The New York Herald Newspaper, May 31, 1875, Page 6

ene eee \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 Nzew Yorx Hxzacp will be sent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- .pual subscription price $12. All business or news Jetiers and telegraphic despatches must be addressed Nzw Yonx Henatp. Rejected communications will not be re- ‘turned. Letters and packages should be properly spealed, LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be xeceived snd forwarded on the same terms es in New York. sesveees=+NO, 151 VOLUME XL.-- Se AMUSEMENTS 1TO-NIGHT. GILMORE’s SUM ig pga y: um's Hippodrome ND POPULAR CON- Rinne K THEAT! RK y, at 6 P.M. creldses-at 105 FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, th street Me Broadway. —THE BIG BO. ZA, at P. M.; closes at luv ¥. M. CENTRAL PAKK GARDEN. WHEODORE THUMAS' CONCERT, at § P.M, LYCEUM THEATRE, nth street, near Sixth avenue.—CH{LPERIG, at ¥.M. Miss Soldene, METROPOLI Mo. BS Broadway.—VAKLE: SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, Broadway, corner ol Twenty-ninth strest—NEGRO INOTRELSY, ata P.M. P.M closes at 10 Pepe ee {DoNovA ‘Miss Ada Dyas, Mr. M BOWERY OPERA HOUSE, P a aa Bowery.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M; closes at 10.45 TERATER, ate. TRE, ae M. peloses af 10:40 ~ Par att 2 His 0} TROFLE Sixteenth | street —Eng] 1G Gitorns ate P.M. Re woon's | MCSEUM. er hirtiet! treet. —SHERIDAN | res Gn ak sralttery COM BRETON, meer Mt. v1 closes at M 'HEATRE Croley Yh E Xo, $14 Broadway: —VARIETY, ats Y. M.; closes -at 10:45 METROPOLITAN MUSECM OF ART, West Fourteenth street—Open from 10a. M.toS P. M. PARK THE AIRE Sey mons CALIFORNIA MINSTRELS, are -otic people the value of a written law. | one has ever supposed that there was any. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MAY 3], 1875—TRIPLE SHEET, Last Third at the The Presidént’s Answer General Grant ‘Term. * The letter addressed by General Grant to General White, the President of the Pennsyl- vania Republican Convention, wbich we print this morning, is the most important political declaration he has made since his accession to affice. It will be remembered that the State Convention of the republican party in Pennsylvania passed a reso- lution declaring that the nomination of any President for three or more terms would be a violation of » sacred tradition of the constitution. This resolution came as Upon the expression of various forms of opinion. The democrats had made serious if not fatal inroads upon the republican supremacy by their arguments in ref- erence to a third term. Tho republi- cans, or that large portion of them who with true citizenship cared more for the coun- try than the party, resented the intrigues of even a candidate as illusttious as General Grant to overthrow s cardinal principle of the Republic. They saw, even as their polit- ical opponents loudly claimed, that such a violation, such a departure from the solemn and immutable principles of the constitution, would be an in novation, the result of which no one could foresee. For, while in America we are governed by a written constitution, en instru- ment inspired by the wisdom of the fathers, there is also in all representative govern- ments an unwritten law, like the English constitution, which represents the wis- dom, and experience of generations jand has m the minds of all patri- It is this tradition which has made the holding of the Presidency for more than two terms an infringement of our liberties. No special’ danger in the Presidency of Gen- eral Grant or of any other officer. It would be a poor compliment to our love of liberty, to our devotion to democratic institutions and our respect for the labors and achievements of the men who gave us independence, destroyed the naval supremacy of England, and accomplished emancipation, to suppose that the sovereign people of this family of sovereign States would be afraid of the ambition or the power OLYMrIC THEATRE, by aad Broadway.—VARIETY, at SP. M.; closesat 10 45 | BOOTH'S THEATRE, | of Twenty-third § and’ Sixth SiNE shone and BLAC ED SUS Gioses at il PM. Miss Ciara Mortis, Mr. George nignold: TRIPLE SHEET. — NEW YOR! From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be clear or partly cloudy. Suspay Riven anv Bar Excvrstons have | begun and will add much to the comfort and | health of the working community. As they | tannot spare a secular day for recreation, who shall blame them if they use the day of | rest for rest alone. | aTgn7g = Mz ~ MONDAY, MAY 31, 1835. ‘Tue Daxcen zn which attends the . illumination of Catholic churches hada terrible illustra- tion in the Holyoke disaster. A remark- able escape from a similar cal ty occurred y in a Long Isla lurch, the cir- reported else- Tue Reete Marcn.