The New York Herald Newspaper, December 15, 1875, Page 6

6 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 Yorx Herarp will be sent free of postage. ae 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 Yorr Heravp. 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—AVENUE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. THEATRE No. 514 Broadway. —VARIET TWENTY-THIRD STREET THEATRE, Twenty third street and Sixth avenue. —THE FLATTERER, aor PARK THEATRE, Hrondway and Twenty-second sireeL—THE MIGHTY DOL Lak, at8 PL Mr. and Mra, Florenew, GERMANIA THRATRE, He gra street, uoar Irving place.—EIN PELICAN, at or M, BOWERY THEATRE, Buwery-—-WILD BILL, at SP. M. Mr. Julian Kent GILMORE'S GARDEN, argue and \Twenty-elxth street—HEBREW A EAGLE THEATRE, git Phirte-third stroek VARIETY, ot 8 P.M. Trond, Matinee SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, New Qnera Wouse, Broadway, corner of Twenty-ninth street, ac 8 P GLOBE THEATRE, Nos, 724 aud 730 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M. Maule wee tz i M, WOOD'S MUSEUM, comer of Thirtieth street.—KUBE, at 8 P.M; O45 P.M Matinee at 2.3L F.S. Chanfrau, Brondway sluves at ROOTU'S THEATRE, Twenty third street and Sixth avenue.—COONIE SOOGAH, SUS POM Mr. aod Mrs. Burney Williams TONY PASTO! W THEATRE, Non 58S wud 957 Browlwit RIETY, at 8 PM LYCEUM THEATRE, Courteauth sireet and Siath avenue—CAMTLLE, at 8 P, ML echter. THIRD AVENUE THEATRE, th and Thirty -firss streeta— 18 P.M COLOSSEUM Fhirty-tourth street and Broadway.—PRUSSIAN SIEGE OF Poco on from 1 P. M. to4 P.M. and from 730 2. M. to 10 WALLA THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteeuth street.—BOSOM FRIENDS, at 8 P.M; closes ut 10:49 P.M. Mr. Jolin Gilbert. PARISIAN JARIETLES, Sixteenth ntrest. new BrosMWey—VARIETY. ot SF. M. Matinee at 2 F. BROOKLYN THEATRE, ton street, Brooklyn.—HOME, as 8 FM. Mr, alla UNION SQUARE THEATRE, ragdoee and Fourteenth strees—KOSE MICHEL, at 8 Wasbin Lester FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Swenty-oighth street, near Broadway.—P1QUE, us 8 P. M. Fanny Davenport. OLYMPIC THEATRE, .™ Broadway—VARIETY, a5 P.M. Matinee at 2 ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—German Opers—LOHENGRIN, at 8 P. M. Wachtel. TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street, near Third avenue,—VARLETY, at 8 P. M. Fi ‘ourteenth: 5 TESTIMONIAL CONCERT, at 8 PM. George F. Brist TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1875, ‘Tne Henatp sx Fast Mam Traws.—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 Tue Henaxp, free of postage. Extraordinary inducements offered to newsdealers by sending their orders direct to this office. From our reports this morning the probabilities are thut the weather to-day will be cooler and clear. Watt Srreet Yesrerpay.—The stock mar- ket was without feature. The transactions were small amd not suggestive of higher prices. Money on call, four and five per cent. Gold opened and closed at 114. Tae Brreceer Sraeet Rarnoan bas been in an unhealthy condition for along time, but it is doubtful whether a contest in the courts like that reported in our news col- umns this morning will improve it. When companies of this kind become insolvent the best way to manage them is to compel them to go into liquidation. Tae Strate Cxnsvs.—The publication of the results of the State census taken in June last has been too long delayed, but the Secre- tary of State has made public one or two of the most interesting tables. From these it will be seen that the population of the State has increased in five years nine hundred thousand, and of the city one hundred thou- sand. Two Resoxtvrions were introduced the House yesterday limiting the Presiden- tial office to one term. It might be well to increase the period of service to six years, as Mr. Randall proposes ; but the suggestion of Mr. Harrison to make our ex-Presidents | Senators-at-Large for life is scarcely wise, | ‘because in principle it is not republican. The adoption of this proposition would be another step toward centralization. A Lazer Fine occurred in the Whecler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company's works at Bridgeport yesterday evening, destroying two large buildings. Several lives were lost | and anumber of perzons wounded by the falling wails. Asis only tooapt to be the ease whenever and wherever a large fire occurs, the dames were uncontrollable from the want af watey into | NEW XURKK HEKALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBHR 15, 1875--PRIPLE SHEET. | Small We tave vur Charter Election { im the Spring? We regret to find that some of those on whom we have counted as our surest allies in an exterminating war against Tammany politics are not quite sound on the impor- tant point of separating the municipal from | the general election, We are anxious that solid, unbroken phalanx (for they have {no strength to waste and can afford no divisions), and we do not yet despair of per- fect unity of purpose on essential points. ; We have great confidence in those of our allies from whose views on one point we feel bound to express our respectful dissent. They have given such constant proofs of energy, zeal, fidelity and indomitable | courage in their