The New York Herald Newspaper, December 29, 1875, Page 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 Yonx Henrap will be tent 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 York Henatp. 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. VOLUME XL... AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, COLOSSEUM, rty-fourth street and Broadway.—PRUSSIAN SIEGE OF Es ls sOpen teem 1 P.M. 06 PM. and from 730 F uM. oP. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street.—THE ROMA NCE OF A YOOR YOUNG MAN, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 P. M. Mr, Youn Gilbert. PARISIAN VARIETIES, Sixteenth street, near Broadway.—VAKIETY, at 8 P. M. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth wtreet.-COMTESSE HELENE, at 8 P. M. BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington street, Brooklyn,—HENRY V., at SP. M. Mr. Rignold. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Brondway and Fourteenth street.—ROSE MICHEL, at 8 OLYMPIC THEATRE, {f>,f26 Brosaway. ARIETY, at 8 P'M, Matinee at 2 FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Premtygighth street, near Broadway.—FIQUE, at 8 P. M. ‘sany Davenport. TONY PASTUR'S NEW THEATRE, Non, 585 and 587 Broudway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.'M. COOPER INSTITUTE, Lage.—Victoria U. Woodhull’s Lecture, OCTALLY.” Astor “THE TRUE AND THE FALSE, PARK THEATRE, frondway end Twonty-second street. —THE CRUCIBLE, at POM. Oakey Hail, EAGLE THEATRE, Grete: Thirty-third street.—VARIETY, at 8P. M. jatiuee ats ML + BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery VALLEY FORGE, and 1776, at 8 P.M. Mr. LeLou, ACADEMY OF MUSIC Fourteenth stroet,—German Opera—IL TROVATORE, at 8 AL. Wachtel. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, few Onere House, Broadway, corner of Twenty-ninth street, USP. TIVOLI THEATRE, Eghth street, near Third aven VARIETY, at 8P. M. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirtieth street,—THE TICKET OF- LEAVE MAN, ot 8 P.M: closes at 1045 P.M. OF. 8. thaufran, Matinee at 2 P.M. ¢ wenty third © VRESELING, GLOBE THEATRE, fon, 728 and 730 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M, Mati- wee at 2 P.M BOOTH'S THEATRE, Fwenty-third street and Sixth avenue.—JULIUS CHSAR, WSP-M. Mr, Lawrence Barrett. LYCEUM THEATRE Fonrteenth street and Sixth avenue.—LES CHEVALIERS OU PINCE-NEZ at8 P.M. Parisian Company. CHICKERING HALL, Firth avenue and Eighteenth street.—GRAND CONCERT atSP.M. Von Bulow. THEATRE COMIQUE, Xo pte Brondway.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M. Matineo at 2 THIRD AVENUE THEATRE, ‘Third avenue, between Thirticth aud Thirty first streets.— PINSTRELST and VARIETY, ot 8 P.M. Matinee at 2 TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMDER 20, 18, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be warmer and partly cloudy, with rain or fog. Tue Heracp sy Fast Man, Trams.—News- dealers and the public throughout the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ds well as in the West, the Pacifie Coast, the North, the Sowth aud Seuthwest, also along the lines of the Hudson River, New York Central and "iP ennsylvania Central Railroads and their con- nections, will be supplied with Taz Hxnatp, free of postage. Extraordinary inducements offered to newsdealers by sending their orders direct to this office. Watt Srreet Yesterpay.—Stocks were fairly active and higher. Gold ended at 113, after sales at 112 3-4 a 1127-8. Money on call was easy at 6 and 7 percent. Invest- ment and government securities were in fair demand. Lrmzrawty Towarp Tae Press is evinced in the recent action of the French Assembly, and this, more than anything else, shows the stability of the Republic. A Srxcvtar Story of an insane testator andacrazy guardian is related by Surrogate Hutchings in a decision which is published in another column. Ex-Prestpent Tutens is not sure whether he will prefer a seat in the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies, and so he reserves the right to choose between them in case he is | elected to both. Apparently he ought to be able to make his choice now as well as after the elections. pot Spay eEeny Te Avprron Tavern has been suspended by Governor Tilden upon the recommendation of the Canal Investigating Commission. Oper- ations such as those in which he was en- gaged would undermine and vitiate the public service in any country, and in view of | the case against him no other course was allowable, ‘Tux War tm Matacoa is substantially at | an end, the English baving succeeded in re- ducing the natives to subjection, With Teussia pressing them on the one hand and England grinding them on the other the poor Asiatics have no chance to maintain their ancient institutions, and it is not im- le that the next perdi “are witness greater revolu ie a were accomplished in the three-quarters ‘which oreceded ite | boundary without a resort to ‘hostilities if it | NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET: Mexican . The Disturbances Berd: The visit of Mr. Foster, our Minister to Mexico, who has come to Washington to fur- | nish information and make suggestions to | Secretary Fish, is not likely to be of much practical value if his recommendations have been correctly reported. What Mr. Fos- ter is understood to advocate is