—Our riflemen will sail 60 soon that there is littl nee for practice to pertect their skill for the i ternational match which is to take place in Ireland next month. But they record thus far, and whether defeated or vice have made a good torions we are sure they will not disgrace their well earned repu ous. We present elsewhere comparative scores of the Irish and American riflemen, with other itnportant points connected with the approaching con- test. Lovtstaya.—We print ‘to -day Mr. Nordhoff'’s letters th which he reviews the political Louisiana in recent years, xplains, with much force and clearness, the dangers which threaten the future of that once prosperous State. The remedies for these evils are de- fined, and the letter, especially when it is nother of history of compared with the entire correspondence of Mr. Nordhoff, should do a great deal to en- lighten the American as to the true condition of polities and soc ty in the South. Tue Exousa Anmy.—Some time since, durmg the administration of the Queen issued a warrant abol purchase of army commissions. Under the old system an English officer could select any regiment he pleased by paying a certain sum of money. This act cost the British gov- ernment millions of dollars, becanse the gov- ernment indemnified the officers for the privilege of which it deprived them. Mr. Disraeli’s government restored the systems The effect of this is, ns Lord Cardwell, the Secretary of War under Mr. Gladstone, showed in the House of Lord: , that the ‘poor officers will do all the di ecable work and the rich officers fill the pleasant posts.” the deba Tue Sruerrenp Pu We, referred yes- 1 There was the awiul dis- nd the aber of destruc- terday to the rema tive and fatal fire aster at I rations at Worcester, and G Bend, Two of these fires happened in Massachu- and to-iay w dd a third. the most pr was cor setts, field, one of in that State, Sprin; rous towns threatened ve buildings with destr burned, and the than balf a million of the business part many families are bomeless on benevolonce for relief. spatches contain full accounts of this dread- fai caismity, which follows in startling suce cession to those to which we heve already alluded. loss of dollars. I f the city and Onur spe m ndent jal de- | Grant there were elements which could not | be overlooked. Their influence was felt more - | spirit—our almost barbaric reverence for the | politics, and society and finances which came | | with the war. of any one man. We have never had this fear. “But behind | and more every day. There was the war | conquering soldier—which gave so much power in our politics to Washington and Jackson, | | | | | | Scott, Taylor and Grant, and which in the | | times of our fathers gave to Marlborough and | Wellington a power surpassing even that of ; the throne. These captains were greater | than kings, and there was no knowing where | | the same spirit of inherited bero-worship There was the dislocation of would lead us. | We had sheered off from -the | old moorings and the old charts. We had strained the constitution. We gradually | came to make light of laws and forms and Tights the past sacred as the tablets of Sinai to the wonder- The Presidency had | grown from a dignity and a mere ministerial | function to be a vastand almost irresponsi- ble authority. The failure of impeachment, even when sustained by a general public sentiment and the party had shown the Presidency to be as irrespon- sible and almost as absolute asa crown. Our polities had shown a» general deference to Presidential wishes and yielding to Presi- which in were as ing tribes of Israel. in power, dential authority on the part of members of the House, of Senators, high officers in the army and the navy, of party leaders, of judges on the Bench. Above all there had grown up a corrupt pub- lic sentiment—jobbery in Washington, rings in the Treasury and the Indian departments, railway combinations to control the votes of Congressmen and divert the pulilic lands and the public revenues to the use of venal men. Steadily, slowly, without check and almost without remon- strance the government had grown to be an army, with military cohesion and discipline, an army owing its life to General Grant, aud obeying him as the soldier obeys his captain. Martial law was introduced into his party. Men were politically slain for their opinions as ruthlessly ss mutineers and deserters shot by a provost guard. And we saw these victims are when men as illustrious and honored as Sumner and Greeley and Scburz, what opinion could be formed other than that the President had be- come greater than the party or the people, or even the Republic iteelf, and that it remained with him and with his troops to say whether he would be content with the honors given to among Washington and Jackson, or seck even a higher example in military careers, and aim to be.as Cmsar or Bonaparte? The letter of the President will be read at the first blush gs a release from this danger, for which he himself partly and republicans We wish we could ly are responsible. ‘This is an exceedingly adroit and It has all the clumsy strength lumber- think so. able