The New York Herald Newspaper, May 17, 1875, Page 6

ee rat 6 NEW YORK HERALD[ BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and nfter January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Herarp will be rent free of postage. fe oy THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy, An- nual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yorx Henaxp. Rejected communications will not be -re- turned. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. LONDON OFFICE OF TelE NEW YORK HERALD—NO, 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received und forwarded on the same terms as in New York. VOLUME x "AMUSEMENTS TO- NIGHT, NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY SHEET Governor Titden’s Rapid Transit Bill. The bill introduced on Friday and made the special order for this evening in the Assembly is the Governor's by adoption and probably by contribution to the orginal dratt. There is perbaps no kind of work for which Gov- ernor Tilden is so competent, when he bends his mind to it, as the drafting of a railway bill that will stand the wear and tear of conflicting interests and pass sately through the ordeal of the litigations always liable to arise under such acts of legislation, Mr. Tilden has been the legal adviser of half the leading railroads of the Northern States, and the most valuable fruits of his skill have not consisted in con- ducting lawsuits with success, but in avoid- ing their necessity by shrewd foresight. His experience has made him familiar with all the sources from which such litigation can arise; and be has more than once lent his assistance in the preparation of railway laws for the consideration of State Legislatures. ‘There is no man in the country whose deliberate approbation of a railroad bill would be a safer guarantee that iv provided for every exigency likely to arise. Governor Tilden’s indorsement of the new Rapid Transit bill en- titles it to respectful examination. It would be idle at this stage to compare the Governor's bill with the original bill of the Common Council. The Common Council bill in the form in which it wag sent to Albany, is past praying for. It has been so deformed by miscalled amendments that its parents can hardly recognize it. Having passed both branches of the Legislature in this misshapen condition there is no possibility of its going METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No, 985 Broalway.—VAKISTY, ats VM BOOTHS THEATRE, | Twenty-third sireet, and, Sizth avenne — OP. M.; closes at ll PM Muse Clara corner of MACBELH, at 82. A. Morris. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near h avenue,—GIROFLE- GIBUFLA, ator. M. Mlle. roy. ROBINSON HALL, West Sixteenth streeh—VAGIETY, at 8 P.M SAN FRANUISCO MINSTRELS, Broadway, corner uty-ninth street.—NEGRO MINSTRULSY, at 5 P. M.; closes at Lo ?. M, BROOKLYN THEATRE, THE TWO ORPHANS, at 8 P.M. Misses Minnie and Jallian Comway. . WALLAOK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—THE IRISH Hu LRESS, at 8'P. M.; closes at eT) Mass Ada Dyas, Mr. Montague. BOWERY OPERA HOUSE, fom Bowery.—VAKIETY, at 6 P. M.; ‘closes at 10:45 i—JIM BLUDSOE, Milt Nobles ‘ satinee ORLY) ATHEN #OM TABLEAUX viveste ats P. HEATRE COMIQUF, T Mo, su Broadway.—VARIETY, ais ¥. M.; closes at 10:45 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, West Fourteenth street—Open trom iv A. M. to'S P. M. OLYMPIC THEATRE, se a Broadway.—VAKIETY, at 5 P. M.; closes at 10:45 GRAND OPERA HOUSE. avenue and Twenty-th street. TWELVE TATIONS, at SP. M.; UP. M. Ta GREAT SOUTH AMERICAN CiRCUR, corner forty ninth sireet and Eighth avenue.—After- non and evening. FIFTH AVENUR THEATRE. Twenty-eizhth street and Broaaway.—iHE BIG BO. NANZA, at 3 P. M.; closes at 10:0 P.M. BROOKLYN PARK THPATRE. re avenus.—VARIBTY, at 8 P.M; closes at 145 E SH HE TRIPLE ET. pee our reports | this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cool and clear. Te Cantists have found Guetaria too strong for them and are preparing an attack on Renteria. Tax Venoict of the Coroner's jury in New- ark in the case of Frederick Gluckstadt, who was rug over by a railroad train, deserves ap- proval as a bold and manly protest. Ovr Literany Concuns te-day present a letter from Paris descriptive of several im- portant new French pu ons, and reviews of the Istest books of criticism, biography and | fiction. Tar Escarz of the Sing Sing convicts has | called especial attention to the story of one | of the worst of them—the murderer, Stephen Boyle—which is vividly told in another col- amn. Toe Mixens.