The New York Herald Newspaper, December 13, 1874, Page 8

8 remittances NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. sudo. * JAMES GORDON BENNETT. PROPRIETOR NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yorx Henarp will be sent free of postage. Rejected communications wili not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions snd Advertisements will be received and /orwarded on the same terms | as in New York. Volume XXXIX GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty third street and Bighth s peanie —THE BLACK CROOK, at 8 P.M. ; closes at UP. PARK Broadway. between Twenty-tirse streets, GILDED AG, ataP. M.; Mr. John T, Raymond. THEATRE COMIQUE, Fog ad Broadway.—VABIETY, at 3%. M.; closes at 10:30 £. ana Twenty- sere Cloves ‘at 10:30 F BOOTH’S THEAT! corner of Twenty-third street and HERO OF THE HOUR, at 8 P.M. Mr. Henri Stuart ROMAN HIPPODROME, Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenae.—FETE AT PEKIN, afternoon and evening, at 2 and 3. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—THE SHAUGHRAUN, at3P. M.; closes at | i040 P.M. Mr, Boucicault ERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, } Fifty signal street and Lexington aveuue.~—* ARTETY, atse closes at 10-30 P.M. ) avenue. —THE es at 10:40 P.M. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, th street and Broad way. t BP. M.; closes at 10:30 P, E STOOPS TO | . Miss Fanny Twerty ei CONQUER, a Davenport. OPERA HOUSE, t. near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO Dan BRYA) West Twenty-third MINSTRELSY, &c., ats P. aL; closes at 101’, M. Bryant BROOKLYN THEATRE Washington street JANE EYRE, at 38. M. Miss Char. | tote Thompson. SAN FRANC Broadway, corner of MINSTRELSY, ats P. CO MINSTRELS, enty-pinth treet NEGRO | closes at lu P.M. RO. LL, See streeL—BEGONE DULL CARE, Mr. Mac- cabe. GLORE THEATRE, Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P. M. Miss Jennie Hughes. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street and Sixty avenue. —CHILPERIC, at 8 FP. M.; closes at 10:45 FM. Miss Emily Soldene. NEW PARK THEATRE, Fulton strect, Brooklyn.—!HB URPHANS, R. M. Car- roll and Sons, GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street-—DEK VETTER, at $2. M. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thurtieth street.—OLIVER TWIST, RA P.M. QUITS, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 P. M. insoa, METROPOLITAN THEATRE, comes Broadway.—VARIK1Y, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 OLYMPIC THEATRE, Post 624 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 5 P. M.; closes at 10:45 QUADRUPLE SHEET. New York, Sunday, Dec. 13, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities | are that the weather to-day will be clear. Waxx Srazer Yesterpay.—Gold 111§. The market was without features. The trinsac- tions were small, and prices steady. Money stiffened to five per cent on call loans. Tae Ancuments in the Croker case were finished yesterday, and the jury were locked up last night to deliberate upon their verdict. Tue Mysterious Case of Hilt, the alleged bond forger, his sickness and what the New York police think of it, form the plot of an interesting story in our columns to-day. The Srory of a terrible voyage of an Eng- lish ship from Calcutta to this port is else- where reported. The Asiatic cholera broke out among the coolie passengers to the West Indies, and fifty-two of them died within three weeks. Tue Anztvar of King Kalakaua at Wash- ington and his reception by Secretary Fish were attended by little formality. His Majesty was unfortunately exhausted by his long journey and other ceremonies were post- poned until Monday. Tue Von Annm Triat.—The examination of Count Von Arnim was continued yesterday, but little of importance was elicited. It seems to be the aim of the Crown prosecution to establish its charges by the testimony of the prisoner—an effort which he is not disposed to assist. The trial, it is thought, will be con- eluded by Wednesday next. Tue Suxpar Question.—The decision of Chief Justice Daly upon the Sunday amuse- ment question was rendered yesterday, and, as will be seen, declares the law constitutional under which the Police Commissioners have proceeded, and denies the application for an injunction. His argument concerning the theatres is worthy of careful study. Tax Vicxssvro Trovstz.