course, General Butler sup- ported it. The General is always original in his views, but on financial questions he is astounding. He traced the panic to financial causes arising out of our legislation, and called upon the country to contemplate the evils of a foreign debt, We do not attribute to General Butler a serious advocacy of repu- diation, but it is hard to see how the logic of his position can reach avy other result, Gen- eral Garfield replied in an able and sensible speech. Mr. Cox, who shares with Mr. Phelps, of New Jersey, the reputation of the ‘comic vocalist’ or the ‘end man” of the House, came in with his accus- tomed joke and the House bdjourned in good humor. In these serious times Mr. Cox and Mr. Phelps are a great comfort to the House and we do not see how we could get along without them. Uncle Dick has as yet with impatience. Uncle Dick had a splendid chance yesterday to demolish Butler, but he is a new member and modestly bides his time. A debate between Uncle Dick and Ben Butler on finances would make a great impres- sion. Something in the air tells us it is com- ing. The Senate did nothing of any impor- tance. Bismarck and the Jesuits. Prince Bismarck is giving the debates of the German Parliament an interest they never other day we had his haughty speech upon Alsace ang Lorraine, in which he reminded the people of those annexed provinces that he cared nothing about their own interests, but would govern them as an appanage of Ger- many. Then came his amusing debates with the ultramontanists, and now we have him giving us an extraordinary theory of the French and German war. ‘I know,” says the Prince, ‘from the very best sources, that Napoleon was dragged into the war very much against his will by Jesuitical influences. He strove hard to resist these influences; at the kept his resolution for half an hoar. Ulti- mately he was overborng by, the persons rep- resenting the Vatican.” We are disposed to pay the utmost respect to any statements coming from Bismarck. It lost by open censure. They are strengthened in their opposition to the financial recommenda- tions of the Message by the fact that they can impugn them on grounds which the hard money men indorse. Even those who approve and commend the decided attitude of the President on specie payments dissent from his methods. Intelligent advocates of resump- tion think that repeal of the Legal Tender act instead of the initial should be the final step, or, as the Evening Post expresses it, ‘‘the re- peal of the Legal Tender act should be the crowning event in the restoration of specie payments.” The President has given an advantage to the inflationists by proposing a method which the friends of resumption repudiate. Among other objections made by the hard money men is the formidable fact that the repeal advocated by the Presi- dent would compel the banks to suddenly contract their business to the diminutive scale of the specie in their vaults. Their greenback reserves would have to be replaced by gold reserves, “and, as the banking law requires their reserves to be in a certain pro- portion to their liabilities, they would be forced to curtail their business and adjust it to the amount of gold in their possession. The consequence would be ruinous stringency in the money market and universal distress. To begin by repealing the Legal Tender act would be as absurd as to attempt to split a log by driving the wedge butt end foremost, It | is quite possible to restore and maintain the specie standard without requiring the banks to meet their obligations in gold. In Great Britain the notes of the Bank of England are a legal tender everywhere except at the bank itself. All the other banks are permitted to | redeem their notes and pay their depositors in Bank of England notes, which are also a legal tender for the discharge of private debts. The advantage of this system is that it economizes the ye of gold while maintaining it as the standard of valne. It would be wise for us, consider- ing the great dearth of gold in the country, to begin the specie experiment on a similar plan, giving legal tender notes the same func- | tion that is discharged by Bank of England | notes in that country. The redemption of the | greenbacks in specie would maintain them at | par, and keep the bank notes redeemable in | them aiso at par, while the temporary con- tinuance of the Legal Tender act would econ- omize the use of gold by saving the necessity of more than one considerable stock in the country. The Treasury would have to keep a gold reserve—which need not be large if the volume of greenbacks were reduced by fund- ing to three hundred millions—but the two thousand national banks might continue to meet their obligations in greenbacks with entire satety to the community, and in entire consistency with stability of values. The time might come—it is never likely tocome in