The New York Herald Newspaper, July 30, 1875, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Youk Hexarp will be sent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published tvery day in the year. copy. Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage, to subscribers. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Henaxp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York, Four cents per VOLUME XL. ines AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. TIVOLI THEATRE, ighth street.—VARIETY, at 5 P. M. WooD's MUSEUM, Broadway. corner of ihirteth sireet,—THE SPY, at 2 ® M.and 8 P. M.: closes at 10:45 7, M. Matinee at2 P. M—JACK SHEPPARD. cS GILMORE’S SU Jate barnum’s Hippoarom CERT, at 8 P.M. ; closes at R GARDEN, RAND POPULAR CON- M. OLYMPIu THSATRE, No 624 Broadway. —VARIETY, at 8 P. il; closes at 10 46 CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, THEODORE THOMAS’ CONCERT, atBY. M THIRD AVES Ui THEATRE, Vhird avenue, tween Thirtieth and’ Thirty-first Wireets —SUARLET AND GRE/N. at 8 P.M, ROBI West Sixteenth, sire AUVERGNE and CH N HALL, lish Opers—THE ROBE OF ele, ats WITH SUPPLEMENT. NEW YORK, FRIDAY. JULY 30, 1875, THE HERALD FOR THE SUMMER RESORTS, To NewspEaLens anv THE Pousiic :— Tue New Yorx Heratp runs a special train every Sunday during the season, between New York, Niagara Falls, Sara- toga, Lake George, Sharon and Richfield Springs, leaving New York at half-past two o'clock A. M., arriving at Saratoga at nine o'clock A. M., and Niagara Falls at a quarter to two P. Me jor the purpose of supplying the Sunpay along the line ot the Hudson River, New York Central and Lake Shore and Michigan Southern réads. Newsdealers and others are notified to send in their orders to the Heraxp office as early as possible. For further particulars see time table, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be slightly warmer and clear or partly cloudy. Persons going out of town for ihe summer can have the daily and Sunday Heraup mailed to them, free of postage, for $1 per month. Watx Sreerr Yesrrrpay.—No fresh cause of excitement was developed. Western Union was the feature of the stock market. Gold receded from 112} to 1124, closing at 1125. Tae Poor Cumpxen of the Fourth ward are promised a tree picnic to-morrow and are consequently in a state of pleasurable excitement. Tue Sr. Gornanp TUNNEL, now in process of completion in Switzerland, has been the scene of a serious riot, resulting from the strike of the workmen engaged on it. The troops were called out, and they dispersed the rioters after firing upou them. Tae War rm Spar shows no signs of abate- ment, although the Alfonsists are reported as having gained many important advantages over their opponents. The main body of the Carlists are said to be concentrating in Cata- lonia, so that a decisive conflict may be shortly expected. A Mosr Szniovs Insutr to the British flag has been perpetrated by Spanish Officials at Puerto Rico, An English mail steamer, touching at a port of that island, was brought to by a Spanish gunboat and the captain was compelled to deliver up to the yellow-visaged dons a passenger who was accused by them as having violated cer- tain Spanish laws. John Bull will probably bring tnose rash Don Quixotes to terms. Tue Moontary Mzapow Massacre, now under investigation at Beaver, Utat, should prove anything but agreeable for the mis- creants who took part in it. Although many years have elapsed since the tragedy took place, yet the iron hand of the law is no less tenacious or relentless. It is another verifica- tion of the adage, “The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.” Supenrsrenvent Foxx is being thoroughly fmvestigated in Brooklyn, the Commissioners wishing to know why certain peculiar trans- actions in the Police Department should have taken place and why criminals should have been permitted to go scot free when the most ordinary attention to duty on the part of the police would have secured their arrest and conviction, Such an investigation has been sadly needed. Tax Copan Parniots, notwithstanding the assurances of the Spanish officials of the Ever Faithful Isle, are more lively and progressive than ever. An immense convoy has been captured by the “rebels” between Puerto Principe and Guaimaro, halt of its escort being placed hors du combat, and near Reme- dios the Cubans drove a Spanish column back to their entrenchments, after capturing their baggage and military supplies. Poor Valma- seda is back again in Havana asking for money, but the bankers give him the cold shoulder. The patriots not having accepted his portentous declaration of amnesty, he is su the worst possible humor. . Mr. Plimsoll d the “Vested Inter- , ost? im Floating Coffins. Mr. Plimsoll yesterday retracted “with reluctance’ his unparliamentary expression, but ‘‘not his statement of facts,"’ and upon the motion of the Premier the order for his rep- rimand was discharged ‘by an overwhelming mayority.’’ This course on the part of Mr. Disraeli was a happy recurrence to that tact to which he bas mainly owed his great politi- cal successes. Mr. Plimsoll’s case against rotten ships and traudulent insurance is of interest the world over, and for this reason his conflict with authority in Parhament merits an attention that would otherwise never be given outside of Great Britain to any issue oa points of order or privilege raised in the British Parliament; for behind the issue on privilege, which is local, hes the broader issue, that is huwan, of the systema- tized wholesale murder of sailors, and Parlia- ment could scarcely act on the one without enforcing public consideration of the other. As the law now stands in England sailors who have once shipped must go to sea, what- ever reasons they may find on board why they should not. If they quit the ship they may be arrested, imprisoned, put on board by the police and sent to sea in duress. They may have discovered that the ship is not only unseaworthy in the ordinary sense, but that she is rotten, worm eaten, water logged ; that she cannot hold together in the winds that every ship is sure to encounter, and that she is owned by a house that regu- larly sends to sea rotten ships tolerably insured, which always go down. They may have a_ satisfactory knowledge of ali this, but if they cannot establish it before @ local magistrate, who may himself be one of the owners, the authorities will put them forcibly into their floating coffin and they moust sail out to what they know is certain death. All this seems improbable and mon- strous, but it constantly occurs, and Mr. Plim- soll in the years of labor he has given to the subject has at length thoroughly drawn pub- lic attention to these facts, and has most con- clusively shown that no statement of this traffic in sailors’ lives by English merchants can be more horrible than the facts will justify. He announces, further, his intention to show that this ‘‘vested interest” has its vigorous representation in Parliament. But owners of ships could scarcely contem- plate with complacency the repeal of the laws in virtue of which runaway sailors are sent on board by the magistrate; for that might place the interests of a great traffic at the mercy of the whims and fancies that come and goin the forecustle, or might put a com- mercial establishment at the mercy of those who had any reason to contrive a conspiracy against it. There are sailors who always run away and sailors who ‘are constitutional grumblers, and one of these will corrupt and dissatisty a whole ship’s company, while a yarn spread as to the temper of the capiain or the previous history of the mate bas often emptied a ship of sailors as suddenly as the unguessed presence of water down below would have emptied her of rats. These are the extremes. Commerce is never very greatly embarrassed by nonsense of this sort on the part of sailors, though trouble has arisen from it; and the laws that restrain this sort of difficulty in the interests of ships and shipowners, and, indeed, commerce gen- erally, are good and salutary. But shall these good laws be perverted to terrible uses? Shall they become the weapons of a murder- ous oppression? Shall they be employed to minister to a traffic in men’s lives than which the slave trade iteelf is not more barbarously dreadful ? Shall the tolerably digested yarn of some 1ll-natured sailor, who says the ship is unseaworthy, keep in port a first rate craft, and lose her a fair Wind while a tedious in. quiry is on foot? Shall villanous owners who, by collusion with underwriters’ em. ployés, have insured their worthless ship as A No. 1, and who hope to collect the money shortly, use the law to send a dozen or twenty sailors to imminent peril or certain death by the allegation that their complaint of the ship is unfounded and, their dissatisfaction frivo- lous—allegations that the interested magis- trate hears with a favor he does not accord to the sailor's story ? This is the problem that has now come be- fore the British public in circumstances likely to secure for it more attention than it has received before through all the labors of the earnest reformer who has come to the front as the friend of the sailors and the champion of their cause against the canting commercial public of England that subscribes to put down the slave trade out of pockets lined with