The New York Herald Newspaper, December 25, 1874, Page 5

4 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY ANO ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, @Qpublished every Four cents per copy. é day in the year. gual subscription price $12, NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yor Hiaeiep will be sent free of postage. All business or news letters and tele; despatches must be addressed New Hizracp. Rejected communications wil] not be re- turned, Letters ard packages should be propesly sealed. LONDON OFFICE OF CHE NEW YORK HERAILD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions end Advertisements will be | received and /orwarded on the same terms hie as in New York. VOLUME XX AMUSEMENTS TUS APTERNWN AND EVEN, | STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Oratorio of MeosIAH, at 8P. Mi closes ail I’. M. LYCE THEATRE, Fourteenth street and Sixth av —THE GRAND DUCH Sm, atoy. M.; closes at 1045 7, M. Miss Emily soldene. Broadway. —TUE Sf + Closes at Wa0 P.M. Mr. Bouc woop's } Broadway, corner of PENTEK OF LOCEN, al avsP. M.; closes at 1045 ny sitet THE CAR. RRAH-NA- POGUE, Me rinson. AN aEe ATRE, <3 P. M.; closes at 10:30 METROPOL: No. 585 Broadway.—VARIETY, P.M. Matinee at2 P, No. 624 Broadwa, . M. Matinee HOUSE, th avenue.—THE BLACK ‘Twenty-third st M. Matinee at 2 P.M. CROOK, ats P.M. TONY PASTOR'S 0) wery.—VARIETY, at 5 P. jauinee at 2 P.M. A HOUSE, : closes at 1045 PM. PARK THEATRE, between Twenty-first. and Twenty-second afoses at 10:20 FM. BOOTH’S THEATRE, corner of Twenty-third street Go Sixth, Pet) —THE HERO OF 1HE HOUR, at 130 P P.M. Mr. Vandenhoff dad Miss Matilda gree ROMAN HIPPODROME, Twenty-sixth street and Fourth “avenue.—BLUR, REARD and FETE AT PERIN, afternoon and evening, at Zan ‘ TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street. —VARIESY, at 8 P.M. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty eignth treat and Broadw ray OLD DEBTS, at P. M.; closes 230 P. Matinee at 22. Mt WONsleeR XE. E. L. Davenpoi PHONSE. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty treet, near Sixth avenu MINSTRELS) ats Be Mei closes at 10 Bryant. Matinee a2 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, Fourteenth stree.—QOpen trom 10 A. ae SAP BL Brosdway: JACK AND JILL, at8 P.M. Matinee at 2 THEATRE, SKS AND FACES and KATHE- CH1O, at oP. M. Mr, Frank Roach, CO MINSTRELS, 1 ty ninth street NEGRO loses at 10 P.M. Matinee at Broadway, corner of RELSY, até P.M. ae. M. ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth street.—REGONE DULL “CARE. Mr. cabe. Matinee at2 P.M. GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway.—VARib1Y, at 5 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P, M, Mac- GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street,-KIN GEADELTER KAUFMANN, at 8 P.M; closes at 10.30 P. M. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, Bowery —LUCINDE VOM THEATE®, at oP, M. Miss Lina Siayr, NEW PARK THEATRE, Fulton street, Brookiyn.—ROUND THE CLOCK, at 2 and 3. M. NEW YORK, From our wEoay this morning fhe probabilities are that the weather to-day will be clear and colder. Srnerr’ Yesterpay.—Gold was The closing price was 111}. Money Wart stronger. was in good demand on call loans at 3a 34 | percent. The stock market was irregular, dull, and unsuggestive. Ir Is a significant indication of the inca- | pacity or trickery of Mr. Green’s financial | management that the Board of Apportionment does not know the real amount of the city debt or how much is required to pay interest thereon. We cannot too soon be rid of a Comptroller whose accounts are either imper- fect or deceptive. Tur Baroy Tascuer Mascuer, who is de- manded by the French government from Can- ada as a criminal, according to the Extradi- tion laws, is found to be, after a Kanuck investigation, only guilty of false entries and embezzlement, instead of forgery, the crime alleged. Lucky for the Baron. THE SrrzeTs are being graduoiy cleared by our only reliable and least expensive street cleaner, the weather. But for the good fortune of 9 warm sun and a good breeze the blockade would have continued. As it is, however, while the cars are running again ‘on time,’’ walking is desperately bad, and there seems to be no hope of an improvement except by the slow process of drying up. Tur New Crry Bupoer for the forthcom- | ing year has come from the hands of the Board of Apportionment. Nine million three Ppropriated for the payment of the interest on the city debt after significant demurs on the part ot the Mayor and Alderman Flana- | gan, who expressly threw the responsibility of | increased taxation consequent upon the above figures on the shoulders of Comptroller Green. Ma. Hewry M. Warrenéoy, of the Louisville Courier-Journal, complains, in o letter to his newspaper, that the great difficulty about the democrats, members of the