The New York Herald Newspaper, January 22, 1876, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1876. : NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, 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. ‘All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New long Henraxp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 114 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. Intellectual Feebleness in Public Life. The new Congress has been long enough in session to enable the country to gauge the capacity of its leading members, and even the most indulgent estimate cannot be favor- able. political sagacity than any of its predeces- | sors since the beginning of the government. | The feebleness of the democratic side admits | of some apology, although no explanation the federal government and the greater part of the State governments, that it has not had equal opportunities with its rival for training up a body of rising statesmen. Talents for public life need to be developed by experience, and a long exclusion of tho democratic party from power has stifled and LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK ty f lower HERALD— 4 SET STREET. kept down abilities which might have been PARIS OFFICE—AVENUE DE L'OPERA. | respectable if they had had access to the only Subscriptions and advertisements will be | gchool in which the art of government can received and forwarded on the same terms | as in New York VOLUME Xi... AMUSEMENTS THIS APTERNOON AND EVENING UNION SI u UARE THEATRE ROSE MICHEL, at 8 P. . Matinee at 10 P.M . OLYMPIC THE VARIETY, at 8 P.M. Matinee at PIPTH AVE B THEAT RF. EIQUE, a8 P.M. Fanny Davenport, Matisiee at 1:90 TONY PASTOR'S NEW THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. VARIETY, at 8P.M. GERM NEMESIS, at 8 P. M. BOWERY 7 THE PHOENIX, ats P.M PARIS VARIETY, at 87°.M. ) ae FRANCISCO MINST Matinee at 2 LS, at 8 P.M THIRTY.FOURTH STREET OPERA HOUSE. VARIETY, at SP ances WOOD'S MUSEUM. REN McCULLOUGH, at 8 P.M. Ulivor Doud Byron. Matinee at 2 P.M. GLOF atS P.M. Matinee BOOTH'S THR. VARIETY, THEATK VARIETY, at 8 P.M. Mati k PAINTINGS. Ai EI THOMAS’ SYMPHONY THIRD A VARIETY, ats P.M, TIVOLI VARIETY, at 8 P. ¥ HEATRE, at 8 P.M. Mr. Lester Wallack BROOKL CASTE, at 8 P.M. Mr. Mo NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1876, 29 From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day wili be colder and vartly cloudy. Tur Henatp py Fast Mart Trarys.— News- dealers and the public will be supplied with the Dattxy, Wrrxry and Sunpay Heraxp, free of , by sending their orders direct to this Watt Srreer Yxsterpay.—Stocks were firm under the leadership of New York Cen- tral, which advanced 3 percent. Gold was steady at 1131-82113. Money on call was supplied at 5 and 6 per cent. Government securities were strong. Good investment securities are also in demand. Pore Pivs IX. is again reported ill, but there seems to be no ground for serious | uarm. The great age of the Supreme Pontiff would not occasion surprise should his death occur at any time ; but not only the Catholic but the whole Christian world will rejoice however his days are lengthened. Tue Forrron Desratcues of the Evening Telegram of yesterday, which we reprint this morning, report a disposition among the vic- tims of the Emma Mine swindle to punish the vendors of the stock, while the holders of shares in the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad are anxious to have the stock of the company placed on the regular list of tho | Stock Exchange. Somme CupaN Gernerauizations.—From Washington we receive the report of @ conversation concerning Cuban affairs, which gives an interesting review of the situ- tion in the island, and discusses the dificul- ties of our Spanish relations and of the Pres- ident’s proposed and mysterious action, throwing ont suggestions which may or may not be important, as events sholl show. Victor Hvuao has taken advantage of his candidacy for the French Senate to urge upon his countrymen the founding of a de- mocracy which shall end foreign wars by arbitration, civil war by amnesty and dis- tress by education. The distinguished re- publican is happy in having lived long enough to find these views, regarded as vis- ionary in his youth, recognized as wise and practicable statesmanship. Stavery tx Cusa is the rock upon which Spanish dominion in the Antilles will event- ually split. Without slavery Cuba is worth- less to Spain, and with it Spanish rule in America is in opposition to the sentiment of Christendom. It will be seen from our de- spatches this morning that the British Anti- Slavery Society has taken advantage of Presi- dent Grant's circular to urge interference on the part of the English government. Ovor Dirricunties wits Spats.