—The pr bility of an early resumption of labor in the Wilkesbarre col- lieries is asserted in our correspondence from the mining regions to-day. The end of this long strike seems to be approaching. Tae Waatuer yesterday was beautifal, and the parks, the rivers and the bay and all the | surrounding suburbs were filled with pleasure seckers. Nothing was wanting to make the enjoyment complete but better methods of travel within the limits of the city itself. The want of these kept thousands of people at home. Tur Reasons given by the German govern- ment for the release of the imprisoned priests at Posen seem to imply that it has obtained from other sources the information it desired to obtain by this clerical persecution. It may be that the real cause is that the firmness of the priests has convinced the government that | the policy of terrorism has in this instance | failed. | Trary axp tre Pors. —Just when the Pope | has celebrated bis eighty-third birthday he | suffers another rebuke in the suspension of a | Roman newspaper for publishing his address to the German pilgrims. This act is harsh, bu: it is also an indication that the Italian government is not disposed to give | Germany avy ground for complaints that | might disturb the peace of Europe. Cupa Lioae.—The account we publish to- | day of a battle between the Spanish and Ouban forces in the Eastern Department | shows how completely the tide of fortune has turned in favor of the insurgents. | From Bayamo to Las Cruces the soldiers of the Cuban Republic fight and die tor the sacred | cause of independence ; and everywhere they seem to be slowly, but surely, gaining ground, | althongh now cut off from outside help for | more than six years. And once more we are informed that they have purchased a blockade | the company owning the latter may build the | back into that body and being born again. The choice, therefore, is not between the new bill andthe Common Council bill, as first drafted, but between the new bill and the misshapen progeny of the Legislature, now in the Gov- ernor’s hands, with doubts in his mind as to whether he shall strangle it or permit it to live. Tf the new bill passes there can be no question as to his duty, Whatever may be thought of the comparative merits of the two bills in their original shape there is no room for hesi- tation in a choice between the Governor's bill as drafted and the Common Council bill as amended by its enemies. If the new bill passes it will be the clear duty of the Gov- ernor to veto the other. Considering the alternative to which we are reduced by the perverse, hostile amendments, all true friends of rapid transit should desire the prompt passage of the bill which will occupy the Assembly this evening. When a horse has been entered for a race if corrupt or ma- licious jockeys lame him nobody bets any longer on the disabled steed, however splendid may have been his original running qualities. Such a horse is the Common Council bill since it was malignantly practised upon by the corrupt jockeys of the Legislature in the pay of the street railroads. As the Governor has committed himself to the new bill we trust we may rely on his ex- erting all his legitimate influence to secure its passage. Ina matter of such magnitude and such pressing urgency we waive our objec- tions to the appointment of the Commis- sioners by the Governor. That he would ap- point upright and competent men we never had a doubt, and it is better that the Gov- ernor should select Commissioners under a law which would give us rapid transit than for the Mayor to select them under a law which would be practically abortive. We want the thing done, and when the choice lies between a bill framed to do it ead a bill amended to obstruct it there is no rvom for hesitation. We had rather see rapid transit march at the word of the Governor than merely mark time at the command of the Mayor, and this is the alternative to which we are brought. In the brief comparison we are about to make we will drop the designation ‘‘Common Council bill” (for it is no longer the same bill) and cail it the Moore bill, the title by which it is commonly known in Albany, from the name of the Senator who introduced it, and for the sake of brevity we will call the other the Tilden bill. First—The Tilden bill is superior to the Moore bill in the fact that proceedings under it must necessarily mean business. The Com- missioners appointed under the Tilden bill receive no salary unless a rapid transit road is organized and built, and their salaries are to be paid by the company; but the Commis- sioners under the Moore bill are to be paid by the city, and will have no pecuniary stimulus to make the work a success. Under the Tilden bill they go out of office when the com- pany is organized ; under the Moore bill they are appointed for three years and are a stand- ing charge