The New York Herald Newspaper, January 17, 1875, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, JANUARY 1%, ‘NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Henarp will be sent free of postage. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yours Hera. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Letters and packages should be properly | sealed. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK | HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. SOLUME XL... ererererteterets seeeNO. 17 AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW, BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE ZONDON ASSURANCE. ars PN: Clowes at IP. a Joba Brougham, Nrs B. Conwras THEATRE, L Fourteenth sireet and CROWS ars ALLACE’s SURATSR Bratwar STEP Sha’ GHRAUN, a8 P.M; closes at Weer PM Mr. Boucscanit Woo: Brostwar. corner of DCVrMAN a2 P.M. ORED BROTHER a: +? Thompson METROPOLITAN Fo w Broacwas eanieTS bE Me aa. closes at 10 30 PakK THEATRE, Broetwor petweer lwenty first # gecond sroets opera Boufe—Li VOYAGE EN CHINE. at § PX, closes at W080 PM. Mie Mineliy, M ae Quercy. TONY PasToR’s OPERA ROUSE 5 eign —VARIETY, at & P.M; closes at 04S DT THEATER! DER ats Ph. Miss Lins NEW TY ——F DEE Tensca® BROOELYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC. MADAWE LARCHIDUC, at§ P. M.; closes at 10:20 P.M. Miss Emily Soldene. OLYNPIC THEATR' oom Broadway.—Van Pik: closes at 10:45 BOOTH’S THEATRE, 1 Twenty third street and Sixth avenge — | Eee Ss Sa ats P.M.; closes at 10307. M. Mr. owe. HOOLEY'S OPER. Rsookive.— TBE Db rp craeed MINSTRELS, are Pp M.; closes at 10:30 P. THEATRE COMIQUE, Ho, sls Broadway.—VARLETY, at F. BL; closes at 1045 ROMAN HIPPODROME, Twenty-sixth street and rourth avenue.—Afternoon’sand Gvening at? and & FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-eighth street and Broadway. —CHARITY, at 8 M.; closes at 10: (iss Jewett. BRYANI’S OPERA HOUSE, st Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO MISSTRELSY. &c., at P, M.; closes at 10 P.M. Dan ryant GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourtéemth street.—MEIN LEOPOLD, at 8 P. M. NIBLO'S, Broadwey.—UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, at 8P. M. ; closes at 10:45 P. M. TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street —VARIET Mj closes at I P.M ROOKLYN (HEAT Rea streee THE GILDED nee, atsP.M. Mr. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, hg air street. —NEGRO closes at Broad corner of. MINSTRELSY, a: 8 f M RC Sixteenth street.—B closes at 10:45". M. LL, For ERT, tee. M.: closes at 10:30 urteenth street. P.M. Theodore Th LOBE THEATRE, Brcedway. AVARIETY atS i. Be? closes at 10:30 P. M. QUADRUPLE SHEET. EW “YORK, "SUD Bono our peaorle this morning the probab are that the weather to-day cd will be cold and clear. Wa Street YzsteRpay.—The stock mar- ket was generally steady. Western Union de- clined but recovered. Money was easy on ea!l loans at 24a 3 percent. Gold closed at 112}. Foreign exchange was firm. Tue Latest Frenca Prays and operas are | described in our Paris letter to-day. * Tue Senate yesterday continued the Lonisi- | ana debate, Messrs. Saulsbury, Bayard, Conk- ling and Sherman being the principal partici- pants. Tue Unserrien Sznatorsuip from Rhode Island will again be discussed by the Legisla- ture to-morrow, General Burnside still remain- ing as the leading candidate. Tue Rvres Aporrep to secure compulsory education, approved by Judge Davis, are else~ where published, and should be read by parents as well as by the teachers. How Loxpon Is Governep, and how her streets are cleaned, her public schools and fire department, is depicted in our corre- spondence from the English capital to-day. Ovr Tarxs Anovt New Booxs furnish lively and instructive Sunday reading. The late novels, “The Greville Memoirs” and Mr. Greenwood's revelations of London, are among the subjects of review. Axotuxe Bustixa Exprostoy, reported to- | day in this neighborhood, badly injured seven men. These accidents are alarmingly fre- quent, and are no doubt generally caused by the carelessness of the men themselves. GERMANY is taking a part in Spanish affairs which almost any other country but Spain would be more disposed to resent than wel- oome. The landing of a German force at Zarauz and the expulsion of the Carlists is the latest act of interference. The German fleet is now concentrating on the northern coast of | Spain. Dn. Lrvinostoxe’ 3 JounnaL Lin | Africa, which recdunts his experiences in his wonderful ex- plorations up to within a short time of his death, will soon appear in this country. We present to-day a thorough review of this in- teresting work, which extended over six years of toil and many thousand miles of discovery. His adventures with savage tribes, his meeting @ith Stanley and his last journey are some of the best portions of the new volume, and are gleariv summarized in the recital elaewhera . boasted department to show what it has done, | cated after they were dead, it 1s plain the po- | | lice bad no information of them living to con- | The whole business is a sham, and, besides | being useless, 330 P.M. Mr. Fisher, Miss Davenport, | The Management of the Metropolitan Police. fn the East when a man who has been robbed applies to tre police for the recovery of his property he is met at the outset by the question, “How much will you give?’’ Though the world has laughed long and heartily at this condition of society nothing more aptly describes the protection the police of New York affords to the people of the metrop- olis. Some time ago a gentleman riding in an Eighth avenue car saw a pickpocket steala lndy’s purse, * Collaring the thief he took him to the station house, but while he was handing over his prisoner the sergeant in charge, who knew him, reproachfully remarked, “I did not think this of you."” Last summer the swim- ming match at Long Branch was interrupted by a boat in which there were a number of people only too well known to the police, and | among them was the captain of the detective | Service. Lately many serious charges have been preferred against this officer, and yet, | although there has been nothing like a thorough | | investigation into their truth, he still holds | | bis place. When it is known thata police | captain levies contributions on the gambling | houses and other dens of vice in his precinct | he is seldom punished, and, if at all, only by } transfer to another precinct. The community | believes that the police are the allies of the | thieves and burglars who so frequently com- | | | mit crime with impunity. It is not often that | | acriminal is caught except it be by some | other person than a policeman. Even if the intention of the officer was right the officer | bas little chance in coping with a moderately | expert burglar. ¢ average criminal is better skilled in the use of arms and more | expert and intelligent than the average police- man. Even in the detective office the s0- | called detectives are utterly without acuteness, and taken as a wholea feebler lot intellec- tually could not well be brought together. Going back ‘or years it is impossible for this while there are evidences on every hand of what it failed to accomplish. The detective office never bad a trace of the murderer of Mr. Rogers, in Twelfth street, or of Mr. Nathan, in Twenty-third street. In spite of its boasted knowledge of Mosher and Douglas, communi- nect them with the abduction of Charley Ross- the detective bureau is dis- honest, while corruption undermines ond de- stroys every other department of the police service. Such results as these aro not directly trace- able to the present Board of Police. They begun with the organization of the force and have grown up under many successive ad- ministrations. At last the evil has become almost unendurable, and the Police Commis- sioners are incapable of correcting it. We speak of these gentlemen in all kind- ness and friendliness, but ai the same tims we confess that nothing more painful could be presented than their reported efforts at reform within the last few days. Impelled to do something, they yet know not what to do. Their in- efficiency is patent, and yet, even in their in- efficiency, they are personally not much to blame. What success would a civil Board have in managing acampaign? The manage- ment of a police force is nota less difficult undertaking. To perform a duty like that committed to Superintendent Walling efficiently and skilfully requires abilities equal to the command of an army. Suppos- ing Mr. Walling to possess them, which we need not doubt, for, practically, he is un- tried, we cannot expect him to succeed while his movements are all directed by inferior | men. He has no control over the captains of | precincts except as the executive officer of the Board, and no voice whatever in the appoint- | ment or discipline of his subordinates. The captains have no fear of him, because he can | neither displace nor punish them, and even the patrolman feels that his place is secure while he has ‘influence’ in the Board. The | detective office is as independent of him, ap- | parently, as if it was in Boston or Baltimore | or Philadelphia. He is a mere figurehead toa Punch and Judy show. Within a day or two it has been proposed to clothe him with greater power, at least as regards the deiective | | office. The new plan is to place the detective | force under the immediate direction and su- | pervision of the Superintendent, and to re- | quire every person wanting information or | | courts. | embodied assistance from the police to go to him in the | | first instance. This is a step in the right | direction, but it is not very much of a step | after all, when we consider that over him sits | | a Board which it is his duty to obey though it | is incapable to direct. Just here we desire to make a point which strikes us as the keynote to the present in- | harmonious condition of our police torce. It is a sad confession which the Police Commis- sioners make in a resolution at this late day, of compelling all the business of the police to | be done through the chief. It seems to im- | help and have been confronted with that sin- gular Eastern question, ‘What will you give?” Is it possible that the detective’ office in a city like New York is an official organ- ization for the compounding of fel- onies and the earning of rewards? be secured throngh the police of this city if the thieves’ price is paid for its return. It is | not often, however, that the thief and the property are brought back together. No man would think of enlisting the aid of the police without offering a reward as a bounty to the detectives for doing their duty. Our detective system seems based upon the principle of pay- | ing first and asking no questions afterwards. | This is the confession made in the proposed changes in regard to placing the detectives | under the immediate direction of the Superin- | tendent. If it is not done it will be equally an | admission of the fact and a still further confes- | sion that the corruption is too deep-seated to | be removed by the simple gentlemen who compose the Board of Police Commissioners, Still they must understand that reform is | necessary. The people of New York cannot afford to feel for another day th: the mercy of the ‘‘dangerous cl not want police sergeants who reproach citi- zens for arresting thieves. We want no more police captains who practically license vice and crime. We want no detectives who keep company with doubtful characters, and no de- tactive office which does a brokerage business It) | can the revelation be more has long been known that stolen property may | morality than the blind scandal itself, which, | | covering his unfitness for his position. | unfit and the dishonest should be weeded out | at once and all the others taught to under- for a and thieves I isthe business of the Commissioners to remedy these evils and the community is imperative in demanding this trom them. A good many honestly-minded Racin have always advocated a non-partisan Police Board. This 1s well enough, but partisanship has never been the bane of the metropolitan police. Inefficiency in the service has always been the evil in this city, and it was telt alike under republican, democratic and mixed commissions. Appointments on the force were always made through favoritism and often without any regard to fitness. Only the best men, mentally, morally and physically, should be allowed on the force. Obesity ought to be unknown among them ; old age, too; the overgrown and poorly-built weeded out; the delicate and weak seasoned by vig- orous and abundant daily drill; every one should be a practised boxer and a very hard man to handle without any weapon at all, and soon we would begin to have a force really formidable. The detective force should be made up from the most experienced and acute men of the ordinary service. Just now aman of intelligence cannot talk with the average detective two minutes without dis- The stand their duty and to do it. To bring about these changes is the immediate work of the | Board. Probably one half the detective force can be dispensed with to-morrow without det- riment to the service. Until their places cau be properly filled it is better to get along with- out them, And as regards Captain Irving the charges against him are too serious to be ; passed by without a complete investigation. If one half that is alleged against him is true he is unfit to be on the force. If it is untrue itis due to him and to the public that the charges should be disproved. Now is the time to begin a war upon dishonest and ignor- ant policemen, and unless the Commissioners undertake it and perform it thoroughly they must give place to others who are able and willing to do it in their stead. -The Beecher Case. Flowers sent to the court room in the Beecher trial remind us of roses and forget-me-nots planted over a grave. Their purity strangely | contrasts with the corruption they are in- tended to conceal. The Beecher case has not an odor which pleases, but rather resembles the heavy perfume of those blossoms which poison the over-burdened air. If flowers should be sent to the principals in this pain- ful affair they shonld be rosemary for remem- brance, and pansies for thought, and rue for all, even if they may call it “herb of graco o’Sundays,”’ and though, as Ophelia said, they ‘‘may wear it with a difference.” The Beecher case is planted in our