The New York Herald Newspaper, December 2, 1875, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD|™ ""*™ BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, CEN ES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR ———_--——— NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yorr Hunatp will be sent free of postage. ——— - THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per 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 Yorx Ueracp, Letters and packages should be properly sealed, Rejected communications will not be re- turned. pte ESS LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE-—-AVENUE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. © TONY PASTOR'S NEW THEATRE, Noa, 585 and S87 Broadway.—VARIBTY, at 3 2. M. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourfeenth street and Sixth avenue.—L’ALPINE, at 8 eM. Feehter. THIRD AVENUE THEATRE, ‘Third avenue, between Thirticth and Thirty-frst streets. — MINSTRELSY and VARIETY, at 5 P. M GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Irving piace —THE LIZARD, at 8 ul THEATRE, Bighth street, near Third avenue.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—ROUGHING IT, at 8 P.M. Miss Kate Raymond. GLOBE Nos. 728 and 730 Broadway. COLOSSEUM, ‘Thirty fourth street and Broadway, FARIS. Open from 10.4. M. to P. SSIAN SIEGE OF M. and from 7 P. M. to OLYMPIC THEATRE, No. 624 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway snd Thirteenth surest. —CASTE, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:46PM. Mr. Harry Beckett, Miss Ada Dyas. PARISIAN VARIETIES, Sixteenth street, near Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M. Matinee at 2 P.M. BROOKLYN THEATRE, ree street, Brooklyn —THE TWO ORPHANS, at 8 UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Beegrengy sad Pouriesnth street.—ROSE MICHEL, at 8 THEATRE COMIQUE, . No. 514 Broadway,—VARIETY, at 5 P.M. HEATRE, ‘Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue.—LITTLE EM'LY, at SP.M. George F. Rowe. PARK THEATRE, Broadway and Twenty-second street.—THE MIGHTY DOL- LAR, at 82. M, Mr. and Mrs. Florence. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-eighth street, near Broadway.—OUR BOYS, at 8 V.M.; closes at 10:30 P. M. EAGLE THEATRE, Broadway and Thirty-third street. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO MINSIRELS, Xow Opera House, Browdway,corner of Twenty ninth sirect, aw . STEINWA\ HALL, Fourteenth street.—THEODORE THOMAS’ REHEARSAL, WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirtieth street. — P.M.; closes at 10:40 P, M. Matinee at Knight. RL KLINE, at 8 George 3. NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be slightly warmer and clowly. Tue Herarp py Fasr Mau, Trains.—News- dealers and the public throughout the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as in the West, the Pacific Coast, the North, the South and Southwest, also along the lines of the Hudson River, New York Central and Pennsylvania Central Railroads and their con- nections, will be supplied with Tux Henan, jree of postage. Hetraordinary inducements offered to newsdealers by sending their ‘orders direet to this offtce, Watt Sreeet Yxsrerpay.—Stocks lower, with a declining tendency. opened at 1151-8 and closed at 115, Rag paper is worth 86.95. Money on call is easy at 41-20 5 per cent. £ Ma. Wusoy’s Funenar.—Our telegrams from Natick report the ceremonies and ob- servances attending the final interment at tliat place of the late Vice-President Wilson. Fish axp Prace.—British and French sailors seem to have talked over the quarrel of British and French fishermen in the New foundland waters, and concluded that they are not worth fighting about. Tae Waurrrcnare, Mcrper.—The result of the trial of the Wainwrights in London is that one must kangand the other be trans- ported, Nobody proposed to the Court to prove that they were insane. Scanweti goes to the insane asylum at Utica, which is a sort of judicial formality, preliminary to his release. His counsel op- posed energetically the proposition to send him to the Auburn Asylum, because that is “for convicts.” They should have argued at once that he was only insane in regard to | Donohue, and that when he had killed that person the whole source and cause of the malady passed away, and he recovered spon- Saneously. Ir 15 Wuisprrep from Washington that President Grant, having failed to run down the fox called Cuba, is now in full cry after the fox called Mexico, and that the hounds which we heard the other day at Key West and on the South Atlantic coast will soon be baying along the Rio Grande. It isa grave mistake for President Grant to imagine that any war policy will so far condone the errors of his administration and so far accustom the people to the violation of a great consti- tutional provision as so allow him to win a third term. If his friends should, even under the inspiration of @ war cry, nom- inate him for a third term it will be—vad for the republican partie ol NEW YORK HERALD, THUKSDAY, DECUKMBER 2%, 1875.