new Congress | especially, is ‘‘the absence of men of brains | from the delegations.” We are inclined to think this is true. The fact that no democrat as yet had foresight enough to force the one An- | ‘ORK | BETH, at 3 | hundred thousand dollars were ap- | NEW YORK HERALD, “A Merry Christmas! Everything that can be said about Christ- mas has been said long and long ago. It is the oldest and newest of narratives—as old as Christianity—for it is the story of the Chris- tian taith, {t has become a part of our civili- zation. Carlyle once asked an English au- dience whether they would not rather part with their Indian Empire than with Shake speare. We wonder what sacrifice we would make rather than surrender Christmas, Speaking from the highest moral standard, we might say that this day brings no duty and no opportunity that do not belong to | other days; that charity, humanity, peace and kindliness of feeling rest with all seasons; | that in celebrating a special festival of char- ity we celebrate our own selfishness. But | this would be an inference unworthy of Chris- tians. Our virtues should have their anni- | versaries, even as we concede them to our patriotism and our sorrows. The honors we | pay Christmas do not release us from the con- | stant duty of charity and good will. But L even the most’ selfish man feels in the en- *chantment of the season the impulse to make atonement for his hard life. In | Mr. Dickens’ almost classic Christmas story | he brings in the gruff and stern old miser to | whom Christmas had always been a day | of sorrow, because he was compelled to give | his servants holidays, to dance a reel and | shower presents on all around him. It was | impossible for the lonely, grasping, insatiate | money-lover to look unmoved on the glow | of love and charity and benevolence that suf- fused the world. In this sense, therefore, | Christmas isa blessed season, for it teaches us | all the highest and noblest duties. We have | never fully forgiven the Puritans for their banishment of Christmas, and we fancy much of what was severe in their lives, and which | remains in the narrowness and bigotry of their descendants, came from the spirit which | would banish all gods from the ‘hearthstones | but one God, and concede to Him only the attributes of vengeance and of verath. It is gratifying, therefore, to see Christmas growing into our American lives in spite of New England. Honor the Puritans as we way, let us welcome this protest against their chilling and blinding faith. Owr Ameri- can characterg is becoming more and more cosmopolitan. We are develop- ing an individual American type. It did not seem possible that this daily stream of fresh life from the older worlds could pour into ours without affecting it in many ways. The American character would be faint and pale indeed, like the thinnest form of skimmed milk, if it became the colorless expression and essence of the nations from which we came. But this is far from being so. We have the Spaniard, the Frenchman and the Italian ;-we have absorbed the Indian, and threaten to absorb the negro; we have come into relations with all civilizations, but the distinctively Saxon-American element tri- umphs over all: We adopt Christmas because it is more than any other the Saxon festival. Carnivals and Lenten fasts and holy saints’ days and Boyne anniversaries, special religious and local customs in time fade away and are only dimly remembered, as our Scotch friends remember Hallow Eve; but Christmas re- mains. It falls upon our life with the fervor of the Saxon nature. The Catholic and the Protestant look at it with the same eyes, for it remains as one of the few remnants of that | common ground upon which all faiths once met in fraternity. His Holiness the Pope will not listen more cheerfully in his gorgeous prison to the chimes which tell how a Saviour was once born to.redeem mankind than the poor country curate who tramps through the snow to read the morning prayers and tell the | wondrous story of Bethlehem. It may be that this widely spreading humanity which Christ- mas represents consecrates it as the festival of peace and good will. Our life is so much of a contest, and so many of us regard living as passing from fort | have so much strife in our modern society, so taught us that charity, which is love, is the chiefest of virtues. Let us so accept it in our intercourse with all whose lives fall acrdss our own ; in our judgment of one another and of our public affairs; in magnanimity, patisnce and candor. Above all, let us show to those who are unfortunate, who suffer and are weary laden, that we can give them sympathy and aid. Around us is a world filled with misery and sorrow. There are those who have known want and misfortune, who have tripped and fallen, who are in sore distress— the beggar at the gate, the outcast on the high- way, the