The New York Herald Newspaper, March 1, 1875, Page 5

THE WONDERFUL TRIAL A Dissection of General Tracy's Address, MISTAKES OF JUDGMENT How Tracy and Shearman Came Into the Case. THE MODERN HOTSPUR Some Amusing Statistics of : the Trial. General Tracy's speech, which has consumed the better part of a week, has at least been a success in tofaming a great number of people who have not hitherto put in an appearance tm the court room, If Mr. Beeoher had chartered General Tracy to run a muck and indict a gash upon a con- iderable portion of mankind as he passed them his lawyer could hardly have been more ferocious. If Tracy’s speech bad been delivered sponta- neously itsflerce pbilippics might have been attrib- uted to his intens3 temperament and love of com- Dativeness; but, on the contrary, the whole speech ‘Was carefully committed to paper ; every alternate Ine left blank for amendment, and it was amended, toned and expurgated. For all that it was an extraordinary piece of characterization, Mr. Titton is mildly described as .a putrid corpse, lingering superfluous above the ground and pres- ently to be buried by way of charity. Mr. Moulton 18 carried to the city of Milan, where Leouardo da Vincl’s ‘Last Supper” clings in mouldy fragments to the wall so as to be hardly intelligibie at the present time, and Moulton is compared to the picture of Judas Iscariot delineated there—a sace, by the way, which has excited much admiration emong artists FOR SEVEBAL HUNDRED YBARS. By parallel reasoning Mr. Tracy might have transferred his client to the central spot in the same picture; bus the General's inclination does hot run ro eulogy. He did pot succeed in making apy presentable picture of Mr. Beecher whatever, but etcned him in parts apd by splashes. i Mr. Joseph Richards = inflicted a tureless wound upon his sister she had the satts- faction in turn of hearing Tracy describe her brother in terms hardly satisfactory to the iamily stock. This puts Mrs, Morse in @ very singular position. She is already subpoenaed to testily against her son-in-law, and must now elect be- tween her daughter and her son. Perhaps this Btate of affairs will lead our species to bear with way Ward sons-in-law rather than to explode the household and surprise the public. It is when the eye falls on this unhappy family, particularly the female members of it, that all the comedy and melodrama of this case vanish, and we see bieak, uninteresting, remorseless tragedy, Greek in its Beverity, almost as if there had been @ direct in- terposition of the cruel gods, It 18 among the melancholy necessities of such B charge as conspiracy that WIDENS THE CIRCLE OF ACCUSATION as witness aiter witness enters with testimony for the plaintiff. But General Tracy seemed to receive nointimidation irom thie slight circum- stance. “Have at ye alll’? was his motto. He dismissed Kate Carey, who had testitied to two affectionate scenes in the Tilton household, asa Mass of corruption, diseased, marketable and gaseous, Such acre the penalties of niring out asa Wet nurse, Mrs. Frank Moulton’s position in the course of Buch aline of argument would have been made unhappy but that the orator hesitated to take tne responsibility of classifying the niece of two of his wealthy clients with persons he had eo harshly stigmatized. In point of tact, Mr, Beecher’s mistake from the beginning has been in Tetaining any lawyers Whatsoevér attached to bis personal circle in the’ city of. Brooklyn. It ts Btated his original intention was to keep General Tracy as a physical associate and confidante, and Bot to have Mr. Shearman at all. The latter's Dimbleness and anxiety were such that he came into the cause per force. He can make as much noise as a dry pea rating around in a half bushel measure, His devotion is unquestioned and he ts smart, but it is not metropolitan smartne: During this case, when Messrs. Evarts, Porter and Abbott have exclusively done Mr. Beecher’s work, there bi been @ unity, moderation and effectiveness about it which have, s0 to speak, Civilized the conduct of the case. These old prac- titioners prefer to earn their money by’ their talents and not through their tempers. But Mr. ‘Tracy strides iu like an imperious barbarian, and somewhat suggests Pope’s couplet :— When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, ‘The line, too, labors and the words move slow. ‘There iy nothing that more nicely determines the work of a cosmopolitan advocate than his preference for gentle words and affable character- izations over harsh and brutal means, if the former ‘will be equally effective. BUT THERE WAS A DESTINY overbanging the growth of this case from the be- ginning. In the effort to suppress the scandal, Whatever it was, & voluminous correspondence took place. By another fatality the whoie of this correspondence was kept to the custody of one person, and with ita pile of family letters not germane to the main issue, but well adapted for mud-throwing and insinuation, By a@ third fataltty—and here is where Mr. Beecher made his great mistake—this custodian, instead of being conciliated at every cost, was antagonized at a certain stage ol the proceedings, and, according to Mr. Moalton’s explicit charge, Mr. Beecher was put upon this course by the rash counsels of Tracy, Shearman and Hil. The oc- casion of thus antagonizing Moulton was a trifing one. A bewspuper statement had appeared, alleging that Moulton bad said certain things derogatory to Mr. Beecher and in praise of Tilton’s general demeanor, When challenged to contradict this statement Moulton repliea that he should not make it, because it would lead to an interminable series of newspaper cards, At once Mr. Beecher was directed to bundle up Mouiton with Tilton and to charge at them both, It 1s not probable that any first clase lawyer in whe city of New York would have given such Hotspur advice at such a crisis, But Moulton was not only called a conspirator with Tilton to entrap and aefame Mr. Beecher; he was called such @ conspirator for the fake of @ Matter Of $8,000, distributed over three years of time, That ts to say, tere being two principais, Mr. Mouiton’s annual receipts from the Diackmathng fund were about $100 @ month, At the same time Moulton was a partner in the largest warehousing and salt importing frm in the New World, When he was assailed tt was in- evitable that his wite’s uncles, the Robinsons, and their partner, Woodruff, should