—TRIPLE SHMET. and Party. The democratic party canndt expect to control this country by any tidal wave, The democracy has within itself the power to control the next election for the Presiden the Democratic but that party must be revolutionized from its | centre to its circumference. The only State in which its leaders have shown discretion is in Massachusetts, front a Governor like Gaston, who by his prudence, his patience, his conservatism, his respect for the rights of the people, his free- dom from partisanship, has made an ad- ministration which will do the party in the State and out of it a great deal of good. But in New York we are trammelled with Tam- many Hall. This inftuence, as we lve ¢x- plained to our readers on many occa- sions, is that of a secret, Know Nothing, dark lantern organization. It meets in a lodge room. Its members, under the pretence of being “a charitable society,” control the machinery of the democratic party in New York. ‘This control began under Aaron Burr more than seventy years ago, enabling that dangerous and bad man to mount within one step of the Presidency. With an occasional lapse of virtue when punished by a popular outbreak the dynasty which began with Burr has continued down to the pres- ent day. It found its full fruition in William M. Tweed, who was enabled, by the control of this secret, dark lantern, Know Nothing lodge, to rob the treasury of New York of millions of dollars, to bring discredit upon our city's fame, to threaten the owners of real estate with practical contiseation by the increase in taxes, and to inflict a stigma upon republican government which has dis- honored it throughout the world, The power which began with Burr, and which ripened into Tweed, is not dead, The mis- take of John Kelly and his friends is upon the old basis. They asked us to ac- cept this vicious, pernicious and thoroughly unrepublican system because it happens now to be in the hands of men who have an honorable personal reputation. The people see what these men will not concede, that the power which took possession of Tam- many Hall under Tweed may take posses- sion of it again to-morrow. T'weed’s crea- tures are Kelly's followers. Kelly bas the same lieutenants around him, the same men who cheered Tweed and Sweeny in their raid upon the treasury. It is not within the power even of the leader of Tammany Hall to make-the leopard change his spots nor the Ethiopian his skin; consequently Tam- many Hall to-day is the heaviest burden the democratic party could carry. The demo- cratic party in the country is like Tammany Hall in New York. It belongs toan extinct formation, Much of what was valuable in the past was swept away by the rebellion. The unfortunate record of a large part of its leaders during the war makes it as impossi- ble for them ever to become the rulers of this country as it was for the Bourbons to become the rulers of France. If these leaders were wise they would accept this as an unfortu- nate but an inevitable consequence of the prodigious events of the past fifteen years. They would retire and push to the front men who had the confidence of the people with- out distinction of party. They would seek for recruits among the ablest and worthiest of the independent republicans, and they would nationalize their party by adapting its principles to the changes of modern poli-. ties and by giving authority to men who would bring to the party strength, and not be a burden to it. The democrats in the House cannot afford to elect a Speaker who is an old-fashioned Bourbon, like the Senators who have recently been chosen from Missoun, Pennsylvania | and Connecticut. They cannot afford to march to the front men who are khown to the country only for their persistent opposi- tion to the war. They should imitate the wisdom of their Southern friends who come into Congress in such large numbers. They have, With scarcely an exception, retired to the rear the men who led them into the re- pellion, and sent to the front new and fresh rep’ tatives. For this reason the effort to t. Kerr is so thoroughly an intrigue and g so much a part of the Tammany | progratnme that its suecess will be felt 4 fhroughout the Union as giving new rlife to the Tammany influence and a new lease of power to the Bourbons. It is time for the democrats to take their leaders, not from the wounded, crippled, enervated champions of twenty years ago, but from the young men, from those who supported the war when it was a necessity and who have been endeavoring to give us real peace since the war came toan end. A vigorous progres- sive national party is needed at this time to | defeat General Grant—a party without cant, | without an evil record, without an ill name. | In New York the in endent democrats, in triking Tammany Hall at the last election, ve the party an opportunity to reorganize its ranks and put an end to this pernicious influence. Now let the independent demo- crats in Congress do the same thing by giv- ing us a Speaker that belongs to the present and not to the past. In was the observation of a great man of antiquity, and is true for all time, that good | actions sometimes become, in virtue of their circumstances, as evil and objectionable and as much to be shunned as bad actions. And tions of the people of this city to Tammany in the late election, and that should now govern to the choice of a Speaker. ‘Tammany, that had oppressed the people, that had defrauded them of their votes and cheated every honest aspiration for generations, found that the indignation of the people was fairly aroused against its machinations, and endeavored to disarm that indignation by a