—The statement | we print to-day, from a number of prominent gtizens of Vicksburg explaining the recent troubles, shows a sad state of affairs. A county government almost entirely composed | of negroes, heavy taxes demanded by irre- sponsible officers, the destruction of public records ané general defiance of the laws, cul- minated in bloodshed. The statement is ad- ditional evidence that the citizens of Vicks- burg acted in self-defence and with modera- tion, Tax Unica Observer suggests painful re- flections in its observations upon the execu- tion of Smith, who was hanged at Watertown on Friday for the murder ot Charles Wenham. According to the Observer Smith was innocent of the crime for which he died. There are certainly many circumstances in the story of this crime to throw doubt upon the guilt of Smith. If there is any virtue at all in the ter- rible law which forfeits a murderer's life wo cannot be too careful in our manner of ad- ministering it, We admit that capital punish- ment is necessary for the protection of society, and we think that our Governors have been disposed to consider carefully every sentence brought before them. At the same time, ‘when a man is executed for murder under cir- cumstances that leave a doubt on the minds of reasonable, intelligent people as to his guilt, the effect is to destroy whatever influence the punishment would have upon the community, for we can think of nothing more terrible than to send an innocent maa to an ignominious death. NEW YORK Rr asatananai and Royalty. The fault of our modern history is that it presents its heroes in full dreas. Our grcat men are apt to become legends. We suppose that by some such process of adulation mythology found its gods. Macaulay, in one of his earlier writings, gives a prophetic ac- count of an epic poem, to be written a thou- sand years hence, descriptive of Waterloo. In this poem Napoleon, the son of Mars, fights a personal combat with Wellington, armed by Vulcan and the Cyclops. We re- spect the sentiment of reverence which yearns for heroes and hero worship ; but it never de- tracts from a truly great man that the truth should be known about him. That was a manly admonition of Cromwell's that the painter should not omit the warts, We some- times think it would be a comfort to have areal life of George Washington, and we wish that some courageous historian would enter upon the task. As it is, the awful figure of the Father of his, Country fades into the shadows and becomes legendary, and we think of him more asa demigod than as a mere man, with the pas- sions and virtues of manhood. The real Na- poleon has been lost in the nimbus of French glory. Frederick is as much of a German legend as Barbarossa, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln—how little we. know of them, or, rather, how litile we remember of their real manhood! Franklin preserves his personality to us because in a spirit of sublime truth and frankness he told his life as he really lived— when he fell, when he ruse, when he was weak and when he was strong. This very courage of truth telling has undoubtedly given him his ever fresh and enduring fame. There are few periods of English history more interesting than the reigns of George IV. and his successor. It was the time of the Reform bill. England, exhausted from | her Titanic strife with the French Revolution and Napoleonism, was herself rapidly drifting upon a revolution that would have been more terrible than anything ever seen in France; for there are cruel possibilities in this Saxon blood that we see in thatof no otherrace, The aris- tocracy made its last stand for the remnants of the feudal system, for pocket boroughs and manorial rights in the House of Commons, for the exclusion of the Catholic and Hebrew from the higher privileges of an Englishman. Europe, torn and still bleeding with its years of war, was on the verge of new strifes. The hatreds of the bloody time were still fresh. The German mourned over Jenaand dreamed of the Rhine, the Frenchman longed for the hour of revenge for Waterloo. It was an uneasy, distracted time, and we feel ita influence to this day. The battles for reform, for Catholic emancipation, for the abolition of colonial slavery, were only antici- pations of our own battles for union and lib- erty. We only see the history of these events through the clouds of prejudice and party feeling. We read the journals and learn how royal, how gracious, how beneficent a king was George IV.! We read Thackeray's fear- ful arraignment and we learn that he was @ Prince Florizel in velvet, silk, furs and wig. We have a glimpse of William IV. as an honest, bluff, hearty sailor king—a royal jack tar, fitly reigning over a nation of jack tars. We see Wellington, the most famous Englishman since ‘Cromwell, a gigantic figure | on the canvas, “truth | lover’ and _“trath, teller,” and rapidly becoming as much of a legend as Washington. Brougham shoots his eccentric course, blazing, brilliant, incompre- hensible, But over all are the clouds of pas- sion, party pride, anger, adulation, and we only see the heroes in full dress, As will be seen from a review elsewhere printed these clouds at last pass away. There was a nobleman who sat in royal councils, a keen, truthful, honest man, who noted from time to time what he saw and heard. These notes come