the negotiation of a treaty with Mexico authorizing the troops of the United States to pursue cattle raiders and other criminals across the border, arrest them on Mexican soil and bring them back for trial and pun- ishment. This is one of the most absurd proposals we ever heard of as emanating from an official source. Such a treaty would be equally dishonoring to the govern- ment of Mexico and the government of | the United States. Every nation properly on the jer. regards its territory as sacred, and re- | sents, as one of the most offensive of in- sults, any intrusion into it by a foreign | Power. The sharp controversies we have | had with other nations respecting the right | of search at sea throw light on this class of | questions. Our government has always re- | sented all pretences on the part of foreign nations to board our ships and seize culprits { who have committed offences against the na- tion claiming the right of search. The argu- ment used on such occasions has been | that the decks of our merchant ships on the } high seas are, in the contemplation of me national law, a part of our territory, and that inasmuch as no nation can pursue criminals | across its frontier sono nation can search | the ships of another Power to make similar | arrests. Everybody remembers how public resentment was inflamed, a year or two since, by the Spanish violation of the rights of our flag in seizing the Virginius because she had on board persons charged with offences against the peace of Cuba. The decks of our ships and the territory of the Republic are | held to be equally sacred and inviolate, and we never tolerate any foreign intrusion into | either. If a foreign government wants a criminal who has fled within our jurisdic- tion it can get possession of him only | under the provisions of an extradi- | tion treaty. The reason why extradi- tion treaties are necessary for the rendi- | tion of criminals is that every govern- ment regards its territory as inviolable, and permits no foreign authority to pursue per- sons charged with crime beyond the limits of its frontier. No government can surrender this principle of inviolability without a sacrifice of national honor. It is, therefore, absurd and Quixotic for Mr. Foster to recom- mend such a treaty as he proposes. If such a treaty were permissible it would, of course, have to be reciprocal and allow Mexican troops to pursue fugitive criminals into Texas as well as United States troops to chase Mexican raiders and arrest them be- yond the Rio Grande. Mr. Foster's own despatches, published in the diplomatic cor- respondence of last year, prove that cattle raiding is practised on both sides, and if we are to be permitted to pursue Mexican fugitives beyond the Rio Grande we should have to concede the same right to the Mex- icans, It is quite certain that our national pride would never permit anything of the kind ; bat no such treaty as Mr. Foster pro- poses could be adopted unless the rights conferred were mutual. Such a treaty, in- stead of preventing difficulties, would mul- tiply them. Troops crossing from either side would be full of the resentments and exasperations of the community whose wrongs they undertook to redress, and would not be scrupulous about the infliction of injuries on the foreign soil they invaded. Before such a treaty had been in operation a year both governments would be incensed by the license of soldiers, and mu- tual criminations would inevitably lead to war. The worst possible device for maintain- ing peace on the frontier would be a treaty permitting the troops of each nation to pur- sue and arrest offenders within the territory of the other. But these border difficulties and the bad blood they engender cannot be permitted to go on forever, and the proper remedy is a very grave question. We have no doubt that the ultimate and only successful remedy is a rectification of the Mexican frontier. Broad and deep rivers form a suitable enough boundary between conterminous na- tions ; but the Rio Grande, though broad, is not deep, and for several hundred miles of its course it is easily ford- able, presenting no obstruction to incursions from either side. Cattle could not be hurried across the St. Lawrence on our Canada frontier even if the people on its banks were as wild and lawless as the settlers on the RioGrande. Droves of stolen cattle cannot be made to swim a navigable river, but can easily be taken across a ford- able stream. The Rio Grande is wholly un- fit to be a boundary, and troubles will never cease, in the present state of civilization, along its banks, so long as it continues to be the frontier. It is for the mutual interest of both nations that the boundary line should be changed ; but to accomplish this requires patience, foresight and diplomatic tact. Mexico is un- willing to part with the narrow strip of ter- ritory which would carry back the boundary tothe unsettled and uninhabitable moun- tain region which would interpose a secure barrier between the settled portions of the two countries; but it must ultimately come to this if the two countries are to maintain peaceful relations. Our government can ac- oomplish this necessary rectification of the is prudent and forbearing. It must watch for opportunities and avail itself of them when they occur. The Mexican