American society like the fabled Upas tree ; itscontagion is spread upon the air and contaminates all who are compelled to breathe it. Judge Neilson very properly requested the press to abstain from comments on the Beecher case during its trial, and we have no desire to enter into its merits at present. The jury, | which has the responsibility, should be left to determine upon the facts without the danger of outside influence. Yet, though the propriety of the request of the Court is to be conceded, the public must feel and tha press reflect, a profound interest in the pro- ceedings. No judicial order can make this case a mere legal abstraction, as if its events had happened in the moon, The people in- volved in it are well-known to our public, and religion and society are inextricably entangled in its results. No other trial of the kind com- pares with it in importance and dramatic effect. The recent case in England of Lady Mordaunt concerned a noble lunatic and ao royal rake, and only the veneer of aristocracy hia the inherent vulgarity. _ The Forrest trial derived its interest from the celebrity of Edwin Forrest os an actor, but in all other respects was a mere matter for the police There was no such moral issue in it os there is in the Beecher case, which presents on the one hand the most famous clergyman in America accused of the most infamous crimes, and on the other a man scarcely less distinguished, who eitber asks a rightful vindication or seeks a heartless revenge. Then there is a church, the richest and most powerful in our country, which has virtually made itself a principal in the trial by its absolute sympathy with its pastor. Society itself is divided on the ques- tion, and no matter what may be the decision, pain, bitterness and wrath must be the fruits. When we consider the tremendous elements of the case there is no reason to be surprised at the Titanic nature of the struggle. It is a fight till death, and no matter who may win in this case success will be dearly purchased. We have given this case a full report, and shall continue todo so. As the facts cannot be concealed it is but right they should be disclosed in their nakedness and ugliness. This is a responsibility from which true jour- nalism may shrink, but which it cannot | honestly refuse. While we regret that the ply that people have been going elsewhere for | gheme and degradation should scatter their pestilence over society suppression is no longer possible. Public interests demand the truth, so far asa court can make it known, and ali that can be hoped is that good may somehow result from the evil. In no case injurious to for more than four years, worked its way like a mole underground, but raised above it, on the surface, the traces of its own evil and interminable crawling. Avi Was Quier Last 1out in New Or- leans, but the citizens are deeply interested in the action of Congress. General Merrill reports Shreveport to be in a disorganized condition, and as so many people, both in the South and North, believe him to be a parti- san, we would respectfully ask if it would not be wice in the President to instrast some more trusted officer with his duties? — Wuy tne ‘Lov ISTANA Rerort ¥ was not sooner given to Congress is explained by our history | of the attempt to suppress it. This plan hav- | ing failed, Mr. Hoar and other friends of the administration on the committee ‘intend to | visit New Orleans to replace the impartial report by a partisan extennation of the facts. It is too late. The work too well to have it undone by a political its fairness and intelligence, and the choice was approved by all parties in Louisiana and hv the entire country, sub-committee did its | trick, Mr. Blaine chose this committee for | Advice to “Statesm Now that we are about to enter upon a new year, the Common Councils and Aldermen, the Assembly and the Congress having organ- ized, it may not be inappropriate for us to recall the misfortunes that have happened to “statesmen” in the past, and to advise our new rulers as to their course in the future. Everybody anticipates that with our coming administrations we are to have all the bleas- ings of free, honest and enterprising govern- ment; that theraeswill be no more stealing, no more jobbing, no more special legislation; that the lobby will become a vision of the past; that sinecures will be abolished, and that men appointed to office will really work for their living; that we are in the dawn of o splendid era; that business will brighten; that the eel-fishing of Long Island will be- come more satisfactory; that we shall have better corn crops in the West and calmer seas on our coast, aud evenan improvement in the flavor of our oysters. We always have these anticipations with the advent of new people to power. Macaulay, in his essay on Horace Walpole, illustrates these expecta- tions of a successful party. ‘It was Pulte- ney’s business, it szems,'’ says Macaulay, “to abolish faro and masquerades, to stint the young Duke of Marlborough to o bottle of brandy a day, and to prevail on Lady Vane to be content with three lovers at a time.” “Private life, however, afforded as much scan- dal as if the reign of Walpote and corruption had continued and ardent youth fought with watchmen and betted with blacklegs as much as ever.” Without disheartening anticipations as to what may be the result of recent reforms it may be well for our ‘‘statesmen” to learn a few lessons from the past. The cardinal principle of statesmanship is ‘“‘not to be found out.’’ In nature there is scarcely a ceason without a storm—terrific, devastating, with thunder and lightning ond hail. In our public life we have investigations, which may be called storms. Before the gale nothing is safe—the proud, iron-bound ship riding on the wave, the turret, the stately tree, the stone bridge, the massive sea-wall, all yield toitsfury. When ‘‘investi- gation” comes the ordmary reservations of private and business life are at an end. There- fore, as the prudent householder builds his foundation upon the rock in calm times, in order that he may laugh at the tempest when it does its fearful will, so the cautious ‘‘states- man,” in the beginning of his career, will do well to profit by the mistakes and overween- ing confidences of the past. As we have said, the ‘‘statesman’s’’ duty is “not to be found out.” It is not so much what we do as that people do not know that we do it. To that end let our ‘statesmen’ never keep bank accounts; for bank cashiers have a habit of merciless truth-telling, when under oath. They do not like to go to prison for perjury. They have never been known to swear & cus- tomer out of ascrape, and they have no hearts above their figures and their ledgers. Let our statesmen also avoid banking houses, nor seek to have checks cashed for large amounts of money; for bank officers have a way of sending a detective after mysterious customers, and finding out their names and remembering them on the witness stand. A bank book is often a disagreeable property. Somehow when a check is once written it never dies. In the rhetoric of our own Brooklyn Talmage it floats from cycle to cycle to the uttermost ends of eternity. An innocent, harmless, inex- pressive check, written long ago and forgot- ten, its proceeds gone into champange and truffles, will rise up like a phantom to arrest the carecr of the most prosperous ‘‘states- man,”’ even as it did to our friend the decply lamented Christian leader, Schuyler Col- fax. Nor is it safe to be careless about bank bills. Bank bills sometimes are marked and traced. A wise “statesman” would do well to keep all his transactions in gold. If Mr. Colfax, for instance, had insisted upon Oakes Ames paying him in gold instead of a check, marked ‘S. C.,” that illustrious man might still be an exemplar of Christian virtue to an unregenerate Senate. Another rule is not to divide with plasterers and carpenters and safemakers and vulgar people who care more about money than friendship. They will ‘‘squeal” at the first appearance of danger. The experience of the retired ‘‘statesman” on Blackwell's Island on this point will be instructive. Ounce having ob- tained their honest wages in gold it is always safe to put it away and keep it. Do not squander it on lawyers. If tho truth were known about the Ring corruptions, and we could trace the adventures of the many millions taken from the treasury under the Tweed reign, a large part would now be found in the possession of attorneys-at-law. One good live, active, bustling lawyer, not too dear, is a good thing in a well conducied business, and may be called a prudent invest- ment. The abuse begins when six or eight lawyersare hired; not because of their ability, but their “influence.” Once a ‘‘statesman” in misfortune falls into the hands of these gen- tlemen his chances of bankruptcy are about as sure as the well fattened Strasbourg goose is of finding its ultimate destiny in piaté de foie gras. Tho ‘‘statesmen” of the past were wiser in this respect than the modern gentle- men. No one ever heard of Mr. Turpin, or Mr. Sheppard, or Mr. Claude Duval or any of these renowned “statesmen” or the past, taking | checks, or going to banks, or receiving any- thing but gold, or devoting their hard-earned wealth to the aggrandizement of attorneys-at- | law. What these gentlemen earned they kept, because what they kept they had. If there is any object in the world less interesting to an attorney than another it isa client who has paid all his money in fees and is serving out | bis term in jail. There are minor points that should be re- membered. Avoid velvet coats and scarlet | neckties! They attract attention, A true | statesman always prefers the shady side of the walk. Do not wear diamond pins nor gaudy apparel nor invest in trotting horses nor fre- quent public places nor write for the news- papers nor be ‘‘interviewed.” Remember that journalists are the common enemies.of | mankind, that they are a corrupt, venal cliss, capable of doing violence to illus- | trious reputations. Do not seek notoriety | by orjanizing clubs, target companies or excursions or by being too earnest at Sunday | schools and prayer meetings. Reserve all these comforts until you bave retired from | public life and investigations are over. If trouble should come, serious, searching | tronble. a five vears’ triv to Zurove is always 1875.