to light in the shape of the diary of Charles C. F. Greville, which is elsewhere reviewed. Certainly there can be no more instructive comment upon this time, upon the true motives that governed England during these eventful years, upon the whole royal and aristocratic system, than is farnished by Mr. Greville. This gentleman was not an agitator, a Chartist ora republican, anxious to tear down and destroy. He wasa tory, the descendant of dukes and earls, with all the tastes of a gouty, old-tashioned English gentleman, lov- ing racing and cards and high living, and hating radicalism and innovation. We have the aristocratic system as painted by an aris- tocrat. It is not for us as republicans to say what its effect will be upon the minds of thoughtful Englishmen, but certainly, as republicans, we have the right to note the moral When George IV. ascended the throne James Monroe was President, When William Iv. died Andrew Jackson was closing his career. Mr. Greville describes the history of two reigns. During that time England was governed by George IV. and his brother. The United States were governed by James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. The ruling minds in English Politics _ were Canning, Wellington, Brougham, Melbourne and Peel. The ruling minds in American politics were Calhoun, Crawford, Clay, Web- ster and Van Buren. As statesmen the men who were called upon to govern by Parlia- mentary system are not inferior to the men who were called upon to lead in our own legis- lation ; but certainly they are not superior. Between the chief magistrates, those who ruled the two countries, there can be no com- parison. The Parliamentary system in tho two countries gave high and bright characters to the work of government. The system ot royalty gave England princes representing the lowest type of manhood, It is hard to think of a great nation like England being ruled by ‘a contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog’’ like George IV., or “a shuffling, exceedingly silly, stupid burlesque, bustling old fellow” like William IV. These are not our words, remember, but those of a descendant of the Bentincks and the Warwicks and Clerk to the Royal Council. And, what is more, these monarchs governed England. The legend that, as kings, they were symbols, emblems, shadows, and that their Ministers really ruled, disappears. George [V. was as much the ruler of England as Charles IL. He stole the crown jewels and gave them to his mistresses, and his Ministers dared not remonstrate. He made bishops at the bidding of his Nell Gwynne, and the Cabinet could not prevent him. He would allow Canning none of the patronage, and be- fore he permitted that brilliant statesman to enter the Cabinet he wrote bim HERALD, an insolent letter forgiving him because he had taken sides with his Queen. It is painfal to know that Canning accepted the insult and crawled into power. Not one of the reform measures of the time were con- ceded by the King until concession was the only means of preventing revolution. It is sad to see that even in our own time ladies of noble lineage did not think it beneath them to become the lemans of a king, and to séek honors and wealth and power for their fami- lies by their own dishonor. During the time that George IV. ruled England he himself was ruled bya physician of whom he was afraid and a middle-aged woman who en- riched her family and her friends, William IV. was a better character than his brother in some respects. But among his first acts as King was to imitate Charles Stuart by making his natural children peers and peeresses. He wasa bitter partisan. When Ministers did not suit him he insulted them. He was al- ways ‘‘dying for war,’’ wanted to fight France and Russia and China, and was anxious to have slavery restored. Whenever these kings appear in this history they are either infamous orabsurd. The ruling mind was Wellington, who had at times power over them both. Wellington managed to guide affairs by allow- ing one of the kings to steal the crown jewels and by allowing the other to quarter bis natural children upon the treasury. But on national questions Wellington always showed the courage of a soldier and carried his point by resolution. This, however, was only on national questions. On matters of money and office the royal will was always supreme. But is this not a new chapter in an old story? Constitutional kings are oniy as other kings. Take tho line of English rulers from Elizabeth to Victoria, and what do we see? The only real King was William IIL, who was a Dutchman and a usurper. Next to William the most respectable character was Charles L, and he was so arbitrary that he lost his head. As for the remainder, there is not one whose character is not, in nearly all the essential attributes of a prince and a gentlemen, beneath contempt, The’ royal