government is poor ; its finances are in a state of chronic weakness, Some exigency is certain to arise when the addition of several millions to its treasury, withont levying oppressive taxes on its. peovle, will be a strong temptation to its rulers, If we acquire a strip of its territory we shall, of course, expect to pay a liberal compensation, and if we should give double its value it would be a bagatelle in compar- ison with the cost of a war. Until the proper oceasion arises we must wait and be patient, for there is no method by which a rectifica tion of the boundary would be so expensive as by a war between the two nations, The cost of protecting our citizens for five years, or even ten years, by posting troovs alone the Bio Grande would be a mere drop in the buéket when weighed against the expenses of a war. The condi- tion of things on the Mexican border is one among many reasons why it is inexpedient to reduce our army below its present strength. If we are to be patient with Mexico troops are needed on that fron- tier to protect our citizens; if, on the other hand, we are to force her to terms, we should have to make a large increase of the army and put it on a war footing. The true policy is to keep remonstrating with Mexico, to insist on her restraining her citi- zens from violating our territory and rob- bing our citizens, but at the same time to maintain troops enough on the border to keep the turbulent Mexicans in fear. The time will come, at no distant period, when the pecuniary necessi- ties of the Mexican government will induce it to listen to proposals for a pur- chase of territory, and we need but a narrow belt to separate the two countries by such’a physical barrier as would be a perfect guar- antee against the kind of disturbances which are at present so annoying. The Duty of the Public. A letter from the Rey. William Adams, President of the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, which we print to-day, emphatically contra- dicts statements which have recently been cireulated in respect to its condition and management. The defence appears to be complete, This institution is governed by a board of twenty-four members, who meet once amonth and hold special meetings in cases of emergency. Two such meetings have been held during the present epidemic. It has an executive committee of five members, who reside near the institution and visit it constantly. They also meet thrice a month, and two of these meetings occur on days unknown to the officers. There is also a visiting committee appointed for each month, which investigates the management at times unknown to the officers and returns a full report to the Board. There is alsoa ladies’ committee, which performs similar services and reports monthly. There are two consulting physicians, who not only give their attention to the sick, but to the means of preventing sickness. Asuperintendent, who is also a practising physician, has for his sole duty to look after the management of the institution, leaving the instruction of the children entirely to the regular teachers. In the last five years twenty thousand dollars have been expended in ventilation and drainage, and it is now proposed to spend from eight thousand dol- lars to ten thousand dollars more for these purposes. These are facts which show thor- ough organization, and the names of the officers and directors ought to be guarantees that the active management is faithful and diligent. The public must now acquit the managers of causing by their neglect an epidemic which it seems no care could pre- vent. The institution has, at all events, the right to demand that any further charges against it shall be made by responsible au- thority and not as matters of mere report. Independently of our desire to do justice to this particular institution we are glad to print President Adams’ letter as an opportu- nity of pointing out the duty of the press in a'l such cases of unintentional wrong. It is the province of ps newspaper to collect and publish facts of public interest at once. A good journal endeavors to be as accurate as itis prompt. But it is just as impossible for a papersto verify every day every sepa- rate item of news it publishes as it would be for a merchant to have the accounts of his bookkeeper and clerks examined daily by a committee of experts, It must trust to the integrity and intelligence of its reporters and correspondents. Where hundreds are employed some one is always liable to be im- posed upon. It fs here that a great newspa- per can not only afford to correct those mis- takes which arise out of human fallibility, but is bound to do so for the sake of its own character. We wish to say that the Irnarp considers the correction of any misrepresen- tation or misstatement in its columns as news of the highest value.’ Even if the truth is not of interest to the public it is of im- portance tous. We therefore ask all per- sons and all institutions who conceive that they are wronged in any way by statements in the Heraxp to notify us of the fact. They will receive a full and impartial hearing. We would have the Heraxp to be not only a court of general sessions, but also a court of appeals just and strong enough to reverse its own decisions and to render every man his right without fear of the charge of ignor- ance or inconsistency, ‘For Justice all places a temple and all seasons summer.” Press to the . Joint Intervention in Cuba. According to the cable despatches which we printthis morning joint intervention in regard to Cuba is one of the possibilities of the near future. England, which has interests in the West Indies nearly as great as our own, is ready for the movement, and the other Powers approve, though unwilling to take the initiative. This much being assured the rest is certain. While we should not welcome intervention emanating from ourselves _— alone, however apparent its necessity, we shall hail it with pleasure if it has the co-operation of other Powers, Such a policy cannot fail to bring the struggle in Cuba to a close; and it is certainly to the best interests of the island and even of Spain that this dis- honoring war should be ended. Joint inter- vention is the only method by which this re- sult can be obtained, and it is gratifying, especially in view of the rumors to the con- trary, that President Grant's negotiations have succeeded. We now begin to under- stand the meaning of the great uneasiness at the Spanish capital when the President's | Message was promulgated, and with the co- | operation of the great Powers we can see the end of the Cuban struggle. Tux Boarp or Apportionment yesterday disposed of the budget for 1876, and so one annual vexation is practically at an end, There was, however, ® very spicy debate on the transfer of unexpended balances, which Comptroller Green asserts have no existence in fact. The Comptroller's reasoning seems logical enough, but his views receive very little favar from tha Roard. “The New York Municipal Society.” A new society for municipal reform has just been organized, with this title, under the statutes of the State relating to corpora- tions. Its aims, plans and methods are fully set forth in the official statements printed in our news columns. Its present members number seventy-two, consisting for the most part of citizens eminent for their standing, who enjoy the respect and confidence of this community. By the constitution of the so- ciety the number of members may be in- creased to one hundred, with an addition of thirty-five honorary members, of whom at least fifteen shall be residents of this State, but non-residents of the city. The evident purpose of this provision is to secure the co-operation and profit by the intelli- gence of gentlemen in other cities of this State and cities through- out the country. The problem of governing cities with wisdom and economy is the great problem in this country, and we rejoice that a society has been formed to take the sub- ject in hand and throw upon it the light of full investigation. There are points in the constitution of the New York Municipal Society which give it a strong title to public confidence in addi- tion to that derived from the known respec- tability of its members. One of these claims to confidence is the pledge or engagement required of all the members that they will not be candidates for any office, The well known Committee of Seventy, ‘which did run well for a season” in the fight against the Tammany Ring, forfeited public esteem and became an object of scoffing derision by mak- ing that organization a ladder to municipal trusts, its President getting lifted by it to the Mayoralty and many of its other members seeking vulgar political re- wards. This new Municipal Society avoids this error by a ‘‘self-denying ordi- nance,” calculated to protect their labors from suspicion. Its members make a pledge that they will not accept any office or nomination for any office, either munici- pal, State or federal, ‘‘while a member of the society, nor within ninety days after ceasing to be a member.” This guarantee of sincerity and disinterestedness is one of the most satisfactory features of the organ- ization. Another excellent feature. in the avowed aims of the society is its desire to separate municipal government from ordinary party politics. It is too obvious for argument that this important aim cannot be accomplished without a com- plete separation between municipal and general elections, When they are held at the same season of the year and on the same day the State candidates and city can- didates will form alliances to strengthen each other and municipal affairs be in- evitably drawn into the current of party politics. Municipal reform is impos- sible without a strict separation. The New York Municipal Society declares in its address that ‘the partisan method of goy- erning a city is false and pernicious ;” that “municipal administration is rather a mass of business to be done on business princi- ples than of politics to be managed by party leaders ;" that ‘‘party action in regard to city administration is almost never based on any political principle, and hence is generally corrupt.” The truth of these assertions is self-evident, and it is an evident inference from them—which, however, the society has failed to draw—that one of the most important steps toward solid reform is a divorce of the city election from the State election, by holding it at a different season of the year, when the party tide does not sweep everything along with it. Colonel Joyce's Novel, Elsewhere we give some instalments from the novel, in which, as Colonel