the proceeds of this murderous industry. Mr. Plimsoll’s study of this subject is before the world. His statistics have been printed over and over again, and he is cer- tainly, of all men in England, the one most familiar with all the phases of the trouble, and most interested to give sufficient defence to the sailors without leaving the shipowners unprotected. Out of his knowledge only could come a satisfactory remedial law, and if it were warped against one class by his too enthusiastic sympathies with the other the House could straighten it. But a bill drawn by him the government refused to accept, and one was drawn more moderately. So far the “floating coffin’’ interest gained a point. It may not have been their triumph exactly, but the advantage was theirs; and Sir Charles Adderley’s bill, inasmuch as it did offer a remedy, though an inadeqnate one, was to Mr. Plimsoll and his sailors the halt loaf that was to be taken as preferable to none. But the friends of the ‘vested interest” were watch- ful; and if it was not to them that the half measure taken up by the government was due it seems to have been through their sugges- tion that the government, pressed tor time, decided that this bill was a good one to drop, It will be remembered that the announce- ment of the government’s intention to drop for this session even the half measure it had accepted led to Mr. Plimsoll’s violent out- burst on the floor of the House of Commons and his denunciation of those shipowners in Parliament who, as he seemed satisfied, had procured this action. His words, so spoken, were, of course, a contempt of the House and @ gross violation of privilege. Any such outburst of strong language in an undebat- able case is in the nature of contempt, and is an offence for which the House may fairly discipline a member, but the measure of dis- cipline must be the subject of a vote, and the House called to vote sugh a measure, while it would not disregard its dignity, would weigh the offence against the provota- tion very nicely. Parliament is evidently too conscious of public opinion, perhaps too well aware of the tacts, not to know that the gov- ernment announcement was a great error, and one that could only lead to unfortunate com- ment, and that Mr. Plimsolt’s words were scarcely stronger than the case called for. Mr. Disraeli's motion to discharge the order for a reprimand, made in the face of an apol- ogy that was virtually a defiance, showed an adroit readiness to recognize the true state of the case. But as this case recurs to its merits, as the point of privilege gives way to the issue of humanity, the British public will find them- selves in presence of a very new dilemma—a peculiarly unprecedented defeat of the gov- ernment, Mr, Disraeli has been beaten; not on a formal vote in Parliament, but ya way far more destructive to his prestige as the head of the government and the head of a party that hopes for public confidence in the wisdom and propriety of its acts. He has been compelled to give way on a position which he had deliberately taken as the wisest in the circumstances, and so acknowledges that his wisdom was at fault. He declared the pro- gramme of the government was to abandon any attempt to remedy the grievance that Mr. Plimsoll fights against, and the goyernment, so committed, has been compelled to consent to the introduction and further consideration of a bill on the subject that it deemed it inex- pedient to deal with. There never was a more distinct moral victory against a govern- ment, and the fact that one man, supported by public opinion, has defeated the Premier's project of government policy, indicates at least that the government is gravely at issue with prevalent opinion on one important topic. The Lord Mayor’s Banquet. The grand banquet which was given at Guildbali last night by the Lord Mayor of London to the municipalities of England and the Continent seems to have been a very suc- cessful affair. Most of the European cities were represented and the banquet was in every way creditable to the metropolis of the world. In gatherings such as this there is much of the new-found spirit of the age. The policy of isolation is passing away among cities as well as among States. There is a dis- position on the part of most communities to cultivate friendly relations with similar com- munities everywhere, and in no way can this spirit be disseminated more effectively than by entertainments such us the Lord Mayor extended to the municipalities last night. It was in every way worthy of a great city anda great people, and4s another step toward ce- menting the civilization of theage. Our only regret in regard to the matter is the