and energy of Grant's We letter. simple, see as we read ing style. can | that the hand which wrote it is more familiar with the sword than with the pen. It is meant to satisfy the long repressed demand of the country. It is the surrender ot Grant to public sentiment. It is his confession that Omsarism is something more than @ ‘Hxzzanp sensation,” inspired by a dislike to himself and his party. He admits that there is more in this discussion than midsummer newspaper mischief. It is an absolute admis- sion that, great as Grant is in his own person and fame, and high as he is in his place, the press, represented in its independence by the Henaxp, is higher and greater. We wish we could say more than this, and that we could regard this as a satisfactory letter. Is is far from being so. There is nothing in this letter to prevent General Grant's acceptance of the Presidency for a third term. There is no expression of allegiance to that sacred tra~ dition that a third term would be practicallya monarchy. The President was thinking about himself when he began to write, and he never abandoned his theme. We can see that ex- traordinary conviction of Grant, which has marked his whole public career, that, after all, the Republic had not done more for him than he deserved. The matter is altogether personal. There is no princi- ple bebind it—no evidence that ever such a thing as a principle had entered his mind. We have the President's services and sacrifices; how he gave up an office he pre- ferred, and which would have lasted for life, for one he did not seek; how his second election was a personal vindication from slan- der; howhe does not want the office again any more than he wanted it in tho beginning, and how, after all, it might be ‘unfortunate if not disastrous” if at somefature time (say two years from now) the people should be prevented from electing whom they pleased for ® third term. The tone of the whole letter is pre- cisely as if the President were writing about an interest in his own personal property—as if he were speaking for Ulysses 8. Grant alone, and as if the country had no concern whatever with it. We shall be surprised if the country ac- cepts this as a satisfactory declaration from the President, It is an evasive letter. It would have been much better for his fame, and even for the welfare of the party which be proposes to serve if he bad not written it Ina word, the country is told that the President will not take what is not offered to him. That is not what we wanted from the Pres- ident. What we did want was an express avowal by General Grant that the question of o third term would be a treason to a sacred precept of our unwritten common law—a declaration that whoever presumed to use his name for such a purpose would do an | unworthy act, an admonition to the country of the dangers to liberty which twelve years | of centralization had produced, and a prayer | that the people would destroy Casarism by limiting all administrations to one term. Such a declaration would have thrilled the country | and been a graceful cap-sheaf to the fame of Grant. issue more potent than ever. It becomes the dominant question in the next canvass. Our answer should be the limitation of the Presi- | ? dency to. one term, and no re-election ever | after. The Sermons Yesterday. The weather yesterday was unfavorable to religion. As we said last week itis hard to expect men who have but one day out of | jaxation and pleasure to forego | seven to find those privileges for the sake of a sermon or a prayer. That aman may be religious and | yet not go to church habitually is conceded, even though reluctantly, by our ablest clergymen. We cannot blame therefore the thousands of poorer citizens who broke the Sabbath by employing the un- godly steambeat and the atheistic steam engine to bear them far from the doors of the church to the unwalled temple of nature. No doubt they had their reward. God's sky was above them, His sea beneath them, and bright sun and fresh air sent them home bappier and, we trust, better people. But for those who remained in the city there was compensation. Some of them heard the excellent ad tress of the Rev. Mr. Frothingham upon the decoration of the graves, or how Mr. Hepworth explained the moral meaning of the Christian miracles, or the Rev. Dr. Howland’s exposition of the parable of Dives ond Lazarus. Others attended the dedication of St. Bernard's church, and were rewarded by an address by Cardinal McCloskey and a sermon by Bishop McQuaid. Mr. Beecher preached upon the unfaithful emotions of men’s hearis; and the Rev. Mr. Willis, 0: the Methodist Church, con- tributed o new theory in regard to the Bible and the schools. These and other ser- mons will be found in our columns to-day. They suggest the important question whether | it is better for the people to go out of town and seek fresh air or to go to chutch and profit by the teachings of our clergy. This is a question which it will be