come to his sup- port, and, if stern necessity compelled it, his wife #8 well, regardless of her secondary feelings of repugnance. When Mr. Beecher put tn his STATEMENT BEFORE THE CHURCH COMMITTER, impugning Moutton, he gave the latter the only excuse he could have tu manitness tor printing Mr. Beecher’s lettera, But for such an imputation, t would have better become Mr. Frank Moulton to leave the United States and take his documents with him, rather than to admit that he had made buch a grievous fuilareas @ mutual (riend, It Is 1m evidence—and Mr. Evarts brought it out—that Moulton and Mrs, Moulton bad brought Tilton to despair by refusing to be made the imstraments of his revenge, and that Mrs, Moulton had cailed tim a villain, acting treacherously to Mr, Beecher, and had ordered nim to leave tue house. =Mouiton showed Mr, Beecher the bricf and unimportant statement which he iret designed to make, and it had received Mr. Beecher’s encomium, being perfectly honorable to NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 1, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET, Dim, Moulton then fed beyond the jurisdistion Of this State, His wile went to Rhode Island and he to Maine. And he had designed to go out sail- ing and fisning upon the Atlantic Ocean for the month, 60 as to be out of the reach of the church committee, the interviewers and the law, He had from the Grst tried to make Mr. Beecher beat down an investigation by the churcn, That had been “Mr. Beecher’s position all along, and he had suid to Mr. West, who had been sworn in the case, that the sccusations agaiust bim rested upon the Woodbull publication and notoing else, The church committee accepted Mr. Beecher’s version of the complication, and Frank Moniton went before the world, on the au- thority of merchants like B. B. Clafin and pbt- lantbropists like Heary Sage, as a blackmaiier, whom Mr. Beecher ought to have consigned to the police station, This led Moulton to come to that conclusion, which be very aptly expressed in his testimony, that he never changed bis teelings to Mr. Beecher “until he tried to ruin me.” Moul- top said this with feeling. It would bave been wise, pernaps, to have treated him in the evidence as the victim of an hallucination; for 1tdoes not appear that eitner bv or his wile bad ever expressly received from Mr, Beecher an unmistakable confession that bis offence was more than love, which might have meant the love of communion and sympathy, and not the grosser thing of whicu the law takes cognizance. But Mr. Tracy seoms unable to make any very subtie discriminations and preserve Moulton’s neutrality at the expense of Tilton. Hence the error of the Plymouth pastor has been In choosing his counsel from among hits friends, rather than from cool, clesr-headed barristers. Pubiio opinion has been careful throughout the length and breadth of this land to make the dis- crimination which Mr. Beecier did not make, Frank Moulton is mot {dentl- fled by any very Treat proportion of the American people; Mrs. Moulton 1s still less tdentifed. In the indiscriminate zeal of Mr. Tracy, Mr. Shearman and perhaps Mr. Hill, the “mutual friend” is put into the same category with the dark, restiess and malevolent plaintiff, It appears from the testimony thus Jar given, without regard to the speeches of the lawyers, that Mr, Tilton has NEITHER SLUMBERED NOR SLEPT since the maggot of jealousy entered his head. Having condoned whatever offence he thought to be attached to his family ne still brooded upon it and touched his supposed enemy with a spear from time to time, constantly renewing the war with that irresolute malice which belongs to men who have forgiven what they shoald not forgive, and seek to live on the exterior of a sphere whose intertor contains a hollow, hideous secret. The speech of General Tracy has, therefore, stirred up a number of people who have not yet appeared upon the stage and defined their post- tion, Ithas brought out Henry 0. Bowen asa + stern and anxious party in the case, full of com- bustion, It has classified the artist Carpenter, who, so far as the outer world knows, is a quiet, commonplace man, and not unknown to the his- ‘tory of the country as a protégé of President Lin- coin, with the other victims of General Tracy’s fulminations. * These errors of judgment and policy being valia it remains to be said that for virtlity, pluck, lit- erary force, antithesis and good reading General. Tracy has made a superb speech, quite compara- ble in every intellectual respect to Mr. Beecher’s own testimony before the Church Committee, STATISTICS OF THE TRIAL. A correspondent, who has evidently watched the great trial very closely, has prepared the fol- lowing curlous and amusing table of statistics, based on the first seven weeks of the proceed- ingsi— re of persons managing the case in court— Judge. . ‘ourt officers b Counsel tor 6 Counsel for 6 Jurors RB Reporters and correspondents, Koy Spectators.......- sees 500 Total....... 614 Numper of days of four hours each... 83 Number of hours (less two hours, when Mr. Evarts could not cross because of ice). 130 Aggregate number of hours given to Court by aforesaid 614 persons... 79,820 Estimated number of civilized beings (exclud- ing Indiaus not taxed, persons of unsound mind and very small children) conducting and discussing the case out of court: CO Average number of minutes d per diem to this cuge...... 20 Aguregate number ot days ++ 60+ 660,000,000 Aggregate Dumber of hours for thirty-three 11,006,000 BYR -coerse scores oossesse = 11,000, Agvrezate number of hours given to the case im and out of court.... " 11,088,690 Esumated value of time’ (piumbers’ staudar taken tom receut bills rendered for stopping leaks’, $1 an hour.. v3 x ee in debating whicn Judg i reside. ee ‘4 burs col mia in getting a jury 20 Jurors examine ‘ 4 Qpestigns asked ing about jurors... Hours occupied by of Moulton.... ... Hours given to cross-exat ton..... Hours occupied tn discussing the admissibility of Mr. Jilton’s evidence... &...... 7 Hours devoted to direct examination THO woes vseeee Hours devoted to cross examination of Mr. ik ‘DAItOD «.. 66. tre teteeee 23 Total. steeeeeee of xaming- Objections made by plaintiff's counse! Objections mage vy defendant's coun: Exceptions to His Honor’s ruling by plain Exceptions to Lis Honor's ruling by detend- ant ployed ‘by ing—Number of times “Your Honor will uote our exception” “Your Honor notes our exception ‘To that we except”... Will your Honor be ivaris'in ‘except. eee Seem Ht good’ enough to note ti “Wilt your lionor piease note?’ &c, “Your Honor, We except to that ruling’ “Your Honor will be so Kind as to note “We except “We take ane pur honor will please note,” & We except to Your Honor’s dec ‘Your lionor has my exception” ‘Note excepto jor Will be so goo ito Your Honor’ xcepuon”, “Lexcept Lengthy arguments :— Mr, Karts... ete Semi M Mr, Pryor... THE EXCISE LAW. The Excise law was partly enforced yesterday throughout the city; that is to say, im so far as ordinary police surveiJlance can make it go, the saloon keepers were obliged to comply with the law to the extent of making a show of keep ing their places closed. Throughout she city some 8,000 front doors were closed and some 8,090 back doors were open. A few had been irignt ened into closing up altogether, but they were in aminority, The police, as @ rule, did not inter- fere with the places in the slightest, having noti- fled the proprietors the night before of wnat they were expected todo, As mentioned in yester- qay’s HERALD, the compliance with the law dil- fered in various portions of the city, In the uptown portions and tn the neighborhood of the churches the rule was much more rigidly enforced than tn the commoner neighborhoods, where the feelings of the churchgoers were not likely to be touched. Special pins were taken in the Tenth precinct to satisfy the qualms of the members and congregation of the Alanson Methodist Episcopal church, Norfolk street, whose Petition it was led to this state of things. Here the orders of the Commissioners of Police were more strictly carried out, and the Methodists were, no doubt, correspondingly happy. It is not believed by the liquor men generally that the present state of affairs will have along run, but that the vigilance of the police will only extend over @ couple of Sundays to satisly the present hue and cry. They laugh at the power of the Commissioners in the matter, and say that tne | extent to which they make the taw mild is the extent of the term tn which they will remain in their official situations, RAPID TRANSIT. The Value of the Proposed Lateral and “Loop Lines” of Railway Ex- plained and Illustrated. The Topic of Fares Discussed by an Engineer. To THE EDITOR OF THE HeRALD:— Although New York has very nearly passed through its annua! paroxysm on the subject of rapid transit and vast amounts of printer's ink have been expended in the discussion of it, there has been very little said about the rates of fare which should be charged on such roads, and there is@reat danger that if the Legislature takes any action at all it will authorize the collection of much higher rates of jare than will be necessary to make such @ road pay a reasonable profit on its cost, it is known from past experience that if such rates are once authorized it will ve ex- tremely diMouit, if not tmpossiple, ever to have them reduced, The excess of tare over what would be necessary to pay @ reasonable interest on the cost will be a perpetual tax on the people and the prosperity of New York, which would be trans- ferred to the pockets of the owners of such a road. It 18, of course, absolutely necessary that a rate of fare should be authorized that would make such @ Toad “REASONABLY” PROFITABLE. An investment which would pay eight per cent, with @ very fair chance of paying still more, would, it is believed, be considered a reasonable profit, and it is upon this basis that the members ot the American Society of Civil Fngineers, ap- pointed to investigate this subject, made their calculations, which are contained in a ‘paper’? just being pripted, The conclusion reached in that “paper”? is that a double track elevated road, ex- tending from the Battery to Fifty-ninth street, a distance of Nive miles, costing not to exceed $400,000 per mile, exclusive of equipment, and having the right of way iree, would, witha trafic of fifteen Million of passengers per year and a fare of six cents, or 11-5th cents per mile, pay eight per cent on the whole cost, bi It is suggested in the paper referred to that a double track road should be butit on each side or the city, and the two connected by loops or crosa- town lines, so that trains could be run continu. ously around in one direction on one track and the reverse direction on the other. If this is.done and a lineis butls from the Battery to Filty- ninth street on the west side, as indicated in the map by the line e f &, and another on the east side, as shown by the tine e’& ¢, and the two connected at their upper ends by the line J, it then would obviously cost no more to ran trains from the Battery to Fifty-ninth street and back again by going up on the west side line and down on the east or vice versa than it would to run up or down on one side alone, excepting 80 far as the addi. tional length of the connecting line, j, would in- crease the cost, but which would be so small an item that it may be disregarded. Therefore the lare on cars running around the loop, efkjih, could be PROFITABLY FIXED AT SIX CENTS. If, however, we subdivide this loop into two, A and B, by making another crosstown connection, 9, say at Thirteenth street, which is about half- Way between the Battery and Fifty-ninth street, then trains could run around either of the loops Aor B twice in the same time that they run @round both of them once. The fare on cars which run around each of these two loops could therefore profitably be three cents, or just half what it would be in those running around both of them or from the Battery to Fifty-ninth street. If, however, the system of roads was extended to the Harlem River, as THE MAP ty [4 A] be a x a q Wi lilustrates it, and connected above as shown in the map by the lines en ple, then the distance would be just about twice that from the Battery to Fifty- ninth street. Trains would, thereiore, make only hail as many trips around the loop en they would around the loop efy he. should, therefore, be twelve cents around the former instead of six. If another cross-town loop be added on 110th street, or just north of Central Park, the whole distance (rom the Battery to the Harlem River will be subdivided tnto four nearly equal loops, A, B, Cand D. The fare around any one Of these loops could then be profitably fixed at three cents, aroand two loops, six cents; around three, nine cents, and around ail tour, twelve cents. Line of cars, painted aliferent colors or combinations of colors, could then ve run around each loop, and each two, three or all four contiguous loops. Sach a system would make the following Combination possibie, and would pro- vide ten different jines of cars, the fares on which are given in the tabi Loops Round Which Trains Would Run. Prom . [Battery to Thirteenth streét :|Battory to Fifty-ninth street street. wowcauseonw! 