The New York Herald Newspaper, December 12, 1874, Page 4

4 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 SCRIBERS.—On and | after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Hzraxp will be sent free of postage. All business or news letters and telegraphic | despatches must be addressed New Yors Hynarp. | Letters ard packages should be properly | sealed. Rejected communications wil] not be re- | furned. | 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. Volume XXXIX. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING OLYMPIC THEATRE, No. 64 Proadway.—VARIETY, ats P. M.: PM Maunee 342 P.M, closes at 10:45 GRAND OPERA HOUSE, third street and nth avenue. —THE BLACK ato P.M. j closes . M. Maunee at2 P.M. Twent, CBUO. PARK THEATRE, Broadway, between Twenty-first ana Twenty-second streets. —GILDEO AGE, at P. M.; closes at 1030 2. M. Mr. John f. Raymond. " Matinee at 2 P. af THEATRE ‘COMIQLE No, Sl Broadway. —VARISTY, at 8 P. i. ; closes at 10 30 . M. Maunee a2 P.M. BOOTH'S THEATRE, corner of Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue. — TOODLES and (1B HEIR AT LAW, at 6 P. M., closes at 103 P.M. Mr. Joun 5. Ciarke. ROMAN HIPPODROMR, Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenue.—FETE aT) PcKIN, alternoon and evening, 2t2 and 3, THEATRE, BS: KAUN. ac 8 P.M; eloses at Mr. Boucicault Matiee atl WPM. TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, Fifty-eighth street and Lexington avenue.—VARIETY, AtSP, di. ; closes at 10-30 P. M. NEW YORK STAD? THEATRE, Bowery —DURCHEGANGE WEIDER, at 6 P, M.; closes at l0 30 P.M. Miss Lina Mayr. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, reer as street and Broadway. phONDON Ce NCE. P. M.; closes at 10 P.M. iss Fann, bav vena “a Matinee at 120 P. WAvokicK and ht UNCLE's WILL, BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, West Treas third sireet, near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO MINSTRE. ats P.M; closes at WP. M. Dan Bryaat Martie t2 P.M. BROOKLIN, THEATRE Washington street —J AN RE, atS P.M. Miss Char. toite Thompson. Mat a BAN FRA} oO TRELS, Broadway, corner of Twenty-ninth street.—NEGRO NINSTRZLSY, ateP.M.; closes atluP. M. Matinee at RO. Siateenth street.—B i: cabe. Matinee at 2 P. N AA DULL a > EB CARE. Mr. Mac- GLOBE THEATRE, Broaaway.—VARIE TY, at 8 P. SM; closes at 10:30 P. M. Miss Jennic Hughes. Matinee at M. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue.—CHILPERIC, at 8 M.; Closes at 10:45 ¥. M. Miss Emily soldene. Mav fase atid P.M. ASSOCIATION HALI Fourteenth stree.—CUNVERT, at 3 P. NEW PAR! THEATRE, Fulton street, Brookly! HE HUODLUM Mr. W. A. Mestayer, Matinee at2 GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth stree.-—DEK VETIER, at 8'P. M. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner, of Thirtieth ' street.—HIDDEN CRIME, at’? P.M. E GAMSLER'S CRIME, at 82. ‘AM. ; closes at 10:45P.M. Mr. Dominick Murray. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No. 585 Broadway.—VARIK1Y, at 8 P. M.; ‘closes at 10:30 P.M. Maunee at2 P. M. ACADEMY OF MUSTO, Fegetoonta strech PHILHARMONIC “CONCERT, at 8 WITH SUPPLEMENT. New York, borhvermmand = From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cleay and eclder. Wart Srreer Yzsterpay.—Stocks were dull Gold advanced to 1113 and closed at 111. The shipments amount to about $1,700,000. Money on call loans was three and four per cent. Dec. 12, 1874. ‘Tue Report of the National Bureau of Sta- tistics will be found interesting to the business community. Present JEwEr?’s report to the Board of Directors of the Erie Railway Company is published in full elsewhere. Tue Feencn Assempuy.—It is very likely that the numerous divisions in the French Assembly are impossible to reconcile, The Left Centre declares that it has gone to the utmost limit of concession, and the Extreme parties will probably be as positive. Count Von Arnim accepts the full responsi- bility of the disappearance of the papers of the German Embassy in Paris—an indication that the question of the right to the disputed documents is tobe argued upon its merits, and that the main issue with Bismarck is not to be avoided. Goop ArporxtTMeNts.