assaults on Tammany that it is with sincere reluctance that we differ from them in any particular relating to the plan to be adopted by the incoming Legislature. We fear that they have too lightly given their as- sent to the representations of politicians. We appeal to their candor and ask them to weigh the reasons which may be urged in favor of separating the municipal from the State election. We have never expected that the trading politicians of either party would assent toachange so calculated to cripple their influence ; but we hope other citizens will indorse our purpose to wrest power from the politicians and restore it to the tax- payers. Before going into the merits of the ques- tion we invite the attention of our respected allies in the war against Tammany to certain matters of fact in the legislative history of the State which have a close bearing on this controversy. Itis a fact which nobody will undertake to dispute that during the greater part of our municipal existence the charter election has been held ona different day from the State election. This is matter of record and cannot be controverted. Itisa fact which everybody must admit that the municipal election and the general elec- tion were made coincident by the Tweed charter, passed in 1870, when Tammany was at the he ght of its in- fluence. It is no valid answer to say that this change was not made in the Tweed charter itself, but in a separate act passed at the same date. The Tweed charter and the accompanying election law were parts of the same scheme. They were passed by tho same corrupt Tweed Legislature ; they were signed by the Governor on the same day ; they had their twin birth in the same crafty cabal. It was Tammany influence and Tam- many power that shifted our municipal elec- tion to the same day with the general election. On this point we are on the secure ground of facts, and nobody will impugn the accu- racy of our statement. Nor will anybody dispute that the election act which accom- panied the Tweed charter and bore even date with it was passed in the interest of the ‘Tammany Ring which then controlled the Legislature. What was the motive of this change? Considering its source nobody can doubt that, in intention, at least, it was part and parcel of the scheme for insuring the ascendancy of Tammany in city affairs. The foes of Tammany, who are bent on undoing its work and demolishing its influence, should hesitate long and consider well be- fore indorsing this part of the old Tammany programme. We also call attention to the fact that, as a general rule, municipal elections are sep- arated from the general election through- out the State. We stand on impregnable ground in making this assertion, because an examination of the statutes of the State will show that we are correct. People who have not the statutes at hand to refer to will be satisfied of our correctness when they recollect that they are accustomed to read in the newspapers the results of town elections and city elections in all parts of the State at seasons of the year quite remote from the State election in November. The Legislature must have had some reason for separating municipal elections from the general election, and it is incumbent on those who regard this asa mistaken policy to point out wherein the Legislature was in error. The Legislature must have proceeded on some reasons which convinced it of the expediency of separating the municipal elections from the State elec- tions, and if the theory was wrong those who impugn it are bound to show wherein it was faulty. We suspect they will find ita task be- yond their abilities to prove that a separation which is expedient in the State at large is not equally applicable to the city of New York. They are logically bound to show either that the system is fundamentally wrong or else to point out some valid ground for making this city an exception, Either the town elections of the State and the municipal elections of the interior cities should be held on the same day as the State election, or the same separation should be maintained in New York city which prevails in other parts of the State. Nor is it in New York State alone that municipal elections and the | general election take place on different days. | A large proportion of the city elections | throughout the United States are held at a different date from the general election of the States in which the cities are located. | Those who oppose the application of the same rule to New York must give some ra- tional explanation of its adoption in other States, as well as in other parts of this State, and point out the fallacy (if it be a fallacy) which has misled so many different Legisla- | tures. At the time of the passage of the Tweed charter in 1870, by which the municipal election was changed to the same day as the general election, the city of New York had existed as a political body corporate for one | hundred and forty years, and during that | | long period the city election had been coin- | cident with the State election for only one brief inter¥al of four years. The Dongan | charter, granted by George II. in 1730, re- mained in force without alteration for one hundred years. Under it the municipal | elections