prisoner in the cell. Let us espe- cially remember them, Let this be the day of the kind heart and the open hand. There is no one in this great city, no matter how poor or humble, who cannot consecrate Christmas by doing some kind, generous, charitable deed. So far, therefore, as it is in our power we should aid the needy and _ the wretched, It is not enough to make a good Christmas to remain at home and carve the turkey, and romp with the children, as with big wondering eyes they look upon the imaginable splendors that Santa Claus has brought in a single night. Blessed are these opportunities and beautiful the legends which inspire them, and innocent and pure the childhood dreams that are so easily satisfied. But our higher duties lie beyond—in the onter world—among the wretched to whom this Christmas snow brings hunger and disease, and whose sorrows are only mocked by the gladdening chimes that ring out on the morning air. Let every one, no matter low modest and limited in station, remember that Christmas brings the uttermost felicity to those who celebrate it by | good words and good deeds, by especially giving succor to the needy and the wretched. And with this as our lesson for the day we wish every reader of the Henaup the merriest of holidays, the happiest of New: Ycars to come after and alk the blessings and joys that may come with this gracious and hallowed time. The Latest Great Louisiana Outrage. Although the Louisiana election was held onthe 2d of November, nearly two months ago, the Returning Board but yesterday com- proceeded so far, however, toward the con- summation of their meditated villany that the conservative committee withdrew in disgust on Wednesday, the frauds perpetrated on that day being so gross and monstrous as to prove that the Board had abandoned all shame and that the presence of conservatives to watch the proceedings would be no check. They pre- sented a protest against the extinguishment of heavy conservative majorities in several parishes by throwing out legal votes. To this protest the Board refused to listen, so the conservative committee put it. on file and washed their hands of the whole business by withdrawing from any further attendance on the proceedings. The Board then proceeded with their shameless purpose of nullifying the election by counting in a set of. candi- dates whom the people rejected by their votes. Out of a cleg and decisive conservative ma- jority they have manufactured a radical ma- jority, making the members of the Legis- lature siand 54 republicans to 52 democrats. The consequences of this wholesale falsifi- cation of: the election returns no one can foretell, but it is to be hoped that the people will act with coolness and foresight as well as determination and be hurried into no blunders by mere im- pulse and passion. The source of all this chicanery is the inter- ference and coercion of the federal govern- ment, and nothing can be hoped for save from the people of the wholeffcountry who have already made so much progress toward putting the federal authority into different hands. If this unscrupulous Returning Board had not recently received fresh assur- ances that their action, whatever it may be, | will be upheld by the President, they would to fort and storming masked batteries, that it | is well we should have a season of truce. We | | frands have been will be learn not have dared to perpetrate this great outrage on the rights of the people. How, glaring the from the much controversy, so muah bitterness, so much envy, so much depreciation. ‘Friends | and brothers,’’ we might well ask, under the | | inspirations of the season, ‘‘is there no true | | life that brfngs with it peace? Must we al- | ways live in this incessant angry roar of slan- | | der, hatred, hurrying us, no matter upon whom we trample? What wili these Congress debates and strifes in Parliament and policies of “blood and iron” and nations arming against nations—what will all matter in an- other generation? Think how much anger and bitterness of spirit have overspread the world since this memorable morning centuries ago. | Are we nearer the realization of the peace and | good will which then found its sacred minis- ter? Have we felt the lessons of the many hundreds of Christmas seasons that have come and gone? Are we gentler in our rela- tions with one another, in our friendships, in our associations, in personal duties? Do we | feel Christmas in our lives and in our civiliza- | tion?’’ Sometimes we fear, especially when with | a disheartened spifit we look | out on the world and see the sanie ever living spirit of strife, like an | ever rolling sea, that we are no better | and that the lessons of this day have, so far as | the world is concerned, died away with the | succeeding Christmas snows. This would be too sad a thought for Christmas morning, when of all days in the year we should see only the blue heavens behind the | Board. Resistance by force to t | real yesignation of one of the mem! of the 8 startling outrage would be worse than vain, for it would enable the republican party. to suffocate the question under a new issue. It behooves the people of Louisiana to keep the great subject of their wrongs naked and distinct. They must not permit it to be encumbered and dwarfed; much less must “they assist in encumbering and dwarfing it by stirring up the excitement that would arise if they should resort to violence. They cannot afford to be put in the position of rebels against te federal authority, which would fatally weaken their defenders in the North. Their redemption depends on the impression their wrongs will make ogthe Northern sense of justice and fair play, and the fall elections if the people of Louisiana do not themselves contuse and obscure the issue by bringing a @erent order of questions into the fore- ground, as they would do in attempting to rectify their wrongs by the rude hand of violence. That a deep sense of depression | should prevail among the conservatives is not | to be wondered at,or that Kellogg in his interview with our correspondent should apol- ogize in advance for the infamous Returning Board by his naive assertion that the con- servatives had still a strong minority if not all they were entitled to, for this is a fair con- struction of his comment. Truly a sinister Christmas present to the shattered South, | | cloud. We believe in progressive world. | Perhaps we do not feel it in all lives, and we | cadence and falling down. | lieve that the Christmas spirit lives on the Rhine, for instance, out the joyous notes of love and brotherhood. the uneasy sections of our dear, distracted and unhappy South, where black looks upon white and white upon black with the un- speakable hatred that belongs to the quarrels of races, it is hard to feel that there will be | much heartiness in the Christmas festival. | But, take the world as it is, we are a8 a gener- | ation of men and women better benause of | | Christmas and of the hundreds of Christmas days that have gone before. | This, at Jenst, let us learn as the lesson of term idea upon the attention of the republican | this Christmas Day. Let us apply it to our- | majority shows extraordinary incapacity of | selves. ‘the leaders of the party or the relations of the | victorious democracy to the veonle Let ys all make a fit and proper may see in many nations what looks like de- | It is hard to be- | or that German and | Frank will cease to sharpen their swords be- | cause the chimes of Alsace and Lorraine ring | In many parts of our own land, especially in | Tae Stnxino Funp Securitms.—Some days ago, when the Commissioners of Accounts re- moved by Mayor Havemeyer were restored to a resolution at a meeting of the Sinking Fand Commissioners requesting the Mayor and | Chamberlain to examine the Sinking Fund securities. we think, declined to make such an examina- tion, on the ground that it was not desirable | that the Commissioners of the Fund should | Pd that are calculated to carry conviction to the | perform the duty of examiners of its securi ties. He directed the Commissioners of Accounts to make the desired investigation. The Chamberlain appears to have regarded the matter in a different light, and proceeded to perform the duty alone. He reports that | the securities are all right. Of course his cer- tificate amounts to nothing, and the examina- afford a sure pledge and guarantee of redress, | pleted their canvass of the votes. They had |. office by Mayor Vance, the Comptroller offered | | | Mayor Vance very properly, as | fRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1874. The Removal of Amdrew H. Green. The new city administration will be inau- gurated one week from to-day. Mayor Wick- ham will, no doubt, find plenty of work to do in all the municipal departments before the government will be in good working order and satisfactory to the people. He cannot be expected to reform all the evils that incom- petency, stupidity and obstinacy have heaped upon us during the past two years in a day, ora week, or a month. It will take time to purify the Fire Commission, to put brains and energy into the Dock Commission, to make the Police Board what it ought to be, to set public improvements in motion. But the most importaut reform of all can and must be made as soon as Mayor Wickham has taken the oath of office. It is necessary that his administration shoulde begin life with clean financial record and a new finan- cial policy. We have been groping too long in the dark, suffering one arro- gant, incapable and pragmatical official to run the Finance Department according to his own whims and caprices and to hold him- self aloof trom accountability. The citizens of New York have for three years known