—The Presi- dent has submitted to the House of Repre- sentatives the correspondence of the State blazing with diamonds, and dancing without | | be well learned. Most of the democratic members of the House are new men who | have their experience yet to acquire. The consequence is that a few old stagere—men of secondary capacity, but of long service in | Congress—enjoy the kind of eminence like | that conceded to ‘the one-eyed king of the | blind.” | The mistakes and bad judgment exhibited on the republican side do not admit of the same extenuation, The republican party has so long had almost a monopoly of public | positions that whatever talents it may com- | prise have had the fullest opportunities for training and recognition. It cannot lament that a hard political fate has condemned its “village Hampdens” to obscurity. It has been able to bring them forward and give them every chance to mature their abili- | ties by participation in public affairs, But even with this great advantage the repub- lican party does not make a creditable ap- pearance in the present Congress. Its lead- | ers have shown abundant dexterity, brilliant | success in annoying and foiling their demo- cratic opponents, for whom they are an over- match in parliamentary strategy, but none of the solid judgment and moral elevation which alone can inspire confidence. The democratic majority, which is respon- sible for the legislation of the House, has | hardly done or proposed a wise thing since the session opened. Its selection of a | Speaker was ea blunder, as was | proved by his appointment of the | committees and bestowing the leader- | ship of the House on a member incom- petent for the position, The leader on the republican side holds by the force of his | talents a position conceded to him by the consent of his party, and he has established = | his capacity to lead, although he leads ina | wrong direction. It was absurd to pick out | a man of the extreme mediocrity of Mr. Mor- rison to be pitted against Mr. Blaine in the management of the House. The consequence | is that in every parliamentary encounter the | democratic majority has been like an army | without a general, and has lost the advantage | of its superior numbers. When a small | force gains constant advantages over a much larger one it isa proof that the larger force is badly led. Mr. Morrison has not ventured }to present himself at all in any of these sharp encounters as the antag- | onist of Mr. Blaine. The figure he (makes is utterly insignificant; he is like a cipher placed at the left hand of other figures, filling out the row without any effect jon the value. Mr. Blaine, possessing merely a conceded without any official title | to leadership, holds his party in hand and | keeps it pretty well united even against the judgment of individual members, as in the votes on the Amnesty bill; whereas the demo- crats of the House are an aggregate of inco- herent atoms, like a rope of sand. Mr. Mor- rison’s incapacity to lead is virtually acknowl- edged by his own party, which has held a caucus to devise means for supplementing his deficiences, and authorized Mr. Lamar, the chairman of the caucus, to appoint a committee for managing the democratic side of the House and bringing it into some sort of discipline. The jumble of crude financial bills which have been introduced by different demo- eratic members—one of them by Mr. Mor- rison himself—is a signal illustration of the way the party is floundering, like a ship without a helm. If Mr. Morrison had the qualifications of a leader he would not have offered one of several ill-considered bills on gage the attention of Congress, and leave it | to take its chance among the multitude of similar waifs. His position required him to keep out. of this small scramble of distract- ing rival projects, and appear before the House, when he should take up this great subject, with a bill to which he had secured the consent of the leading members of his own party and on which he and they were prepared -to fight ao united battle. It is not the part of a general to run about as one of a small squad of skir- mishers or as the leader of a scouting party, but to select the general battle ground and sure of being strongly supported by the | army he commands. Mr, Morrison's cur- | reney bill is merely one of a rabble of measures of the same kind, and receives no more deference than any of its fellows. The | democratic majority resembles the fanciful | dream in “Heine,” where the poet repre- | sents in colors the guillotined queen, Marie Antoinette, dressed with regal splendor, from her high-heeled shoes up to her necklace Department touching the relations of the 4 head. United States and Spain. In one of these | dJocuments—a despatch from Mr, Fish to Mr, | liament..y skill and greater unity, but it | The republican minority evinees more par- Cushing—which we print this morning, the | exhibits these advantages on ill chosen occa- Secretary recounts the whole story of our | sions. They are subordinate qualifications, difficulties with Spain, and indicates pretty tlearly the feeling of the government in re- gard to Cuba. Evtootes os Vicr Prestpent Witsox occn- pied both houses of Congress yesterday. Most of the addresses were replete with good whose whole value consists in the uses to | which they are applied. The strength and dexterity of a prize fighter, whose skill is ex- | erted to break the jaws of his adversary and prevent his coming to time in the last | round, are not to be confounded with the military excellence of a soldier fighting for sense and good feeling, but