took place annually ‘‘on the feast day of St. Michael, the Arch- | angel"—that is, on the 29th of Sop- tember; but our State elections were never held on that day. In 1830 the Legis- lature amended the Dongan charter and changed the election for city officers to the | wider interval from the State election in | November. Im 1849 the city election was the assailants of Tammany shall march in a | second Tuesday in April, separating it by a | changed to the same day with the State elec- tion ; but the result of the change was so un- Satisfactory that in 1853, after a trial of four years, the municipal and general elections were again separated, and continued to be held on different days until the passage of the Tweed charter in 1870, We should like | to see on what specific ground the sincere opponents of Tammany would undertake to justify this feature of the Tammany Ring legislation, which was such a wide devia- tion from the general policy of the State in respect to municipal elections, It is easy to understand why professional Politicians prefer to have the city election ; and the general election take place on the same day. The professional gamblers in politics depend on the mercenary yote which is brought to the polls by the expenditure of money. When twenty or thirty candidates are running at the same time, with an equal interest in bringing out the hireling vote, itis a great saving of resources for them to club together and share the expenses that attend an election, It is the parchasable vote that demoralizes our politics, and the greater the number of purchasers who have a common interest in bringing the corrupti- ble element to the polls the greater are the chances that each will succeed. If we could haye a city election in which only a Mayor and Aldermen were to be chosen, without a swarm of other officers to be voted for, there would not be election funds enough to call out the purchasable element, and the contest would be decided by citizens who go to the polls to express their honest convictions. The jumbling of city and State elections together and holding them on the same day cheapens political bribery to all the candidates. The bad practice of spend- ing money in elections looks to bringing voters to the polls who would otherwise stay away, and the greater the number of candi- dates running at the same time the greater is the common _ electioneering fund which is swelled by the joint con- tributions of all the candidates. By sepa- rating the municipal from the general election the corrupt element would be left at home in the municipal contest, and few citi- zens would come to the polls who were not called out by genuine public spirit. The better class would be encouraged to partici- pate in the election because their votes would not be swamped by the mercenary element, which would lack purchasers when a multi- tude of candidates did not swell the election- ecring fund. Partisan feeling would have less influence when the general ticket of a political party was not at stake and the municipal election turned wholly on mu- nicipal questions. A great part of the strength of Tammany depends on its regular indorsement by the democratic State conven- tions and its ability to figure in this city as the anthorized representative of the demo- cratic party of the State. If the city elec- tions were held in the spring Tammany would have to stand on its own unsupported strength, and could be easily beaten in every contest. We trust that, on further reflection, all the enemies of Tammany will unite in the demand for a charter election in the spring. An Interview with Mr. Henderson. The interview accorded by Mr. Henderson to our correspondent at St. Louis yesterday will attract and reward attention. The com- pliment which he pays to the Heraxp for ex- pressing in an editorial the views which he would otherwise have set forth in a letter to Secretary Bristow or Attorney General Pierre- pont may pass for what it is worth ; but we are sorry that the honest statement of our views has superseded the presentation of Mr. Henderson’s opinion in his own vigor- ous language. In the interview with our correspondent Mr. Henderson makes a strong point in vindication of his address to the jury which has not been presented before. He calls attention to the fact that the President had not a shadow of legal right to interfere with the assignment of internal revenue officers to different districts, although he did interfere to prevent the transfer of McDonald to an Eastern district. Mr. Henderson says the President had no more right to obstruct and cancel that order ‘‘than the Emperor of Japan.” It seems that Commissioner Doug- lass did not understand the law, and that he referred the matter to the President in ignorance of its provisions. ‘The law pro- vides expressly,” says Mr. Henderson, “that the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, make these transfers, and Donglass himself did not know what the law was when he testified that the President's sanction was necessary.” President Grant went beyond the law and transcended his authority when he countermanded the order for the transfer of internal revenue officers. This illegal action of the President was a full justification