—2oth the changes in the Diplomatic Corps in Europe that seem likely to be made involve proper recognition of the services of excellent officers. Moran's patient fidelity in London, Lis years of devo- | | tion to the dull drudgery of office routine, are | at last fitly rewarded in » minor ministry which has respectable if not altogether ade- quate salary. And there is no man in our service who by training, industry and intelli- gence is fitter than Colonel Hoffman to take the place in London and prevent the depar- ture of the laborious secretary from being a detriment to the business of the legation. Szntovs Tnovarx m New Onueans is antici- pated. The Board of Judges, which meets on Sunday, is expected to declare the republican candidate for State Treasurer elected, and to give the republicans a majority in the lower House, and it is said this decision will be resisted by the White Leaguers, The Presi- dent yesterday declared that he would nog take military. action.in anticipation of “trouble, but that ‘iif ‘disturbances ceourred “somebody would be hurt." Hoe would not tolorate # new rebellion. In the event of trouble General Sheridan or General | southern stations, now experiencing their sum- _NEW YOKK HERALD, SATUKDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1874. —WITH SUPPLEMENT. Tne Great Transit and the Sermon of Science. The great astronomical event ot the past century has transpired, and the expectation of all civilized nations is on tiptoe to learn the full results of observation, The inspiring motive which has actuated universal interest and co-operation in the transit observations is not alone the desire to gratify science in her cherished researches nor to secure the great practical ends which a successful solution of the solar parallax has so long promised the world. These, important as they are to the cause of navigation, commerce and astronomi- cal investigations of every kind, are lost sight of in the sublime aspiration to gauge the depths of the stellar universe. The notions of mankind regarding the solar system can be rightly shaped only as we determine the dis- tance of the sun from the earth. This dis- tance is the basis of measurement for the iflimitable celestial expanse, or at least the best meteorological unit for surveying the heav- ens which astronomy has yet proposed. The grand aim, therefore, in the observations of | the transit of Venus has been to construct a true map of the universe and to determine the earth’s relations to its most remote frontiers. In a word, we may regard the world-wide en- thusiasm in this great astronomical investiga- tion—in which scientists have been only the leaders and directors of the popular wishes— as man’s eager effort to locate himself in the geography of the heavens, and, as it were, to feel his way through their undiscovered terri- tory. expressed, has lain dormant in the human mind in all ages, but ever and anon wakened into intense activity with every announce- ment that there was a possibility of its grati- fication, If evidence were needed we have it in the enormous expenditure of time, money and labor, which, from imme- morial ages, has been Javished in such re- searches as we are now recording. The sciences, upon the development of which human wealth and material prosperity mainly depend, have been left far behind by that | which gratifies the human mind in its cravings for the infinite and its outreachings after the mysteries of the celestial world. A great writer on the science of agriculture adverts to the strange fact that, though national develop- | ment and opulence are chiefly conditional upon the accumulation of agricultural knowl- edge, it lags behind many branches which concern us but little. It is the consciousness, however, of a need deeper than any that material abundance can supply that has constantly impelled man to grope after higher things though they lie beyond the sphere of the visible. It is the restless spirit of intel. lectual labor, which, unsatisfied with the scen, as Humboldt says, is ever ‘striving toward the infinite and grasping all that is revealed to us amid the boundless and inexhaustible fulness of creation.”’ When the enthusiastic astronomer Le Gentil had resolved to observe the transit of Venus, in 1769, he spent eight years in preparation, and as the critical computed time approached he repaired to Manila as the most eligible sta- tion. When the great day, so ardently looked for, arrived, and Venus approached the sun’s disk, though the sky had been for several days before cloudless, the whole phenomenon of the transit was completely cut off from the ob- server. But in the modern transit no such cruel fate is likely ever again to overtake the astronomer. It was hardly within the range of possibility that the seventy or eighty bands of observers now in the East could have been simultaneouly foiled, as the network of sta- tions was more extensive than the largest cloud canopy ever known to have intercepted the sun’s rays. And the intelligence which has already reached us shows that the experi- ence of the past century has not been lost on our scientists, ‘The immense undertaking of observing the recent transit, as our special despatches have told us, is an accomplished success, and the work of reducing the manifold data will be rapidly advanced. The photographic observa- tions secured in the northern hemisphere suffice to solve the great problem involved, even should the observers in the southern hemisphere have failed. ‘The