system is a blunder, a mockery, a false pretence. We blush for our race to see England governed by the men whose characters are now written by a de- scendant of the Warwicks. At the same time it is to the great honor and glory of Eng- land that, notwithstanding the Jolly, the crimes ann the “imbecility of her’ ‘rulers, she has advanced so steadily in hor splendid and prosperous career. It shows that the people are greater than the Crown, and in showing this it teaches the world the elementary prin- ciple of democracy. To that extent Mr. Greville’s book is the most important contri- bution to republicanism that has appeared this century. City Debt md Taxation—Where Docs the Money Go? The Tweed régime robbed the city of New York of an amount of money roughly esti- mated at twenty million dollars. Whatever the sum may have been, more or less, it was taken from the city treasury before the pres- ent municipal government came into power. It was a part of the public debt before Comp- troller Green succeeded to the management of the city finances. Since that time we have a right to believe that no fraudulent claim has been paid by the city and no_ money belong- ing io the people has been stolen. Indeed, the enormous expenditures of the Finance Department, we are told, have been due to the large clerical and detective force necessary to investigate claims and protect the people against any further payment of dishonest bills, We find in the Comptroller’s financial state- ments that the sum of eight million dollars of the debt incurred since 1871 is chargeable to the Tweed administration ; but this must have been justly due, or it would not have been paid by Mr. Green. We owe about forty-four million dollars more now than we owed on January 1, 1872. As we have paid off about six millions of indebt- edness in the last three years the increase of the public debt in that period has actually been some fifty million dollars. Deduct- ing the eight million dollars alleged to have been paid on liabilities incurred prior to Sep- tember, 1871, and we find thas the increase chargeable to our present financial manage- ment is about forty-two million dollars. What have we got to show for this amount of money? How has it been spent? Have we got rapid transit, new docks, and bridges over the East River? Have the fine improvements in the upper part of the island been pushed vigorously forward to completion? Have our wretched pave- ments been replaced by good roads? Has the new County Court House been finished? Has any great public work been un- dertaken in the interest of the prop- erty owners to enhance the valuc cf real estate and revive the market, or in the inter- est of the great mass of the people to afford them increased accommodations and home comforts? In Paris the e government incurred a debt of two hundred and forty-eight million dollars ; but for that amount old Paris was swept away and new Paris, with its magnifi- cent boulevards and splendid public buildings, rose in its place. In Paris the government now asks a new loan of fifty-two million dol- lars; but for that it will rebuild the Hotel de Ville and other public edifices swept away by war ond incendiarism, and will complete the system of improvement interrupted five years ago. New York has incurred fifty mill- ion dollars of debt in three years and has nothing to show for it except overpaid depart- ments swarming with political vermin, vexa- tious and costly litigation, financial muddle and confusion, dilapidated streets, neglected public works, stagnation and general dry rot. Mr. Wickbam will take office in eighteen days from to-day, and the first act of the new Mayor should be to lay bare before the people of New York their exact financial condition, and to insist upon the adop- tion of a sound financial policy in place of the charlatanism of which we have been the victims for the past three years, We should know exactly how much we owe or are alleged to owe, down to the last dollar claimed to be due from the city to any in- dividual on any account, We should know the precise condition of the sinking fund se- curities and of the bonded debt, and the people should be allowed to decide what they are going todo about them. At present we are pushing an immense ball of debt before us, which will go on increasing in size until it rolls back and crushes us. At the same time SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1874.