absence of Mayor Wickham from an_ ,enter- tainment so important. In many ways he could have served this metropolis at the Lord Mayor's banquet. Tammany Hall is an organization that has been heard of _in London sometimes to its discredit, and the Mayor could have shown what gentle braves frequent the Wigwam. As the representative of the whole people of this city the Long Hairs and the Short Hairs would have been com- pelled to confess that he did them honor. John Kelly and John Morrissey would both have been proud of him as their special ambassador, and they might even have been persuaded to accompary,him, With all-the “bosses” of New York sitting down to dinner with the Lord Mayor and the other mayors there would have been no trouble in Tam- many, for there would have been neither time nor inclination for a quarrel. We are sure Mayor Wickham, when he reads the account of the banquet in the Hxmaup this morning, will be sorry that he refrained from partici- pating in it, and when we consider what evil might have been averted thereby we confess that we also are sorry. English and American Credit. One of our contemporaries hastens to deny with scorn the rumor that the Union Bank of London has failed. Such a rumor it con- siders as being ‘productive of a limited de- gree of amusement.’’ The promptness with which any assault upon the credit of an Eng- lish house is met shows that in the press of New York the interest of this great com- mercial people are protected with a zeal and loyalty which America sadly misses in the press of London. Our contemporary forgets that there has been in England, and in Lon- don especially, a series of failures, and those very recently, infinitely more disastrous than than that of Duncan, Sherman & Co. Two merchants who, a few days ago, were at the head of one of the largest houses in London are now on trial at the Old Bailey for embez- zlement. Scarcely a week passes that we do not hear of large failures in England. Our latest financial journals are filled with apprehensions of what may be the effect of these disasters upon public credit. It is unfair to make an invidious distinction tween business as conducted in England and America. This constant tendency to hold up everything English as honest and to imply that everything American is tainted is unjust and cruel. We are no better and no worse than the English. We have merchants who deal honestly with the people, and we have others who by excessive speculation, or by foolish ventures, or by miscalculation, fall into bankruptcy and embarrassment, We have Jay Gould and the Erie Railway, Lon- don has a Baron Albert Grant and other rail- ways as wretchedly managed as the Erie. If we have corruption in our politics we have only to turn to the debates in Parliament to find the existence of corruption in English boroughs a source of the gravest concern to the minds of honest statesmen. There is just as much reason to look with suspicien upon English houses, and even upon English banks like the Union Bank, as there is to question the integrity and sounduess of our leading‘ houses in New York. Tur O'Conne sn Cxntemary will be fittingly commemorated in New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City. Not only Irishmen, but repre- sentatives of all nationalities, should unite in doing honor to the memory of as pure @ patriot, as distinguished a statesman and as genial and kindly a heart as any country can boast of. We hope that the Em- pire City will on this occasion fulfil its duty in being the first in America to do honor to an event of such worldwide importance as the centenary of the birthday of Daniel O'Connel NEW YORK HEKALD, FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1875—WITH SUPPLEMENT. The Gospel of Hatred. The Henaxp has received a serious, solomn “caution’’ from a weekly Catholic journal in reference to its ‘unholy propagandism’’ against the Catholic Church. The fact that the Hsratp should be under admonition of this kind will not be without interest to those ot our readers who havo been told by rival newspapers that it is subsidized by the Pope and is edited by a corps of Jesuits, most ot whom are graduates of Trinity College, Dublin. The ‘caution’ to which wo refer. covers several columns. We have read it with due humiliation and care. It seems that | the Hisnarp has incurred the anger of this be- nignant and righteous journal by publishing an account of the ceremonies attending the opening of the Freemasons’ Hall, in this city. Freemasons are, according to our monitor, ‘“‘a criminal organization, the members of which | are bound together by secret oaths, to revealany of whose secrets involves certain gssassina- tion, and every member of which is at any time liable to be forced to be an assassin.” For publishing our report we have become the medium ot ‘*blasphomous propagandism.” The second offence is the report of a sermon of the Rev. O. B. Frothingham, or, as our critic finely puts it, “the revolting blasphemy of a man of the name of Frothingham.” We are asked ‘‘what business had the Heratp to give this blasphemer a place among Christian ministers and to dub him Reverend?”’ Our third offence was publishing a letter from Belgium describing the history of the Church controversy in that country. Our fourth is the printing of a despatch trom Central America announcing a religious riot. The conclusion to which our contemporary afrives is that the Henaxp has been “‘betrayed,’’ and that it has fullen under the influence of Freemasons, “the pernicious sect which is blighting the universal world,” and that somehow the Free- masons have crept into the paper “unknown to the proprietor.’’ It might be easy to answer the reproaches of our gentle mentor and by due diligence be- come again a dutiful follower of the Holy See. But it seems that while we have been bring- ing down upon our head this deluge of in- fallible wrath we have also incurred disfavor in other quarters. According to a peculiarly Protestant journal, of which we had never heard until marked copies came through the mails, it seems that the Heraxp is in the con- trol of the priests; that no one is allowed to write for it who has not been blessed by the Cardinel and duly instructed as to his duties ; that a large source of its revenue is in the subsidies it receives from the Pope and the General of. the Order of Jesuits, and that nothing would gratify this journal more than to see the streets of our city deluged with the blood of Protestants. Now, what is an ac- commodating newspaper, anxious to please everybody and to offend no susceptibilities, to do with these antagonistic admonitions? If we are told by one competent and judicious critic that we are under the control of the Freemasons and have no other purpose than té destroy the Apostolic Church, and if at tbe same time we are admonished by another hightoned observer that we are body and soul mm the hands of the Jesuits, how can we reach a wise conclusion as to what ixfluence controls the Hernatp and as to what is the best means of satistying our friends? The truth, we are afraid, is this, that the Henan is a newspaper, a daily journal, pub- lished in the interest of freedom of thought, toleration, truth, liberty and justice. We confess that the Hxzaup published an ac- count of the ceremonies attending the opening of the Freemasons’ Hall. This was because asa matter of news it interested that large body of our fellow citizens who find comfort in that organization. At the same time the Heraxp published, at greater length than any of our contemporaries, an account of the cere- monies attending the imposing of the berretta upon Cardinal McCloskey. This was because a large body of our fellow citizens felt the deepest interest in an event historical in its character—the creation of the first American Cardinal. We must confess that also within a very few days after these reports the Heratp publisbed the most comprehensive account of the dedication of Dr. Hall’s church, on Fifth avenue—an event of deep interest to Presbyterians all over the’ country. In the same spirit we furnished the report of the lecture of a Catholic priest in Philadelphia, who, having fallen from the discipline of the Church, is now endeavoring to arouse the anti-Catholic feeling. As to the letters from Belgium and the despatches from Central America, we are free to say that we print our news as it comes tous. It is not our habit to edit correspondenve or de- spatcbes or alter a narrative ot facts to gratity the wishes of any sect or party. P It is difficult to teach toleration and kind- ness to partisans. The Henaxp cares nothing whatever for the Catholic Church or the Free- masons or the Presbyterians, except so far as they are elements of the society in which wo live. We certainly do not print a paper in the interest of either of them, but for all of them. We recognize them as influential and powerful bodies, forming a great part of the Republic and worthy of attention and respect. For the Hrraxp or for any independent news- paper to take part ina mad crusade against the Freemasons as “‘assassins,”” against the Catholics as tyrants, “anxious only for a re- turn of the Inquisition,’ against Presbyte- rians as hard and rigid men who would will- ingly send every opponent of their faith to the scaffold, is to dishonor the age in which we live and throw discredit upon our great calling. Presbyterian and Protestant, Cath- olic and Freemason, will receive in these columns the most impartial hospitality. They are equally entitled to courtesy and respect 80 long as they obey the law. The true jour- nal has been called the asylum of the world. Under its mgis all sects and all parties can rest. We take itas the highest compliment the Henaxp could receive that its course 1s 80 impartial that it excites the animosity of o bitter and unreasoning fanatic like our Catholic critic in New York and of a coarse and vulgar bigot like the Protestant journal who fears that we are in the interest of the Pope. Tre Sumer Srorms.