The New York Herald Newspaper, December 24, 1874, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1874—WITH SUPPLEMENT NEW Y ORK 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. eS NOTICE TO SUBSC RIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Heraup will be sent free of postage. aes All business or news letters yo telegraphic despatches ‘must be addressed New York Hera. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Letters apd packages should be properly LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK | HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advert received and forwarded on the same terms isements will be | as in New York. VOLUME XX TO-NIGHT. | AMUSEMENTS See LYCKUM THEATR Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue.—GENEVISVE DB BRABANI,at5 ¥. M.; closes at 10:45 7, M. Miss Emily | Soldene. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Proadway.—THE SHAUGHRAUN, at 8”, M.; closes at Wi) P.M. Mr, Boucicault WOOD'S MUSEUM, of Triruetn street.—THE CAR. Broadway, KU ARRAH-NA-POGUL, 1. Tmson. F KOUEN, at 2 closes at 1045 P. by METROPOLITAN THEATRE, pe. 585 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 | M. OLYMPIC THEATRE, gh 6% Broadway.—VARIBTY. at $B. M.; closes at 10:45 | GRAND OPERA HOUSE, | Twenty-third street and Eighth avenue. —THE BLACK CROOK, at 5 P. M.; closes at Li P. M. | 3 TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSER, } Bowery.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.: closes at 10:45 P. M. { PARK THEATRE, | Broadway, between Twenty-first dnd Twenty-second | streets —GILDRD AGE, ot BF. ML; closes at 100 FM. | Mr. Jobn 7. Raymond. f BOOTH'S THEATRE, | corner of Twenty-third street and ~ixth avenue —THE | HERO OF THE HOUR, at8 P.M; Closes at 10:40 P.M, | Mr. Henri Stuart, ROMAN HIPPODROMR, Twenty with street | and | Fourth ‘avenue. —BLOE | HAND aad FETE AT PEKIN, atternoon and evening, atzand & | TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street. VARIETY, at 8 P. M. FIFTH AVENUB THEATRE, ‘Twenty-eighth street and Broadway.—A NEW WAY TO | PAY OLD DEBTS, at8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P.M. Miss Davenport. BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenne.—NEGRO eo PLOY, &c., até P. M.; closes at 10 P.M. Daa ryan METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, Fourteenth stree—Open trom 10 A. M. to P. My NIBLO’S, * Broadway.—JACK AND JILL, at8 P. M. BROOKLYN THEATRE, ton strei LED ASTRAY,atoP.M. Mr. Frank rs, Cow ‘Washi: Boach, FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, roadw: er of Twenty niuth stree.—NEGRO MINSTEOLSY, a8 POM. : closes atl P. Me cont ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth street—BEGONS DULL ‘CARE Mr. Mac- GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway. VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P. M. WITH, SUPPLEMENT BW YORE, _THUBSDAY, DE "EMBER 24, 1874, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cloudy, clear- ing up later. Wau. Srreet.—The stock market yester- day was firm at the close. Foreign exchange was quiet. Gold ended at 111}. Money closed at 33 a 4 per cent. Conaress Apsovgnep yesterday for the holidays, and will reassemble on the 5th of January, His Pacrric Masesty Krvc Kanaxava ar- rived in town last night. It is a splendid op- portuaity for our nobles in petto to rub skirts with an American king. From a king to a Cesar is but a step. Tue New Onueans Trovsrx looks serious. Our despatch from that city recounts new steps in the fraudulent action of the Return- ing Board of a character so unabashed and outrageous that it is doubtful whether the people will quietly submit. It they heed our advice they will preserve the peace at every sacrifice of feeling. The monstrous frauds which so justly excite them will make a sim- ilar impression on the whole country, and if their wrongs are not prouiptly redressed by Congress the people will change the federal government. The citizens of New Orleans must not weaken their case by violence. Borarantist Inrricves.—The shadow of the Empire still disturbs the qmret ot the French Assembly. The judicial investigation into the alleged existence of a Borapartist Committee of Appeal to the people having failed to satisfy the Assembly the members are about to take the matter into their own hanis. If the Committee of Ap- peal ever did exist, which is very probable, the enemies of the Empire in the Assembly are pretty sure to unearth all information about its proceedings. Some of the Bona- partist members went very far during the de- bate. There will probably be # number of | exciting scenes and at least a dozen of duels, with no one very seriously hurt, as a conse- quence of the agitation—‘‘Only this and noth- ing more.” Svrreninc Nupraska. —In, another column we publish a card trom General Brisbin. The people of Nebraska are on the verge of starvation. If they are not helped they must die, This is no ordinary appeal, for these people suffer from causes beyond human con- trol Not through their neglect or want of foresight has this calamity fallen upon them. They can, therefore, claim our utmost charity. Nor will the appeal be made | in vain to the happy citizens of New York gathered at this holy time about the Christ. | mas tree—the mystic emblem of love and charity. At no period would deaf ear be | turned to such an appeal, bat at this moment | it comes with tenfold force, and we doubt not | will elicit a hearty and generous response. Let na haln Nebraska. 