5 t to Pitt tto Lith street. Uto Harlem Kaver tito Li0th street, tto Harlem River lem River: [Thirteenth # Thirteenth str Firtyenanth str Filty-ninth str hioth street to 1 With such @ system a very large proportion of | passengers would be obligea to pay 4 much lower fare than 18 now paid in the suriace raiiroad cars, Thus, & person living a few blocks above ‘Lhir- teenth street could, by walking that distance, get into the line of cars running ground the loop A, in which the fare is three cents. A large propor- tion of persons who go down town In the morning le that | ne fare | ‘would find a short walk agreeable who are quite incapable of walking the whole distance. Work+ ing men and women, who have not the strength leit to walk the whole distance up or down town, would with such @ system find it quite porsib'e, by a little extra exertion, to save duily four cents in car lares out of THEIR HARD EARNED WAGES. It would also affurd a very convenient means of travelling from points «long or near the line on one side of the city Lo points along ihe line on the otner, Thus, if a person desired to go irom K on the wost side to lon the east side, ne would take a train ruoning around the loop B ana get there bn A pga as he could ride direct on @ surface It should also be observed, thatit is “paper” reierted to, that an avera; 15,000,000 passengers per mile o! road, at a fare of 1 1-5 cents per mile, will pay 8 per centon tne whole cost Of such a line; that a-tramc of 20,000,000 Wil pay 84 per cent, with 25,000,000 9%, and 80,000,000 103g per cent. As the Sixth avenue line carries’ about 15,000,000 passengers per year and the Third avenue 27,000,000, it 13 not unreasonable to expect that a system of rapid transit roads, such as has been indicated, would soon carry more than either, ‘The London Underground road carried 000,000 during the last six montis which have jnst been reported, or at the rate of 44,000,000 passengers per year. It is, there'ore, very probable that at arate of fare of 1 1-5 cents per mile a rapid transit road would pay a reasouable interest on its cost. Uniess, however, our lawmakers will take pains to iniorm them- selves ubout the rates of tare, whién will be “rea. sonable,"’ there is cause to lear that the city will be saddied with a perpetual tax on transit, which will be daily extracted from our pockeis, while we will be as helpless as the “people” were in the old Jeudal times under the system of taxation im- posed by their rulers. Whether New York will have rapid transit now depends on the Legisiature. The enactment of any just oilt authorizing responsible parties to bulla such @road would insure the speeay con- struction of such @ line. The difMiculty has been heretofore that when authority has been given it has been either with such restrictions that re- sponsidle people would not take hold of tt, or eise the authority has falien into the hands of entirely irresponstbie people, If the Generat Railroad law Was amended so that any parties could organize a company. and by giving bonds to the amount of say $500,0 0 per mile, should be allowed to select a route and present plans to a board of commis- sioners appointed inany way to insure men of ability and integrity, the occupation of the route and the construction of the road to be suoject to the approval of the commissioners, it wouid, it is believed, at once tnduce a class of men to engage in the construction of sucn roads who nave here- fore held entirely aloof trom such projects. AN ENGINEER, VANDERBILT UNDERGROUND RAILWAY CHARTER, To THS Epiror oF THE HERALD:— T have read with interest the numerous articles which have appeared from time to time in the columns of the HERALD on the all-absorbing ques- tion of “Rapid Transit,” and must confess that 1 have seen litte else in these articles than words, words, words—notping tapgible. Men may write, speechify and theorize as much as they please; but neither valking nor writing nor theorizing will build and equip an expensive rail- way. Nearly ail the articles to wNich allusion 1s Made seem to ignore the fact that “rapid transit” is, or very soon will be, an accomplished fact as far south through the city of New York as Forty-second street. It seems to me that the real question ts, How ig the rapid transit or steam railway from Forty-second street (Grand Central depot) to be continued to the City Hallor to the Battery? Now, everybody knows that a charter was given by the Legislature to Lommodore Vanderbilt, two or three years since, authorizing him to batld an underground raliway irom the Grand Central depot to the City Hall Park, and that be went bout tne work in good earnest. He directed his engineer, the late Isaac C, Buckhout, to make the necessary surveys, prepare plans of the work and estimates of ils cost, and that in accordance with sald directions Mr. Buckbout did make the surveys and prepare the plans and estimates, and that in- structions were given him to invite proposals for the construction of the work, when, for some un- explained reason, the “Commodore’ changed bis mind, and operations on the contemplated ex- tension of the Fourth avenue improvement to the City Hall were indefinitely postponed, The estimates of Mr. Buckhout, I am creaitably in- formed, showed conclusively that a aoubdle track underground railway irom Fiftieth street to the new Post Oltice could be built jor less than $7,000,000; and 1 am also informed that contrac- tors of large experience and unimited means were ready to do the work of conssruction for a sum considerably below the estimate of the engineer. It has been said that some city ofictais, appointees, ofthe late Kingmaster ‘lweed, parties interested in the Tweed-Sweeny arcade project, interviewed the Commodore and induced him to believe that Une work could not be done jor the ‘amount set Jortn in the estimate of the engineer, and that it was owing to the represeutations of ‘these parties that Mr. Vanderbilt abandoned the idea ot build- ing