spasmodic virtue. She came before the people with good candidates and cried | out to know if she was to be beaten when she was doing all that could be demanded of any organizer. But this | ruse, tempting as it was, failed; for the issue | was not then on the character of her candi- dates—it was on her existence. People were | at last determined not to be indebted to ‘Tammany’s favor even for good candidates, and determined that afew good candidates should not at last save her from a mortal | blow. In Congress the position is practically , the same, Mr. Kerr is not an unex- There they sent to the | their effort to continue Tammany Hall j this was the thought that governed the rela- | the conduct of Congressmen in their relations | ceptionable candidate, but the strong point against him is not that he is personally unfit, but that he is the candidate of a kind of democracy that must be overcome and thrust aside, no matter what candidate it may present, if the democratic party is to be saved now from the catastropheof all parties. | He is the head and front in this issue of the | Bourbon element. He is, therefore, a mis- take, and he must be beaten, The Whiskey Ring Disclosures. The telegrams exchanged between St. in evidence on Monday in the Whiskey Ring trials, have so ugly a look for General Babcock, the private secretary of the Presi- dent, that it concerns the reputation of the White House, and especially concerns Gen- eral Babcock, to have the matter cleared up and his innocence vindicated. General Babcock is compelled to admit that the pub- lished telegrams carry on their face a strong prestmption against his innocence. On Tuesday he sent the following despatch to the United States District Attorney at St. Louis:— Iam absolutely innocent, and every telegram which I sent will appear perfectly innocent the moment | can be heard, I demand a hearing before the court, when [ can testify. 0. EB. BABCOCK, General Babcock’s emphatic denial is no proof of innocence any more than the cus- tomary plea of “Not Guilty,” which he will make if indicted and brought to trial. But his despatch to the District Attorney removes all doubt as to the genuineness of the incul- pating telegrams. They were proved to be his in court by the testimony of experts that the originals were in his hendwriting. It might have been replied that the experts were mistaken, or that his handwriting had been counterfeited. But he has taken away the possibility of such a defence by his ad- mission that he sent them. Hoe only declares | that he can explain them in such a manner as to clear his reputation. He virtually con- cedes that without explanation they are cal- culated to destroy his character, and on this point his judgment coincides with that of the public. The method of explanation which General Babcock proposes will not be deemed satis- factory. He asks to be called as a witness ; that is to say, he wishes to be believed on his own statement. We think the investigation ought to be more searching and thorough. The guilt of the parties in whom he was in correspondence has been established beyond all question. He was communicating with them in the crisis of their difficulties, and the dates and subject matter of the tele- grams prove their connection with the opera- tions of the Whiskey Ring. How did it hap- pen that he was mixed up with their affairs? How did it happen that when that rascally combination got alarmed they applied to General Babcock to find out whether they were in danger? In reply to a telegram ask- ing if inspectors were coming to St. Louis General Babcock sent the following :— Wasmtneroy, Dec. 5, 1874. Colonel Jonn A. Joes, St. Lonis:— Cannot bear that any one bas gone or is going. BABCOCK. Why should they have applied to him for that kind of information, if he was not an accomplice and had no motive to protect them? General Babeock can vindicate his innocence only by,a trial which will allow the production of all the evidence, both for him and against him. The thing is too seri- ous to be dismissed on his own ex parte state- ments. It is the clear duty of the District Attorney at St. Louis to procure his indict- ment by a grand jury, and put him on trial asan accomplice of the Whiskey Ring. A trial will bring out all the facts. If he is innocent his innocence will be established beyond cavil by a verdict of acquittal. It cannot then be said or suspected that any part of the evidence against him was kept back or concealed, The Convention of University Oars- men at Springffeld. The students in convention yesterday at Springfield could not tell how or where to row the University race of 1876, voted down coxswains, followed our suggestion of hay- ing Mr. Thomas Hughes as referee—if they can get him—chose a good regatta committee, wanted the race rowed in heats, bat did not seem to know how to manage it, or hardly what heats are, reised trifling objections to Sara- toga, the three st Springfield favoring its course, three further cast pre- ferring New London, Williams wanting any place but Saratoga, and Wesleyan and the five New York and New Jersey institutions, though furnishing the four fastest crews of the last two years, having seemingly nothing to say as to where the meeting should be held, almost everything being left to the Regatta Committee and to an adjourned meeting a month