upon the city whether anything is | accomplished or not. The practical effect of the Moore bill might be merely to create fat offices for the benefit of nobody but the in- | cumbents. Besides, it is right and honest that the company which is to receive the | profits of the road should defray the prelim- sound pre- | This is a bogus costs. against inary caution attempts and deceitful dallying with the subject. It would be for the interest of the street railroads to bribe the Commissioners under the Moore bill to put on busy disguises | and do nothing. Under the Tilden bill each of them is required to give a bond in the penal sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the faithful performance of his duties and to take an official oath. Second—The Tilden bill is better than the Moore bill by the permission it gives to con- struct a rapid transit road on any street or avenue of the city except Broadway ama Fifth | avenue below Fifty-ninth street and Fourth svenue above’ Forty-second strect, whether | there are horse railroads on the streets or not. The Commissioners are just as free to take Third avenue or Fourth avenue or Sixth or Eighth avenue as if a railroad track had never been laid on them. Exception is also made of streets or avenues in which | there is already an elevated or underground road, but, for the present, this includes only Ninth avenue, and its future effect will be to secure every rapid tran- sit road that may be built against disturbance by new companies. The Moore bill does not confer this unequivocal right to ase the streets | in which there are horse railroads. tains a clause which may be construed as pro- hibiting rapid transit in such stree!s alto- gether. The Tilden bill provides that when the Commissioners locate a rapid transit road in a street or avenue where there is a horse railroad former if it will comply with the conditions, It con- | Tf Third avenue, for instance, should be taken, the Third avenue horse car company may elect whether it will build and own the rapid transit road or permit anew company to be organized. It would be for its interest to own and control both roads and prevent a conflict of rival interests on tho same routes. Besides the profits of the rapid transit road the company would gain nearly as much business as it would lose on its horse railroad. Supposing the rapid transit stations to be half a mile distant, a large por- tion of the people getting on or off at them would also use the horse cars, and the company would receive the same fares for short distances that they do for long dis- tances. he tide of travel drawn to this route by the rapid transit road would bring additional business to thoir horse cars, with- out suffocating them by overcrowding. More- over, it would be easy for a wealthy company, like that which owns the Third avenue horse cars, to command the capital for building a rapid transit road on a route where its success would be so assured. Third—The Lilden bill is carefully and comprehensively drawn, 80 a8 to cover every question that can arise respecting rights of property, compensation to owners, the legal obligations of companies, and every point about which doubts and litigations are liable to arise in so large and complex an under- taking. ~ We earnestly hope, therefore, that the Tilden bill may pass, in which case it will be the duty of the Gcvernor to extinguish the Moore bill with a veto. Louisiana Affairs. In the letter which we publish to-day our special correspondent in the South gives an account of the condition of Louisiana as re- gards peace. He says that there is no doubt that in the early years after the war many and serious outrages were committed on the freed- men; he declares that the suffrage and the right to hold office were both absolutely necessary to make them and maintain them really free men; but he thinks it a misfortune for them that they tell under the leadership of base men, who used thom and tanght them the viler ways of politics, and he discloses an amazing corruption in the rulers of the State, who appear, in the instances he cites, to have been in many cases not only unscrupulous, but vulgar and greedy robbers, men who have not hesitated to prostitute even the schools established for the colored children to their partisan purposes, and who have robbed right and left, without shame. Mr. Nordhoff declares his belief that since 1870 there have been very few political mur- ders or outrages in the State, and he points out and enforces by instances the curious fact that a great part of the murders since that date have been of negroes by negroes. He appears to be struck by the fact that the rulers of the State have been extraordinarily negligent