the uvderground railroad down town. Be Unis as it may, there is one thing ocertatn, that the only way to secure fapid trausit to the southern part o! the city within a reasonable time 1s to con- tinue the tracks of the New York and Harlem Ratl- Toad as far south as the City Hall, on the plan pro- posed by the late Mr. Buckhout. It 1s practicable and can be done at @ reasonable cost. ‘herefore, let your rapid transit men—nurth side, east side, west side and every other side association men— unite on this practicavie undertaking. Let them secure the Vanderoilt charter, and, if possible, se- cure the interest and aid of the Commodore, ana the great corporations whose roads terminate in tne Grand Central depot, and in a short time rapid transit to tne City Hall Park would be secured. Alterward, or even while this work Is in course of construction, other lines may be projected and put in progress. Tom, Dick and Harry will not be debarred irom pursuing tieir fancy tlignts on three-tier ways, one-legged whirligigs, noops, loops, walking siaewalks, or pueumatic per- amoulators, jut for goodness sake give us something sensible—something practicable, Let us have the Fourth avenue improvement carried underground to the new Post Office, as the first thing veed{ul, and let the Commodore immortalize himself by giving material aid to the enterprise. Without his aid and assistance the work, | regret to say, 13 Not likely to be accomplished, His as- sistance, 1 think, may be secured if some sensible geutieman would convince him that the construc- tion of an underground way from the Grand Cen- tral depot to the Post Office would nos lessen the receipts of the New York and Harlem horse car raliway. JACK SMITH. MONTERLONEY, Feb. 23, 1875, THE WAR IN ‘CUBA. CONCHA’S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE REBELLION EXTENDED BEYOND THE TWENTY DAYS’ TERM—SEVERE FIGHTING WITH HEAVY LOSSES IN THE FIELD—A DESPERATE BAND OF SPANISH AUXILIARIES ROUTED BY THE REBELS. HAVANA, Feb, 21, 1875. General Concha has not succeeded, according to his promise, in ending the insurrection in twenty days {rum the time when he left Havana for the front, The only object accomplished so far is the suppression of any intelligence relating to the in- surrection in the Cinco Villas being published in the Havana papers. PROGRESS OF THE ARMY OPERATIONS. A letter from Sagua, received here on the 18th, states that the Spanish troops were throwing up entrenchments in the streets of Sagua, and that the blaze of six sugar estates burning could be seen Jrom the town while tne letter was being written, A report js also in circulation here, which comes from reliable sources, that 300 Spanish troops, only @ few days landed from Spain, and 200 volun- teers, were attacked by Sanguili about ten mies from Sagua, and after a spirited action, which lasted two hours, the volunteers were captured and seventy-one of the Spanish troops were killed and about forty wounded, Sanguili disarmed the volunteers and allowed them to return to Sagua. “WaR TO THE KSIFE'—VOLUNTBERS ROUTED BY THE REBELS, On the 16th General Concha sent forward from Moron two companies of Chappegorres, a volunteer organization on the island who neither give nor take quarter, who were encountered by Maximo Gomez, and afier a close engagement the Chap- ea made a hasty retreat with a loss of sixty 1led. SPANISH BULLETINS OF VICTORIES. The Havana papers this morning contain a despatch from Santa Clara, Concha’s headquarters, dated 20th tnst., stating that two columns of the Spanish Army had penetrated as far as the Ualéral Gonzalez, which had served as a stronghold of the insurgents, and had captured various effects, The despatch also states that the loyai troops haa attacked the insurgents at the estate Que- sada and compelled them to retreat, with loss, to the estate Mamon, The Diario dela Marina sa “Until the ‘oficial’ report arrives we c afull report of the engagement at the Cai Gonzalez, but we are sure that the enemy is in full retreat, provably to siguanea,”’ CONCHA LOOKED FOR AT THE PALACE. The same paper says General Concha will soon return to this city, THE SUGAR ESTATES’ LOSSES. The number of sugar estates reported burned by the insurgents is lorty-tWo, but vo rellance can sod Unibesie et rumors.@0ntil the sugar makers e eers arrive in Havana ce count can be given, ayes Oe tal | | THE CENTENNIAL. The Law Exempting from Duty Goods for the Exhibition. Ex-Governor Bigler's Earnest Appeal to the Capitalists of the Country. During the last week many inquiries have been made at the Centennial headquarters in this city by gentlemen representing European firms in re- gard to the duty on goods intended for the Phila- deiphia exhibition, It is somewhat strange that the impression should still so generally prevail that gooas sent to the Exhibition would be liable to the same duty as levied under the usual circum, Stances, Congress passed a law expressly for the purpose of admitting tree of duty articles that are simply sent to be displayed at the Exposition of 1876, AS this matter is of great importance, and the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury concerning the tmportation of goods re- quire to be fully understood, we give the full text of the law and the rules based upon it for the guidance of European senders, They are as fol- lows :— THE Be it enacted by. Senate ani tives of the Uasited Staton ork bled, that ali artic! which 8! ce sper lor the sole Papal of exhioition at the International Exnibt- tion to be held in the city ot Philadelphia in te, year 1876, shall be admitted withoat the payment of duty or of customs fees or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shail prescribe; pro- vided, that all such articles a@ shall be sold in the United states or withdrawn for consumption therein atany time after such importation shail be subject to the duties, if any, iinposed on like articles by the reve- nue taws in force at the date of importation; and pro- vided further, that in case any articles imported under ‘the provisions of this act shail be withdrawn for con- sumption, or shail be sold without it of duty as required ‘by law, all the peu rescribed by the revenue laws shall be applied and enforced against such articles and against the person who may be guilty of such withdrawal or sale. Tn pursuance ot the provisions of this act the tollowing regulations are prescribed :— SPECIAL REGULATIONS, First—No