difficult for even an ingenious casnist to decide. Tue Haniem Pe Fuats become more of a nuisance as the m f summer grows stronger. Onur re; s show dreadful are the sinc rous the miasma of these pes i ups, and the true facts are presente d to the people and to’ the anthoritie ho upon this evidence are y tothe whoie city to take im- ion. There is of a qnaran- tine, we repeat, if this o1 ge upon health is permitted to continue in the very heart of the city. We Grve another letter upon the purposes | of the Masonic Order, to which the approach ing dedication of the Temple gives particu- Jar interest. As it is Cesarism is asa political | * | the favor of the public. The Masical and Dramatic Season. The theatrical and operatic season of 1874-5 ended formally on Saturday night with the close of spring. It was certainly suc- cessful in New York and in many respects brilliant. The metropolitan stage was adorned by the finest actors in the coun- try and produced a number of the best modern and classic dramas, If we should seek to ill te the novelties of this sea~ son we might cite the remarkable pros- perity of Wallack’s, a theatre which has long stood at the head of the American stage, and which never proved its right to that honor more emphati- cally than in the last season, The production of Mr. Boucicault’s “Shangbraun,” which reached more than its centennial perform- ance, was perhaps the culminating point of j the season; but before and after that admira- ble play Mr.-Wallack brought out a number of capital dramatic works, some of which were classic and others of which were new, which kept bis theatre where it deservedly stands, in the van of the profession, Mr. Daly also excited the town with his presentation of the “Big Bonanza,” which seemed, like a mirror, to reflect the adventurous spirit of America. Mr. Raymond, at the Park Theatre, surprised the public with - his eccentric preseutation of Colonel Sellers, a peculiar character in a poor play, which only the humorous abilities of Mark Twain and the talent of the actor re- deemed from comparative failure. Still it was a success, because it struck a keynote of American society. At Booth’s Theatre we had classic tragedy, as shown by Cushman and others, and the finest of modern comedy, as illustrated by Mr. John 8. Clarke's superb ser@es of standard characters from the classic English drama, and the perennially popular Rip Van Winkle of Mr. Jefferson. Of these two un- equalled actors we can only say that we wish Mr. Clarke would appear oftener and that Mr. Jefferson would sometimes play something different, Years ago Mr. Jefferson was cele- brated for his versatility, but the very popu- larity of “Rip Van Winkle’’ has beeome a dis- advantage to his actual power, and if he per- mits it to absorb the rest of his life it will take important elements from his reputation, We admire Mr. Jefferson's ‘genius too much to wish him to be like ‘Single Speech Single- ton,” who made one great speech in Parlia~ ment and ever atterward was silent. The musical season in New York was unu- sually interesting. Mr. Thomas, of course, led in the orchestral field of art, but we had also many other points of value and interest. The Italian opera was a comparative failure, but the lively, brilliant, delicious opéra bouffe was a partial compensation. This fall the tragic lyric drama will be recreated by the ap- pearance of Mme. Tietjons, who has in Europe the reputation of being unequalled in the great réles of the romantic Italian school and the classic German operas. That the Ameri- can public so easily obtains the services of singers like Tietjens is certainly evidence of our appreciation and support of music, The immense strides made in musical art in this country within a few years have ex- cited the attention and astonishment of | European critics, who cannot yet understand | how any artistic good can come out of a transatlantic Nazareth, and we have in conse- | quence risen considerably in their esteem. Such a festival as that which recently took place in Cincinnati will favorably compare in artistic merit with the very best and most renowned assenblages of European musi- cians. The chorus and orchestra might con- | fidently compete with any in England, Ger- | many or France. The example of Cincinnati may be followed in the metropolis and other | | communities with equally happy results. | | 'Thus it will be seen that Americans are as | apt to learn and improve in art matters as in any of those branches in which they have | | Counsel. long ago gained pre-eminence. There is every | reason to expect that music will be one of tho | most attractive features of the Centennial Celebration, asa movement is now on foot throughout the country to organize centen- nial choral societies to do honor to the great | | event. The summer season, which has just com- menced, will be one of the most enjoy- able and brilliant, as far as music is concerned, that New York has ever ex- perienced. Gilmore