later. Meanwhile the aspirant fot # seat in his university boat must draw what comfort ht can from this incoherent attempt at work. The current, sandbars and diagonal lines of the Springfield course ; the exposed position of the tidal one at New London ; the distance of both from many, if not a majority, of the competitors; the dissatisfaction which | followed the race at the former in and the utter inability of either | 1873, | to accommodate even a quarter of those | who would like to attend the greatest row- ing race we have, seem to have been entirely forgotten, while the cost of erecting fourteen’ boat houses and the other necessarily large expenses seem in a fair way to be forced upon one of these sum- mer, to be taken elsewhere a year later. It is unfortunate that after twenty-three years’ trying we are as far from a good University race as ever, or even from know- ing where to have it; also that we cannot show our many and discriminating visitors next summer # contest conducted on a plan with which we are already familiar, and not at best a mere bungling experiment, cities next Furvaxpo Woov.—Mr. Wood has acted in relation to the use of his name for the Speak- ership with the prompt decision and nice | perception of political possibilities and party proprieties which are distingnishing traits of his character. His candidature would have | secured a certain positive support for many | good reasons ; and the loyalty of his sup- | porters would have troubled the councils of | the party an@ clouded plain issues. Such a complication prevents a fair trial of the | strength of the party om the essential issues Louis and Washington, which were admitted | of the hour, and is therefore at once an evil and a scandal, and Mr. Wood is entitled to the thanks of all democrats fornot permitting | his name to be used to such an end. Spain’s Answer. Our London despatch points out the char- | acter of the reply made by Spain to the rep- resentatives of our government in regard to Cuba and the unpleasant complications which arise from its disturbed condition. Spain, it appears, recognizes distinctly that she is already pledged to gradual emancipa- | tion in Cuba ; promises to provide for the greater freedom of trade between this coun- | try and that island ; promises that foreigners arrested shall have thetr cases acted upon without delay, and proposes redress for former hastiness—that is, for the summary executions or murders practised on our citi- zens by over-zealous Spanish officials, This is said to be the utmost that Spain can con- cede, and that she is not without anxiety as to the reception that will be accorded to this answer. From the Spanish reply we get pretty clearly the outline of the much discussed note that recently revived the examination of our relations with the Power which takes the position that it cannot survive as a nation, if it cannot keep up a nuisance at our doors in its continued possession of the Island of Cuba. Our. note has evidently gone over the common places of the position—slavery, in- terruptions to commerce and butchery of foreigners, and has demanded, peremptorily, that these long existing causes of complaint shall come to an end. As they will eventu- ally come to an end only when the Spanish possession of Cuba comes to an end our note has apparently contemplated such o termination of the trouble, and the Spanish Ministry has seen between the lines an in- timation that if they did not give satisfaction in the present emergency this government would recognize the belligerency of the insurgents, As Spain has made to us several times just such areply as the one now made she must sup- pose that if we are at last in earnest this re- ply will not be satisfactory ; hence her anx- iety to know how it will be received. In fact, this reply meekly proposes to do for us in the way of concession those things which every civilized Power does for every other as a matter of course—things which are part of the common law of international rela- tions; things which it would bea just reproach and shame to any Power to fail to do without the urging of its neighbors. But Spain has promised these things before—every one of them—has promised them over and over again, and her failure to keep these promises is the source of the constant disturbance of our peaceful relations. In this note we do not see any indication that the promise on this occasion will be better kept than before; we do not see any guarantee that we shall not in six months or a year have to return on our steps and make once more these ever recurring representations touching Cuba, and the outrages and viola- tions of law committed there by Spanish officials against our people and our com- merce. Spain’s diplomatic correspondence seems to be drawn by men who appreciate properly the proportion between Spain and other nations, and use in consequence a very moderately toned style; but Spain's rela- tions with other Powers are practically con- ducted by another sort of men, by the Burriels of her army and navy, who do not comprehend that the power to slaughter a hundred helpless captives does not entitle any one to domineer over the human race. This will remain the same in the future. Some newer butcher will give us the practi- cal interpretation of these notes. But whatever Spain may say or do, or fail to do, the