England—for making nothing but gold a legal tender ; but there would be no need of and of the deaths one-third were dué to in- juries; ten per thousand died from diseases | and five per thousand from wounds, The low percentage from diseases indicates a very in- telligent and efficient savitary supervision, | more particularly when we consider the rigors | of climate to which our soldiers are exposed and the grave diseases, like yellow fever, to which they are often necessarily subject. hurry or precipitation, and we might enjoy all the advantages of a currency constantly | maintained ot par for many years | before the Legal Tender act is repealed. President Grant has put the cart before the horse and given the inflationists the advantage of opposing his recommendations on grounds which the advocates of resumption must admit to be well takan, Tha canseauence will be is quite certain that his information’ on the causes leading to the war with France came from the highest sources, but we observo in most modern discussions, especially on the religious question, that when a speaker be- comes hagy or doubtful as to his position it isa safe argument to fall back upon ‘the Jesuits.’’ When we discover on the part of any orator or writer a dispomtion to attribute unusual or extraordinary events ‘to the Jesuits’ we are apt to conclude that he is uncertain about his subject. The Court of Napoleon was never femous for its devo- tion to the interests of Rome, Napo- leon IIL hdd a good deal more reapect for Persigny and Fleury and Rouher and his companions of the coup déat than for the priests, If our recollection of the latter years of his reign is correct he was constantly in trouble with the Pope. The Pope's favor- ite topic of public speech was to pray for the health of Napoleon's body and for ‘‘peace to his soul.” It would be surprising to learn that under all this—his liberalism and cosmo- politan tendencies, the desire to be at peace with all institutions and systems—there was really a strong Jesuit: instinct bent w; war. If it is true, also, that the Pope incited Napo- leon to war, as Bismarck charges, how are wo to understand the celebrated letter which His Holiness addressed to the two Emperors, imploring them to accept his mediationin the cause of peace? In that beautiful and pious correspondence we that the Ger- man Emperor was most ing with his acknowledgments of the Pope's benevolent interposition, and said he had no war with Franee, but only with Napoleon. How much more effective could he have made this letter had he told the Pope what the Chancellor now tells the world, that he alone was responsible for the war, and but for his unholy influence over Napoleon the nations would still be at peace! Rapid Transit. We have found so much to praise in the ad- munistration of Governor Dix, which now draws to a close, that we wish we could ap- prove his reasons for the veto of the bill for the extension of the Elevated Railway, The Elevated Railway, running along Greenwich street, is the first accomplished step in the way of rapid transit. ‘Ihe enterprise has gone through various vicissitudes of fortune, has been in all manner of troubles, and has finally become a success, not so much as a road as an experiment. It demonstrates that without any inconvenience to traffic or the in- habitants on the line, the decorum and com- fort of the city, a steam train can run from the Battery to Thirty-fourth strect in fifteen minutes. We have no doubt, if there were two tracks a little more substan- tially built, the journey could be made in ten minutes. But certainly the managers of the road have kept their promises to the peo- ple. They have put the line in operation. They have given rapid transit to the west sido of the island. There is no reason why they | should not be allowed to carry this line to the | Central Park and to Yonkers, It seems to us that Governor Dix was bound to confirm this measure, if at all within the rango of his ro- sponsibilities as Governor. It would have been a crowning act to a long and illustrious lifa masked with many achievamenta inpub- said nothing, but the country awaits his views | yet have possessed to foreign readers. The | eleventh hour he determined on peace, and | lie service, to have given the first measure of rapid transit to New York. We regret the Governor did not accept this opportunity, and at the same time congratulate Governor Til- den on the fact that it is now open to him to win this trophy for his fame. The Clerical Scandals—Glendenning and Beecher. The Beecher case was in the courts yester- day and goes over until Monday. The Moul- ton case, which, after all, is only a side issue in the Beecher scandal, will be called up to- day in the federal Court. Both sides are fight- ing for time. The Beecher lawyers want the Moulton-Proctor case tried first because a ver- dict against Moulton