in punishing crimes, and lays the blame for such disorders as exist largely to this inefficiency; yet it is this State govern- ment, corrupt and inefficient to the last degree, which the President has been misled by his favorites into supporting and forcing upon the people of Lonisiana during several years. Mecklenburg. We prmt two new contributions to the Mecklenburg controversy this morning, and, as usual, one on each side, which we consider fair as between the affirmative and negative, One of these communications, that of Dr. James C. Welling, President of the Columbian University at Washington, is remarkable for force of reasoning and chaste elegance of style, and will be read with interest even by those who are growing weary of the subject. Dr. Welling’s very able article on the Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence in the North American Review tor April, 1874, has been freely drawn upon by subsequent writers. There is no other historical inquirer to whom the side he advocates is so much indebted. Readers ot his present communica- tion will see the very best that research, acuteness, and logic can offer against the gen- uineness of the 20th of May resolutions and the authenticity of the meeting at which they are said to bave been adopted. Those who are proof against Dr. Welling’s reasoning are not likely to have their faith shaken by any- thing that will ever be said on the subject. The other communication is from Mr. Charles R. Jones, editor of the Charlotie Observer, and of course a zealous advocate of the Mecklenburg claim. We will not recapit- ulate his points, but we think it right to notice a statement, not material to his argu- ment, in which he has fallen into an error. He says that Jefferson, who rejected the Mecklenburg Declaration, also disbelieved in the existence of Jesus Christ. Jefferson cer- tainly was not orthodox, yet he not only be- lieved in the existence but admired the moral teachings of the founder of Christianity, of which there is one very striking proof. He once prepared a little book, for his own private use, consisting of such texts from the Gospels as he believed emanated from the | lips of Jesus himself, and arranged them in an octavo volume of forty-six pages. His biographer, Randall, had seen it, and gives the title page and specimens in the appendix to his third volume. ‘This collection was handsomely bound in morocco and was one of the most frequent of the books of morals in which it was Jefferson's habit to read each night before retiring to bed. In a letter to Charles Thompson he said of it :—‘‘A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. It isa doctrine in proof that I am a real Christian—that ts to say, a disciple | of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and them- | selves Christians, while they draw all their | characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw.” This is not the language of a man who disbelicved in the existence of Jesus. Tae Srovx Panaptse of the Black Hills and | the history of the recent attempts of the gold | seekers to enter that region are the subject of a thoughtful letter from Cheyenne to-day. The scientific expedition of which our corre- spondent writes has already started for the scene of its labors. Tur Aywrvensantes. —A | number of religious societies held their anniversaries in this city yesterday. Among them wore the Congrega- tional Union, the American Tract Society, and | Mission. MAY 1, 1870.1 KLE LG The Apotheosis of Barnum—Vive ta Bagateliot The strange news published in the Fananp of Saturday, as received by cable from our correspondents in London, to the effect that Moody and Sankey, the revivalist mission- aries in England, are really under the patron- age of our distinguished fellow countryman, Mr. Barnum, may take unthinking people by surprise. As our readers will remember, the story is that Mr. Barnum, having won every triumph in the way of adventure and hum- bug, sought, like Alexander, for new worlds to conquer, and finds them in the religious sympathies of the great British nation. He saw a people wandering trom the faith of their fathers, showing signs of a latitudinarian spirit, following the new cardinals in their red robes to the verge of Rome. There was no knowing where it would end. Cardinal Manning, with his hat, had gathered around him all the splendor and glory and tashion of the British nobility, headed by the Duke of Norfolk. So powerful was the attraction in a country of ritual and ceremony, where a strawberry leaf represents one of the highest of dignities, that there was some danger of the whole Established Church, cathedrals and all, going trooping after the head of the How- ards. Mr. Disracli, in