-QUADRUPLE SHEET: our annual taxation is increasing ata start- Doctors om Diphth white man will give evidence against one 0 ling rate. Two millions more in the esti- mates anda tax of three per cent is the pros- pect before us for next year, The Board of Apportionment has failed in its duty in not reducing this shameful estimate at least four million dollars from its present amount; but it is not too late to make atone- ment. A general reduction should be made on the revision of the estimate as a preliminary step to the financial reform which, it is to be hoped, will be initiat.d by the new city gov- ernment, The Danger in New Orleans. The troubles in Louisiana cannot be smoothed over. Their causes are deeply rooted, and the principal cause seems to be that the right of self-government is denied to the people. When the Kellogg government was deposed a few months ago and Lieuten- ant Governor Penn established in office, it only needed a proclamation from the Presi- dent to suppress the revolution. The troops sent to New Orleans were useless to enforce an order which was at once obeyed. The people then trusted to the ap- proaching election to redeem them from injustice and misrule, and they were not wrong, for Louisiana was carried by the con- servatives, But now it is believed that the election is to be practically set aside bya mere vote of the Returning Board and the lower branch of the Legislature declared re- publican in defiance of the vote. The White Leaguers apparently find no hope either in law or in the ballot, and by our despatches from New Orleans it will be seen that another armed revolution is to be feared. ‘The excite- ment in New Orleans seems to be intense and irrepressible, ‘The Returning Board assembled yesterday, but, alarmed by the menaces of its opponents, adjourned until Monday—a fact which seems to have increased the suspicions and anger of the citizens. We are told that an outbreak may be expected at any moment. If the Board declares the republican State Treas- urer elected and creates a republican ma- jority in the House it will be difficult to pre- vent it, What the President will do in such acase we know from his Message. He will support Kellogg, and, if necessary, do it with all the military force athiscommand. It is the opinion of Mr. Kellogg that opposition to bing is { treason to the United States, and he is no doubt emboldened in his attitude by the knowledge that, whatever the Returning Board may do, he will be sustained by Grant. Out of this terrible situation it is hard to see how the citizens of Louisiana can escape. Vio- lence will not help them, but, on the contrary, must add immeasurably to their troubles. Their only hope is in the interference of Congress, and that they should invoke. If the Return- ing Board should perpetrate so great an out- rage as is apprehended its work could not long endure before the indignation of the North, and the Louisianians will be impru- dent if they precipitate an armed conflict, which is precisely the blunder their op- pressors would provoke. Topmost Thoughts of the Press. Our religious exchanges this week indulge in comments on a variety of topics, among which are the President’s Message to Con- gress, concerning which the Independent says it is brief, business like, and in the maina sensible review of national affairs, He makes the currency his chief topic, but the Indepen- dent cannot compliment him upon anything new that he advances upon this threadbare and tedious question. The legislation recom- mended by the President in regard to Chinese women, this journal says, touches the correc- tion of an evil that has never been hinted at in the Message of a President. The controversy between Mr. Gladstone and Archbishop Manning receives the continued attention of the Exuminer and Chronicle, whose editor thinks that the result of the dis- cussion thus far is that Mr. Gladstone has the best of the argument, and, whatever may be the political result of this agitation in Eng- land, there can be no doubt that it will have @ far-reaching effect upon the convictions of the people. The Church Journal, discussing the same topic, thinks it is idle to say that the personal infallibility of the Pope was the doctrine of the Church before the Vatican Council issued its decrees, If it existed at all it was a mere matter of opinion, and not binding upon any conscience, But, to bring it into the realm of faith, says the Journal, and require its ac- ceptance on peril of damnation is surely to give it a new status, and the Charch which so adds it to the faith is not declaring the same terms of salvation which she announced pre- viously. The Observer, which appears in a brand new dress, adorned as a bride for her husband, and enriched, as usual, with a good store of intelli- gence and learning, puts the controversy into this shape: —‘‘To what extent does the Roman Church, now represented by the Sovereign Pontiff, claim authority in the domain of civil siuthority? whence does that Church profess to derive that authority ? and how does it hope, in, this e, to maintain that t aythority in Eu- rope and the | United States?” Thesé questions the Observer considers in detail, and con- cludes that civil and religious government are wholly distinct in their sphere and