noth- ing of their financial position, except such im- perfect information as Andrew H. Green has graciously permitted them to receive. - The city debt may be to-day one hundred and forty million dollars or it may be one hundred and sixty millions. We learn trom the report of the Corporation Counsel that claims to the amount of about ten million dollars are now in suit against the city, but there may be be- sides these a floating debt of twenty millions. Andrew H. Green permits no person to obtain information on these points; byt, wrapping himself up in his conceit and insolence, undertakes to manage our financial affairs in accordance with his own views, as if the citi- zens of New York had no interest in the matter. Mayor Wickham fortunately comes into office free from any responsibility either for the corruptions of the notorious Tweed régime or for the concealment, hypocrisy and inca- pacity of the administration he more imme- diately succeeds, As he would have cut short in an instant the former dishonest practices by the prompt removal of the unfaithful offi- oials so he must cut short as suddenly the present ruinous financial mismanagement by removing Comptroller Green. There need be no delay about this, and, indeed, it is neces- sary for the character and success of Mayor Wickham’s administration. The financial blunders of Mr. Green are working evil every day, and it would seriously damage Mayor Wickham if he should suffer the trickery, de- ception and incapacity existing in the city 7 Finance Department to continue during a single month under his rule. The charter clothes him with the power to remove an incapable officer, and “the power being thus conferred upon him it becomes his duty to exercise it when the necessity arises. He cannot make a full, truthful statement to the citizens of their financial condition until Mr. Green has been removed from office, and such a statement must be one of his earliest official proceedings. He can then commence a new system and protect his own administration from any confusion or entanglement with our present mismanaged financial affairs. The charter, it is true, en- titles the official to be removed to a certain formal notice; but this need not occasion a delay of more than two or three days, during which, if necessary, Mr. Green may be sus- pended. It also requires the written approval of the Governor before the removal becomes valid, but this must, of course, be promptly given. The democratic party have declared in favor of ‘home rule.”” They have repeatedly assailed the republicans for giving the Governor of the State the power to veto the action of the Mayor of New York, wha is alone responsible for the good government of the city. The very essence of democratic principle is that the Mayor should be really the head of the municipal government. Governor Tilden would not venture—we may repeat without offence what we have heretofore said—would not, in fact, dare to keep Mr. Green in office on personal considerations in opposition to the wishes of the Mayor and of the people of New York. It would be a suicidal act for any democrat to commit. It is said, indeed, that as the law requires the Governor's approval it is his duty to assure himself that the removal is just and expedient; but this isa fallacy too transparent to deceive any person. The demo- cratic Governor must believe that he does his full duty when he allows the Mayor to exer- cise his own judgment as to what is required | for the best interests of the city, and thus he is bound to yield to the Mayor's wishes in the removal of any municipal officer. Governor Tilden would forfeit his ponition in the demo- cratic party if he should occupy any other ground. . ‘ Removal from Office of the Commis- sioners Mayor Vance, during his short term of office, seems determined on vigorous action. | Yesterday he removed from office the Com- missioners of Charities and Correction and appointed their successors. The ex-boss of the metropolis, William M. Tweed, who has been in retirement for some time past on Blackwell’s Island, was the cause of this removal. The peculiarly mild treatment which he has undergone during his term of seclusion in the Penitentiary—so different from that which is allotted to lesser crimi- nals—called forth a significant rémonstrance | from Governor Dix. The death of Mayor Havemeyer, to whom the Governor's letter | was addressed, placed the responsibility ot | the desired investigation on the shoulders of his successor, Mayor Vance has acted with | admirable judgment, and in his communica- tions to the Governor and to the Mayor elect, which we publish to-day, he states his reasons for the removal of the Commissioners in a | calm, logical manner, giving proofs of their delinquency in the performance of their duties | mind of every ¢ citizen, A Repsgix Parapise,—An Indian agent | from the far