his novel of ‘‘Lothair,"’ shows the influence of fashion in reli- gion—how great rank and station are paramount, even in the Church. If wo want to have a fashionable faith, what better than that of Rome, with its wealth of decoration and music? Great names have already fallen at the feet of Pius IX. There were Lothair, with the rich earldom of Bute, and the Marquis of Ripon, with all the honors that cluster around the ancient house of Grey. It was whispered, upon the authority of Mr. Whalley, that even Mr. Gladstone's lively conscience was looking to Rome for peace. Now we know the influence of these shining examples. George 1V., when first gentleman of Europe, was graciously pleased to saunter and roll as he walked, and to drawl in speech when he talked. All England began to dawdle and drawl So, unless some sudden stop was put to the whole business, whero would it end? In America the danger was even greater. ‘The Yankee mind loves a lord, and when none better serves we are not above making obei- sance to a macaroni count or a Pacific island king of royal mahogany hue. When the Pope sent usa real prince and a real red berreila, with a real count in dazzling raiment to show us the extent of Vatican splendor be- fore Victor Emmanuel put an end to it, the example became contagious. No event since Jenny Lind appeared at Castle Garden hae made the sensation of the cere- mony attending the imposing of the berretla. All New York began to run after the new Car- dinal. The ladies ransacked the stores to find some of the lovely crimson of his new robes. Rising statesmen, who used to follow Tweed with his diamonds to Greenwich and sit in expectant adoration before the dispenser of power, suddenly became religious, and could be seen swarming about His Eminence, only too anxious to kiss the sacred ring. All the old ‘line takers’? and “ounders’ and Americus Club states- men have become devout to the last degree. The spread of religion among the aspirants for office is most gratifying. We have professional Irishmen and profes- sional Catholics, whose faith and nativity are only elements of political intrigue. If it had kept on we should have had the whole republican committee tumbling after, headed by Mr. Murphy—who, by the way, has always been faithful—and embracing Mr. Laflin, General Arthur, General Sharpe and Mr. Bliss, all of whom would accept, no doubt, baptism to-morrow to secure a third term. It was at this exigency, when the whole country, democratic and republican, was about to be converted by a red hat, that the happy genius of Barnum came to the rescue. Barnum has saved Protestantism in two coun- tries. Tho career which began with Joyce Heth and the Fiji mermaid; which has suc- ceeded in collecting the largest number of mummies, clubs and curiosities ever exhibited for a small price of admission, culminates by becoming, like Mohammed and Joseph Smith, the founder of a new faith. Nor must we despise his genius because it seeks bumble in- struments for this work. A French writer says that to found a new religion it only needs an old woman, acat anda priest. Mr. Bar- num only needs a preacher and a singer. The news that he has taken Moody and San- key as a speculation to save evangelical religion in America and England may fall harshly upon the unthinking mind not imbued with the true philosophy of the age. It may be thought that our correspondent was misled by some designing wirepullers, such as we have sometimes discovered behind the scenes in journalism—men who use the press for their own wicked and selfish purposes. But the intelligence did not surprise us. We know Barnum. We know how largely he represents the American nation abroad. It looked a couple of years ago as it Buchu had superseded nim ; but Buchu soon became resolved into his original, component parts, aud Barnum kept that primacy of citizenship in these glorious States which has been his, by general suffrage, ever since he made thousands of his country- men, at twenty-five cents a head, believe that an india-rubber figure on springs was the | nurse of Washington. Barnum could not sur- prise us. This news of his newest achievement does not give us the least astonishment. We knew the Berretia enthusiasm would arouse his genius to # supreme effort. We should be prepared to learn that he had sent acircular to the Queen proposing to include | Her Majesty in his next exhibition of won- derfal waxworks and living curiosities. He would no doubt afford the Queen remunerative dent of Honduras and M. Phillippart, the Jay Gould of France, all in a show together, with 4 spirit of enterprise and a disregard of all man and his nation. | What more natural, therefore, than that a ful rival of Buchu—who