opera- tion. The Cutholic Standard, of Philadelphia, argues the distinctness, of the two govern- ments, but that civil government being limited in its sphere must of necessity have some superior power which imposes its limitation, and as the individual conscience is con- fessedly not that power it becomes the duty, as it is the prerogative, of the Church to do this, The Tablet, referring to the deposing power of the popes in the Middle Ages, thinks this power belonged to the successors of St. Peter by divine right; that they were the lawmakers and interpreters of the laws of the Church and had to pass judgment on transgressors of those laws and their de- cisions were consequently final. No dissent from the infallible Church would be tolerated in things pertaining to her sphere, and she was willingly consulted in things that perhaps did not come under her control. The Freeman's Journal, the Catholic Review and the Catholic Mirror (Baltimore) applaud the perseverance and energy of their co- religionists in Rochester, N. Y., who have at last secured for their clergy equal rights with the ministers of Protestant denominations to visit and hold religious services in the Western House of Refuge, Religious In another column we give some communi- cations from physicians and others on the subject of diphtheria, and a few days since we printed a report of the deliberations on the same subject of doctors; and, coming from a perusal of the proceedings of two learned bodies gathered especially to discuss the prevalent malady of diph- theria, one could only turn with a dis- couraged impression of how little all that amounted to. First they gave the usual reference to Bretonneau. Trousseau named Bretonneau in every second sentence when he talked about diphtheria, and probably no gathering of doctors assembled to discuss the subject would ever feel easy until the im- portant duty of following that example had been discharged by some one of the number. Then there are the bacteria. It would in these days be asimpossible to get on in any medical discussion without bacteria as it would be to have a Dutch fair without salt fish, It shows that if you don't know much about discase you have at least read the Germans. Then there is the theory that itis due to foul air, and the other that foulness of the air bas nothing to do with it; the theory that it is due to want and misery, and the counter theory that those who are blessed with plenty have it worst; the theory that it is local, and the theory that it has.no relation whatever to either time or place; and finally an ingenious notion that it is perhaps due remotely to the panic, the ‘‘depression of the times,'’ Knowledge naturally tends to make men cautious in utterance; and experience of the consequences of blundering badly will always make any thoughtful physician hold his peace with the tenacity of a ruminant in deep consideration of the sweetest possible cud, as to any disease whose nature is only partly known. On this theory we can readily account for the little the doctors venture; butif they have nothing to say why do they meet? Ifthey have not a little knowledge to add to the subject why in the world pretend to discuss it? How is an afflicted public any the better for two or three formidable sessions of medical guessing ‘classes? Sessions such as those we have re- corded give ample justification to the inactivity of the Board of Health, since they tend to spread the notion that no line of action can be defined which may not be ut- terly erroneous; and, indeed, give the support of learned bodies to the fancy that the best we can do is to apply the ‘‘expectant’’ method to sanitary science and wait patiently till the problem solves itself and the disease disap- pears. Is that all that the Board of Health and the professors have to propose ? A New Phase of Smigration. One of the undertones, if we may use the word, of the President's Message was his ref- erence to the emigration of Chinese into Cali- fornia, and especially the terms under which these Mongols come. It is, says the Presi- dent, ‘a generally conceded fact that the great proportion of the Chinese emigrants who come to our shores do not come voluntarily to make homes with us and their labor produc- tive of general prosperity, but come under contract with head men, who own them almost absolutely. In a worse form doos it apply to Chinese women. Hardly a perceptible per- centage of them perform any honorable labor,"" but thsir presence is a shame and disgrace to the community. The President says “if this evil practice can be legislated against it will be my pleasure as well as duty to enforce any resolution to secure so desira- blean end.” In response to this admirable suggestion of the President a resolation has been submitted to the House giving him power to act. The Chinese problem has been growing