of Mr. Henderson's comments in addressing the Court and jury, An interesting feature of this interview with Mr. Henderson is the permission he gave our correspondent to copy a letter he has just received from ex-Governor Palmer, of Illinois, strongly indorsing his course in the trial. ‘There are matters of higher mo- ment,” says Governor Palmer, ‘than mere friendships, and one of these is that the legal profession, to be useful, must be indepen- dent, and must not submit to be challenged even by the President and his Cabinet for honest words spoken in the courts in the | line of duty.” We are confident that the self- respecting part of the Bar of the country will indorse this sentiment. | Repvpracan Sorrcrrvpe for wounded Union soldiers is often expressed by resolution, but it is seldom that it is exhibited in the nomi- nations for office. Mr. Fort, of Illinois, opened his batteries yesterday in the House | | by offering one of these bids for votes, The resolution was not important in itself, but its introduction so early in the session shows how zealously the republicans are working to make political capital for the ensuing campaign. Mn. Brarye's Amenpment to the constitu- tion in regard to the school question was in- troduced into the House yesterday, but from | present appearances it will pass without opposition. If the same wisdom is shown by | the rank and file of the democratic party when the question of ratification by the | States is urged the issue will not have any | varty significance, Why We Oppose a Third Term, In the exposures of the whiskey conspir- acy the people may contemplate one of tho many reasons that lead us to look upon the third term as an eyil and to oppose it with all our might. If the Executive performs le- gitimately the duties of his office those duties are sufficiently onerous to fill one man’s ac- tive hours; but if the President fills all his time with the propagation of intrigues fog another term the duties of his office must necessarily be neglected, or, what is worse, be done for him by superserviceable gentle- men at his elbow, the paid servants of the whiskey rings and other rings. These gen- tlemen ‘take the labor off his hands” and perform executive duties in a way satisfactory to those who pay them. They are the President's friends, and he trusts them and guarantees them immunity from harm ; and with this guarantee they go bravely forward, and the country sees the consequences. How can a President who is mancuvring third term intrigues in thirty States watch his supple secretaries, for whose acts he is morally responsible, or scrutinize his appointments so as to be sure that the man he puts in a revenue office is not the man the whiskey thieves want there? This isan argument against a second term also ; and there is no doubt that a great part of the service that a President owes to the nation is lost through this cause in his endeavors to secure even a second term. But in the effort for a third term it is all the worse, simply because this is an effort so outside of our republican tra- ditions that it is something like tempting men to treason, All their standards have to be upset. Their sense of right and wrong must be confused. Hence it must be an ab- sorbing, arduous, earnest labor; and the man who once engages in it has no thought for any subject, except as it relates to this. If justice is to be done it must be done lightly, lest a friend should be lost, or in order thatan enemy may be broughtover. If an appointment is to be made the inquiry is not whether the man is honest, but whether he favors the third term. If froma thousand points at once the President is warned that the people about him are abusing his confi- dence, they have only to whisper in his ear that all the warnings are a conspiracy against the third term. And so it goes, and so it re- sults that this ambition cripples, destroys or corrupts the public service. “Business” in Wall Street. “Those who read the graphic Wall street narratives in the Hzratp may fear that we are about to havea panic ; that there is a bad state of affairs financially, and that we are again on the eve of hard times. The truth about Wall street is that we see nothing more than a cessation of gambling. Wall street is no longer a channel of business interests, but a sewer running through our mercantile community and carrying off the offensive elements of trade. The whole business of the street in the past few months has been gambling. The street has been governed by one or two daring speculators who have foisted their shares upon the dealers, and who, instead of encouraging the honest business transfer of fair values, gave their whole time to dealing in “puts” and “calls.” A panic in Wall street at this time is of no more consequence as an expression of any business difficulty than a panic in Monaco or Mr. Morrissey’s Saratoga palace. What, therefore, is regarded as an evil sign by speculators is a good sign. It shows that this dirty sewer of Wall street is run- ning out; that the dealers in Wall street who have been living like Italian banditti:on the community find that there is nobody to rob. The real cause of ‘the panic” is that they can- not rob each other. The sooner Wall street