—It seoms that France and England are not to have a mo- nopoly of the visitations of the Storm King. ‘The severe storm of wind and rain which swept over parts of Ohio on Wednesday night extended itself eastward yesterday, and much damage to property was tho result in different sections. In some ,Maces the harvests wete injured and the rains were s0 severe that por- tions of the country are submerged. Before reaching this latitude both wind and rain had lost much of their force; bet even here the storm gfeatly exceeded the usual severily of summer showers. The phenomenon is a re- markable one, occurring as it does at an un- usual season and in so many countries about the same time. We have to congratulate our- selves, however, upon the fact that the rain- fall in Ohio and Pennsylvania, though doing much injury to property, has been the occa- sion of little or no loss of life and that we have been compelled to undergo none of the horrors which accompanied the devastations in France. ‘ Goodwood and Saratoga, Two events of great interest to the sporting world took place yesterday—the race for the Goodwood Cup in England and the Cup Race at Saratoga. Both events brought together large and fashionable assemblages, and in the case of the American race such an enthusiastic gathertmg as is seldom seen on a similar occa- sion. Ali evidence points toa growing taste among our people for the ‘excitement and pleasure that are to be derived from the noble sport of horse racing; and that it is no mere amateurish apiug.ot the customs of a foreign country is shown by the remarkable results obtained. The great increase ot favor with which racing is regarded is duc mainly to the successful efforts made to improve our stock of horses. ‘The progress made in this direc- tion is flattering to the intelligence of our chief stud keepers and gives promise that at no distant period the American horse will out- strip all competitors in speed and bottom. Already great strides have been made in this direction, and though itis difficult to make exact comparisons of the performances of European horses with our own on account of the different conditions under which the races are run, yet so far as can be judged the per- formances of oyr American horses compare favorably ,with the best results obtained in Europe. One feature of our system: is the effort to obtain speed and botiom combined. We do not weight our two-year-old racers as heavily as the English do theirs, and the re- sults obtdined go to prove our system the sounder of the two. The strain on young horses caused by the English system of heavy weights is seen in the large number of two- year-olds that break down. Few English horses indeed are worth anything when they have passed through the strain put on them in the two and three-year-old period. This result is mainly due to the custom of making, two-year-olds carry heavy weight, a custom based on the theory that horses of this age require men to ride them. No doubt this idea is sound from the mere horsemanship point of view, but its certain tendency is to break down horses by over-iaxing their im- mature strength. The heavy purses offered to two-year-olds stimulates the breeding of good stock by enabling stud keepers to utilize their stock without too much delay, and is, therefore, not without a strong element of good. The race for the Goodwood Cup yes- terday was won by Lord Ailesbury’s Aven- turiere, and the time made on the English course does not compare favorably with the performanco of Springbok and Preakness at Saratoga. The Evglsh horse made two miles and a half in 5 minutes 11 seconds, which would not be considered fast running on an American course. The same cup was last year won by Doncaster in 4 minutes 53} seconds, earrying 129 Ibs., while this year’s winner carried only 119 lbs. Two American horses—Springbok and Preak- ness—each carrying 114 ibs, over two miles and a quarter, made yesterday much better time than was made by the English winner of the Goodwood Cup. In the difficult matter