has fooled millions | of people at twenty-five cents a head before | | the war and fifty cents since, should found a now musical religion, with ‘oody for apostle and Sankey for psalmist—a religion which | smuggled goods have to be sold at twenty | | per cent under the market price. All who | aware that “Deschamps know no more of musia, pow numbers millions of enlightened Britons moat oxtraordinary man of tha age. the cen- terms to carry out the speculation. He would | | put Cardinal Manning with his hat, the Presi- | preliminary expenses characteristic of the | man go gifted and 60 courageous—the success- | tennis! American in this, that he represents the full fruition of the hundred years wo celebrate. We do not say that Barnum is like Bayard, ‘sans peur et sans reproche,” or like the dissolved Buchu, a cure for every ailment, including baldness; but he is like himself alone, ‘without modesty and without seruples."" This prince of humbug has not the slightest hesitation in carrying out his schemes of humbug. Our readers cannot fail to see that the strangest results must be pro- duced upon this new melodious creed by ass0- ciating Barnum with a public celebration of its rites. We cannot help remembering that Barnum is omnipresent. We have seen him in many an editorial chair busy over the proof-sheets. He is always the inspiration of great public questions, and many of his admirers and followers and imitators will insist that he originated Cwsarism and invonted the third term. We have no doubt he first attacked our eminent, unselfish and long-suffering General Grant, and objected to his eternal Presidency. We are willing to retract all we have ever said on the subject of Grant, to repudiate the third term as a roor- back, to concede that we have never had any- thing of our own will to say about Cmsarism. Barnum was the master-spirit of the whole business, as he is the master-spirit of the age. Hereafter, when the learned antiquarian of far distant ages shall inquire into the geological formation of the earth, Barnum will be the litile frog, hopping out of some paleozoic stone. In the dim ages of the future, when this sublime Republic shal! have passed away, leaving no record except the worm- eaten pages of historical books; when Macau- lay'’s New Zealander shall, after studying the broken arches of London Bridge and the ruins of St. Paul’s, come to survey the fragments of Manhattan, the stones of the Court House, the Brooklyn Bridgo and the Fourth Avenue Improvement, he will find only the name of Barnum to show that this was once the city of his renown. It but one slab remains of our tallest and most cherished monuments and our most splendid cities, upon that stone, deeply engraved and boldly cut, will be found the illustrious, the im- mortal and the honored name of Barnum, protector of Joyce Heth, proprietor of the Fiji mermaid, patron of Tom Thumb, compiler of a million curiosities and apostle of anew religion which will save England and America from the influence of the berretlas now threatening to overwhelm all that remains of the Reformation in the countries of Thomas Oranmer and Roger Williams. The Custom House Revenue Frauds. Wherever heavy duties are imposed on imported goods there is a great temptation to fraud. Many persons regard it as a venial transgression to cheat the government ; then silks, laces, watches and such like goods can be so ensily handled, so great a value can be packed in so small a compass, and the saving of fifty or sixty per cent is so enticing, that under the most vigilant and efficient system ever adopted for the collection of customs duty a government can never expect to secure oll that is justly its due. When we hear of some fashionable belle or her friends man- aging or attempting to smuggle through a foreign purchased wardrobe without comply- ing with the revenue laws we are too apt, in the present lax condition of public moraiity, to regard it asasmart and even as a com- mendable piece of enterprise. Indeed, some people look upon it asa sort of oppression or imposition when they are required to pay duty on articles they purchase abroad for their personal use and without any design of profit or speculation. But common justice should teach us all that when duties are imposed for the support of the govern- ment, and honest merchants pay them, and are compelled to put a certain price on their goods in consequence, wholesale smuggling is a gross injustice to the best portion of the business community, as well as a robbery of the people at large. The story of the Lawrence conspiracy, as told by the United States District Attorney, is a startling one; yet, according to the present statement, we have only been afforded