duty or customs fees or charges being re- quired on any such im: a @ new form of entry is prescribed, which will be employed in ali cases at tio port where sich goods are rece’ Secondt—Lhe ports ot New Yorks Boson, Portland, Ne. Barlington, Vt. ; Suspension Bridge, N. ¥.; Detroit, Port Muron, Mich.; Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nor- folk, New Orleans, and San Francisco, will alone con- stitute ports of entry at which imporiations tor sald £x- hibition will be made free of duty, Third—Ali articles di ned ior such Exbibition must be forwarded, accompanied by an invoice or schedule ot the numbers, character, and each shipment, which stat a consul of the United stat country tn witlen they, are p ‘are shipped to the Uni contents and values ee ‘States. puch verified bill of will be transinitted im triplicate, the collector of cus toms at the it is desired to make entry, which will be retained for the files of his ottice; one copy to some duly authorized agent, either of the owners or of the foreign commission of the country from which shipment was made, which agent must in all cases be recognized by the Director General of the bx- htbition, who will, by virtue of that authority, verif the gools and make entry; an copy to’ the Col- lector at the Port ot Philadelphi nd all packages and enclosures con aining goods destined for such #xhibt- tion must be plainly and conspicuously marked with te'words “forthe International Exhibition of 187i at Philadelphia.” Fourth,—All goods arriving so marked and represented, either avthe time of arrival or at any time while maining in the custody of the collector of customs at the port of arrival on aencrte, order, will, woen entered at tne port of arrival, be delivered without examination to such recognized agent or agents, to be by him or them forwarded from the port of arrival by bonded line of transportation to Philadelphia, there to be delivered to the custody of the Collector ot that port. WARKMOUSK ENTRY. Fith—Entry tor warehouse will be made for all such transported packages on arrival at the said port Philadelphia, and ovat entry for warehouse will be wade of all’ goods directed by first shipment to Phila- delphi, Warehouse entry having, been made ackages willbe held in the custody of the sald Col- fector until the Exhibition building or some building erected by or in the custody of the officers controlling the said Zxhibition, and suitable for secure custody as a warehonse under the authority of the United tates, is ready to receive them, Sizth—separate and complete records of all pac! so transmitted and received by the Collector at Phi! phia wil! be made by the Storekeeper at the port of Phil- Adelphia in a book prepared tor the purpose, in which will be entered, so far as known, the owner's name, the agen’s name representing the’ articles, the country trom which shipped, the date of such knipment, tho name of the importing vessel and the date of arrival, the general description and value of the goods and the specific marks and numbers of the packages, Such record will also be kept in duplicate by a special in- spector ot custoins, who, under the direction of the sec- retary of the Treasury, shall be appointed to identify, forward and care for packages xo properly marked and intended in good faith for the Exhibition, but which may not be properly represented by an owner or agent. Seventh—W hen the said Exhibition building. or a ware- bouge suitable for secure custody of articles intend for the Kxhibition, duly authorized tor receiving ponded woods, shali be ready to receive articles then in the cus- tody of the Collector of the Port of Fhuadelphia, ve- seriptive permits, in duplicate, shall be ed by the said Collector to the .torekeeper of the port, directing the delivery of packages as required by the owner or agent, or by the officers of the said Exnibition—one copy of which permits shall be preserved by the said Store- keeper, the second copy to be delivered with the goods to a proper olficer of the customs stationed at the said Exhivition building or warehouse to be there Kept as record of goods eutered tor such Exhibition in addition to the duplicate required to be kept in a Look of proper form as before reterred to. And all pene shall be opened in presence of an officer of the customs, who shall verify the contents from and upon such descrip. live re correcting and completing it as the tacts may reauire, Eighth—In case of receipt 7 ee ollector at Phila- delphia of packages imperfectly described or verified, or in regard to which information may be received ques- tioning the good faith of the persons forwaraing the same, the said Collector may direct an examination in proper form for the purpose of determining the ques- tion, and It, on coulerence with the Director General, the goods are tound to have been forwarded not in good the faith for said Exhibition, they will be charged with duty according to their value and classification, ana held by. the said + ollector, subject to appeal to the Secretary of the Treasury, to await proper claim and payment of duty by their owners. Ninth—ani Fie Kh CHARGES TO orice, a int} cha ion, drayage an freight accruing on goods arriving tor the said Soxiibi- tion will be required to be paid. by th at the time of their deliver. fector of Customs at Philadelphia, or ir on packages of small bulk or weight, not accompanied by the owner or agent, or consigned to a foreign commissioner, and not exceeding $5 in amount, will be charged against the goods as so delivered into the custody of the Collector at Philadelphia, to be paid with other charges subsequently accruing before the permit is issued for their delivery to the Exhibition Bailding; and on al! packages exceeding fifty pounds in weight, half storage. as provided by regulation for the storage of ordinary merchandise in the public warehouse at the port of Philadelphia, will be charged against the goods receivea and stored therein trom the time of receipt to the time ot delivery to the Isxhibition Building. No fees for en- try, permit or other official act and no duties will be charged upon or against such packages until after their withdrawal trom such Exhibition for sale, at its close or during its conti ce, Tenth—Ali articles received and entered at such Ex: hibition in the manner hereinbetore provided may, at any time consistently with the regulations controlling said Exhibition, be