is at an end as an expression of business prosperity the better it will be for the healthy business interests of New York. Shipping Explosives. Asingular mystery hangs over the dyna- mite explosion at Bremerhaven, by which so many lives were lost and so many persons disabled. It is now alleged that the deadly explosive was introduced on the dock where the accident occurred by an American named Thomas, who had a heavy insurance upon the vessel, and it is said it was his purpose to cause the dynamite to explode on the ocean during the voyage of the Mosel. Great stress is laid upon the alleged fact that Thomas is an American, and the motive assigned for his act is a mercenary one. But even this much is not certain, and the doubts and contradictions in which the story is involved cast over it an air of im- probability. Such a fiendish plot seems too diabolical to have sprung from such a motive. It is seldom men are willing to commit wholesale murder with a hope of making money. It may be that the disas- ter was the result of a plot such as is indicated in our news columns. However this may be, or however the — acci- dent may be explained, the explosion entails a duty upon Congress which must not be overlooked or forgotten during the present session. Under the laws of the United States the penalty for the offence of which the mysterious individual in this case was guilty is absurdly small, being only a fine of two thousand dollars and eighteen months’ imprisonment. Twenty-one years in prison is scarcely sufficient punishment for shipping an article so dangerous as dyna- mite in a passenger vessel. We trust that Congress will increase the penalty so that a like crime on this side of the Atlantic may be made too dangerous to be attempted. Spence Perris, the counterfeiter and forger, is still in great request by the city and State of New York, but it is not likely he will be pardoned by the Gevernor and Council of Massachusetts, When the New England people get a noted criminal in jail they take great pleasure in keeping him there. Avorren Mysreniovs Murver, accompanied by circumstances that giye evidence of the most fiendish and unrelenting cruelty, has come to light in the outskirts of Brooklyn. No clew has yet been found that would lead to the arrest of the assassin, but the circum- stances point probably to the old, old story of passionate jealousy, © common among Southern races, that finds vent only in blood. The unfortunate woman was proba- bly a Cuban or southern Spaniard, and her muxderes most Mikely was @ couniKYmany Am Angry Leader. Dark clouds are rapidly gathering over the democratic sky. Only a week ago and we were proud to point out to our readers the har- mony, the peace, the enthusiasm, which at- tended the gathering of our new democratic House. We showed, and in doing so we were sustained by the weird and beautiful Washington correspondent of the World, that the democrats were to ‘‘reform” the gov- ernment and show the country how to live in peace and unity. It is true we had a lit- tle trouble about the Spenkership, but that was settled. Then we had the party pass- ing into the control of a grand tri- umvirate, political history. This triumvirate was com- posed of Kerr, The Man of Honesty ; Wood, The Man of Deportment, and Randall, The Man of Capacity. The especial function of Wood was that of ‘‘Mentor” or referee; and there was Sunset Cox, who was to be a sort of nitrous oxide in the new arrangement to keep the House in good humor. This weird and beautiful correspondent drew us picture after picture of Kerr “sitting alone in his parlor,” his eyes turned upward to the world of peace and rest; of Cox chirping and flitting from limb to limb of the legislative tree; of Wood “sitting alone in his library surrounded by his books.” Wood was pictured to us a modern Cato, who had fallen upon evil times, and who in an ageof Roman virtue would have been elected to any office in the gift of the people by general acclama- tion. . But all these bright visions fade. The Man of Honesty is in the Speaker's chair ; but, sad to say, he is run to death by ambi- tious democrats eager for place. The Man of Capacity sits on the floor, and, as he did not take part in the Louisiana debate, his party was routed and driven from the field by a beggarly minority. But what a change has fallen upon The Man of Deportment! Our modern Cato no longer ‘“‘sits in his library, surrounded by his books.” The correspond- ents picture him in a far different attitude. “Mr. Wood,” says one writer, ‘assumed the look of a French general at a court martial,” whatever that may be, and said that ‘the was not bound to give an account of his acts or his motives.” ‘He was under no obligations to any newspaper or party.” God help us!! Then he arose “in a dramatic and imposing posture,” and said, ‘I want the press and the public to understand that Ishall do as I please and make no explana- tions of my conduct.” Gracious goodness !! “I am not responsible for what they may say, nor for the action of designing men.” Is it possible!! ‘These are the men who make dupes of the reporters.” Has it come to this!! “This attack on me and my friends is the smallest exhibition of a small mind that this age can produce. It