a glimpse of the remarkable case, and we aro assured that more astonishing developments are in store for us. To be sure, we have as yet only one side of the tale, and it is to be hoped, for the honor of the mercantile com- munity, that some ofits harshest features may be susceptible of explanation. It is certain that a most ingenious and complete system of fraud has been concocted and has been in operation for a long period without detection. When we read of the extensive transactions of the guilty parties, of the skill manifested in their plans, ot their admirably contrived method of secret correspondence, of the wide circle of the conspiracy, embracing parties in Europe, the United States and Canada— merchants, agents, manufacturers and gov- ernment officials—we are struck by the idea that the same ability and energy directed to honest pursuits must have commanded suc- cess in legitimate business, The connection of some of the Custom House officers with such frauds has long been suspected, and their exposure and punishment will bea great public good. The Collector, the Surveyor and other heads of the New York Custom House are above suspicion, aud is generally admitted. But no amount of watchfalness and care can wholly prevent dis- honest practices on the part of unfaithful subordinates, and the efforts of the Collector and his associates to hunt down the offenders | have been increased by their knowledge of the | advantage to be gained by the detection and punishment of the guilty parties. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the prosecution will be sternly pursued and will be made to embrace every person implicated in the conspiracy. ‘The lesson will be a salutary one to the Cus- | tom House officers. It will also be useiul, if read aright, to all who think to make a per- manent success through fraudulent practices. Here is @ vast conspiracy, reaching into mill- | ions of dollars in its operations, carried on un- detected for two years, and ending at last probably in the State Prison and poverty for | those engaged in it. The prospect of enormous | profits disappears when it is discovered that in such a basiness heavy bribes have to be dealt out to numerous accomplices and | the Presbyterian Board of Foreign | among its worshippers. Truly Barnum isthe | touch the pitch are defiled and injured by it, their vigilance in the discharge of their duties | $$$ The Intellect or the New York Clergy. It is often remarked by intelligent persons: that they would go to church much more frequently if it wore not for the sermons. The music they say they enjoy, and urge that it would be a great advantage to religion if the services were conducted entirely by the choir. It is neediess to expose the folly of this proposition, or to point out the evils that would be caused by the total exciu- sion of clergymen from the pulpits In another way we have demonstrated the intellect and piety of our metropolitan preachers, for the sermons we report are bet- ter than arguments, One service which the Huravo has tried to render both the Churoh and the public is to exhibit in these reports the splendor, the earnestness, the spirituality and the eloquence of the pulpit of New York; nor have our efforts been unavail- ing, inasmuch as they have corrected this unjust prejudice by proving that the sermon, instead of being an impediment to church-going is really an in- ducement. That the choir sometimes, but very rarely, is superior to the pulpit may be justly admitted, but this condition will nos long be permitted to exist in a well regulated church. The congregatian will get a better preacher, or, if that 1s imposs!ble, they will engage inferior singers, or it the clergyman is very bad they will conduct the music them- selves. As an illustration of the intellectual powor of our clergy we might cite, without appre- hension of the effect, the subjects and the treatment of the sermons we publish to-day. The Schiller disaster, in the management of the Rov. W. R. Alger, affords spiritual meanings and encouragement. The com- pletion of the work of salvation is a theme certainly handled with ability by the Rev. Dr. Thompson. The argument for the divine origin of the Catholic Church was powerfully presented by the Rev. Father C. J. Dealy, at the Cathedral, Mr. Frothing- ham pointed out with fine analysis the differ- ence between the broad and narrow patha, advocating strict obedience to corscience sa compatible with the widest latitade in thought. The birth of the Ohurch, an historical subject, was eloquently treated by the Rev. Dr. McGlynn, The Rev. Dr. George H. Hepworth, with all that keen insight, exact logic, fulness and freedom of illustration and clear, beauti- tul