Joyce in- formed our correspondent in the interview published yesterday, he intends to embody the facts of his autobiography. Like certain of the famous fictions ofthe past generation, it is to be a novel ‘founded on facts,” and some of them very unpleasant facts for the author. Certainly if Colonel Joyce should go through the ups and downs of his career, and write his life with fidelity and in a style no worse than these specimens, he would make a valuable contribution to the materials for social history. It would be a book of the sort that Defoe deemed the ideal fiction, for all his efforts as an author were aimed to give to his narratives an air of that reality that this story would intrinsically possess. Should the story end with Joyce's release from prison by the President's pardon it would also be a contribution to.our politi- cal history, though the price of the pardon might be some suppressions in the narrative. Evidently that is the way Joyce aims to end his story. He has disclosures to make, and the price of his silence can be safely guessed atin Washington. It would bea pity if a pardon should give him a motive for silence. An Unqulet Queen. Some days ago we chronicled the outlines of the intrigue on foot between Madrid and Paris, with the object of securing for the ex- Queen Isabella the privilege of a residence in Spain, At that time the elements opposed to Isabella’s return had the upper hand; but it seems that she adheres to her purpose with that obstinacy which universally char- acterizes the conduct of the Bourbons in the pursuit of some policy sure to endin calam- ity to themselves. As it is, Isabella lives in Paris, with her son on the Spanish throne, so that she has a family relation to tho Spanish Treasury, but she insists upon a yoyage to Spain that may end in the expulsion of her son from the throne and her own return to Paris and a precarious in- come. If Alfonso has, as reported, become himself the advocate of his mother’s return to Spain, and is prepared to defy the Minis- try on o ,point on which they are so sure of the support of the country, it can only be concluded that his head is, like all the other heads of his family, of the kind that would be no loss to anybody but the owner. It is to be hoped that wiser counsels will prevail and that the King, divided between filial love and his duty as sovereign, will yet see that even the hope to fulfil his obligations as 4 son must turn on the retention of his throne ; and that he cannot retain this if Isa- bella returns, for her return means another , Camarilla governmens Harvard Refuses to Withdraw rom the Rowing Association, The hot fire all along the alumni line has proved too severe for the Harvard under- graduates, and, as will be seen in our despatches in another column, she will cast her vote inthe coming convention on January 4 to remain in the association. As is well known, the exact contrary course has for days been imminent; but mean- while both here and in Boston her gradu- ates have been quietly working, and the unanimity with which they oppose any- thing that squints at a withdrawal or at anything else than fighting it out in the good old fashion, and with which they have been expressing themselves in a very distinct protest, is both gratifying and healthy, and pretty conclusive proof that they may be always safely trusted to see to it that no harm comes to the good name of our oldest university. One of them—one of the '68 men who sign the letter elsewhere— is, we think, Mr. Loring, the captain and stroke of the famous four who rowed Oxford. He tells the youngsters pretty plainly that they will never amount to much till they do far more hard work, and that they do not yet know howto sitashell, The letter of another is very entertaining, and he frees himself most happily when he says that “the modern Harvard undergraduate has become so imbued with the ‘elective idea’ that he seems to think that he can choose between honor and dishonor.” Her thus remaining in the association is not to interfere with her race with Yale or any other private match she may care to make, By thus acting as her friends hoped she would she will put her rivals, who feared for the life of the associa- tion, again at their ease, and the preparations to meet the English and Irish crews will go forward with renewed energy. Yale is now the only institution which has withdrawn from the association, and it does not look as though any other is likely to. Castetar and the Spanish Republic. We note an interesting conversation be- tween a newspaper correspondent and Cas- telar, ex-President of the Spanish Republic. Castelar regards the situation of Spain as more critical and dangerous than ever. The strifes of the Alfonsist leaders recall to him the situation during the latter period of the reign of Amadeus. He sees no remedy for these evils except—what is impossible in the condition of Spanish affairs—-the closest union of all the monarchists and ‘a complete oblivion of all personal interests and ambi- tions.” He believes that the Republic must inevitably arrive for Spain, but that “it will be brought about by the errors and private ambitions of those who most detest the Re- public.” Those who look carefully at the condition of Spanish affairs must see the force of these criticisms of