West complains about the inva- | sion of the Black Hills by fortune-seecking miners, who entirely disregard the illegality of their intrusion into the realms of the red- skin pets of the government and are willing tion by the Commissioners of Accounts will | to stake their chances of gold digging against | | proceed. But it would have been in better | their scalps. It is well to know, under the benign Christmas, and remember that our first duty | taste if Chamberlain Lane had followed the | laws of our Department of the Interjor, that is charity. The Mayter who was born to-day | exazaple of Mayor Vance, there are certain localities in, this great Kenub- of Cnaritfes and Correction. * lic where no white man can venture without running the risk of being legally scalped. There Lo can safely exercise his aboriginal in- genuity in sending out of existence his too venturesome pale face brother. The German Crisis. This practical acquittal of Count Arnim of any charge affecting his honor as a nobleman and the menace addressed by the German Parliament to Prince Bismarck for his action in arresting Herr Majunke show the presence of a serious crisis in German politics—a crisis that is by no means at an end, and grows more and more serious. The question seems to be imminent whether Ger- many is to be governed in the interests of the German nation or for the ambition of the house of Hohenzollern; whether, in fact, the long cherished and loudly vaunted policy of “German unity’’ is to be abandoned for that spirit of Junkerism which Bismarck brought into power twelve years ago, and which is simply carrying into effect the legends of Frede- rick the Great, This is the true view of the pres- ent crisis. When Bismarck came into power he said frankly—with a frankness that was quite prophetic—‘‘that the great questions of the day were not to be decided by speeches and Majorities, but by blood and iron.” The result was the three wars which have marked his premiership and the rule of an Emperor who takes every occasion to pray in public for peace. ‘Blood and iron’’ are fearful infin- ences; but they haye done their work well., The Schleswig duchies have returned to Ger- many, Austria has been driven out of the German Confederation, the Kingdom of Han- over has been destroyed, the practical unity of the German people has bd@n attained, the old duchies of Elsass and Lothringen have been brought once more under the flag of Ger- many, and upon the brow of the descandant of an Elector of Brandenburg rests the crown of Charlemagne. How can we call the land where an ambas- sador is persecuted anda member of Parlia- | ment imprisoned for an opiniona land of liberty? Germans may well ask these ques- tions, for they are a brave, free, loyal people. They may well ask whether the end of these achievements of ‘blood and iron’ is to make Germany a part ‘of Prus- sia, and the stern, unpitying, absolute Prussian system the highest measure of Ger- man freedom. If united Germany is to mea” the application of this system to all the States of the Empire, then better far that unity had never been achieved, for there can be no true, harmonious, lasting unity based on blood and iron. We do not see how the system can con- tinue. Already Bismarck has met with two checks. There is virtue enongh in a German court of law to decline to be the vassal of an angry, ambitious Minister seeking to punish a rival There is pride enough in a German Parliament to resent the arbitrary interference of a Minister with the sovereignty of a repre- sentative. The contest will not end here. We are on the eve of ‘what seems to be a grave issue in German affairs. The New England Dinner, It is a great pity that the Plymouth Pil- grims did not land at a differert season of the year, for the genial gentle influence of the natal day of Christianity, with its pleasant, convivial, commemorative ceremonial, its flowers and its holly leaves, is sorely interfered with by the grim Puritan anniversary five days before. The original Puritans shud- dered at the very name of Christmas. The 20th ot December is much too near the 25th. Not that the contemporaneous mode of cele- brating Forefathers’ Day (exactly as if nobody else had forefathers!) is in any sense grim. Very far from it. The Puritan of to-day does not even go to church or, to speak more prop- erly, to ‘‘meeting,’’ or as Mr. Beecher says in his letters to Miss Proctor, “‘to sermon,” on his anniversary ; but he, or those who can af- ford it, after a morning, lucratively spent, dine ostentatiously at ~Delmoni- co's and there make and listen to speeches of boastfulness and self-exaltation. So, year after year, it goes on, ‘ind the New Englander who makes or listens to these speeches, convinces himself or is convinced by them that the early Puritans were not only the ‘salt of the earth,’’ for thatis a homely, lowly illustration, but