withdrawn for sale or delivery to other parties than the owner or agent concerned in their tnportation on payment of the duties properly accruing on sald goods according to the laws in force at the time of the importation thereof; anc for the purpose of ax sessment and determination of such duties and for Proper identification of the articles an oficer of the Appraiser’s Department of the port ot Philadelpni be detailed to make due examination of the articles so withdrawn or sold. veritying them by the record of their introduction, and charging upon a proper form, to be prepared for such purpose, the said rate and amount of duty; and on payment of the duty so charged, but wit! out fee or other expenses, the owner or agent’ shall ri celve a permit for their removal trom the Exhibition. RULES YOR THE RETURN. Eleventh— Articles destened to be returned to the foreign country trom which the save were, imported. or to removed from the United St at the close of the Exhibition, or at such time as shail be directed by the officers of such Exhibition, be verified by the customs officer in charge at the Exhibition, re-enclosed, duly marked, and torwarded, under permit of the Collector at Philadelpma, to any other Port tor export, or may he directly exported trom Philadelphia. Export entries tor such use will be prepared, corresponding to the tm- Bort Oke: under which the goods were originally re- ceived. Ticeyth— A special inspector or customs will, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, report at in- tervals to the Collectors of the ports of Philade|phia and of New York, of of such otRer ports as he may be di- rected to visit, for the purpose of applying the regula- Hons herein provided. Bet, BRISTOW, Secretary. The financial agent was busy yesterday de. spatching letters to all the principal capitalats of the country. ‘The following is a specimen of the earnest style in which he seeks to impress upon the minds of our leading men the grandeur of the patriotic interests involved in the success of the enterpris THE APPEAL CENTENNIAL Hi JUARTERS, St. NicHoLas HOTEL, Sept. 27, 1875. DEAR StR—Although @ stranger to yout is my duty to endeavor to impress upon yonr mind the pungent significance of the coming Centennial celehration. Beyond all questin it will ve the grandest display of ern times, and it will be in honor of an event that brought countless viessings to man- kind—the independence of America, It will do honor to the memory of the authors of this event— Washington and all his compeers, Ail the ceremonies are provided for by law and are under the auspices of the government of the United States. It will be an exhibition of ali the works of science and art for the pastcentury of the Republic. All the nations of any note In the world have been invited to attend and have acceptea the Presidenvs invitation, and have appointed their Most distinguished citizens to appear as Ministers and Commissioners, [t wiil also be an occasion OL begetiing great good will among our own people, and thereby tending to assure the perpe- tuity of our free tostitutions, The magnificent buildings, covering forty-nine acres, are under contract and are to be constructed before the 1st of January next, No such event ever has been seen or ever will be seen again in the lietme of any one now in ex- istence. I am sure, from whatl know of your character, that you will desire to witness tins grand scheme, and so have some partin it. It is quite probable that you will et a large proportion , . of what you invest back again, but this will be ef no consequence, CENTENNIAL CURIOSITIES. Quite anumber of articies wili be sent to the Philadeiplita Exhibition pecullarly appropriate te the occasion, from the fact that they will just be one hundred years old in 1876. One ofthe mostin teresting of these objects is a harpsichord, made ts 1776 by a celebrated London firm, which has beer sent on from England expressly to figure other remarkabie Centennial curiosities. Co: tent judges say that the instrument is of exquisite workmansuip aod of great value, and additional interest is given ii by the statement General Washington owned this veritavle harpsichord at ove time and that it afterward passed back tnto th hands oi the manufacturers. The young lady & generation which has almost forgotten what t! instrament is like that their grandmothers loved as much as they do the piano will certainly view THE CHURCH WAR = IN MEXICO. Details of the Assassination of Protest- ants in Acapulco. Eight Persons Said to Have Been Killed—Ap American Decapitated—The Catholic Cler- gyman Released by the People. MeExtroo, Feb. 16, 1876, The news received in this city up to the latest moment in regard to the assassination of the Protestant worshippers at Acapulco reaches the point that eight of them have died of thetr wounds or bave been killed outright, while es maby more are still badly off. Only one of the assassins has died or was killed, as far as Known, up to the present time. THE AMERICAN WH@ WAS KILLED. The American killed was a worshipper who hed long lived in Acapulco, and went to the door of the house of worsbip to quiet the attacking party, when they cut his nead nearly om his body, THE CLERGYMAN RELEASED BY THE PEOPLE. The priest who 1s supposed to have instigated the attack was arrested, but subsequently re- leased, as the federal force in the town, only sixty men, Was not strong enough to en! the arrest. ACTION OF THE EXECUTIVE. Assoon as the federal government can pl forces in Acapulco it 18 supposed an attempt be made to enforce the laws and secure to the peo ple ireedom of religious worship. .. FUTURE TROUBLE ANTIOIPATED, Rev. Mr. Hutchinson has satied for Sap Fran: cisco, aud will soon be en route for Mexico via New Orleans or New York. Iv is to be supposed that the government of Mexico has already taken measures, such as it can command, to prevent outbreaks of the kind in other peste of the country, but ignorant indiaa commanities “led to glory” through assassina- tions by bigoted priests, are tough elements to contend with, even by governments, where com munications and transportations ure scarce. MEXICAN PRESS OPINIONS, [From the Two Republics (Mexico City) Feb, 10.) We -reproduce the following article irom the Tratt a’Unton, being, as it 1s, suggestive to all parties of the benefits to be derived in the country by the exercise of more tolerance. But we do not agree with our colleague