it is difficult to his country ina noble cause, Mr. Blaine determine who offended most against good | has displayed the qualities of a magnificent ' yesterday was delicious, while severe storm taste, Mr. Dawes, in quoting some of the | champion in the parliamentary prize ring. Mr. Wilson had employed | He knocks his opponents out of breath every | tic. It exhibits thus far a greater dearth of | can alter the fact. That party has been so | long excluded from public trusts, both in | the most important subject which can en- | bring on an engagement only when he is | them. Mr, Blaine has aimed at nothing higher than to make himself conspicuous by annoying the democrats and putting them wrong on the record. He was willing that the Amnesty bill should pass, even though it included Jefferson Davis, and merely | sought to have the democratic vote reborded | by yeas and nays on that naked proposition. | Por this paltry and pitiful purpose of annoy- | ance he did not hesitate to rake open and in- flame the worst animosities of the war, and parade in all their horror the | most exasperating circumstances of the con- test, reviving memories which all patriotic men would wish to bury in everlasting oblivion, A man ‘‘who noble ends by noble means pursues” would have scorned to tear open the old wounds of his country for so ignoble a purpose as that of forcing his political opponents to vote for the amnesty of Mr, Davis by name when he had no objec- tion to the bill passing after he had thus put them on record. Mr. Morton’s Mississippi speech is a display of the same order of statesmanship—a mixture of demagogism and political cunning. And yet these two men are the leading republican candidates for the Presidency, aside from General Grant. There has never been a period when there was such a poverty of political genius in Congress, nor a period when first class ability was more needed. General Banks, though never a great nor always a wise man, has acted more in the spirit of a statesman than any other member of the present Con- gress. His speech on the Amnesty bill was altogether the most judicious made in that debate ; but he is outside of both political parties. The party leaders.on the democratic side are weak and divided ; on the republi- can side ambitious, reckless and wrong- headed, with no true perception of the wants of the country orthe driftof opinion. The Presidential contest of the centennial year seems likely to be one of the most ac- tive and vehement, and at the same time one of the most vulgar and debasing, in the his- tory of our politics. { The French Ministry and the Repub- licans. In his open defiance of the republicans | we are probably shown the extent of M. | Buffet’s confidence in the ‘‘conservative” victory at the polls. He faces very calmly the wrath of the Left in the permanent com- mittee, stands by those of his acts which | they denounce as an abuse of power, and challenges them to avail themselves of any remedy they have either in the courts or in the Assembly, which they may convoke if they have power enough in the committée. This at- titude is at once bold and politic, for it pre- sents the Minister to the country in the im- posing and attractiye light of one who “takes the responsibility” under the law; and if they resort to so extravagant a step as | a convocation of the new Assembly, what | then? It must be remembered that the re- | | publican power there was the result of a bar- | | gain, and it is by no means certain that even what was regarded as legitimately the repub- lican vote could now be scored for that party | | in the same body. Republican politicians are as ready as any other politiciatis to “stand from under” when a general election seems to exhibit that the country is against | the party they have acted with, and while many quondam republicans would be shy all conservatives would be correspondingly encouraged. Buffet, therefore, defies very safely the wrath of the dissatisfied, for the voting shows that he is a great deal nearer to the average mind of the nation than is the | party that denounces him. The Money Unit, Yesterday we had the opinion of the ‘city | man,” or financial reporter of the London Times, on the proposition of Senator Sherman for a ‘common.unit for money and accounts” | between Great Britain and the United States; to-day we have some considerations on this proposition from the editorial columns of the same journal. Editorially the Times | views the case favorably, and holds that the | proposition should find favor if the English sovereign is accepted as the proposed unit; but the writer, who is supposed to report the opinions of men on 'Change, regarded the suggestion as revolutionary and unpardonable. Evidently the ‘city man” never fancied that any new system could be built on the English money divisions by any sane creatures; but it has occurred in the other department of the establishment that | as we have, no coin of our own just now we | might be happy to make all that we expect to have on the basis of the sovereign, and that | this would do no harm to British trade. There might be no objection to the sovereign itself, as it is practically a