7 ve Flashes of War. Every now and then we have mysterious signs from Washington. When the range of political topics is limited, or when the admin- istration party begin to show evidences of dis- integration, or when | the democrats manifest unusual strength or that conservative wisdom | which to them is the highest strength, we are reminded in a mysterious manner of our foreign relations. Sometimes it is the ‘dmminence of a war with Spain on account of Cuba.” Again, it is the depredations of the Mexicans on the Rio Grande which de- mand ‘‘the protection of American rights and property."’ Then we have an intimation that, | after all, our relations with England have not been finally adjusted, that nothing will suit | John Ball but to beat him. To this is added | occasional gusta of activity in the Navy De- partment, suggestions about ‘reviving Ameri- can commerce,"’ and sending ‘the old flag to float again over every sea.’’ The permanent question of our Foreign Department is Cuba. In Cuba we havea revolution which never dies. | Like the Carlist war it lasts from generation to | generation, until it has almost become a per- manent industry of the country. A good deal of this war is, we are afraid, fought on Broad- way ard in the newspapers. Still it has life enough for an experienced diplomatist. Every two or three months ‘‘the Cuban question” assumes a menacing, portentous e. The other day we were told from Washington that Secretary Fish and Minister Cushing had | broken into an ‘“‘active correspond "and | Reuigoregalbaes | schemes, But public opinion cannot too that our Secretary of State had ‘shown a | strong desire for the abolition of slavery and | for the independence. of that island.” An old resolution, passed by the United’States Senate | | 80 long before the deluge as 1858, to the effect | that searching an American ship on the high seas is a derogation of our sovereignty, is ad- vanced as a pretext for dealing harshly with Spain. It seems the Spaniards have been | scratinizing American flags when they appear in the Gulf of Mexico, for the purpose of dis- covering expeditions against the Spanish gov- | | ernment, or supply ships for the aid of the | rebellion. We do not place the highest importance upon any one of these rumors. There is nothing that a government will not do when | it is seeking to recover popular favor. When a government like that of the President, which came into power with unprecedented evidences of favor, sinks into ead ways and disrepute, it is the tendency of its chief to | strengthen his power and vindicate his fame | by a policy of ‘vigor.” | unfortunately, for our fighting Saxon nature, There is nothing, more attractive than a war. When the sword makes an appeal to patriotism we cannot re- sist it. There is a legend of an old naval commander—Decatur, we think—who said, “Our country, when she is right; but our country, right or wrong.” This lofty and somewhat truculent sentiment is thoroughly Saxon. Nations become rusty. They desire excitement and adventure. Even the poets take the infection, and we have os milda bard as Tennyson singing about the ‘Long, long canker of peace,”’ and ‘the higher aims of a land that has lost for a little her lust of gold." Napoleon I, and Napoleon III. showed in. their career show war can be sum- moned to distract an oppressed people from the contemplation of tyranny and misgovern- ment. The first Napoleon regarded the French people as a volatile, fickle and change- able race, who had to be led from war to way | to make them content with imperial rule. When Napoleon IL—who was a mere pinchbeck imitation of his ancestor, inherit- ing the clothes without the genius—found himself sorely pressed by public opinion and revolution came to a head he avoided the issue by a war. He fought Russia in 1854 to md himself of the consequences of the coup d’ état. He fought Austria in 1859 as an appeal to the rising spirit of liberalism and aspirations for national unity. He fought Prussia in 1870 because he feared the success of the revolu- tionary sentiment which afterwards flamed in the Commune. He never made an honest, necessary war during his reign, but he illus- trated how easily the possessor of executive power can save himself from popular condem- nation upon questions of