that the liberal party exercising its influence in behalf ol the Protestant Church, the aposties uf which, our colleague says, are Americans, nor do We arrive at the conclusion of our colleague that political danger to tne country is likely to flow from the spread of the Protestant religion, under the administra tions of the American missionaries. To the first point we have this to say: —We wish our /riends ia the United States and England to aisabuse their mindg, if any belleve that tne ‘uberal party” in its war upon the power and influence of tne Catholic clergy in Mexico is @ Protestant move- ment. We can assure them to the contrary, these are not Protestants; they do not oppose tue Catholics on sectarian or doctrinal grounds, hav- ing no afinity with any religion, and they act, as they allege, on grounds of political reform, While they tear down the influence of the Catholic Church, they do nothing toward building up any ouber religion. Our colleague, a8 usual, ws upon his nightly dreams of “Yankee aggression,” which he thinks may happen at any day, and pic~ tures the dreadiul results that are to belal the Mexican Kepublic, In consequence of the liberal party according a declared protecvion to Protest- antism, aod that tuere is danger 10 a religious assimilation. ‘Tne day has when religious assimilations affect national or political combinations, We have only to refer to the United States; the difference of religions did not prevent the Coniederates Pn 4 uniting; while the Northern armies were filled slike by Catnolics und Provestants. Germany fers anether evidence in support of our the German Catholics iougnt beside to tant brethren against Catholic France. as put lorward by the 7raitd’ Union may be ble put they fade away before the powerful indy euces of fixed republican principies, one of which 18 equal protection to all religions. American maxim 18, thaterror is free to live so long as truth Is iree to combat it, (From the Trait d’Union of Mexico, Feb. 4) THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION, It 1s a curious study, that which tne attitude of the two parties that divide Mexican society pre sents to us in this movement. Hatreds which weemed to de iorgotter, passions waoich were be Neved to be be Lara polemics which recall by their violence the worst days of the 8! be peedist @ cuarao tween religious fanaticism and the en: ver of bitterness which docs not fail to present school, have assumed for some time possible dangers. The organs of the clerical party record aay protests signed by thousands of pere sons, and the prudent attitude observed since the falloi the Empire has given place to the most open nostility. The liberal journals reply to these attacks with no less violence, and this struggle, begun with the pen, could well degenerate into a bloody conflict if men of reason do not interpose in time to calm tis angry effervescence. We will seck neither the origin nor the causes Ol a situation which we believe bas become more and more extended by the imprudence Ofethe two parues, We tnink, in effect, that with a little More tact and mutual concessions tt Would be ussible to arrive, if not at periect accord (which 3 NOt possible) at least at a relative pacification, One of the errors of the liberal party is to seek, by hatred of Catholicism, to extinguish completely the religious sentiment in the masses, to substi- tute for it a species o1 philosophic idealism and aa academic moraiity, which may suit reunion of learned men, bul cannot be putin practice by an entire people. History, in effect, does pot pre- sent to us any exampie of a naton having beem aple to live without some kind of religion. Un the ' day in which tue religious idea should disappear entirely from a community that community would be Infailibly devoted to the most frightful anarchy, which could only be ended by death. The duty of the liberal Mexicans ougit then to be, it seems te us, not toextiuguish, but rather to enlignien the religious sentiment. : Auotner error oi the same party is to accord a declared protection to Protestantism. Philoso- phicaily speaking Protestantism, @s well as Ca- tholicism, does not admit o. tree thought, and 1rom a political point of view we see for Mexico in her progress a veritabie danger for the future, The aposties of the retormed religion are, for ti most part, American. The money which t scatter by handiuls, and whicn is a powerful aux. illary of grace, is money furnished by the Bible so cteties of the United States. It 18 very certaim that when there exisis vetween two hboring nations a community of religion assimilation be. comes more easy. Prince Bismark, whose name 18 inseparabie from all that constitutes politic Machiavelism, Was 80 convinced of this truth toat, having: to send his engineera to ratse the pian of the citadels o: Alsace and Lorraine, he had favored every possible Means Caivinistic propagandism in these two provinces, sometime vefore the war ot 1870 the situation created by the German Chancellor presented dangers which did not escape far seeing minds; Jor, if our regen g serves us, Gen- eral Ducrot, who commanded at ‘Strasbou wrote at that time to General Frossard :—*In ti event of a war with Prussia we should seriously count upon the sympathies which 1t would meet with among many of the Protestants of our de- pariments.” hat which has happened in France would infallibly happen to Mexico, im the case of events which it 1s not rash to predic:. Certes, we are jar from advising hostility against Protestaa® ism, since religious Mberty exists; but we would Wish to see the parties preserve more caimness and not to evenom those questions which, ~*~ tortunately, divide them too much already, an which hinder the development and progress of the country. SUICIDE BY SHOOTING. About ten o'clock yesterday morning Mr. Her. mann Stephany, late of No, 113 Chrystie street, whd, with bis wile, was engaged in the flower business at No. 113 Bowery, committed suicide in presence of his family by shooting himself through the head with a pistol, the builet pass nto th © brain and causing death im afew m ater ward. Mr, Stephany, it is said, had been drinking to excess Ol late, Aud doubdtiess, at the time o committing the deed, Waa not in bia right mind Corover Croker was novfied to hold an mquee over the remains, Deceased was about forty year ol and a bative of Germany. Mr. Stepp has tor @ Widow and several cnt bi cand