would have a moral effect in favor of Beecher. The Tilton law- yers desire the civil suit to be tried first be- cause they feel that it is their strongest case. The ablest lawyers at the New York Bar are pitted against each other, with General Butler as a reinforcement. It doesseema pity that Beecher’s friends should drag the maiden name and fame of an esteemed and gifted young lady into the courts for the purpose of protecting their client; but many curious things have been done in this deplorable con- test. The comfort is that the end must come soon. The Glendenning case has come to an end. The Jersey City Presbytery find that Glendenning has committed none of the crimes charged against him; that he did not seduce Miss Pomeroy ; but that he behaved in an absurd, trifling and unclerical manner in his attentions to a young lady he never in- tended to marry. Accordingly, after acquitting him of any crime, they dismiss him from the ministry for his follies. This is & ‘enient verdict and a severe sen- tence. We are bound to accept it as just. But we think it would be wise for some of our reverend friends to consider the propriety of establishing ‘‘a society for the protection of the character of clergymen.” There is scarcely a mail that does not bring us ‘‘a new development,” or ‘‘a religious sensation,” or an “astounding outrage’ on the part of some clergyman. Somehow or,other these scandals are connected with women. We do not often hear of clergymen committing as- sault and battery, or being arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct, or stealing, or any of the general run of offences that burden the statute books. The scandal whigh aston- ished the civilized world in Brooklyn seems to have generated a brood of small scandals. In all of them—except, perhaps, that of the Catholic ‘priest in Philadelphia whose doubts about the infallibility of the Pope took so grotesque and personal a turn—the congregations of the assailed clergymen only drew closer and closer to their pastors. In Plymouth church the religion of Jesus Christ has been succeeded by a religion the supreme commandment of which is to believe in the integrity of Mr. Beecher. Mr. Glendenning has had, in all his trials, the most comforting support from his congregation, and “will no doubt be preaching next Sunday to a faithful rem- nant of his followers; the Frankfort clergy- an, Cooper, receives a letter from his flock expressing their abhorrence of his assailant ; and although in West Chester it is proposed to “execute summary vengeance” upon tho latest accused clergyman, his parishioners are zealous in his defence. This certainly shows the value of the religious relation, in the fact that it binds the congregation with a personal tie to the pastor. Certainly the fame of a person who accepts the sacred calling—a call- ing peculiarly susceptible to slander—would rest upon uncertain tenure if at the first breath of suspicion his congregation would fall from him. Wicked or worldly men, we fear, take a peculiar pleasure in the down- fall of a clergyman. Somehow the assamp- tion that a human ‘being like the rest of us should be the paragon of virtue, the in- structorm discipline, the monitor of error, the minister of Jesus Christ, the champion and ambassador of the supreme and awtul power which rules the universe—this assump- tion, which is involved in the clerical office, becomes, as it were, a rebuke to the mass of mere worldly men, who, in their hearts, be- lieve that religion is hypocrisy and rejoice in the downfall of a clergyman because it is simply a manifestation of insincerity and deceit. As we say, the existence of this worldly feeling makes the ministerial calling more and more dangerous. It imposes upon those who accept it severe caution. We are‘far from thinking that because a. man isa clergyman he should not be as other men in his tastes, accomplishments and ways of life—that he should not have the resources of a gentleman in all things. But the respect he owes his holy place, the vast power he holds upon the and lives of innocent, trusting, credu- lous and not always over-intelligent masses, and the shock which comes to so many thousands by such scandal as we saw in Brooklyn, should impose upon every the most rigid method of lite. If he objects'to the limitations thus implied then the pulpit is not his vocation. If he feels that he is called upon to serve Christ, then he must do all that is required in that service, The Catholic Church, by its extraordinary discipline, removes from its ministers many of the temptations which surround the cler- gymen of the Protestant branches. But the very independence of so many Protestants of a hierarchal episcopal power only makes it more important for clergymen by their life and conversation to avoid these scandals which bring so much misery upon themselves and reproach upon the Christian name, Maxon