in bis magnificent new | garden, Thomas at Central Park Garden and Downing at Jones’ Wood Colosseum will supply music enough to satisfy every one. The long and meritorious services of Theodore Thomas in the cause of orchestral music have not been unfruittul. He has elevated the taste of the public wherever he has introduced his | matchless orchestra. Gilmore created a revo- | lution in military band music by bringing | | over from Europe sach renowned organiza- | | trons as Godfrey's Grenadier Guards Band, the Garde Républicaine Band of Paris, and the Royal Prussian Guards Band, and by es- fablishing in this city a band tounded on | | those grand models. The fall will bring us a host ot pianists, among whom are such artists as Mme. Arabella Goddard, Miss Julia Rive and Herr Von Bilow, so that in the absence of Italian opera we shall have concerts in abundance. Carl Rosa, who has orgamized in England an English opera troupe of rare ability, will enter that lyric field in this country against the company which, with Miss Kellogg at its bead, has so long enjoyed The outlook is very encouraging so far, and with such a wealth of | materials even the most perverse grumbler | must be satisfied. | The Coolie Trade, We have been disposed in this country to regard the coolie trade as only another form of slavery, and the British Foreign Anti- Slavery Society bas in many recent publica- | tions taken the same view. Some time since | a deputation from this society waited upon Lord Carnarvon, the Jecretary for Colonial Affairs, and asked for the prohibition English S: of the coolie trade to the English colonies Lordship replied that ‘‘coolie emigration, it y watched, might be a blessing to the ¢ sand the emigrants ; that even in the Pacific Bishop Paterson had advised regu- ation, and not suppression, and that he him- self might be trusted, for he had just ems pated the slaves on the West Coast of Africa.” The difficulty about the coolie question is the disposition of the settlers to deal with coolies as with slaves, practically by keeping them for a term of years and by enforcing impris- onment upon them inthe event of their re. | fusing to labor. ci- a wise suggestion when it says ‘that were the single principle that a contract to labor is a civil debt, and nothing else, fairly carried out there would be very little oppression.” Labor should be bought and sold as sugar is purchased, and then the coolies would work for those who treat them well and pay them properly. One problem is how to punish kid- napping, which is one of the evils attending the coolie trade, and it is properly suggested that if kidnapping were made piracy and punishable with death it would be over in a year. The Dead of the Republic. To-day with appropriate ceremonies the citizens and soldiers of New York will decorate the graves of the brave men who perished in defence of American freedom. It there is a rebel soldier’s grave in any of our cemeteries the flowers of spring will be laid upon that humble moundas freely and as tenderly as they will be upon the last resting place of him who died that the Union might live. We rejoice that this spirit of bro- therly forgiveness and oblivion of all the elements of the war, except those of hero- ism and glory, does not prevail in the North only, but is as active and universal in the South. ‘here is no grave there of a Union soldier, known to the women from Virginia to Texas, upon which a wreath will not be laid; for death absolves all and makes even the tomb of the ancient enemy seem almost as sacred as that of a friend, The noble jJetter of General’ Forrest to the Memphis Committee of Arrangements is an illustration of the spirit of the South He and General Pillow, who wrote a_ simi- lar letter, were only a few years ago the bitterest enemies of the Union, which they fought bravely and _ persistently to destroy. Like all earnest men who become the champions of an extreme they were mis- represented and maligned. But whatever their records in the war may be, their records in time of peace are honorable and clear. Those were noble words which General For- rest uttered in résponse to the invitation to take partin the ceremonies at the National Cemetery at Memphis. “I sincerely trust,” he said, ‘that the time is not far in the fu- ture when the soldiers of the late war will cease to remember the angry passions engendered by the bloody struggle. Between those who were true to their colors during the late war there can be no hate or bitterness. Since all have now one flag and one country there ought to be no estrangement or sectional antagonism.”’ When this honorable spirit of:peace is shown by the late enemies of the Republic shall not its friends respond without fear or suspicion? We welcome these expressions of fraternity and hope as evidences of that truc and per- manent reconciliation which it is of the first importance to encourage in the North as well as the South. Political Blackmailing. We wonder if Governor Tilden really sees the position into which he is slowly drifting on this question of the removal of E. Dela- ficld Smith from the office of Corporation Nearly six months ago Mayor Wickham, in pursuance of his duties as the chief municipal officer of the city, preferred charges against Mr. Smith and removed him from his office of Corporation Counsel, to | which he had been appointed by A. Oakey Hall. 5 that Mr. Smith had not shown proper vigi- lance in prosecuting the Ring thieves. Whether this allegation was fair or not it is certain that Mr. cess has not been conspicuous. It was perfectly right for Mr. Wickham to re- move Mr. Smith, and it was the duty of the | Governor either to approve or disapprove of his removal. During six months the ques- tion has been inabeyance. Governor Tilden has quietly pocketed the letter removing the Corporation Counsel and left him suspended chiet law officer of the ci‘y, and yet he remains under the ban of official disapprebation. He | is called upon to represent the city of New York before her courts and at the same time he has been publicly arraigned by no less a person than the Mayor in a communicotion written by as eminent a jurist as Mr. O’Conor, and approved, we believe, by a lawyer as eminent as Samuel J. Tilden, as unworthy of his office, Asif to make the case even more curious we find that not long since Mr. Smith appointed to an important office a gentleman wio had been a clerk to Mr. Tilden or a law partner. We find that on Friday he made another appointment of a person who is called by a contemporary a ‘protégé of Mr. Tilden,” Now, the scandal is that Governor Tilden is in the position of holding a knife sharpened by Mayor Wickham over the head of Mr. Smith. To save his head Mr. Smith is dili- gently appointing business partners and friends of Mr. Tilden to office This is a serious scandal, and although it be looked upon by as high and mighty a man as the Governor as a small matter it is not. It is a serious question. Gov- ernor Tilden either should dismiss Mr. Smith from his office or reinstate him. He cannot afford to allow the impresssion to go out among the people that while he is in the The gravamen of these charges was | Smith’s suc- | | between heaven and earth. Mr. Smith is the | may | | attitude of menace toward the Corporation | Counsel he is accepting at the same time | courtesies and favors for his friends. That in private life would be called blackmailing. What is the proper epithet to apply to it when we are speaking of a Governor and Corpora- tion Counsel? Tur Bessemer Propuen. —The fifty thon- sand Americans who have either started or are about to start for Europe, who have been watching with so much interest the construc. tion of a steamer that would take away the terrors of that fearful Channel pass by abolishing sca will’ be disappointed by learning that the Bessemer steamer, which was to be a giccess, has failed. The oldest travellers to Enrope will tell you that the two hours’ trip from Dover to Calais has terrors for them than the ten days’ trip from New York to Queenstown. The boats are small almost as the cockle shells which Shakespeare described at the base of Dover clifls. The sea is generally rough aud tum- bling, with teasing and chopping waves, and the discomforts of the journey have no amelioration, The Bessemer ship was con- structed to avoid sea-sickness, The swinging saloon that was to stand still while the boat rolled has failed. Mr, Bessemer is still confi- ~sickness mors ‘Lhe London Svectator makes | dent that he will make his boat a success. sO Money and Merit. ‘We observe in one of the English papers 4 singular observation which might be not with- out value in this country. Speaking of Ad- miral Sherard Osborn the editor describes him as one of the ‘best specimens of a very fine class of nayal officers, who knew his pro fession thoroughly and at the same time understood politics and business.” In read- ing the sketch of Admiral Osborn’s career wé find that he was conspicuous during the Sebastopol war, in China, in Arctio expedi- tions, and that he displayed the highest quak ities and showed himself a man ‘who might head the fighting flect im a great war or even administer the entire navy." Now one would think that such a man would be selected by a government like that of England to fill a high position, But here is an observation which, coming aq it does from one of the most respectable and influential journals in London, is worthy to be considered: —‘‘Had he been a wealthy man he would have risen high, for he hid parlia- mentary faculties; but being poor aud uncon. nected he died ouly a Companion of the Bath and a man whom his department intended ta utilize whenever there was danger ahead.” In other words, we learn from this journal that in England, no matter how much ability, experience, practical sense, courage or patriot ism a naval officer may have, the fact of his having no money keeps him under a shadow, and that the only time that there is an oppor. tunity for poor men of genius to assert them selves is when the country really needs theis service; and yet the English journals ara always talking about the fondness of the American for the “almighty dollar.’