home government by leading the patriotic feeling of the country into conflict with a foreign foe. These flashes of war that come from Wash- ington justify us in the apprehension that the | able agd audacious men who surround Presi- “dent Grant may regards war with Cuba or with Mexico, or even with England, as an assurance of continued power. Notwithstand- ing our republican form of government and the nominal responsibility of the President to Congress, war or peace rests largely with the Executive. That is to say, that any Executive, ly if he has a majority in Congress, can, by his simple will, precipitate an issue upon the country that must result in war. President Polk did so with Mexico. Instead of calling upon Congress as a sovereign power to proclaim war he informed that body that war was already in existence. President Lin- coln had thousands of men in the field before Congress could say a word of approval or disapproval of his measures for the suppres- sion of the rebellion. We can understand how nearly the Virginius question led the country to the verge of open hostilities with Spain. Our foreign relations are 60 delicately placed—and, in fact, the foreign relations of nearly all civilized countries are more or less in the same condition—that the President may put his hand upon any one issue in twenty and make it the cause for war. When we con- sider the temptations that surround a Presi- dent who, like Grant, has not shown himself insensible to ambition and emolument, and when we more particularly consider the char- acter of the men who enjoy his confidence, we can understand very well that many things are more improbable than that out of these complications a question may arise to invite the arbitrament of the sword. We believe the President to be sincerely a friend of peace. He is too much of a soldier not to shrink from the idea of shedding more blood. Like Wel- | lington he has the true soldiers’ horror of | war, becanse he knows what it means. We be- | lieve if he could drift along leading an easy, quiet, idle life, without trouble from Con- gress or from critical leaders of his own party, or from an impatient and anxious opposition, that he would avoid war, or anything that | looks in that direction. Perhaps we do his | | friends an injustice to attribute to them these | mysterious flashes that come every few days | \from Washington, indicating international | | particularly bad appointment. strifes and possible conflict with other na- tions. But, at the same time, we cannot fail ta see that there are around the President men perfectly capable of war to perpetuate their own power. ey do not mean to abandon office until they have exhausted every oppor- tunity of retaining it. ‘‘War,” they reason, “means a welding of the country into one party through the white heat of patrivtic fire. War involves the consolidation of all interests as subordinate to the military. Naturally, the country in danger, the’ instinct ot self- preservation leads to the selection of a great captain to save the country; and who is greater than Grant? How better can he save the nation from dire calamity than by continuing this leader in office for a third term? How could the people, menaced by an alien foe, refuse to intrust the sword of the Repubhe in the hands of its most illustrious soldier?’* These are the arguments that would ring out from every stump and in every Congress debate. To avoid the issue these arguments would present our duty is to sternly resist every temptation or suggestion looking toward “a vigorous policy’’ from Washington. We must not permit the reckless leaders of a defeated party, now in their last receding day of power, to regain strength by a wanton, causeless and unneces- sary war. The good sense and patriotism of .the American people will, we think, make it impossible fur those who surround the Presi- dent soon to succeed in these threatened jealously watch the slightest indication of any such purpose. War now upon any political pretext would be treason to the Republic anda crime in itself more infamous if not more disastrous than the crime of rebellion, William Cullen Bryant, We join in the tributes of respect and vener- ation paid by the press of the city to Mr. Bryant on the occasion of setting up his bust in the Metropolitan Museum. If we are a little tardy in adding our appreciation it is because we expressed our sentiments so fully on the recent occasion of the eightieth anni- | versary of his birthday. Of the Americans of | our time there is none whose reputation is so | enviable as that of our first poet and most venérable journalist. He is to be congratu- | lated, first of all, in having passed a long life of such spotless purity and virtuous endeavor that no breath of censure, or-even of suspicion, has ever sullied his good name. There is no occasion in his case, as with so many other eminent poets, to