Vance has reappointed Messrs, Howe and Bowlend Commissioners of Accounts, These Commissioners were removed by the late Mayor Havemeyer without cause. At the time of their removal they were engaged in the in- vestigation of some of the municipal depart- ments, and, their restoration is designed to enable them to, complete their work. “Their first duty, in accordance with the provisions of the chartér, ‘will be to examine the books and transactions of the Finance Department for the year, and to report the exact condition of the public debt and of the sinking fund securities, Their past experience will enable them to make a thorough scrutiny, and the result will be looked for with interest. Is is proper that the citizens of New York should know their exact financial condition, and if the accounts and securities of the Finance Department are found to be correct the report of the Commissioners will restore public oon- fidenea and, thus greatly benafit the cite, —TRIPLE SHEET. The Modern Drama—Mr. Boucicault. So much has been said about the decadence of modern art, and particularly of the drama, under the influence of French adaptations and English burleaques, that we are only too glad to note and applaud any effort to revive the spirit of the old stage, when the classic taste ruled dramatic art, Some time since there was a wide discussion as to the absence from our drama of a play that could be re- regarded as distinctively American, and our authors were called upon to save American literature by writing an Ame “Hamlet’’ ora ‘School for Scandal.’’ If we coald call Sheridansand Shakespeares, like spirits from the vasty deep, to do our bidding and create immortal dramas, this would be possible, But at the same time there are many things in modern drama of which we should be proud. Nothing 18 more absurd than the argument that modern taste has become so vitiated by opéra bouffe and moral French plays that legitimate drama has no longer an audience, that to minister to popular taste it is necessary to play the banjo and dance in clogs. The popular taste is pure and unerring. It will have its freaks now and then and jndulge in strange adventures after unworthy performances, but in the end the highest instinct will prevail. Whenever we hear of managers complaining of bad busi- ness we are apt to think the cause lies in bad actors and worse plays. Of course the depression of the times affects the theatrical as well as other business; but there has been no such engagement fora longtime as Miss Cushman’s farewell performances at Booth’s Theatre. Mr, Jefferson and Mr. Clarke are great comedians and they have had great suc- cess. This is because Miss Cushman as well as Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Clarke have repre- sented the highest forms of dramatic art, There has been no success however, 80 marked as that of Mr. Boucicault at Wallack’s in his new comedy of ‘The Shaughraun.”” This is a dramatic event of great interest and is only another triumph in the career of an extraordinary man. This gentleman has been for a long time before the people and he has had his own share of criticism. We are tojd that he is feeble and commonplace, that he steals his plots and effects from the French; that he is a shameless literary pirate; that one effect is from Victor Hugo, another from Byron, a third from Shakespeare. Bat the truth is that Mr. Boucicault has written more successful plays than any living dramatist, that he has founded @ new dramatic school in his creation of the modern Irishman of the stage, and that our present drama owes more to him than to any other writer. Mr. Boucicault is certainly an extraordinary man, and he deserves this pub- lic tribute to his genius. He is the Admirable Crichton of literature. He writes prose and poetry as well as Sheridan, he has consummate knowledge of stage business, his performance of the tutor Tourlillas, as a Frenchman, and of the Shaughraun as an Irishman, are gems of acting. In their way the stage has nothing finer. The Shaughraun, an idle, shrewd, lazy, cunning, thrittless, true and brave Irish de- pendant is as subtle and perfect picture as anything on the stage. So that we have the extraordinary combination of the highest genius for acting with the highest genius for authorship. In this Boucicault surpasses his most illustrious predecessors, for Sheridan was an author merely, and Shakespeare, supremo in his poetic art, was only a third class player. It is the highest fulfilment of genius to beable to create a drama and at the same time to step on the stage -and illustrate your own creations, This Mr. Boucicault has done. ‘Tho Shaughraun” is a masterpiece. No wonder Wallack’s beautiful theatre is crowded every evening, with the seats nearly all taken for two weeks in advance. Here we have all the requisites of dramatic perfection. The theatre as perfect as a drawing