* The Sharkey Case, The last news from Havana announces that the Spanish government still retains the con- demned murderer Sharkey in custody, and that there has been no change in his con. dition so far as his return to the United States is concerned. We have no doubt that if the American government had asked for the sure render of Sharkey the Spanish government would willingly have conceded the request. They could not very well have refused it aftes the precedent offered by the return of Bidwell, the forger, to the English authorities. The difficulty in the way of asking for Sharkey on the part of Mr. Fish was that if he made a request upon the Spanish government for the surrender of an American citizen under sentence of death the Madrid Cabinet would make a re- quest upon the American government for the surrender of the many Cubans who are now in New York and also under sentence of death for “participation in the rebellion.” Rather than submit the government to the indignity ot having such a request proffered Mr. Fish consents to allow Sharkey to continue to en- joy the freedom afforded to him by the ab- sence of any treaty of extradition with Spain, It is difficult to criticise the action of Mr. rish, but at the samo time we cannot but ex press a profound regret that Cuba and the provinces of Spain rhould be a rofuge for convicted murderers from the United States. We think that Mr. Fish could easily demonstrate to Spain the dis- tinction between political refugees under sentence of death by a court martial because of political acts and murderers like Sharkey, who are the enemies of the human race, When the English government asked the return of Bidwell, the forger, Spain could well have answered that England gave refuge to the Carlists and Carlist Generals, who were as much in rebellion against the Madrid anthority as the insurrectionists in Cuba, The Spaniards preserved this distinction and respected itin deajing with England, and we think they would have preserved it and re. spected it in dealing with America, PortvcaL axp Staveny.—Tue announce. ment that the Portuguese government hag abolished slavery will be received with gratification by all who believe in the march of civilization. By this act, informas tion of which has been received at the State Department, slavery will cease’ on April 28, 1878, and there will be ‘an end to slavery forever in Portugal and ber dependen- cies.” Furthermore, this act, which was passed in the Portuguese Cortes on the 22d of March last by acclamation, proclaims ‘the freedom of apprentices and the abolition in the Portuguese dominions of man’s apprenticeship to man and declares that the labor of the apprentices now under tutelage is free and that they are at liberty to make their own contracts, subject only to the revision of the properauthority."’ It is a dis- grace to the civilization of Spain that while even Portugal has succeeded in abolishing this crime against humanity there should be any hesitation in taking the same action iz reference to slavery in Cuba and the othe Spanish dependencie Tue Amentcay ‘Texexaanon Ustow held a meeting yesterday afternoon. The society is said to be flourishing, but is not quite as prosperous as the taverns. The Rev. Mr. Hep- worth made a sensible address upon the causes of intemperance, which we commend as @ model to the more fanatical reformers, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, ‘The estimated value of the last Fronch vintage 18 $400,000,000. Mr. Joon T, Raymond, the actor, !s among the late arrivals at the New York Hotel, General Silas Seymour, of Quebec, has taken up his residence at the Futh Avenue Hotel. Senator Ambrose surnside, of Rhode Isiand, has apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Cowmander Arthar R. Yates, United State Navy, 1s registered at the Startevant House, ‘al amin FP. Butler arrived in this ctty day, and is staying at the Fifth Avenue y Hot Mr. James F, Wiison, formerly a prominen. member of Congress from lowa, 18 residing at ty St. Nicnolas /lotel. Adjatant General Franklin Townsend, of Gover nor Tilden’s staf, arrived from Albany yesterday at the St, James Hotel. Chief Justice Daly will read a memorial addrese on James W ! istorteal Soctety on Tuesday evening. Ho w in ita sketed of the early magnates of Lhe 5 rince Mare: Ant eidess sou of the f Grancee of Spain, Was Princess Theresa Caracciolo, of San Teodoro. She remained a rich maiden till forty because she wold marry none but a parson, At last the parson came, poor but pious, She married him. Bot in the mid { the moom of honey ne re- linquished is pulpit aud became @ broker— with her money, west, + Rome to tne of the ducal family r and married