in ; importance from year to year and bids fair to become in time one of the gravest problems in our policy. On one side of the ocean is a vast country that has every advantage of nature, climate and soil, and practically uninhab- ited. On the other side is an ancient civiliza- tion, going back centuries before the rise of any modern power, teeming with population, estimated by some at 400,000,000 souls, suffer- ing from all the evils of over-population. In other words, on one ‘side of this sea is a vacuum; on the otherside an overflowing res- ervoir; and the law of nature will apply in this case as in others, and we have the irre- sistible impulse of China to throw its surplus population into the United States. So dense is the population that China could send to America more people than now inhabit this Continent and not feel the diminution of her strength as much as Ireland or Germany feel the emigration from their dominions during the last ten years, This is one view of the Chinese problem, and the question is how to solve it. Under | our statutes, especially our civil rights amend- ments srising out of emancipation and our desire to protect the negro, the Chinaman has as much right in America as the German. Baron Hibner, in his admirable book, ‘A Ramble Around the World,” gives us a glimpse of Chinese life in California, From him we learn that there are between eighty and one hundred thousand Chinamen in that State; that some of them have large and important commercial houses; that ‘the people possess honesty and intelligence,”’ and the “facility with which they at once seize and adopt the American and European rules of commerce’’ is remarkable. Until now the Chinese have been nothing but birds of pas- sage. They have none of them dreamed of settling in America for life. Many of those who come are peasants in easy circumstances; some bring a certain amount of capital, “ell vigorous arms and willing hands, and minds ready to embrace every chance of success, anda firm determination to make a little fortune.”’ Unlike other emi- grants, they come to America ‘with the hope and intention of returning to China, and go £0 far as to enter into contracts with the gov- ernment or the companies that in the event of death their bodies shall be carried back.’’ The Baron observes, however, the irrepressible conflict between the Californians and the Chinese, The Chinese are out of the pale of the law; ‘before the courts their evidence is refused. Those who work at the mines are taxed to the extent of four dollars a month per head. Without the least provocation on their part the Chinese are constantly beaten and robbed. No notice is taken of these iniquities. There is not an instance of any verdict of any jury being given in their favor, or of any pun- ishment being inflicted on the quiltv. No his own color in favor of a Chinaman, and the Chinese themselves are not allowed as wite nesses.” The Baron attributes the reason of all this to the fact that a Chinaman will work, for @ dollar a day in the mines, while a white man will insist upon fouy dollars. He found the Chinese the best work« men possible, and says that without their aig the Pacific Railroad would not have beeq built. “They carry home in their trunks the fruit of their long and patient toil, in thein minds a sovereign contempt of our civilization and in their hearts the bitterest hatred of the Christian.” The testimony of this distinguished diplo- matist gives us the other side of the Chinese question. What is the best solution? It doeq not seem patriotic for us to invite these hordeg of mongrels to come sweeping into our country like the armies of Attila, gathering our sub- stance and returning to their own country without any contribution to the prosperity of the Republic, On the other hand, it isa crima against civilization and a violation of justice for us to permit the outrages that are inflicted’ by white men upon the Chinese laborer,} whose only crime is that he will do better and cheaper work than his rival. The evil to which the President ealls attention, however, is one that should be remedied. Pulpit Topics To-Day. As Christmas time approaches sensational, topics lessen, and pastors and preachers are thrown back upon the old Book for their topics of pulpit thought. Hence we have to-day more than usual of them that centra round the cross and the great atonement., Such a change must be something like that from midnight to midday, as it will be described this evening by Mr. Boole, and the congregations will, doubtless, feel themselvea, drawn more closely than ever toward the wondrous cross by the increased earnestness, which their pastors will necessarily display, as they present to their aspiring eyes tha wondrous crown which awaits the faithful as, soon as they reach the end of the way of salvation. But Messrs. Terry and Kennard! will