weather at the mer, was probably better than the winter weather with which the northern stations had tocontend. The several hundred photographs known to have been taken will be carefully examined by the aid of the micrometer. Each photograph contains an image of Venus at a” given moment of time as she appeared on the sun’s face, This appears as a small spot, and all such spots are laid down and marked by the micrometer, so that they make a dotted line, or curve, from which, by the mathemati- | cal method of least squares, the problem can be finally worked out. While the work of re- | ducing the photographic observations is going on atthe home observatories the undetermined longitudes of the stations will be ascertained, and all the computations proceed pari passu. Thus, it may be expected, in less than a year our American results will be finally announced. These, unless we except the probable deduc- tions from the similar transit in 1882 (when America will be in the most favorable position for observations) will, perhaps, make the most extensive and exact contribution to astron- omy which the nineteenth century will record. The contact observations, however, can be worked up as soon as the latitudes and longi- tudes of the stations at which they were taken are fully determimed. Professor Hall’s re- sults will tally and compare with those of the Russian and English astronomers, obtained by the Delislean method, and, if the party at Kergnelen Island were as successful as that compare. The Russians have twenty-five stations, so that the reported failure of five of these can hardly affect the final summary in any serious degree. Their stations, like our own, were so sagaciously located, and their made practically impossible. There can, therefore, be no room for doubt that out of all the ingathered material there is an abundance yet, premature, perhaps, to draw any further inferential conclusions as to the preciso re- sults obtained by the various transit observing parties ; but, as far as the present indications go, the establishment of the photographic method and its great advantages are made manifest. The application of photography ‘Terry will nrobably be gent to Louisiana. Such an ambition, whether uttered or un- |e at Nagasaki, their conjoint results will also | work so arranged, that entire failure was | for solving the great problem. It would be, as | vanced by M. De La Rae, Mr. Rutherford and others, and if its success is now demonstrated, as it seems to have been, the prospects for greater success in the transit observations of 1882 are opened up. The improvement of the instrumental methods precede and insure the greater exactitude and compass of all future discovery, and in the present instance the French have tested the photographic method still further by employing the daguerre- otype in lieu of the collodion process. In either process, as »M. De La Rue’s ex- periments show, there is but little room for error, The employment of the dry plates prevents all shrinkage of the collodion film, and leaves nothing to be cor- rected but the errors due to irradiation and refraction. The value of these light-pictured observations will be largely increased by the obvious fact that the actual measurements they afford will be made after the transit, when the observers cannot be carried away by the excitement of the moment, The American arrangements for the photographic work were thoroughly matured by Dr. Draper, and we expect the results to be of the highest value. We refer t6 the apparent success of this now system of transit observations because they are the feature of all the expeditionary labor, and were most extensively used by the Americans and Russians, It is not, perhaps, too much to say, with our present light, that the comparison of all the transit records will enable astronomers to compute the sun’s dis- tance from the earth to within one hundred and fifty thousand miles. When we remember that it is not now known to within two mil- lions of miles the advance step appears very great. The benefits, direct and incidental, flowing from this gigantic undertaking, and the pro- cesses by which success has been achieved have been so fully and frequently elaborated that we need not repeat them here, The his- tory of the transit observations of 1874 will leave its lessons upon the age and guide it on the path of actual as contrasted with speculative science. The splendid harvest of real knowledge garnered in by the patient laborers who have gone to every clime of both hemispheres will strongly contrast with the chaff of idle theorizing which seemed but yesterday to be luring scientific men from the true path of research. The wonderful secrets of creation are more than ever replete with interest to the race, because with in- creased facilities of discovery their real value is made