-QUADRUPLE SHEET. in reserve, with this ultimate advantage, that | live upon it. All the legitimate return that at the end of the five years yeu may return to New York, take up the cause of reform, or- ganize a Committee of Seventy and purify public affairs just as you yourselves were purified in the past, The Grand Jury and tions. The Grand Jury from time to time makes a trip among the islands and goes through the form of investigating the public institutions, but as o rule its work seldom results in reform. Yesterday its cruise on the steamer Bellevue was wore than usua!ly interesting, and it is to be hoped will furnish the mate- rial for @ practical report. Grand Jury investigations are notoriously a municipal farce. Their coming is known beforehand by the officers of every place they visit, and everything is of course in the best order. The day is dedicated to a kind of dress parade, and mismanagement, dirt, disorder or inefficiency are adroitly concealed. The jurymen are hospitably received by the officials, the the Institus prisoners are proudly exhibited and are on their good behavior, and the subsequent report covers everything with an immaculate coat of whitewash. But from time to time the public hears of abuses and wrongs committed in the institutions and is compelled to form the opinion that these inquests are more tormal than efficient. The objective points of the trip yesterday were the schoolship Mercury and Blackwell's Island. The Mercury will sail for the tropics in a short time, and, as its present condition appears to be about zero, the change will be welcomed by her bvyish crew. As will be seen by our report, which anticipates | that of the Grand Jury, the effectiveness of the schoolship is greatly injured by the want of means. The jury can do nothing more in this case than to set forth the sufferings of the badly fed and wretchedly clothed boys and urge that the customary appropriation shall be made at once. The boys may be bad, but they deserve to be treated with as much kindness as the State and city bestows upon the more fortunate criminals in the jails, Mr. Tweed, who was complimented with a special call by the jury, does not seem now to receive avy improper indulgence. Our report gives a description ot the celebrated convict in his cell, which the public will read with deep interest. His room is small, the furniture plain, and a few books replace the innumer- able luxuries of art to which he was during his imperial reign of splendor accustomed. The hope ot speedy freedom seems to sustain him, bat there were no indications during the visit yesterday that he thinks of making that restitution to the city of New York which can alone make it look with approval upon his efforts. The Grand Jury, it is understood, intended to keep its intention to visit Mr. Tweed from the knowledge of the keep- ers, and probably found his treatmont by the new administration impartial. When its re- port is presented we trust that the facts will be given fairly ‘to the public, and that for once we shall see a Grand Jury with courage to be less complimentary than candid. Life Insurance. Insurance is one of the wonders of the mod- ern organization of society. In the abstract, the notion that the losses by fire or water or other casualties that would ruin any individ- ual sufferer may be made trivial by making that sufferer one of a body of ten or twenty or fifty thousand persons, upon whose united capital the loss shall fall, and out of a small tax upon which capital the victim shall be re- imbursed—this, in the abstract, is one of the conceptions of financial schemes that is os benevolent as it is magnificent; but there seems to be some doubt whether or no this conception realizes in fact all the good of which, contemplated in the abstract, it seems capable. Doubt falls more pointedly at the present time on that branch of insurance in which the mass of the people have, perhaps, the greatest concern—the branch which deals with the insurance of men’s lives. Faith in this is the property of the poor, and the con- dition of life insurance companies generally, or