lament the infirmities or eccentricities of genius. He is also to be con- gratulated on the fact that he has employed the greater part of the energies of a long life in vehement political discussion without ever descending to offensive personalities or tres- passing on the decorum or proprieties of fair and manly debate, and has thus escaped the besetting sin of earnest, vigorous controver- sialists. His literary fame is almost as great as if he had devoted himself wholly to poeti- cal pursuits. Not having pursued literature asa trade, and writing in verse only to give utterance to genuine poetical feeling, none of his poems are forced or weak or trivial, and there is hardly one of them which the ad- mirers of his genius would wish omitted from the collection, whereas, if he “had been as voluminous as Goethe or other poets who have attained a great age, he might have left much which posterity would never read. This excellent citizen, virtuous man, able journal- ist and ‘distingpished poét has fully realized the advantages which an inspired authority ascribes to wisdom, ‘Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches aaa honor.” —————_—___——_- “The Coyrtesy of the Senate.” Our Washington correspondent informs us that the Hon. Mr. West, Senator in Congress from the State of Louisiana, will oppose the nomination of Mr. Pardee to be . District Judge in the place of Durell. “It is under- tor West, who was not consulted in the selec- tion, will oppose the confirmation; and, in accordance with the usual courtesy observed among Senators, the opposition of Mr. West may deprive Louisiana of a District Judge for some time.’’ ‘ We know very little about Mr. Pardee, the gentleman nominated to this office, It does not seem to be either a particularly good or a Perhaps as available men go in Louisiana the President could not do much better. But Senator West advances a pretension that may as well be met at once. Since the beginning of the war a rule has been adopted called “the courtesy of the Senate” By this rule the Senate bound itself to reject any federal nomination that was not congenial to the republican Senators from the State for which the nomination was made. Consequently the high duty of appointments to office has been taken from the President, who has sworn to execute the laws, and prac- tically given to two, or may be one, Senator, who has no such responsibility. We have contended from time to time that this ‘‘cour- tesy of the Senate’ rule is one of the worst phases of Cesarism; that it transforms the Senate into an oligarchy, limits the useful- neas of the President and creates a new power in our government not contemplated by the constitution. By what principle of equity or right, by what law or tradition, by what con- sideration of courtesy, even, can wo expect a President of the United States to make judges at the bidding of any of the riff-raff and scum of carpet-bag adventurers who have drifted into the Southern States? In this case the President was called upon to make the best by the mischief and folly of Durell. Suddenly he is encountered by a Senator who is an active partisan, with no standing in the State or out of it, an adventurer, and one of the fungus growth of adventurers that have risen since the war. He demands that the Presi- dent shall appoint his creature at the risk of offending ‘‘the courtesy of the Senate!” We trust the President will put his foot down and decline to be governed by this absnrd and arbitrary role. Let him appoint | to this and the other judgeships the best men | that can be ‘obtained. If they cannot be obtained in the South he can find lawyers of learning, purity and fame in the North, who, going South as ministers of justice, will be welcomed by all classes. Let him appoint them in defiance of ‘the courtesy of the Senate” and of the adventurers who presume to impose that rule npon his iudgment, stood,”’ says our correspondent, ‘that Sena- | appointment, Louisiana had been wronged | Botween the President, inspired by this mo- tive, and the Senate, governed by an oligarchi- cal rule, the country will soon decide. Coquetting with Specie Payments. The character of a coquette, whether male or female, has never been considered quite re- spectable. It is infected with a taint of frivolity, insincerity, and, when its deceptive advances are taken in simple, confiding, earnest, of heartless cruelty. It is the char- acter of coquettes to go as far as they can in love-making without committing themselves, or, if committed, they try to escape by putting off the nuptials to a hopelessly distant day. The Senate Finance billisa piece of arrant coquetry, in which party politics make deceitful advances to sound finance. The marriage of our paper currency to coined money is to be postponed for four years, sub- ject to all the slips and accidents which may intervene in that long period. It has passed