Castelar. The voice of Spain is fora republic. The Republic has been prevented by two conspiracies, the first under Prim, the second under Serrano. The difficulty abcut consolidating a monarchy ina country like Spain is like the difficulty in France. In Spain there are two, orwe might say three, monarchical parties, for the Duke of Montpensier has never abandoned his heredi- tary ambition for the crown. With the Carlists, the Alfonsists and the Montpensierists intriguing and quar- relling among themselves, it is im- possible for any monarchy to sur- vive, especially when the King is not a man of force and courage, like Don Carlos, but a boy not yet out of his teens, who only yesterday was studying his school books and playing with tops and velocipedes at a Jesuit school in England. It is just possible that a great man like Philip IL or Charles V. might mould the discordant morarchical elements of Spain. But the young men of Spain are republicans. Spain, sluggish and reluctant to accept any new ideas, has been steadily giving way before the advance of liberalism which began with the French Revolution, The young men, the men who come into life to-day and who are to control Spain to-mor- row, are liberals, We have the same senti- ments growing up in Spain that we had in our country between 1850 and 1860, The youths then reaching manhood grew up with the republican anti-slavery sentiment, They took upon themselves the burden of | the war and fought it to victory, We see a process like this in Spain. The danger to monarchical governments in Europe to-day is the spread of enlightened ideas among the rising generation. Custelar, himself a young man, represents the strength of this party. He leads Young Spain. Our hope is that when the Republic becomes inevitable the monarchists and soldiers of Spain will imitate the wisdom of the conservative re publicans of France and avoid a revolution by accepting Hemocracy. Hurricanes and Earthquakes, We have intelligence this morning of a se- vere hurricane which visited the Philippine Islands, causing the loss of many lives and destroying the houses and crops of the in- habitants. Sucha calamity cannot fail to produce great distress ; but the Philippines are not alone in suffering from visitations of the elements, Vesuvius once more threat- ens an eruption, and although the horors of Herculaneum and Pompeii cannot be re- peated, a dirful calamity is imminent. An earthquak: has just been felt on the Atlantic coast, extending all the way from Weldon, N. C., to Washington, and al- most simultaneously the Pacifio slope was similarly visited, In Porto Rico, too, earth- quake shocks have been experienced, and it is only a shor: time since the terrible floods devasted France, England and parts of this country. N» foresight can provide against accidents like these, and the terrors they in- spire increase with their frequency, But whila it is impossible to prevent them, or even to forsee them so as effectually to pro- vide against them, much may be done to mitigate their effects. Our Signal Bureau has demonstrated that storm signals are in- valuable ig cautionary measures, and the advances of applied science in the next few years wil greatly increase the bene- fits of this new adjunct of civilization. It is possible that if the coming of the hur- ricane tad been known in the Philippine Islands the fearful loss of life, at least, might have been averted. The frequency of these disasters is g renewed incentive to the study of the course of storms and the application of all acquired knowledge to the security of life and orperty. It would be inexcusable < <mmy ores savaro pe Tost by an eruption of Vesuvius, the warning having so long pre« ceded the possible belching forth of the ele- ments, and with an extension of the princi- ples and machinery of our Signal Service all over the world that foresight against the evil effects of the hurricane, which is now impossible, will become a matter of mere routine, Dvrine rox Recess the speculative politi- cians at Washington are always busy map- ping out the work of Congress, but previous to a Presidential election in forecasting the policy and candidates of the canvass. Our letter this morning foreshadows the work of the present session, both in its legislative and political aspects, as the gossips of the capital would arrange it. If these rumors have any foundation in fact it will be seen that the reduction of the army is to be a car- dinal point of democratic policy. There could be no more serious blunder. Re- trenchment and reform must take another direction to meet with favor from the coun- try, as the people are not disposed to dis- pense with the services of tried military leaders or to leave the frontiers at the merey of Indian or Mexican marauders. The dan- ger of the next few months is that of a third term, while the currency qubstion is the real political issue of the hour. Our Cable Letters. It is impossible to please everybody even with cable despatches. Our brilliant con- temporary, the Sun, objects to point in the admirable London letter which we gave on Sunday, with its accounts of the life and thought of the great capital on Christmas Day. It fills us with sorrow of the most poignant kind, a sort of ‘divine despair,” when we fail to please the Sun, and this, perhaps, arises