the chosen of God, especially in this our Western land, alongside of whom the Cavalier and the Huguenot and the Quaker, and the Dutch | Protestant and the Scotch-Irishman from | Ulster, or the Catholic from the South, all | tugitives at one time or another from persecu- | tion quite as fierce as ever visited Elder | Brewster and his crew, are nobodies and of no account, and the Puritan descendants are as | great and good as their progenitors. We say they who make or listqn to such rhetorical | balderdash can by no possibility, in the course of five days, sink down to the apprecia- | tion ot such humble, modest joys as those of Christmas. With them the landing of the | Pilgrims is a greater event than the birth of the Saviour of mankind. The worst of it is, too, that there is what in music is known as a crescendo. Fifty, nay, twenty yedrs ago, the | New England dinner and speeches, here, at least, in New York, were naught to what they , are now. We had one the other day which, in homely phrase, beat, in ambitious, self- | complacent rhetoric, all its predecessors out | of sight. It would be indecorous and utterlf inconsistent with the general object we have | in view to criticise in detail post-prandial speeches of such accredited orators of New | England boastfuiness, clerical and lay, as | Beecher and ‘Chapin and our Conkling and | the “President of the Society of Plymouth.” | Tt was neck and neck, the Brooklyn nag, with more bottom and steady from recent training, coming in ahead. To our taste—but we are | not competent judges of the article—President Bailey's was the best speech of the eveuing. | | It was playful. It was genial, and, oddiy enough, it said not a word abotit the Pilgrims | and did not mention the Mayflower. But, as we say, Mr. Beecher outdid himself, while Senator Conkling, according to one of his ad- | mirers, was merely ornate and eloquent. But, as we have said, we eschew detail, and, ac- | cepting these speeches as the appropriate gloss of the sentiment within, again we ask, and they afford no adequate answer, by what right do men of New England blood—and especially this topical blood—arrggate to themselves such pre-eminence? We concede what they call their sturdy elements of charac- {ter. With adversaries like the, Indians, | brave, austere, rigorous, . revengeful, in- tellectual and severely but not gently | | | | | ' enemies, moral, they bore their arty ipline well, How long their stern rality stood may admit of question—for certain it is that of one crime, than which the Puri- tans of to-day know no one darker, they sold their captives into slavery and shipped them in bulk to the West Indies. Has not the New York Historical Society proved this, and does not Bancroft admit it? But we deny the pre-eminence as a fact, and question the basis on which it is supposed to rest. One good of their commemorations may be to set people to inquiring into the truth of our early as well as of our recent story. We do not doubt the re- sult, There were brave men before Agamem- non, and we have had in other parts of this broad land immigrants from other shores better, truer men than ever stood in Elder Brewster's shoes. Rapm Tnansrr.—The experience of two days during the present week has served to intensify the desire in the public mind that some early steps should be taken toward the accomplishment of rapid transit. The new constitutional amendments, it is anticipated, will rather aid than obstruct: such an enter. prise, and the approaching change in the State ayd city administration encourages the hope tbat something may be done at last for the relief of the people, When the dead weight“an obstructive and reckless financial policy—is removed all property will improve and there will be more activity in business, With renewed life and energy will come re- stored confidence, and that alone is needed to, make rapid transit a certainty. It will bea lasting glory to the administrations of Gov- ernor Tilden and Mayor Wickham if during their terms of office New York should secure a rapid transit road. Kina Karanava says that he preferred visit- ing New York in winter because sleighing, snowballing and skating .are luxuries with which he has been hitherto unacquainted. Furs and buffalo robes are not extensively known in the Sandwich Islands. Tne Bay Rivce Tracepy, in which twa notorious burglars met with o morited doom, has borne good fruit. We learn from St. Jchnsville, in this State, that an attempt at burglary there resulted in the killing of one of the thieves. A few more examples of this kind, and burglary will become rare. PERSONAL INTELLIGENGE. General & ©. Armstrong, of Virginia, ls stopping at Karnum’s Hotel. Congresdman John A. Kasson, of Iowa, is 6o- journing at the Clarendon Hotel. Miss Annie Louise Cary arrived at the Everett House last evening from Boston. Mayor Wickham ts expected