of handicapping the rival horses great judgment was shown, and after a neck and neck race the judges were unable to decide which horse was the victor. ‘Lhe race was therefore de- clared a dead heat, the horses having run two miles and a quarter in 3 minutes 56} seconds—the best time on record. Harry Bassett made the nearest approach to this time in 1872, when the race occupied 3 minutes 59 seconds. We have a right to feel considerable satisfaction with the result of yesterday's racing. It furnishes conclusive evidence that with continued attention to the breeding of American horses we may count upon possessing a stock that for speed and bottom will be able to hold its own against all competitors. Tse Partncrpan Fratcre 1x Rapm Transrr yesterday was the introduction ofa new project by the Messrs. Cornell for an elevated road, the plan of which appears to be simple and to answer the requirements. The Commission- ers express their intention, in examining the several propositions, to take into considera- tion the important question of capital. It is, of course, essential that the plan of construc- tion determined upon shall be one that will command the confidence of capital, and it will be an important element of success should a projector be in a.condition to pledge the amount necessary to build his road. The propositions that are thus backed are the Gilbert, the Williams & Catherwood, the Meyers & Widmayer, the Evans, the Brandon, the Morris and the Cornell. The Gilbert states that the company is ready to subscribe the capital if allowed to build the road. The Williams & Catherwood project is backed by capitalists who were prepared to build it three years ago had it secured a char- ter at that time. The projectors of the Meyers & Widmayer and the Cornell plans declare their readiness to provide the necessary funds for construction. There is little doubt that, with a desirable route and a practicable plan, the required capital will easily be secured, Incexpiantism of the most wanton kind caused the terrible oil fire in Jersey City yes- terday morning. Two dock thieves went ona plundering expedition and of of them was killed by the explosion of the oil on the lighter. The absence of a night watchman gave the miscreants an opportunity to ply their nefarious business, There was no in- centive to set fire to the oil, only the spirit of “pure cussedness.”’ ‘Tue Leots.ative Commerrresr for the Inves- tigation of Crime have stirred up so many queer transactions in which our guardians of the peace have beon concerned and have placed the police in such an unenviable light that even the Polico Commissioners have actually woke up to the belief that everything | in their department is not quite as rose col ored as they would hay. the public believe. Investigations into the Conduct of certain captains are now going on 2 t Malberry street, and the testimony so far is te, ‘Tibly damaging. Law Versus Common Sense. The labors of Governor Tildem’s Canal In- vestigating Commission are likely to Come to an unsatisfactory close if the deewia? just made by Judge Learned, of Albany, be Sf tered to stand. H. D. Denison, of Syracua “ a canal contractor, having been subpcenae’d as a witness before the Commission, was re- quired to produce the books and papers 1e- lating to his contracts. He refused to obey the order of the Commission, and ar attach ment was issued against his person for con~ tempt. The case was taken before Justice Learned under habeas corpus~ proceedings. The Judge discharged the relator, holding that the law creating the Commission, while it gives authority to the Commissioners, or either of them, to issue subpcenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the produc- tion of books and papers, omits to confer the power of punishing witnesses for disobedi- ence, Such power, the Court holds, must be found in express enactment, because im- prisonment jor contempt is a quasi punish- ment tor crime, Looking at the matter from acommon sense point of view it certainly seems contradictory and absurd that a committee clothed by law with the power of subpoenaing witnesses and of demanding the production of books and. papers should be impotent to compel obedi-. ence. The one power would seem to em- brace the other. But Judge Learned decides: that a man cannot be deprived of his liberty under authority claimed by implication. The right to inflict punishment by imprisonment can be derived only from express enactment. The point that must strike every one who reads this decision is the evidence it conveys of the stupidity and incapacity of our legisla- tors. Here isa law enacted for the express purpose of bestowing extraordinary