into a proverb that long engagements seldom turn out well. They are almost certain to end in disappointment if the courtship has commenced with other motives than sin- cere affection and with a view to some other object than an ‘indissolu- ble union, and. if the intermediate period is not to be devoted to acquiring the means to maintain a household. There is nothing in the Finance bill which has been rushed through the Senate under the whip and spur of party discipline that tends to make resumption easier four years hence than it would be to-day. Instead of contracting the paper currency this bill, so dar as it has any operation, will inevitably expand it, It proposes to retire eighty-two million dollars of greenbacks by process which will add one hundred and two million five hundred thou- sand dollars to the bank circulation. The difficulty of resumption will be increased, be- cause there will be a larger amount of paper currency to be redeemed than there is at pres- ent. To begin specie payments with addi- tional expansion would brifig a sudden and ruinous collapse of business and a general financial wreck. At the session of Congress immediately preceding the date fixed for re- sumption this act would be repealed and the last condition of the country would be worse than the first. The nuptials between paper and coin would be broken off in consequence of utter inability to support such a union. The only valid reason for postponing specie payments is the necessit- “such preparation as will meanwhile grau..ity and steadily diminish the difference in value between paper andcoin. The expansion which this bill must produce would increase that difference and make the shock of resumption more vio- lent. It would be very unwise to attempt imme- diate resumption; but immediate resumption would be much easier than resumption in 1879, if the paper currency is to be constantly ex- panded during the intervening period, as this bill proposes. It is impossible to resume until the paper currency is at par with gold. An offer to pay specie when there was a difference in their value would simply result in a run upon the Treasury or the banks, which would continue until the volume of paper was suf- ficiently reduced to bringit to par. If specie payments were proclaimed to-morrow there would be an immediate and prodigious exchange of paper for gold, which could not be arrested until either the ] whole stock of gold was exhausted or the contraction of the paper circulation made its value equal to coin, The violence of the shoek would be in proportion to the degree of expansion, and if the volume of paper is to be larger in 1879 than it is at present resum [tion would havea more convulsive and EES + trating effect then than it would now. This is so clear and self-evident that it would be a waste of argument to undertake to prove it. As the main effect of the Senate bill will be to increase the volume of paper its practical tendency is to render the resumption of specie payments more difficult and hopeless. The haste with which this measure has been forced through the Senate, without proper deliberation ‘and debate, without waiting to collect the sense of the country and without listening to any proposals for its amendment, admits of an easy explanation. Its purpose is not financial, but political. It was passed to meet a party exigency, and not to establish a sound monetary system. It had its birth in a caucus of politicians, not in a conference of financiers. The inflationists in that caucus presented their ultimatum and compelled sub- mission to it. No amendments were permitted after the introduction of the bill in the Sen- ate, because that would have broken the po- litical bargain agreed on in the caucus and have subverted the party unity, which is the main purpose of the bill, Even an amend- ment declaring that the retired greenbacks should be destroyed and not again put in cir- culation was voted down by the majority, who had bound themselves in caucus to the strict letter of the bill Had that amendment been entertained the inflationists would have bolted and the whole scheme have fallen in ruins, The inflationists maintain the liberty of reis- suing the retired greenbacks. There is no other possible reason why they object to an amendment requiring their destruc- tion. So, besides issuing five dollars of bank notes for every four dollars of greenbacks withdrawn, the inflationist supporters of this precions bill require that the government shall be wt liberty to reissue every dollar of them. An\' such a bill is entitled “An act to provide for the resumption of specie pay- ments!’ Senaxor Schurz, who voted for it and cannot therafore be considered as a cap- tious critic, said, with equal truth and can- dor, ‘‘He did not thizn« all the financial ability of America was confirvd within the walls of this Chamber, and he predicted to-day that the financial minds of the country would say that the provisions of the bill\were inadequate to carry out the proposition’ named in its title, He thought the bill would\leave the currency of the country in the same.condition in'which it found it He offered no factioue opposition to it, He did not think it would produce a quiet, soothing effect upon the busi- | ness of the country.” Srantey’s New Exrrprriox.—We publish this morning an interesting letter from our gallant correspondent, Mr. Stanley, which will be read with interest by the public. It announces his near departure to begin the difficult and dangerous task of completing the work left undone by Livingstone. He ad- dresses himself to the undortaking with his usual energy,and promptness. Furnished with all the resources likely to con- tribute to his success which his own experience eould suggest, and hip pons! an expedition that resembles a small army, he enters on his undertaking with all his old courage and ‘enthusiasm, The first difficul- ties in the way were already overcome at the time of writing, and by this time the gallant explorer is pushing his way to the interior. Whoever admires courage and devotion will join with us in wishing him a hearty God speed. Recent Researches in the Physies of the Sea. Among the many physical investigations of modern science few equal in importance and world wide interest that which is occupied with the meteorology of the ocean. ' Recently, under the-auspices of the London Board of Trade, a publication has appeared summa- rizing the labors of British observers in a part the solution of several great marine problems on which the world has long waited for light. Many years ago this investigation was origi- nated and extensively pursued by the United States, with a rich harvest of results. Subse- quently England took up the same investiga~ tion, and, employing her large commercial marine for gathering information, she has wowly but surely laid another course in the edifice of ocean science of which the United States laid the promising foundation. Within the last ten years the philosophy of ocean currents, first clearly brought to light by the United States National Observatory and Coast Survey researches, has been unde r- going severe scientific discussion, and espe- cially that portion which related to the cli- matic influence of the great warm currents like the Gulf Stream. Not a few eminent sci- entists have discarded the deduction which the American researches seemed to establish, that the warm currents are controlling factors of climate on the continents which they wash. Some of our own physical geographers have advanced the counter hypothesis that the tem- perature of the air controls that of sea, and hence they have repudiated fhe view that the climate of Western Europe is determined by the thermic influence of the Gulf Stream. The recent British publication to which we have referred affords an experimental test, which puts the seal of demonstration upon this whole problem, which has agitated think- ing minds since the days of Benjamin Frank- lin, The observations for a single one degree square of the Atlantic, in which this test is applied, number 9,600 for air temperatures and 6,600 for sea temperatures; and these are carefully com- pared and charted in monthly charts. The comparison, after eliminating all erro- neous or doubtful figures, reveals the remark- able fact that, in every month of the year, the temperature changes of the tropical atmos, phere follow those of the tropical ocean, and not the contrary. Nothing could more con- clusively prove that the warm ocean is the controlling factor. of the warm atmosphere, and that the latter is uniformly responsive to the changes which the former, under varying solar influence, is constantly undergoing. The deduction, thus verified in the tropical regions, applies with equal or greater precision in the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic. One would suppose that the sir resting upon the equatorial seas would be heated by the sun’s rays more intensely than the scas themselves; and so, during the midday hours, it is. But, 1 while the air is suddenly expanded, it readily parts with its heat by nocturnal radiation into space, the water meantime tenaciously holding on to its caloric. The mean .femperature of the latter, for the “twenty-four hours, in every month of the year is, therefore, higher than that of the air; and thus the ocean cur- rent, which emerges from and is fed by the equatorial water, becomesa mighty distributor of sun-derived heat to the most remoté parts of the globe it reaches. This fact, loyg ago pointed out by physicists, but now fully con- firmed by the, British charts, explains the wonderful climatic differences obserfed on the same parallels of latitade, and sets at rest all speculation as to the influence of the Gulf Stream on European meteorology. The