to talk turkey te Comptroller Green on this occasion, Rey. A. G. Mercer, of Newport, is among the latest arrivais at the Brevoort House. Congressman Samuel Hooper, of Boston, is re- siding temporarily at the Brevvort House. Professor D. C. Gilman, of the University of Caliiornia, is staying at the St. James Hotel. , Senator Henry Cooper, of Tennessee, arrived in this city last evening, and 18 at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Congressman Charles Foster, of Ohfo, and Rora- tio C, Burchard, of Illinots, have apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. An acceptableTnristmas gift from Mayor Wick- ham—Green's bfficial head “on a charger’? or otherwise. Baron Barnwell, in a recent case before him in an English court, complained of the practice of attributing crimes to mania.” Green has not been a good Comptroller, but he'll turn out weil on the 1st of January, Of three hounds purchased tu England by the Em- peror of Russia, one was a brother of the os ear greyhound Master Magrath, Punch's cartoon represents the Pope and Cardt- Nal Manning trying to fire of an “anathema” in the form of a Roman canale, which, however, is damp, and “won't go of.’” Scene laid tn Paris. Dramatis persone :—Eng- land and France, “Quivala?’ “Je,” says I (as L knew the languaze). “Comment?” says he. “Come oni?’ says J, and [ knocked him down. Hege 18 aconundruin current just now in Eag- land’—"shade of Mr. Greville, ansWer, Is it bette? to e@ respected memory, or, being forgotten, become again known as an ungentle and ungener- ous man {”’ Doré was patd stxty guineas each for the draw- ings made as illustrations of Tennyson's “Idyts,” or 1,080 guineas fdr the whole. Recently the original drawings were all sold at auction and brought £134. “That dog of yours flew at me this morning and bit me in the leg, and I now notify you that | tm tena (o shoot him the first time Lsee him.” “The dog is not umd.” “Mad! | know he ts not mad. What's he got to be mad about? it’s I that am mad,” How can this be afforled, even by the most well-to-do nation? It 1s shown tp returns which have just been published that the German imports for the iast twelve months exceed the exports by 500,000,000 thalers. In the previous year the ex- cess of imports amounted only to 40,000,000 thalers. In the common speech of the French, that is only half way to slang, cheats are called Greeks, drunk- ards are Poles, feilows to whom one owes money are Buglisnmen, puny people are Chinese, tll-bred persons are Savoyards, thieves are Americans, and all persons who are.in any way whatever deemed indescritably bad are called Prussians, These are the opinions the politest nation in the” world has of other nations, In the officiai account just issued by the Prus Stans, It is admitted that at Gravelotie Comte de Moltke nearly jost the battle, The official docu- ment says:—*'Comte de Moitke was not always 30 | well informed asif he were the director of both armies, He attacked, as he believed, tne rignt wing of the enemy, when it was their centre; the error was soon corrected (rom the want of ability on the part of Bazaine; but it 1s honorably avowed that the error might have proved calamitous.” Prince Nicholas Borolajovsk, a Servian noble, died the other day in the Rue d’Amsterdam, to Paris, He had been obliged to leave his own coun- try, where he could no longer remain, irom the | idea among the country people that he belonged to a family Of vampires, the eldest sons of which for three generations came out of their graves ta suck the blood of living people. It is said thas five days betore his death he was conversing with his landlord, and told him it would be weil, after his decease, to remove his heart so 4s to prevent | his rising from the grave. In the Arnum triai it was shown that Count Ar nim caused @ certain Statemout as to his inten- tions to be published in a Brussels paper, Subse+ quently he contradicted the statement thus pube lishea and said it Was made without authority. | Thereupon the paragraph was set down by’ the public, of course, a8 an in Jon oj those mix chievous newspaper people. It 1s to be hoped the next time some great man denies the authenticity | of a “purported interview” the reader will re- | member Arnim’s rus., Count Jaubert, who recently died, once attacked | Marshal Soult with a number of epigrams, and the Marshal, meeting him at a reception 0¢ the court of Louis Philippe, turned his back on him just as the Coun! was comimg forward to speak to him, and this in the presence of tlurty people. sieur le Maréchal,” said Jaubert, quietly, “1 have been told that you considered me one of your, I see with pieasure that it ta not so,” “Why not, sir? said Sout, “Because,” satd Jau- bert, “you are not in the habit of turuing your back to the enemy.” The Marshal held out big hand. and the Count’s success Was complete, “Mon. , es