is too damned small to laugh at.” Alas!! alas!! We cannot express the apprehension with which we read these words of the man who only yesterday was the ‘‘Mentor” of the democratic party, the ‘‘referee” in the great triumvirate, ‘sitting alone in his library, surrounded by _ his books,” disdaining any interference with politics or cabals. But our idol, whose head was of gold, shows the feet of clay. He actually swears, which is not what any well bred, well conditioned “Mentor” ever should do; and he informs the press that he is responsible to nobody, which no wise politician ever thought of in his temperate moods. What could have fallen upon the ‘‘Mentor” to make him so angry? What disappointment, what chagrin, what act of mutiny has disturbed that intel- lect which yesterday sat on the heights over- looking the contending hosts like the Homeric god on the hills of Samothrace? We fear that these black looks, these angry words, this French attitudinizing, these dramatic. and imposing postures, this violation of a very essential commandment on the part of our Fernando bodes evil for the democratic party. “A Herald in Italy.” Ina recent cable despatch from London there was the report of an address by Signor Caperio, a Deputy of the Italian Parliament, delivered before a meeting of the Italian Geographical Society. Signor Caperio, in the course of his address on the latest ex- plorations in the regions of the Victoria Niyanza, made a complimentary reference to this journal, and in conclusion expressed the wish for ‘‘a Heraup in Italy.” Of course we are gratified at these recognitions, especially from countries as distant as Italy, centres in themselves of a high civilization. We can understand also the aspiration of an enlightened statesman like Signor Ca- perio for ‘‘a Hzraxp in Italy.” Italy will never havea Heraxp until tho Italian people desire it. A journal like the Henaxp is the representative, and in a cer- tain sense the product, of the community in which it is published. No enterprise, no genius, no courage could create a Heratp amid conditions foreign toits success. That is to say, we cannot have a Herat in Paris, or in Vienna, or in Constantinople, or | even in Berlin, This is not because the people of these great nations would not appre- ciate and to a certain extent support a Henaxp, but because the government systems are in antagonism to that cardinal principle of free institutions without which the Henratp could not live—namely, the freedom of the press. Take Germany, the most powerfal nation in Europe, and, in many respects, among the most enlightened and far-secing. ‘The Hxnaup would be impossible in Berlin, because the duty of its editor would be not to please the people, but to respect the wishes of Prince Bismarck. In Vienna the leading journal is compelled to build its own telegraph wire to the frontier of the Austrian Empire, so that it can receive despatches without the supervision of the Austrian authorities, In Paris journalism has reached o high point, so far as the brilliancy and wit of the indi- vidual writers are concerned, probably the highest point in the world. We have no better essay writing than in the Paris press, and the history of success in France, political and otherwise, shows that journalism has in most cases been the first step to authority and fame. But a journal like the HenaLp would be impossible in Paris, because Bona- partism would control it to-day and radical- ism to-morrow, and its editors would live in L constant fear of banishment to Cayenne by something unknown in our} { the imperialists or being shot ina ditch by the Commune. A Henao is only possible in New York, just as the Times is only possible in London—that is to say, where the people respect the independence of the press. Tho Henaup does not exist by sufferance, but by right. Consequently it has no interest higher than that of the people. It is with them in prosperity and adversity, It suffers and rejoices with them. It might be a prop- agandist or an exponent of partisan ideas, or a mere record of marriages and deaths, or a neutral, cowardly news compilation, pub- lished only for the revenues from advertise- ments and circulation. This would not be the Heratp nor would it be in any way that development of free journalism which was in the minds of the fathers of the con- stitution when they established the freedom of the press. Italy will have a Heratp when the Italian people are governed by free and generous laws. We shall have Heraups in the other great countries only when the laws will per- mitthem. The genius of the Italian people will in time assert itself in the development of an independent journal like the Henaxp, just as the genius of the American people finds ex- pression in our columns, The trouble is not with Italy or the people, but with the gov- ernment that has grown upon it and dead- ened its aspirations. When Italy is free Italy will find its Herarp. The Politico-Religious Politicians on the Back Track, The religious journals of the Methodists are industriously engaged in explaining Bishop Haven's extraordinary manifestation in Boston. The Methodist throws the Bishop over in a somewhat cavalier manner, and wishes us to understand that “Gil” Haven, as