more manifest to the most illiterate. The order and beauty of the Divine handi- work revealed by astronomic inquiry—so nice that the passage of the star Venus across the sun’s disk, occupying but a few hours of time, is correctly predicted centuries before- hand—is the sermon which science is, con- sciously or unconsciously, preaching to-day to the whole civilized world. The records, so soon to be made known, will tell out to the present century the grandest tale it has yet heard of the ‘eternal power and Godhead,’’ and hush the vain and noisy tongue of scep- tical speculation now so rife. If the intel- lectual effort which has availed to give us this boon excites admiration and applause human exaltation is checked and chastened by the marvellous revelations of the phenomenon itself. Postponement of the Beecher Trial— The Bill of Particulars. An order was issued yesterday by the City Court of Brooklyn putting over the trial of the crim. con. suit of Tilton vs. Beecher to the January term of the Court, on the ground that the trial is likely to be so protracted that it cannot be brought to a conclusion at the present term. This seems proper enough on its face, but whether anything is reached under the postponement it would be hazard- ous to conjecture, after the surprise which fell on the public in the sudden termination of the Proctor-Moulton libel suit. It is proba- ble that the trial will proceed in January, since the decision of the Court on the appli- cation of Mr. Beecher’s counsel for a bill of particulars does not exclude the alleged con- fessions. There would have been a manifest violation of fairness if the order had confined Tilton to proofs of adultery at specified times and places, excluding all evidence that does not bear on particular places and times. If the order had taken that form the plaintiff would have been so hampered and crippled that he would be virtually non-suited before the trial begins. In his sworn state- ment submitted to the Court Mr. Tilton acknowledges that the most important part of his proofs do not fix the dates or point out the scene of the criminal intercourse. An order excluding such proofs would have disabled him from proving his charge, even if he held in his handsa written confession of the defendant acknowl- edging the adultery in general terms, without specification of time and place. If such a written confession existed we suppose there can be no doubt that it would be valid and conclusive evidence, even if it consisted in a mere general admission of the fact, without circumstances or particulars, Now, it ac- cords with common sense that oral confessions of the same character, if it can be proved on good testimony that they have been made, should be equally admissible as evidence, and be held equally conclusive in establishing the guilt of the defendant. Tilton makes in his affidavit a clear state- ment of the nature of the proofs he expects to offer. Their main groundwork is confessions which he declares to have been made by Mr. | Beecher to three different persons, whose names he gives, and other confessions of the same tenor and purport alleged to have been made to four persons, who are likewise named, by Mrs. Tilton. If he shall satisfy a jury ) that such confessions were actually made by the alleged parties to the criminal connection, there is no reason for doubting that the verdict will be in his favor. Mr. Beecher’s and Mrs. | Tilton’s letters are to be relied on as corrobo- rative evidence, and they will be likely to have some influence on the minds of the jary in estimating the credibility of the testimony to the confesssions. Perbaps the most painful circumstance which has yet appeared in this revolting case is Til- ton’s statement of his intention to bring his | own daughter to the witness stand to prove a confession of adultery by her mother. Whether this young girl is to appear voluntarily or by paternal coercion to testify to her mother’s shame it will be the most disgusting spectacle | ever witnessed in a court of justice. Infi- nitely better had it been for Tilton to have in astronomical work bas heen greatly ad- borne hia wrange in ailanca—if ha has bev wronged—than to have either induced or per- mitted his daughter to aid in fixing the foulest of all brands on the brow of the mother who gave her birth, and who does not appear to have failed in maternal care and tenderness. The Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty. King Kalakaua is to arrive in Washington this morning. He will be received with the respect and honors due to royalty, and will attract attention as being the first King in office who ever visited the United States, though we have had several kings retired from business, Though a semi-official notice from San Francisco has told us that Kalakaua does not intend to disturb himself with