problem of Cuba and our relations with Spain is clear enough for the people. Since we have endured all this for seven years there is no imperative need to be pre- cipitate now. If we could let the incident of the Virginius pass without a shot we can wait for the final settlement until a time when our effort in favor of the Cubans shall not result in forging chains for ourselves. Repeal of the Tammany Charter. The Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, having really forfeited its charter by pervert ing the institution to enantlintioll uses, it is the duty of the Legislature to declare the forfeiture and deprive the society of its cor- porate privileges. It has been objected that this would amount to nothing, since the objectionable political organization could be kept up under other forms which would be equally efficient for mischief. But the society would no longer have the prestige of a legal sanction, Nobody can dispute that it would be an abuse of legislative power to give the coun- tenance and support of law to a political association avowedly organized for sucli ob- jects as those to which Tammany is devoted. If the Custom House Ring, for example, should apply to the Legislature for a charter to facilitate their electioneering purposes, the whole people would remonstrate against such an abuse of the law-making power. it is just as improper to continue such an ad- vantage as it would be to confer it. Nor is it certain that if the Tammany char- ter were cancelled the society would go on without legislative countenance. | A withdrawal of its charter would be a strong expression of condemnation by the | people of the whole State, and it is absurd to say that public opinion so expressed would not be a heavy blow to Tammany. A move- tigation of the affairs ‘of the society and a thorongh exposure of its abuses, A search- ing investigation would be as damaging to Tammany as it has been to the Canal Ring. ‘Tammany totters under the heavy blow dealt it in the last election, and the repeal of its charter after a fall legislative exposure would topple it down in ruins. “Hoyesty” as a Party Cry.—It is all very well to cry “honesty” and “economy” when democrats and republicans are fighting and when the leaders are seeking to win the suffrages of the people. But it is unfor- tunate to introduce these crieg into a canvass like this for the Speakership. We are bound to suppose that democrats have elected none but honest men to Congress—men who are above “rings,” and who know no jobs. Therefore, when.we find th» campaign ment to declare the forfeiture of the charter | would, of course, lead to a legislative inves- | planned upon the idea that there is only one honest democratic Governor in the country, whose name is Tilden, and one honest demo- cratic Congressman in Congress, whose name is Kerr, it gives the republicans the oppor- tunity to say that a party so poor in “honesty” that they must pick their one or two admittedly honest men to rule them cannot be trusted with legislation or admin- istration. Such a canvass will do more harm to the party than will be gained by the elova- tion of Mr, Kerr to the Speakership. The Spring Elections and the Mayor- alty. The people of New York, outside of the city, prefer to vote in the autumn, because that is the season when the crops are all in, and they have a better opportunity for at- tending the polls. The people of the city find the autumn often the busiest time of the year. Consequently the tendency of the present system of elections is to bring out the large country vote and lessen the city vote. Furthermore, the questions at issue in the autumn elections are generally con- corning the government of the State and the country—national and financial. A citizen in discussing State and national matters of course takes cither the demo- cratic or the republican side of the question, but in discussing municipal affairs the only side that he ought to take is that of honesty and efficiency in government. Now when the elections of the city are set down for the fall the effect is to prevent an honest suffrage and the election of good men to office by throwing national issues into the city canvass. This can only be prevented by separating the two elections ; by allowing citizens of the country and the city to vote in the autumn upon national and State ques- tions and the business men and citizens of New York to vote in the spring on the proper way of managing their local affairs. We are convinced that the Legislature will see this and pass the act giving us elections in the spring. Then we can have a candidate for Mayor who will command tho suffrage of all classes. Such a man would naturally present himself in Mr. Andrew H. Green, the stonewall between the thieves and the public treasury. ‘Stonewall Green” would make a capital party ery for the canvass. Then we have John K. Hackett, who led the campaign for the independence of the Bench, and who would no doubt be only too glad to lead the campaign for the independence of the democratic party against a secret dark lantern Know Nothing lodge. Then we have Mr, Stebbins, the head of the Central Park Commission, a man of the highest character and ability, and Mr. Agnew, whom we have presented so frequently, and with so much acceptability, to the people for the head of the Public Works