have more particulars to give concerns ing these things, Those who are inquiring after ‘Tho Un« known God, the maker of heaven and earth and all things that are therein,” will be directed how and where to find Him by Mr.! Phelps ; and those who seek for a proot of the, Gospel in Christ's life will be shown where, and what it is by Dr. Thompson. ‘What think ye of Christ?” once asked by the Saviour, is again asked by Mr. Hawthorne,’ and made ps tbe Jneditation ig evening. ligion, in opinion of rf Pullman, is the highest education, and he a so present it, It is that which makes char- acter round and symmetrical and constitutes} the true glory of manhood, as Mr. Davies promises to demonstrate. a tam “The Question of the Hour,” as Dr. By lance calls the problem of poverty that now, comes up before us in this city, will be con- sidered by him this evening in regard to wisa and effective methods of help. The Doctor, is a man of mature thought, and will offer, some suggestions that our city almoners should’ hear and heed. The question of amusements,’ in its purer aspects, will be discussed by Dr. Deems. Mr. Harris will draw some lessons from the life and death of Mayor Havemeyer,! and Dr. Rogers will do likewise from tha life and death of the late Jonathan Sturges. The Universalist doctrine, by judicious adver« tising, is attracting the attention of ‘‘orthodox”™ pastors, and to-day Dr. Fulton will inquire whother or not it satisfies Universalist, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Mr. Albert Bierstadt, the artist, is atthe Bre« voort House, Mr. Mathew Hale, of Albany, is among the latest arrivals at the Gilsey House. Congressman Alexander Mitcheil, of Wisconsin, is staying at the Hoffman House. Juage George F. Vomstock, of Syracuse, is soe journing at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Congressmen Hiram P. Bell and Henry R. Harris, of Georgia, are at the Grand Central Hotel. Assemblyman Emerson £. Davis, of Whitehall, N. Y., is stopping at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Somebody went home from the sheep market at arras the otner day and forgot a lot of sixty sheep. Assistant Adjutant General J. B. Stonehouse ar- rived from Albany last evening at the Hotel Bruns. wick, Mr, Richard Harrington, of safe burglary noto- riety, arrived at the Metropolitan Hotel yesterday from Washington. ATne new Japanese Consal of Washington and suite are expected in Omaha to-day, en route for the scene of their future labors. The ‘Porter to the Great Seal’’—the functionary who operates the great seai of England—uses (our hundred weight of wax per month, Rey. W. H. . Murray proposes to go West on a lecturing tour. About $90,000 have already been pleaged toward bis new charch scheme. Chevalier Alphonse de Stuers, Chargé d/Affairca of the Netherlands at Washington, has taken up his residence at the Sturtevant House, Field Marshal Von Moltke was elected a member of the Reichstag, but his election has been de- clared null, on account of an informality. An increase in the number of divorces in Eng- land ts attributed to higher wages. Poor people conld not previously save enough money to pay lawyers. Russia has sent 8 naval attaché to Berlin to re port on the progress of the Prussian navy. The curiosity is not admired, It is said, at the seaport of Berlin. Professor Marsh and party reached New Haven from the West yesterday. The scientific results of the expedition are important, and will soon be published. The Vienna Tages Presse believes that the Von Arnim case has divided the Prussian royal family, and that the Empress Augusta, never in sympathy with Bismarck, now resolutely sustains bis victim, Right Hon. Hugh E. ©. Childers, Pi Great Western Raliway of Canada, Brydges, of Montreal, arrived in this city evening from Canada, and are at the Brevoort House. To avold disputes when a piece is redemanded, Pasdeloup has adopted the excellent plan of ree executing it after the regular programme ts ex- hausted, so that those who do not wish co stay can retire, ‘The city government of Paris has organized a service of 609 tumbrils for the removal of snow from the streets. The sum voted was $20,000 How many millions would a similar service ada to our expenses? As the King of Wirtemburg has no children bis nephew will inherit the throne, and it 19 an. nounced that thia Prince wil marry the Princess Marte, the eldest daughter of Frederick Oharies— the Red Prince. Acar is now in use on one of the French ratl. roads to which the Bessemer steamer system has been applied. The car is hung on elastic springs, and the motion while travelling is said to be als moat {mperceptible. Letters patent of Louts Philippe, creating Adolph Thiers @ Baron “for eminent services to the monarchy,” wave been found in the National Library at Paris. So they say in the Gauluis; bat ther are great jokers,