business, and means to leave the negotiations for a recipro- city treaty entirely in the hands of the envoys he has appointed for that purpose, Judge Allen and Mr. H. A. P. Carter, yet in the con- versation of the dinner table he will no doubt know how to advance somewhat the fortunes of the proposed treaty, for he will be asked numer- ous questions, and, being an intelligent man, will be able to give such answers as may en- , lighten his visitors. He may, for instance, surprise some of our Senators by telling them that the small and apparently unimportant kingdom over which he rules already buys more from us than many far more important countries, The King could tell them that while Cuba took from us last year less than twenty per cent in value of what we bought from her the Sandwich Islands bought from us'more than we took of their products. He could show that while we pay a heavy annual sub- sidy to maintain our commerce with China that country took of our products, excluding gold and silver, last year but little more than the Sandwich Islands. Kings are not usually good at figures, but if His Majesty has a turn for statistics he will be able to tell Senators that his subjects are larger consumers of American products than some other and apparently more important sugar producing countries. For instance, he might say the Sandwich Islands took from the United States in 1871 American products to the value of $1,071,640, and in 1873 to the value of $836,522, the decrease in the latter year arising in part from the diversion of their trade to Australia, which begins to buy Hawaiian sugars. But the British and Dutch East Indies and the whole Spanish possessions in the East Indies, from whom we bought last year over thirty millions, took from us of our products only to the amount of $450,000; about half as much as the Hawaiian Islands. Cuba, from which we bought last year over seventy-seven millions, took from us in return less than fifteen millions. China took, of our products, with the help of costly steamer subsidies, only a trifle overa million, exclusive of specie. Such figures, stated by a king, would give some of our people a better idea of the real and relative importance of the Hawaiian group to us, and show that here is a field which our farmers and manufacturers may well desire to cultivate. Moreover, if Senator West should protest against making Hawaiian sugars free on account of their competition with the | Louisiana product, His Majesty would be able to show him that the entire sugar crop of the Sandwich Islands amounts to only about one anda half per cent of the amount of sugar imported into the United States last year from foreign countries, and is therefore such a trifle that the Louisiana planters need not be afraid of it. Indeed, King Kalakaua has so good a case that it hardly needs more than a fair state- ment to succeed, and the fate of his treaty troubles us less than our desire to know what will be His Majesty’s impressions of the first severe snowfall, of the first sight of the dome of the Capitol, of the great transcontinental journey, or his emotions on taking by the hand the great soldier-President, whose fortunes and campaigns during the war the King, then plain Colonel Kalakaua, watched with so lively and intelligent an interest, of Street Railroad Travel. Under the new dispensation the people of New York hope for the boon of rapid transit. Some of our contemporaries fail to discover a solid basis for this hope, and, indeed, regard the new amendments to the constitution as an insurmountable barrier to its realization. Nevertheless, with a democratic Mayor, a democratic Board of Aldermen, a demo¢ratic Governor, a democratic Assembly and ao Senate closely balanced politically, but so constituted as to insure the success of any well considered and desirable public measure, we have a right to expect harmonious and energetic official action on this important subject. In regard to the alleged constitu- tional difficulty, it exists more in imagination than in reality. The amendments provide (1) that no private or local bill shall be passed “granting to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks;’’ (2) that a general law providing for such a case shall be enacted; but (3) that ‘no law shall authorize the construction or operation of a street railroad except upon the condition that the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the prop- erty bounded on, and the consent also of tho local authorities having the control of that portion of a street or highway upon which it is proposed to construct or operate such rail- road, be first obtained; or, in case the consent of such property owners cannot be obtained, the General Term of the Supreme Court in the district in which it is Proposed to be con- structed may, upon application, appoint three commissioners, who shall determine, after a hearing of all parties interested, whether such railroad ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, con- firmed by the Court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of the property owners.'’ Two points present themselves in these amend- ments so far a8 they affect rapid transit in New York. If steam railroad from the Bat- tery to or beyond the Westchester bor- der is not a ‘street railroad,’ then such a road could be constructed under the provisions of a general law. If it should be held to be a “street railroad’’—although we believe that a contrary decision has already been made by the Courts—then the predicted opposition of property owners, if really en- countered, could be overcome by the action of the Supreme Court. So we see no good reason why the people of New York should not still hope for rapid transit, and solicit the boon at the hands of the party about to succeed to power in the city and State. But as rapid transit is, under the best of circumstances. still in the distance. any propo- Improvement sition or suggestion for the improvement of street car travel will be welcome to the citizens of Now York. We understand that one of the companies is about to refer the sub- ject of improvements to a committee of competent persons for their considera- tion and report, The principal lines are making enormous profits, and hith- erto the corporations have done but little for the people who gave them their franchises and give them their incomes. Some of the wealthiest roads are not remarkable for clean- liness, courtesy or speed. Their object seems to beto make all the money they can and to give the people as little accommodation as possible. As improvements imply expendi- ture we have to-day the same unwieldy, lum- bering cars we had when the first rails fora street line were laid down. In the midst of progression the street railroads have stood still. There is no doubt that the present cars could advantageously be replaced by cars built less clumsily and of not more than one-half their weight. This would insure increased speed, lesa work for the horses and greater ease in stopping and starting. It is to be hoped that this may be one of the improve- ments soon to be adopted, and that others may be suggested calculated to increase the ac- commodation and comfort of the passengers. Enforcing the Amendments. A case that is known as the Grant parish case is to be argued in the Supreme Court of the United States during the present term. It isan appeal froma decision of Mr. Justice Bradley, which arrested judgment in the case of The United States vs. Nash and others, in- dicted and convicted for conspiracy and mur- der under the Enforcement act of 1870. The appeal will require a decision by the Supreme Court of the meaning and effect of the clause placed at the endof the late amendments of the federal constitution, by which power is given to Congress to “enforce’’ those amend- ments “by appropriate legislation." The amendments prohibited the States from doing certain things. This, however, was not the first time that the federal constitution re- stricted the power of the States in relation to matters that were otherwise within their ex- clusive province. The original constitution contained ten or twelve such prohibitions, among the most familiar of which are those which prevent the passage of any ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of contracts. But the constitution did not create in Congress any special or substantive legislative power to en- force these prohibitions. It was assumed that they would enforce themselves, so to speak, through the operation of the judicial power, which, being made to extend to all cases arising under the constitution, would reach any case in which a State law violated one of these prohibitions, and thus it would be declared void and become inoperative. All the legislation that would be needful would consist in provisions that would keep open the access to the Supreme Court of the United States, which would be accomplished by pro- viding for the transfer to that ultimate tri- bunal of any case that involved the construc- tion or operation of any part of the federal constitution, The framers of the constitution therefore did not consider it needful or wise to provide for ‘enforcing’ the prohibitions addressed to the States by the creation of a special and affirmative legislative power in Con- gress. They intended that Congress should have nothing to do with enforcing these pro- hibitions beyond the provision of the neces- sary means for enabling the judicial power to make them effectual as the supreme law of the land. But now we have amendments of that con- stitution which are claimed to have enlarged the legislative power of Congress by the creation of a substantive and affirmative power to do what is described as ‘‘enforcing” the new prohibitions which those amendments have addressed to the States. It is to be ob- served that these new prohibitions do not differ in their nature from the old ones, Like the old ones they are simply declarations or pro- visions of a fundamental and imperative char- acter that the States shall not do certain things. Thus, the fourteenth amendment de- clares that ‘‘no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws;’’ and the fifteenth amendment declares that “the right of citi- zens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of color, race or pre- vious condition of servitude.’’ It is plain that these provisions can all be enforced by the judi- cial power of the United States without any intervention by Congress, if left to their own - operation. But what is the meaning and operation of the clause which gives Uongress power to “enforce” these provisions “by appropriate legislation?” Is it tobe regarded asa de- parture from the system that has always pre- vailed in regard to the operation of those restrictions which are imposed on the States, which they were loft to be enforced by thg judicial power? Does {t create in Congress an active, affirmative power of legislation, by which, without waiting for any breach of the inhibitions by a State, can enter a State and make laws on any subject that touches the enjoyment of life, liberty or property, or the equal protection of the laws, or the ex- ercise of the elective franchise by colored persons, or anything else that belongs to the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States? Is this the result of declar- ing by an amendment of the federal | constitution that a State shall not do what the amendment forbids it to and then saying that Congress may enforce the prohibition by appropriate legislation? It is quite obvious that if this is the effect there is no limit to the centralization that it produces. On the other hand, if the ‘‘on- forcing’’ clause of these amendments is to be limited in its construction to the provision of means for enabling the judicial power of the United States to declare any State law inoper- ative that violates one of these prohibitions, or to the definition of the rights that pertain o United States citizenship, the whole country, without any exception of party or section, will be able to regard the amendments as wise and salutary improvements of our federal system. The decision of these ques- tions by the Supreme Court will therefore be looked for with groat interest. do, | > ee The Earthquske in New York. If s volcano should suddenly appear in the peaceful Palisade, nobody could complain that it did not give the dwellers along the Hudson proper warning. For there is no doubt that on Thursday evening, between ten and eleven o'clock, an earthquake shook the foundations of those beautiful and famous hills, “rock ribbed and ancient as the sun,’* as Mr. William Cullen Bryant would describe them, and even disturbed the milkpans in the dairies of Westchester. We have reports from too many different places and persona to doubt that New York was the scene of a subterranean upheaval. It sounded like the echo of the recent election, and was as terri< fying to those who heard it as the democratia majorities were to the republican pvliticians. Its duration was probably not more than from ten to twenty seconds; for, though many per« sons supposed that it lasted much longer, an accurate measurement of time is difficult to untrained and excited minds, It sounded, we are told, ‘as if the earth had opened with a dull thud,” as if “a train of cars was passing over a distan! bridge,” like untimely thunder, and as if can non had been fired or a powder mill had ex- ploded. Of the scenes at Fort Washington. White Plains, Mount Kisco, Yonkers, Spuyten Duyvil, Sing Sing, Tarrytown, New Rochelle | and other places we give full accounts, and religious revivals may reasonably be expected among the inhabitants. The meaning of such an unusual occurrence should indeed be a subject of serious thought, and although this city did not experience much of the shock of the earthquake we are disposed to think it waa @ warning to our inhabitants. Poe seemed to think that New York is by no means a safe city to reside in, for he certainly referred to it when he said in one of his poems, And when, amid no earthly groans, Down, down that town shall seitie hence, Hell, rising from a thousand thrones, Shall do it reverence. Let us trust that by private virtue and municipal reform that salutation may be for » long time postponed. « Tux Txstowony taken in the McKenna murs der case yesterday was, on the whole, favora< ble to Coroner Croker, and will be found in full elsewhere. Over Nixe Txousanp Doxuars have beem collected in small sums for the Agassiz memo- rial, a proof that the American people are noé indifferent to the claims of science. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Gerrit Smith keeps a private orphan asylum, The iiberal republican primaries were spiritual manifestations, State Senator D. P. Wood, of Syracuse, {s at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Captain V. E. Law, of the British Army, is regise tered at the Brevoort House. Colonel A. K. McClure, of Philadelphia, is ree siding at the Hoffman Hotel. ' Mr. Adolph Sutro, of Nevada, is among the latest arrivals at the Gilsey House. General D. B, McKibbin, United States Army, is quartered at the Metropolitan Hotel. Solicitor Bluford Wilson, of the Treasury Departe ment, has apartments at the Brevoort House. Congressman-elect Elias W. Leavenworth, of Syracuse, 1s staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Vice President Henry Wilson arrived at the Grand Central Hotel yesterday (rom Washington. Colonel Jonn S, Mosby, of Virginia, arrived im this city yesterday andis at the Filth Avenue Hotel. Mr. Brand (liberal), member of Parllament for the borough of Stroud, England, kas been unseated for bribery. An iron steam ram of 650 tons, butlt for the Mexican government, has just been launched a€ Liverpool. Some one proposes a lecture on the war cries and whoops of Scotland, wit illustrations ang the bagpipes. Two of kobert Bruce’s bones were sold in Edine burgh for £5, and one of the vertebra of William the Lion jor £5 10s. Before leaving Balmoral the Queen drove te Bucp, in the neighborhood, to visit William Brown, the brother of John. Sir T. Fowel! Buxton, of England, returned to this city yesterday from Washington, and is at the Filth Avenue Hotel. Ex-Governor Wilitam Bigler and ex-Congresse man James K. Muorhead, of Pennsylvania, are a& the St. Nicholas Hotel. “Tam very happy,” said a French mother. ‘dh have a son-in-law whom everybody discusses an@ @ daughter whom no one talks apout.”” Mme. ima di Murska, who has just returned from a concert tour tn the West, has taken up her residence at the Union Square Hotel. The Continentai Herald, a aally paper in the Eng lish language hitherto published at Geneva, will in future also be published at Pars. One of the republican candidates in France signs himself Leon Masse, but his name is Louis Lucien Joseph Napoleon Jerome Masse. Upon the whole it is rather ridiculous as Black says thatthe Americans as a people should have no curiosity in regard to the life of Mr. Willian Black. Can it be possible, as seems likely from the last affidavit in the Beecher case, that Theodore Tilton will put his daughter on the stand against ner mother? Mr. Henry T. Blow, of Missouri, formerly a mem= ber of Vongress, and more recently United States Minister to Brazil, is sojourning at the Fifth Ave- nue Hotel. Mr. Walker, of the Bureau of Education at Washington, D. C., 1s at Ottawa, Ont., collecting information concerning the Canadian system of education. Hon. Mr, Childers, President of the Great West- ern Railway Company, leit Hamilton yesterday. He will visit Washington, the Southern States and Cuba before returning to England, Julius L. Clarke has resigned the office of State Insurance Commissioner of Massachusetts, aud Governor Talbot has appointed as his successor Stephen H. Rhodes, of Taunton, the Deputy Come missioner. ‘The Hwel-Pao, of Shanghae, opposes the intros duction of railways into China because of the accidents, and because all the products of the country already reach the seaboard by steamers on the rivers. MM, Ernonlt, La Bouillerte, Lucten Brun and the Duke de la Rochefoucanld-Bisaccia have beem hastily called to Frohsdorf by the Count de Cham- bord, and the royalists im France apprehend thas Henry intends to put torth another manifesto, Mr. Roberts, an English agriculturist, well known as a Judge and ofmcial reporter of several agricultural societies of England, has been ap- pointed successor to Professor McCandlish as Principal of the Ontario agricuitural College ab Guelph. Allopathy.—Paddy (he has brought a prescrip- tion to the chemist, who 1s carefally weighing avery minute portion of calomel), “Ot big yer pardon, sor, but y’ are mighty nare wid thas mid’cine! .And (coaxingly) I may till ye—’tis ior @ poor motherless child |!"—Punch. It was @ pet dog and very pretty. Her name, was Fanfan. One day it went away from its home, No. 51 avenue Matignon, Paris. Some hours passed and Mme. Coulon went to the police sta- tion to inquire if the dog had been seen. Ther@ she heard it had been killed in the street as mad. Then she remembered that a few days before the dog had bitten her little Louise, five years old. Imagine the trouble, Her anxiety was but tom Jost. In two days the little Louise was tearing with her teesh at the cheeks of ber dol and im, another day it was all over. ‘