style for which he is distinguished, ex- plained the great doctrine of regeneration as the key to heaven, and reconciled it wilh moral laws and physical analogies. Mr. Beecher preached upon the duty and merit of patience, and the lessons of the trial doubtless deepened his thought. The Church of the Epiphany was crowded upon the occasion of the celebration of mass by Mgr. Roncetti and the Rev. Dr. Ubaldi, with an address in excellent English by the latter and a thoughtful aud eloquent discourse by the Rev. Dr. Burtsell. Here in this brief sur- vey of one Sunday is surely answer enough to those who say that they would attend church oftener if it were not for the impor- tant place which the sermons occupy in the services. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Governor Thayer, of Wyoming Territory, 1s im Washington. General William &. Franklin, of Connecticut, ia sojourning at the New York Hotel. Mr. Lawrence Barrett, the actor, is among the late arrivals at the New York Hotel. Lieutenant W. 0, H. Snell, of the British Navy, is registered at the Clarendon Hotel. Mayor N. F. Graves, of Syracuse, is residiag e Fifth Avenue Hotel. ph Foster, United States Navy, bas taken up lis quarters at the St. James Hotel. Again the season of pilgrimages is at hand, and the pious Frenchman is getting ready his paper collars. Lord Dafterin, the Governor General of Canada, and the Countess of Dufferin, sailed from Quebeo for Liverpool at noon yesterduy, Brevet Licutenant Colonel James G. ©. Lee, of the Quartermaster’s Departmen, United States Army, is staying at the Brevoort House. Jessie D. Brignt, ex-United States Senator from Indiana, is pow lying dangerously {il at his resi- dence in Baltimore, with rheumatism of the heart. The pumber of skipwrecks recorded for the month of February this year is 123, of which seventeen Were steamers. filty-six were English ana eleven American. Messrs. William E, Perkins and Francis D. Stea- man, members of the Massacuusetts Legisiatare, arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel yesterday {rom Washington, where they have been to invite the President to attend the Bunker Hiil Centennial Celebration, A Oalifornia paper says they got Wan Tsi heathen, on the galivws the other day, with around his Kk, and he inquired of William the Sheri, ‘*Chokee like bell?" *Yes,” said Wii- nam, “chokee, you bet,’ and then they dropped bun, The condition of General Breckinridge remained unchanged up to last evening. He was very cheer- ful, and seemed less concerned at his condition than those around bim. Experienced persons say he cannut remain much longer and 1s liable to be called away at any moment. “Cromwell” was played in Paris, but has been suppressed. In the original manuscript, in @ flerce tirade, the Protector denounced “tne royal- ists.” Beiore the play was licensed tue word “royalists” was cut out; but the actor, who haa studied his part from an uncorrecte’ manuscript, gave the passage, royalists and ali, and so they stopped the piece. Kenealy bas found two more Tooley street tailors. Mr. Peter Eddleston, ironfounder, who presided at a meeting at Accrington, stated that he believed the ciaimant to be Sir Reger Tich- borne. The Rev. Mr. Verity, vicar of Habergham Eaves, said that the Magna Charta movement waa & national one, tureatened to be of trementous proportions, ana was likely to exercise @ marvel- Jons political Influence upon the desiinies of the country. It appears to be oMcially confirmed that Prince Bismarck asked the Pope for his mediation wita Gambetta for the conclusion of peace in the war of 1870, Tue proposition was made after the battio the Germans at Versai les feared General Chanzy’s advance for the rellef of Paris, ‘The Pope hoped that the service would be returned by Bismarck supporting the temporal power of the Holy See agaiust Italy, but Bismarck saw tne coming of an ecclesiastical conflict aad refused o commit lilmself. There exists @ letter which may some day piva rise to doubts waether Meyerbeer wrote tie musio of the “fuguenots.”” Ibis the certificate of Emile Deschamps to the effect that he, the said Dow champs, did not write the Said music, {t arose tn this way. Deschamps wrote part of the Loretto. But if the lipretto vad been all written by Scribe it would have been his fourta grand opera ana would have entitled him toa good pension, 80 Deschampa agreed that bis name should not ap. pear in connection with the Jivretio and that he should get bis Temuncration as havin; sisted in the preparation of tie music. Thea Meyerbeer nad doubts, and required Deschamps’ certificate as security, for though their contemporaries were than @ tarbot,” (lure ages might be less satisian~. grils tnformed. =