heat and humidity of the British Isles and the neighboring continental countries is thus scientifically traced, were there no conspiring physical agency, to the warmth and vapor breathing current of the Gulf Stream, as is also the remarkable liquefaction of the Arctic ice belt north of Norway, whither the hot current drifts. These beautiful researches are of profound practical interest to the world of commerce as well as to that of science, and to them will be due the unveiling, if ever unveiled, of the wondrous meteorological machinery of the ocean, The charts which ri r the normal pressures and temperatures 6f the oceanic districts determine the proper pulse of the sea. When the mariner detects a deviation from these figures, by the showing of his glasses, he is enabled at once to read the omens of its feverish tumult and its gathering tempest and prepare his ship for the worst The interests of the seaman and the scientist alike urge the earnest and extensive prosecu- tion of such investigations. 5 Walling om Outrages. It is somewhat strango to find the Superin- tendent of the Police force of the city en- deavoring to blindfold people as to the dangers that beset travel on the street cars, We learn, on the authority of the Chief of Police, ‘that the trouble in Madison avenue was not due to the lawlessness of thieves, but to the drunkenness of some country visitors. He admits there was a scuffle and that a pistol was fired, but at taches no importance to such a trivial occur. rence, He does not inform us why the persons whom he describes as country- men were not arrested and brought to justice for firing a pistol in a crowded car. If we were to attach implicit faith to the Superin- tendent’s report we should look on the thieves and rowdies who infest this city as maligned and injured beings, deserving of all our sympathy. Unfortunately for the Superintendent's poetical view of the case we are obliged to put our experience against Mr. Walling’s report Every one who is obliged to-travel at night on tho street cars is painfully aware of the truth of the com- plaints made against the thieves and row- dies. These gentry pursue their calling unmo- lested by the police, If the Superintendent and his gallant men will devote their energies to the suppression of this nuisance inatead of trying to persnade the vublic that of the tropical sea, which furnishes data for | thieves are virtuoms and policemen slways efficient, it will do more good than making ridiculous reports which .are only calculated to mislead public opinion, Mr. O’Conor on the glars. A very manly letter is that of this veteran jurist, which we print this morning, on the formalities to be observed before pulling a trigger on burglars. A correspondent had the simplicity to ask him to define the proper legal forms to be gone through with on such occasions, as if it were a matter to be regu- lated by a punctilious etiquette like that pre- scribed by the ‘code of honor’ in duels, or by strict forms ot procedure like those which have place in courts of justice. Mr. O’Conor’s refreshing reply shows that beneath the for- midable professional armor which he wears there is an unspoiled man with all the instincts and sentiments which belong to unperverted manhood. He would have householders trespassed upon by burglars promptly exercise their human nature, and rely upon the responsive human nature of courts and juries for protection against legal penalties. It would always be a safe reliance, and the advice is striking as coming from a great lawyer. ‘Mr. O’Conor’s letter is the best eulogy which has ‘yet been pronounced on the heroic action of the brave Van Brunts and “the Holland Dutch of New York’’ whose blood runs in their veins. Rights of Bure Ayn Unsvuccessru Atrempr was made in the House yesterday to take up and pass the Senate bill on finance. The democrats strenuously and justly objected, as such a measure ought not to be passed without full examination and debate. It was made the special order tor the 7th of January. Tue Waz between Church and State cone tinues in England. Monsignor Capel is out ing pamphlet in reply to Mr. Gladstone's “expostalation.”” The struggle promises to grow as bitter in Exgland as it has been in Prussia. PERSONAL’ INTELLIGENCE. secan eae, + Mark Twain ts at the Hoffman House, Mr. Jefferson Davis is reported dangerously ilk at bis residence in Tennessee. Protessor T, R. Lounsvury, of Yale Oollege, is staying at the Sturtevant House. ‘The continuance ef Andrew H. Green in office would be @ death blow to emigration. Alfred Macy, member of the Governor's Council of Massachusetts, died in Boston yesterday. Senator Roscoe Conkling, of Utica, is residing temporarily at the Stevens’ Apartment House. £x-Governor Theodore F. Randolpn, . of. New Jersey, has apartments at the New York Hotel. Wiliam H. Wickham can only vegin his career by ending that o/ Green im the Comptroliership. Samuel J. Tilden’s support of Green would aime plity the democratic canvass for the Presidency. .Ex-Governor Thaddens C, Pound, of Wisconsin, has taken up his residence at the Windsor Hotel, Vice President, Henry Wilson, arrived at the Grand Central Hotel last evening, from Washing- tote, Jerome B, Ubaffee, aelegate to Congress from Colorado, is registered at the Filth Ayenua Hotel. The proprietors of the St. Petersburg hotels pro- pose to organise a regular service of oalets dé place m their city. General Benjamin F. Butler arrived in this city yesterday mofning irom Washington and 1s at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Mr. David L. Follett, of Norwich, N, Y., Judge elect of the Supreme Court, has arrives “at the Metropolitan Hotel. John Kelly is considered an honest man. If 4 Andrew H. Green is in office on the 1st of Febraary wil he still deserve that appellation ? Percy Fitzgerald yas just published a work called “The Romance of the English Stage.” Itis @ little diffuse, but contains much interesting reading. fh - As the republicans recently sticcess/tl in France are of the extreme rather than the moderate type, the Paris Univers says that “Violence is better than chloroform.” Acommission appointed by the Austrian govern- ment to examine into the condition of the vine, Teporta thet it bas not found the “phylloxera’’ within she kingdom. Senator Ferry, of Connecticut, wno went to Washington at the opening of the session in greatly improved health, has been obliged by sudden and serious tlngss to return home. Two thousand dollars in goid were lately paid in, London for a cup of coffee. “Tne Cup of Coftee’” was‘made by Madrago—on bis easel. It waa a wonderful specimen of the painter's art. The “dangerous classes’ are too poor to get whiskey. There 1s notably less crime in conse+ quence, and State Prison expenses are not re- duced by the usual quantity of State Prison labor. There is @ proposition before the Danish Con- gress for the abolition of all titles of nobility, decorations, &c. On the motion to take the subject into consideration the vote was—afMirmative 45, negative 16, Even tn Islam there is mo honesty. Seven Tartars, Mussulmans and Russian subjects hired a Turk on the Black Sea to aid their flight from Russia to Constantinople. Tney paid mim 490 roubles and he landed them at Sebastopol. The triumphant success in New York of “The! Hero of the Hour” was announced from the stage in. Paris, three weeks before its production here, on the occasion of the representation of Paul, Féval’s otner new play, “Cocoque.” ‘This beats greased lightning. M. Ventonkow, of the Imperial Russian Geo- graphical Society, proposes to have made for presentation at the Geographical Congress of 1875 @ map of all the journeys through Asia ever made by Russian travellers, and calls on the public jor notes or other assistance. General Alvord, Paymaster General, who met ‘with an accident recently while teaving a streets car, slipping on the ice and breaking the small bone of bis right leg just above the anklo, is doing well under the Care of Surgeon Basil Morris, It is believed he will entirely recover. Art education ia making rapid progress in Great’ Britain. 1n 1871 there were 2,100 art schools; in 1873 there were 2,811. In 1871 there were 203,468 students; in 1873, 281,400, In 1871 there. were 102,467 works Of art sent tor competition, and in 1873, 157,638, These Ngures’are deserving of atten- tion. New York does not possess any public art school worthy of the name. Russia spends her money as follows : In every 100 roubles of the revenue there are paid, for in- terest on the public debt, 17 roubles; financial administration, 16 roubles; Department of War, 32 roubles; navy, 4 roubles; public instruction, 2 roubles; Department of the Interior, 8 roubles; roads, £¢., 6 roubles, and from one to two roubles each on & number of other minor departments, Here i# & pretty notice: in a Russian news- paper :—*'The Mayor of Oronstadt, being informed that since the recent conflagration many proprie- tors have increased the rent of premises which they let, takes occasion to mention that previous returns of their taxes due must, in these circum- stances, necessarily be incorrect, and invites alt these proprietors to let him know immediately the extent of the increase.” How if my applied this principle heret M. Desbrezey, a hairdresser at Odessa, was prosecuted under the Russian isw for having in his possession the benes of awoman, Ho proved that the woman had died at Smyrna and was buried there, anda that he, then residing in thas city, had exhumed the remains at the instigation of her friends in France, with the intention of calcining the bones and sending tne ashes to the family; but as the family had moved from Bor- deaux—ne did not know whither—he carried the bones with nim tn his travels. oe instruc tons,