Department. But popular as these men will be as candi- dates it will not surprise us if the most popular nomination of all would be that of Mr. Dana, the editor of the Sun, who, hav- ing declined to run against Mayor Wickham at the last canvass for the Mayoralty, pos- sesses a new claim as a candidate. Mr. Dana, like Mr. Hackett, has made a record as the author of a letter which shows him to bea manly, far-seeing citizen. In this letter the great editor lays down this admirable principle :—‘‘It is only when honest men of every name exhibit a determinalion to revolt against the management of party leaders and to select Uheir own candidates for themselves that parties can be kept within the bounds of decorum and be made to paya due regard to the public welfare in selecting their nominees.” Such a record will make Mr. Dana thousands of votes. It shows that he is the tribune of the people. Mr. Peter Cooper on the Currency. The interview with Mr. Cooper which we print to-day is worth attention, as showing how the currency question looks from the standpoint of a veteran and successful busi- ness man who possesses the knowledge of his class and has little acquaintance with the dis- cussions of scientific economists. The value of the interview consists in its showing what kind of ideas the advocates of hard money have to meet, and what prejudices they must remove or satisfy. We need not say that we dissent from most of Mr. Cooper's conclu- | sions. We do not believe in the inflation which he advocates nor in the scheme of in- | terconvertible bonds. But it is the policy of the Heraup to give all sides a fair and re- spectful hearing. On one important point we are not pre- pared to take strong ground in opposition to Mr. Cooper. He thinks the bank note circu- lation should be Suppressed, and that our paper currency should consist exclusively of legal tender notes issued by the government. There is a great deal to be said in favor of this view. The national bank notes circu- late on the credit of the government, and not on the credit of the banks that issue them. Why should the government be responsible for any other promissory notes than its own ? Why should it give away its credit for the profit of banking institutions? If it be for the security of the people the people would be equally secure if the whole currency consisted of greenbacks, and the government would receive the profit of the paper circulation. When aman borrows bank notes he merely borrows the credit of the bank. A merchant whose credit is so good that another wealthy merchant indorses his note for nothing goes toa bank and gives the joint promissory note of himself and his | indorser in exchange for promissory notes of the bank forthe same amount, and pays seven per cent discount for the use of a credit which is really no better than his own, If the greenbacks were withdrawn the govern- ment itself might go to o bank for a loan and pay six or seven per cent for the use of bank notes whose circulating power depends on its own in- dorsement ; that is to say, the government which has been given to the bank. This is absurd. Why should not the government | have the full advantage of its own credit? | When citizens pay for an exchange of credit why should it be nominally for the fictitious credit of bank instead of directly for the | real credit of the government which gives buys back at a heavy discount its own credit | the bank notes their circulating power? | | Great profits are made by the exchange of | the credit of solvent individuals for the | eredit of the national banks, and these profits | rightfully belong to ithe government whose | credit, and not that of the banks, gives cur- | | rency to the bank noteis The Sunnyside Calamity. An unaccountable and almost incompre hensible accident to a North River passenger steamer comes as if to revive that tradition of appalling calamities for which the river boats had once a bad pre-eminence, Fortu- nately the present accident is far loss terri- ble than accidents to North River steamers have commonly ‘been in the times when they were more plentiful; but the comparatively small loss of life is not due to any improve. ment in life-saving apparatus nor to any judicious conduct of the steamer’s people, but simply to the fact that the latencss of the season has driven judicious travellers to the cars and left to the boat only the venturesome few. The people were not there to kill, or the hardy mariner who has done for eleven would have done for two or three hundred with equal efficiency. It is easily enough under- stood that if a steamboat has her hull stove in toany extent she will go down as far as the depth will permit, and that thus loft te the mercy of the waters she will go to pieces, All this is plain if the holes in the bottom are granted. But how did the holes get there? ‘Cut by the ice,” is the answer. From which answer it will be natural to ash whether the bottom of this steamer was made of pasteboard or of old cigar boxes, There has been no ice made before this cold storm, and it was light, local, broken new ice that the boat was, as we are told, cut down by; not the awful rush of a yielding pack or the heavy, granite-like squares of midWinter. The penetration of the hull of a river steamer by ice made in the twenty-four hours pre- vious to the calamity needs the