from the fact that we have unconsciously taken the opinions of that journal as a sfandard by which all things in the world should be measured and adjusted. And now we are ina dilemma between our amiable censor and what seems to us fair play with our readers. Shall we scold our correspondent in London who gave by cable a letter more full and graphic than most journals commonly get by mail? Shall we tell him that the Sun objects to his poetry and that he must not send any more, or shall we for once venture to doubt the in- fallibility of our contemporary? It is note- worthy that our neighbor, the great champion of rectitude in all the channels of human ac- tivity, has advised us to be dishonest with our readers. This was perhaps done in-a moment of forgetfulness; but there are points on which the Mentors should not for- get themselves. By this Mentor we are ad- vised that a certain passage in our Christmas letter could have been obtained more cheaply at the Astor Library than by cable. As to that our contemporary doubtless knows, and we accept the fact as a result of his practice and experience ; but we do not make up our despatches in that way. We would even advise our contemporary that it would be better on the whole for him to give up that plan than for us to take to it;and wo could meet with more satisfaction to our- selves on the ground of the amplest distribu- tion of the news than on that of the smallest cheating of the public, Our plan is to tell a correspondent when the occasion seems worth while to send us his letter by cable instead of sending it by post. We do not tell him to put in poetry nor to leave it out. We do not even tell him to leave out all that the editor of the Sun would not consider sufficiently important to send by cable; for he might refer to the file to get the Sun's views of what is important, and he would find that nothing has Happened in Europe since that paper has beon in exist- ence that its editor thought worth a special despatch. Our plan suits us and seems to suit our readers, and we shall adhere to it unless, when our contemporary begins to use the cable, it should hit upon some plan that we thought preferable, and then we shall pay it the compliment of imitation. But we shall never accept its proposition to print the contents of the Astor Library and pre- tend that it comes to us by cable, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The Greeks are shy of Russia Deep snow prevails throughout Europe. Bermada’s fort defences are to be improved, Trade Unionism bas reached New South Wales. The English regiment at Jamaica is to be instructed in fleld operations, Victor Hugo is engaged writing @ new tragedy for Rossi to play this winter in Paris Secretary Bristow’s son studies at Princeton, His daughter studies in Paris. Mrs. General Sherman will go to Texas with her son for the benefit of his health. Olive Logan thinks she will not lecture on “Butter,” because she does not consider it pat. Mr: Gladstone does not want English convents in- spected for the discovery of unwilling inmates, A sportsman thinks that because he hooked a trout three times within a half bour that fish has no feeling in the jaw, A lone English woman fel! dead of heart disease, and hor three little children remained alone tn the room with her body for four days, One died of starvation. ‘The Chicago Tribune thinks that the North will soon find a now large trade with the negroes of the South, with the Chinese on the Pacific slope and with our Mexican and Cuban neighbors, General McClellan, rumor says, will shortly be ap- pointed to a position in tho service of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, with the title of general superintendent or managor, Georgia papers, among them the Augusta Sentinel, insist that Tweed was in Savannah, and sailed in the City of Dalias for Nassau. Two Now York detectives have beon investigating the case in Savannah, Hore Wagner was “once scandalized toa high de- groo” by ® Prussian Ambassador advising .him to @rrange his “Tannhauser” for the Prussian King's favorite military band, 40 as to interest His Majesty ia Wagnerian music. Russian Admiral Posstet says that the system of transporting convicts to Siberim ta s fatluro; frst, because the punishment, physically, is too severe to work moral reform; and second, because the presence of criminals tends to degrade the Siberians, The coldest winters on record in tho United States within the past 100 yoars wore those of 1780, 1836 and 1856, [n 1780 the Delaware River, bay of New York and Long Island Sound were so completely ice bond as to be crossed with horses and sleighs, The coldest year was that of 1816, ia which there was ice In every month of the year, Mr. Kerr's friends say that hia best work in tho com. Position of committees has escaped general notice, and that it is in the arrangement of the committees on ex. penditares in the various departments. By the rule of the House creating them, they are given the power to examine into the payment of all accounts, and as to the suMciency of vouchers, to see if moneys aro expended Strietly according to appropriations. They are also charged with reporting all abuges in the departments to ‘the House, and all retrenchment which they think Proper, having duo tevard to the eflicioncy of the ser- view