of any considerable number of them, is a very important matter of public interest. Our public debt is in the neighborhood of two thousand millions of dollars, and the amount of the outstanding policies of life in- surance isin the neighborhood of the same figure. One hundred and twelve millions of dollars, a sum about sufficient for the interest on the public debt, is the annual income of our life insurance companies. These simi- larities in volume with the great national fiscal burden will give some general compre- hension of the magnitude of an interest that is as general in its relations as it is vast in extent, for it takes every other household by the purse strings. It appears now there are reasons to mistrust the way in which this enormous fund is handled and the likelihood of its meeting eventually the obligations upon whose presumed certainty the whole fabric rests. There is the old story of unex- ampled dividends, princely palaces, presiden- tial salary grabs, unprincipled perquisites and self-perpetuating administrations, Last year’s official reports, even allowing for the panic, seem to indicate a public alarm; for they show a net result of new business scarcely greater for all than the business of many a single company in more prosperous years. Well established companies, hitherto in fair repute, have made no new policies for many months. Nine companies are suspended by the Commissioner and fourteen are reported below the standard of solvency. The Insurance Commissioner, in appealing for legislative interposition, talks of ‘‘state- ments falsely made,” hints at “perjury,” “repudiation” and the duty of stop- ping all new business, where officials are merely gaining a few dollars of salary while thoy continue ‘to rob the widow and orphan.” With such a condition, then, the state of the best compa- nies is critical, unless they can distinctly disentangle themselves from the mass upon which must fall the consequence of facts sure to entail the loss of public confidence, Perhaps no such catastrophe will result as the general injury of policy holders, or even the casting of extensive discredit on the prin- ciple of insurance; but to make this certain it may be o seize the remedy that the facts seem to indicate. Apparently the evil is a sort of “over-speculation” in insur- ance; there are not only more companies than are necessary to do the business, but neces, there are hundreds more than can profitably should be economized to pay losses is squam dered on twenty presidents and twenty secre taries and the rent of twenty edifices, where, if but one set of officers and one rent only were deducted, there might be safety. Indeed, it is not much to say that policy holders would be safer if our State authorities should adopt some standard that would kill out ninety-nine per cent of the exuberant growth of insurance enterprises, and the thoughtful may well consider whether the old system of annuities and endowments in connection with the public debt is not worthy attention in this connection for its benefits to the public and for its possible advantages in national finance. Pulpit Topics To-Day. The representative denominational pulpits will to-day put forth their peculiar or uni- versal phases of religious truth. The Uni- versalists seem to be striving through both press and palpit to awaken a revival spirit in their Church. They spare no expense to create controversy on their doctrines. Dr. Fulton, of Brooklyn, has taken up their challenge and given Mr. Nye a chance to contrast Universalism with the different phases of orthodoxy—not altogether to the upbuilding of the latter. But Mr. Nye tires not at his self-imposed task. He goes at it again, and this evening will certainly de- monstrate that Universalism is the plain doc. trine of the Bible. Mr. Sweetser will present the statistical and social status of Universal ism, and Mr. Pullman will set forth the moral and regenerative power of that faith. The Baptist pastors present less of a sense tional or speculative character in their pulpif topics than perhaps any other ministers. Dr, Armitage will exhibit to his people in well drawn word pictures some night scenes in the life of Christ; Dr. Holme will present Christ as the way to salvation and rest of soul, and will invoke the divine power from on high to help those who may want to walk in the way of life; Mr. Davies will show the relation of the Church’s faith to the sinner’s salvation, and Mr. Hawthorne will encourage his people not to be weary in well doing, but to keep their eyes fixed on the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, and Mr. Lockwood will declare the Master’s care for His perishing children. _ The Methodists, by Mr. Thomas, will indi. cate to Christians their work in soul saving and will afterward try to awaken the dead in trespasses and sins into a condition of new life. Mr. Terry will draw some practical les sons from the Apocalyptic seer’s letters to the seven churches in Asia. Mr. Hepworth will exe plain some of the mysteries of prayer and Dr. Tiffany will show the bearing of Christianity upon public morals. Mr. Phelps will discuss “Moral Insanity” and call home the prodigal sons to parental homes and anxious hearts, and Dr. Porteous will bring the ‘Papal Power”’ to the touchstone of ‘‘Modern Prog. ress” and will indicate the time and the occa- sion for “the battle of the creeds,’’ which he thinks must shortly be waged. And of course the destruction of creeds will be the triumph of the creedless. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Congresman Alexander Mitchell, of Wisconsia, is residing at the Hofman House. Rev. A. G. Mercer, of Newport, is among the latest arrivals at the Brevoort House, Speaker Jeremiah McGutre, arrived from Albany last evening at the Metropolitan Hotel, County Judge J. R. Gowan, of Ontario, Canada, is sojourning at the Westmoreland Hotel. Generai David D. Colton, of San Francisco, has taken up his residence at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Mr. R. R. Bowker, literary critic of the Evening Matl, ecits the Publishers’ Weekly for Mr. Ley- poldt. Sefior Don Antonio Mantilla, Spanish Minister at Washington, has apartments at the Uotoa Square Hotel. Another broken rope. Are the ropes supplied by contract, and is there cheating even in this last resort of the law? “Nancy the Coquette” is to have a congress of authors and archwologists who have made the study of America a specialty. Mr. Frank R. Stockton ts one of our youngest and wittiest writers. What we want from him now 1s a serial for grown-ups, Perhaps no human creature ever before had the “fatal facility” of pouring himself out in big letters to the extent in which Beecher has tt. A Missouri book house wants to exchange Mra Southworth’s novels for schoot books, Where t¢ the Imagination of the Missouri people ? State Senators Wiliiam Johnson, George B, Brad ley, and F. W. Tobey, and Assemblyman Thomas Alvord are at the Metropoiltan Hotel, Le Figaro says that M. Thiers has brought home with bim stataes, paintings, books, &c., to the value of 100,000f. Among them are some very rare manuscripts. Precisely what did Beecher mean in his joxe about “che laying on of hands,” and ts ‘the laying on of hands,” a8 the churches understand it, a sub- ject for jesting? The Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia offers prizes of $4,000, $2,400 and $1,600 for the best work on cavalry and military operations on horseback in all ages and countries, An English newspaper calied the International Gazettehas been started tn Berlin. As Paris has three papers printed in the English language re German c.pital may well have one. Inthe Almanach of Gotha, for this year, sit Bartle Frere, Vice President of the Council for India, 1s recorded as “Sir Bartle, frére.”” They have independent printers therefore, even at Gotha, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, who has already writtea three or four histories of the United States, ts writing another, to appear in forty-eight numbers, illustrated with 500 drawings by Darley, and to ve published by subscrip'ion. The 6ultan of iurkey is turning architect, and has furnished the design for the mosque he is going to butid near Beshiktash, The mosque will be cone structed of marble and granite, and will have four minaretz with doubie galleries. Miss Alice Vickery, the first and only registered lady pharmaceutist in England, has just passed honorabiy, in company with Mrs. Algernon Kings- | ford, the frst year’s examina‘ion in the School of Medicine in the University of Paris. The British Peace Society 18 excited by the Duke of Cambridge's bellicose sentiments. It dares any of the Duke's military friends to bring for- ward inthe House of Commons hia “impudent proposal’? to tmerease the expenditure on the army. M. Charles Blanc, ‘brother of the late Louw B.ane, has devoted himsell to the literature of are His la test book 18 on dress, and is full of history, information, criticism and illustration on orna ment as applied to the human form, The chapter@ on color are especially aamirabie, Neverdy Johnson's statement of the Louisiana case praciically reduces it to a conundrum of thie sort:—What is the sovereign body in the State of Louisiana? J» it the Legisiature representing the people, or 1s it @ returning board created arbh trariiy by the law of a jormer Legislature? Judge Neilson has made a proper reqnest to whe press in regard to comments on the trialin prog. ress. [but do not Mr. Beecher’s prayer meetings, his demonstrations at Plymouth church, exert om the common mind just the pressure that the Judge secks to prevent tn his appeal to the press?