close investi- gation of the insurance companies. Mr. Edison’s Discovery. In another column will be found an ac- count of a new discovery in natural science recently made in the experiments of an electrician. This gentleman observed that the spark which arises from the contact of two pieces of metal when one is in contact with the core of a battery was apparently tha product of some force other than electricity, and upon the application of tests was able to prove that the principle whose existence! and operation were thus demonstrated by the electrical apparatus was not electricity, but was some hitherto unknown and unde- scribed force. From what he has thus far learned of the nature and manifestations o1 the new principle he is led to compare ita operation to that operation of nature which produces the aurora and venture the theory that he has detected the principle upon which that grand pageant of nature depends. The practical results of the discovery, a now contemplated, have regard to tele- graphic manipulation, and the discovery seems to promise greatly increased facility for the transmission of signals. All that the world has learned in the short life of modern science indicates that we are only at the threshold of the great secrets of nature that are yet to be opened to us, and every step we take in this direction counts toward the grand result of the victory of man over the obstacles of matter and space and time, Suxser Cox.—Mr. Cox should foliow the excellent example set by Mr. Wood and con sult his own ultimate satisfaction, as well as present expediency in the party, by the withdrawal of his name from the contest for the Speakership. If this contest for the Speakership were purely a question of per- sons and personal aptitudes we scarcely believe it would be determined in favor of Mr. Cox, or that a majority would find in him its conception of a presiding officer ; but the case is not one of persons—it is the isgue of Tammanyism in the democratic party. The lines are fairly drawn on that issue, and all candidates aside from it only raiso dust that spoils sport. It is necessary that Tammany should be beaten, and whoever perverts for his own cause one vote that would assist this public cause does harm. Waar an Apvanrace it would be to the country, not to speak of the new color if would give to General Grant's fame, if he wera to imitate the example of his colleague at the head of the Judiciary Department, Chiet Justice Waite, and declare that under no cir~ cumstances would he be a candidate for the third term! Such an admission could be made the crowning feature of his coming Message. It would enable his friends to look around fora man who, as candidate, would rally all the elements of strength in the or- ganization, and in the end it might prove— good for the republican party. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Senator Francis Kernan arrived from Utica last even ing at the Windsor Hotel, William Caleb Loring, of Boston, has been appointed Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts, Senator William W. Eaton, of Connecticut, arrivet at the New York Hotel last evewing on his way to Washington. M. Latzesko, Prefect of Police of Jassay, Moldavia, has arrived at Paris with the objeet of studying the French organization. Several members of the Stock Exchange were yester- day admitted to the St. Nicholas Society, among them Messrs. George H. Brodhead, late President of the Ex- change; H. 8 and John D, Wilson; J. W. Monroe, late Assistant Secretary; Jenkins Van Schaick and Major Thomas F. Morris. A lawsuit has been commenced before the Civil Tri- bunal of the Seine by a corn and hay dealer against Prince Napoleon to reeover the sum of 7,086f. for forage supplied to the chicf groom of the stables for the horses of his Imperial Highness during the siege. The Prince says the horses were used by the government, and they should pay the bill. “Marshal de MacMahon,” says the Débats, ‘‘is said to have expressed the desire to see returned to the Senate by the National Assembly some twenty personages not belonging to the present Chamber, and who have, how- ‘ever, in many ways rendered services to thelr country. Among them are especially mentioned Marshal Canrob- ert and the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris, A duel with swords took place on Belgian territory on November 14, between M, Moreau, editor of the République de la Sarthe, and M. Mallet, who holds similar position on the Sarthe, the latter gentleman being wounded in the right side, The quarrel origi- nated in an angry discussion between the two journals, M. Mallet regarding some expression as a personal offence, The ingratitude of some people is shocking, The Herato for the last three or four weeks has been say- ing all manner of good things about its neighbor, the editor of the Sun, pointing out his eminent qualifica- tons for mayor, and his noble, generous and humane character, And now the Sun turns upon the Heray and its editor and talks to bim after the manner of the driver of a garbage wagon. Really all this is unchris- tianlike and uncharitable, We know of no man who stands more in need of the prayers of Moody and San- key and all good Christians than our esteemed friend of the Sun. Lot the prayers of the congregation be im vaked jn lis bohall,—Commercias Advertiser,