powers om @ commission of investigation, and, by » blundering omission, it fails to give any powers at all that can accomplish the end in view. It was known that the canal rings and their creatures would not voluntarily give evidence criminating each other; that every artifice would be resorted to for ‘the defeat of the investigation; that the men with whom the Commission would have to deal were sbrewd, bold and unscrupulous. A committee raised by simple resolution of the Legislature could not hope to drag testimony from such witnesses, hence the necessity of a law creating a commission and clothing it with full power to discover the truth, Sach a law was supposed to have been passed, but it is now discovered that, through the stupidity of our lawmakers, it is as valueless for the purpose as one of Mother Goose’s nursery tales. The wise men of the Senate and Assembly, many of them calling themselves lawyers, failed to understand that, in order to compel the obedience of a witness, it was necessary to clothe the Commission with the power to punish disobedience. Even the legal acumen of the Executive Chamber was unable to discover the fatal blunder in the bill It might be suspected that some- thing else than s.upidity was at the bottom of the singular omission; but, as there must have been some representatives who honestly favored an effective investigation of the canal frauds, and as the Governor, at least, must have desired to see his commission made something more that a laughing stock, the wilful and intentional emasculation of the law ought not to have been possible. The blunder is only another proof of the evils resulting from the election of blockheads to the State Legislature, Lo'’s ApvocatEes.—The Indian Commission, which has been in session at Loug Branch, has closed its deliberations with an elaborate address to the Christian public, which in point of exquisite humor is worthy of Mark Twain in ono of his best character sketches. The sea air must have had @ peculiar influence on those gravé Commis- sioners to move them toward presenting such a comical document, and, what is sill more funny, the government is in full accord with them. We publish this address in another part of the paper. Its strongest point isa Pecksniffian deprecation of the charges against the Ring. That Delano is an angel and Or- ville Grant a guileless being under his wings are among the things implied by the address. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. General F. J. Herron, of Louisiana, ts staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Rey, Dr. J. ireland Tucker, of Troy, 1s registered at the Hofman House. Count Turkbemm, of Austria, has taken up his residence at the Windsor Hotel. Commander Johu W. Philip, United States Navy, | is quartered at the Sturtevant House, Rev. Theodore A. Metcalf, of Boston, is among the late arrivals at the Everett House, Funny jor the Spiritual peopie to warn the pub- lic against Katie King as an impostor, The Marquis de Chambran arrived from Wash- ington yesterday at the Union Square Hotel. Postmaster General Jewell returned to Wash- ington from Connecticut yesterday morning. Brevet Major General Jobn E. Smith, United States Army, has arrived at the Grand Central Hotel. p Colonel L, BE. Biecklay was appointed Supreme Hourt Judge yesterday, in place of Judge McQvy, resigned. Lieutenant Colonel Bernard, of Governor Gen- eral Duflerin’s stad, is residing temporarily at the Glisey House. Over-production is the cause of the Ford failure, Too mucn priated Beecuer thrown ov the market lately for any more Beecher to sell. More protection! Steamboat laws down East are principally used to protect the tive steam. bout man wgainst rivals from these waters, A mail despaten from Venezuela states that Don Antonio Dalla Costa and some seyen. otners hava been arrested and sent down prisoners to La Guaira From Curacoaa rumor comes. that Presidena Dominigue coutempiates proclaiming himself Enderor,gnd intends foliowing in the footsteps of the famous Souloaque, Some persons who feel thas “Mr. Beecher hag not been completely vindicated” are nut bad men, Most of them are; but some are not, and one of th apparently, 1s Dr. Leonard Bacon, who is at present the man who fixes the standard on all such points in this country. Mr. Beecher wiil, tnerofore, please step ap and satisfy Bacon. People want to know how the knowledge of Duncan & Shermaa’s (ailure crept out on Monday, Some have gone to Mr, Barlow for ap @xplanation, ‘who, of course, bad none to give. Lf they will go now to the telegraph operators who handled the messages beyween the Barings and the untore Vunate firm they will, peraaps, be nearer “warm,” ~