room, the company perfect jn tone, capacity and fitness, the scenery as fine as the painter's art can desire, the comedy witty, pure, effective, natural, dramatic, and, at the same time, sensational, and the great actor himself representing his owh creations. Mr. Wallack has won the blue ribbon of dramatic success tor this sea- son, and he owes it largely to his association with the wonderful man whose genius now rales his stage, and will no doubt continue to rale it for the remainder of the season, Fashionabie Smuggling. There has been a good deal of comment recently in the newspapers, in reference to frauds upon the revenue arising out of tho custom of many people who go to Europe re- tarning with large quantities of dutiable goods which they bring in without payment of reve- nue, A contemporary recently published an account of a ‘‘young English lady’’ who ar- rived from Havre with ‘eight large, heavily laden trunks.’ This person claimed that the trunks contained the dresses necessary for her profession as a performer in an opera troupe and they were admitted free of duty. The officers discovered that this story was incorrect, traced her to a millinery store up town, found that the tranks contained from ‘fifteen to twenty thousand dollars’ worth of silk and velvet dresses, embroideries, laces and other apparel for Indies," that there was ‘a list of consignees for whom the articles were in- tended” and that ‘‘the list included the names of two grand dames of Murray Hill and Fifth avenue.” The duties on these goods would | have been eight thousand dollars. We learn, furthermore, that the government hag been giving attention to the whole subject, and from statistics in Washington it would seem that many millions of dollars a year are lost to the revenue from this custom of fashionable smuggling. The laws governing the entrance of baggago into New York from Europe are plain enough. We do not think their provisions at all severe. It is desirable to prevent any undue system of espionage in the operation of onr tariff and revenue laws. Yet it seems difficult to enact a measure that would reach this evil of fashion- abie smuggling. When a traveller returns with trunks filled with dutiable goods which he knows should pay the revenue he is apt to take his own measures for having them ad- mitted free of duty. The more scrupulous traveller, who goes to Europe for pleasure, observes the law and does not seek to defraud the revenue, is, of course, perfectly indifferent a6 to his relations with the Custom House offi- cer. During Mr. Boutwell’s administration of the Treasury it was proposed to establish o avatem of forsian inspectogs. veragns who would reside in Paris or London, keep thetr eyes on the movements of Americans, obtain 4 list of their purchases, and indicate this list to the officers in New York, so that there could be an intelligent examination of their baggage when they returned home. Mr. Boutwell, however, considered this system as a vid- lation of private rights and beneath. the dignity and honor of the govern- ment. We think that the Secretary was right. The whole system of espionage is sure to lead to abuse, as the calling itself is an abuse. No government has a right to as- sume that its citizens are necessarily thieves. It would certainly be beneath its dignity to have detectives shadowing its citizens through the warehouses of London and Paris, copying their invoices and wantonly prepar- ing for their arrest and dishonor upon their arrival at home, The government, so long as it hase revenue law, and compels merchants to pay duties on laces and silks and articles of the same char- acter, should, of course, see that private citi- zens do not invade its provisions. This is due not only to the importing interests but to the demands of its own treasury. At the same time we think there should be o simple, plain statute, making a liberal allowance to travellers, enabling them to bring into the country a moderate amount of articles, and beyond this to enforce the law rigidly, and make no reservations or limitations. This can only be a step toward its prevention. So longas there are tariffs there will be smuggling. It is one of the evils of our wretched financial system. Buckle, in commenting upon the protective system when it was in force in England, said that ‘the history of the commercial legislation of Eu- rope presents every possible contrivance for hampering the energies of commerce.’’ Blan- qui, whose ‘‘History of Political Economy in Europe’ is a very high authority, declares that “if it had not been for smuggling trade could not have been conducted, but must have perished, in consequence of this incessant interference.” The rise of smuggling in Europe was a neces- sary part of the protective system; no laws, however severe, could exterminate the smuggler. In France, so late as 1786, some smugglers were hanged, some burned alive, others broken on the wheel. Buckle, com- menting upon this, truly says that these crimes “were directly chargeable on the European governments by whom they were provoked. The offences were caused by the laws, and now that the laws have been repealed the offences have disappeared.’’ As soon as wo have a system of wise legislation in reference to the tariff, smuggling, even in its fashionable aspect, will disappear. As it is, the United States and Spain are the two countries where the protective system flourishes to a great ex- tent, and they are the two countries where smuggling has become a tolerated, if not a recognized, industry. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Professor Allen Carr lectured in Quebec Inst night Mr. Lucius Robinson, of Elmira, is stopping at the St. James Hotel, Mr. Dewitt ©. Littlejohn, of Oswego, is staying at the Metropolitan Hotel. Ex-Governor Ambrose E. Burnside, of Rhode Island, ts at the Filth Avenue Hotel. Assemblyman George 8, Batcneller, of Saratoga, has arrived at the Fifth Avenge Hotel. Aristarchi Bey, Turkish Minister at Washington, bas apartments at the Albemarie Hotel. Governor Henry Howard, of Rhode Island, is among the latest arrivals at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Naval Constructor William L, Hanscom, United States Navy, 18 quartered at the Union Square Hotel. State Senator Franklin W. Tobey, of Port Henry, N. Y., 1 residing temporarily at the Fisth Avenue Hotel, An artificial harbor on @ grand scale at Dover is 8 favorite project with the present English govern- ment, If Tennyson wrote that “trance” letter, poetry ts evidently very closely remWed to common non- sense. Mr. David L. Follett, of Norwich, Judge elect ot the New York Supreme Court, ts registered at the Metropolitan Hotel, Congressman John O, Whitehouse, of Poughkeep- sle, is sojourning wt the Albemarle Hotel. Why ifot in Washington? Baron W. de Wagstaff, of Russia, arrived from Europe in the steamship Hansa yesterday, and ts at the Breyoort House, Sefior Don F. Gonzales Errazuriz, the Ohilian Minister, arrived from Washington yeateraay and ia at the Clarendon Hotel, Mr. R. S. Joyce, of the Irish Rifle Team, arrived from Europe yesterday in the steamship City of Brooklyn, end is at the Windsor Hotel. Four of Fortuny’s principal pictures brought him together $51,000, One of these was the ‘“‘Acade- mictans of Salamanca Choosing a Model,” soid to M. Stuart for $12,000. There 1s great impatience in Paris to know when vhe Vendome Column will be reaay for. the peopte who have been waiting these many months to throw themselves irom the top of it. Sir John Broges Karslake, the eminent English lawyer and Queen’s counsel has become totally blind. His afliction was caused by overwork, and there is hope that it may prove temporary, The French Academy of Sciences will propose the international adoption of the meridian of Greenwich, French navigators now reckon from the meridian taken at the Paris Observatory. Since the 24th of May, 1873, the date of the fall of the Thiers government, 113 newspapers havo been subjected to various penalties by tne Frencn government for too great freedom of comment on the acts of the authorities, Cham, the great caricaturist of Paris, is old, but Mngers with superfluous pencil, and his designs are flat and dull. He never had any malice, and when Wit loses its cage and malice isnot there to take its place caricature becomes mere toast and tea. It is stated as probable that one of the Paria theatres will adopt che rule of closing the doors as goon as the curtain rises and keeping them rigor- ously closed while the curtain 1s up, 80 that late comers may not interfere with the comfort of all who are seated betimes, Admiral Salsset, of the French navy, evidently bad faithin Don Carlos. He bet M. Leonce De- troyat, of the Paris Liverté, @ dinner for twenty persons that Carlos would reign in Madrid before the 24th of iast September, and he has paid for the dinners, which it is reported were good. Taney were taken at the Café Anglais. The Empress of Russia was imprudent in Eog- land, made unseasonable excursions and caught cold, Her attendants were alarmed, for Her Majesty's health 1s delicate at best and her lungs are not strong. So Dr. Botkine, her reguiar medical attendant, was urgently sent for. He at once deciafed that the Empress mast leave Eng- land, and she is now on her way to some point on the shores of the Mediterranean, Commander William B. Cushing, United States Navy, whose mentai condition has recently been a subject of some anxiety to his friends, bas be- come insane, and was on Monday evening re- moved to the Government Hospital for the Insane, Commander Cusming is Well known as the aie tingutshea officer who led the attack on the ram Albemarie during the late war. He has been ate tlongd at the Navy Yerd usta tor anme time,