it seems to be the habit to call the Bishop, is not in a position to speak for his people. How true this is we do not presume to say, nor is it at all profitable to interfere in a religious complication. We shall be glad to know that the Methodists do not approve the action of the Convention in Boston. At the same time it is difficult not to see in the action of such a body an event calculated te impress the politics of our nation. The act of Bishop Haven will, we trust, not be without its effect upon the country. It stands to reason that the members of the Methodist Church, a powerful, respected and independent denomination, will not be gov: erned by any bishop or any religious in- fluence in their political duties. There ara fanatics in that Church as in all churches, men disposed to take extreme views of their duty and to intrude their emotions and de- votions. into politics. Bishop Haven is probably a man of this class, and the lesson which he has learned will be an admonition, we trust, to all priests to keep out of politics. The example of a bishop of any denomination attempting to control the political opinions of a church is so pernicious that we congratulate the country upon this revolt against the nomination of Grant fora third term. This country owes so much to Method- ism in the way of civilization and the de- velopment of an enlarged and enlightened religious feeling, and the Methodists form sa large a part of our Protestant Church, that it would be an unspeakable calamity to find them even seeming to indorse the action of Bishop Haven. Tr ts a Revrer to know that the French steamship l’Amérique, reported as disabled some time ago, has been again heard from, and there appears to be no cause of appre- hension for her ultimate safety. Cvuna has been the subject of discussion be- tween the United States and Spain for a long time, the severity of the Spanish colonial laws and the injustice of Spanish officials being the cause of many issues between the two countries. The interesting letter from Madrid which we print this morning is es- pecially valuable because of the insight it gives into Spanish opinions in regard to these difficulties. McMii1ay's Crepenrrats as a Senator from Louisiana were withdrawn yesterday at his own request. This ends one aspect of the Louisiana question in the Senate, and we * trust we shall not hear of the subject again. The occation was not allowed to pass, how- ever, without the strongest asseverations on each side that the other was greatly in error in regard to this Louisiana business. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Liszt will winter in Rome. Mark Twain will go to Europe next spring. Twice as many widows as widowers in Michigan. William Eddy, the Spiritualist, has located in Colo. lo. At and around Ballater, Scotland, the snow isa foot deep. Ex-United States Senator W. M. Stowart, of Nevada, is practising Iaw in San Francisco, General Nathaniel P, Banks, of Massachusetts, ar rived last evening at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Mr. Horatio Seymour arrived in the city yesterday from Utica and is at the Westmoreland Hotel. Mrs. Leslie Stephon, Thackeray's youngest daughter, died on November 28, at the ago of thirty-five. ‘Three or four New York famihes of social distinction have arranged to spend the winter at Newport, R, I. Ex-Governor Dix promises to take part in the next Presidential campaign if the issue is chiefly financial. Members of the German Parliament agreed to pre- sent a congratulatory address to Carlyle on his cighticth birthday. It is now said that a gentleman prominent in Califor- nia politics 1s in Washington in the employ of the Union and Central Pacific railroads, working against the Texas Pacific plan. His promised compensation is the United States Senatorship in succession to Sargent. | This information is sent from San Diego to New Orleans. Is the gentleman aforesaid ox-Senator Gwin? Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, who has been suffering from severe illness during the past fortnight at St. Luko’s Hospital, has recovered sufficiently to enable bim to transfer his quarters to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Mr. Holman, of Indiana, who was Speaker Kerr’ henchman in putting down the Wood Louisiana farce, has disclosed himsolf to be of the opinion that “they have made a damned pretty Confederate mess of this business. ”? Colonel McCardle, recently the editor of tho Vicks. burg Herald, is developing considerable opposition to Mr, Lamar as a candidate for United States Senator trom Mississippi. Colonel McCardle himself is a candi+ dato for the position. Mrs. Schneviy, of Pennsylvania, {s 103 years old, and remembers secing Washington in 1790 looking at ground for a national capital, and seeiug in 1791 a snow storm which was so deep that peoplo rode over the tops of houses, Iea't that a little tall riding? Rev. J. J. Ranson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, recently appointed a missionary to Brazil by the seo Conference, sailed from Baltimore on Mon- day in the bark Templar for Rio Janeiro. The roverend gentleman was accompanied on board by a number of clorgymen aud @ delewation of ladies from tho cite eburches