multiple of our own unit and with a little change might be made exactly a multiple; but its value is too great. If England would abandon the ordi- j nary fractional division, and instead of | | crowns and half crowns make ‘‘four-shilling” pieces, making them exactly of the value of | the French five-frane piece, to which our dollar could be adapted, the “unit” would | be attained and with exceedingly little change on anybody's part. Tanxmany received its first attention from | the statesmen at Albany this session in the | bill introduced into the Senate yesterday by | Mr. Woodin to prohibit incorporated asso- | ciations from designating delegates to politi- cal conventions, nominating candidates for city, State or national offices, and levying political assessments on public officers for political purposes. Without prejudging this measure it may be asked whether sucha string of generalities would be of any avail against the practical evils complained of in Tammany Hall? The system of so-called | primaries manipulated by the magnates of | Tammany would make the law easy to be | evaded, while the Tammany Society would | be as powerful as ever. The way to abolish H Tammany is by adopting a policy similar to Mr. Greeley’s famous plan for resumption. “The way to resume is to resume,” said Mr, Greeley. The way to abolish Tammany is to abolish it. - Ix Most Pants of this country the weather | is reported from the other side of the Atlan- Althongh in midwinter we have expe- strong | uring his lifetime in speaking against those | time and comes up smiling amid the plaudits | rienced very few cold days, and so far we with whom he differed on the slavery ques- of the spectators, But these are not the | have had no tempestuous weather. We can tion, or the two ladies who enlivened the | triamphs ofa statesman, A statesman must ‘console ourselves with these reflections solemn scene in the Senate with the click of be judged by the ends he pursues and not | while the cable+ells us of storms in the other | merely by the means he selects for attaining | hemisphere. their knitting needles. | for obstructing and postponing charter re- ‘ture, when he hopes Governor Tilden and Charter Reform, ‘The course of Governor Tilden in obstruct- ing a reform of the city government tends to undermine confidence in his official fidel- ity. He has persistently aimed to postpone action on this important subject since the day that he was sworn in, and it is now gen- erally believed that he has entered into a bargain by which he has bartered the wel- fare of the city and his own declared princi- ples for a political equivalent. Senator | Woodin, Chairman of the Committee on | Cities, recently said to one of our corregpond- | ents:—‘‘There is no getting over the fact that a combination to beat a new charter and spring election has been made. How strong it is 1 cannot say. It is said Governor Tilden is in it, of which there can hardly be any reasonable doubt. It is true he is pledged to a spring election, but what can he do if he has deliberately entered into a bargain with certain parties in New York to throw his in- fluence against it in the hope of being paid back an equivalent ?” The bargain here alluded to would seem to have been prompted rather by the wishes of Governor Tilden and his views of personal advantage than by the interests of the Cus- tom House republicans, who are the other party to the arrangement. At any rate his motives are more obvious and intelligible than theirs. He expects to be the dem- ocratic candidate forthe Presidency, and whether he can carry his own State in the election depends upon the vote of this city. Although he long ago put himself on record as astrong advocate of changing our muni- cipal election to the spring, he deprecates a spring election this year because it would weaken him in the fall if he should then be running for the Presidency. He hopes to increase his vote in this city by the influence of a popular candidate for Mayor, whom ho will be permitted to select, as he selected the democratic ticket at Syracuse, if heshould besurrounded with the halo ofa national nom- ination. He is recreant to his own published convictions on the subject of a spring elec- | tion because they interfere with his ambi- tious hopes. While this is the ultimate motive of his policy of obstruction there is a nearer one, In the spirit of Mrs. Glass’ famous receipt for cooking a rabbit—‘‘first catch your rabbit’—Governor Tilden’'s pri- mary aim is to control the Democratic Con- vention of this State for choosing delegates. He can expect no success in the National Convention unless backed and supported by a unanimous democratié delegation from New York. He knows that he cannot secure a Tilden delegation without the zealous sup- port of Tammany Hall. It was John Kelly who manipulated the State Convention that nominated him for Governor, and he needs the same vigorous and skilful hand in the approaching Convention for choosing dele- gates. Mr. Kelly and Tammany do not want a new charter and a spring election, and Governor Tilden yields his convictions lest he should lose their indispensable support. Governor Tilden had artfully laid his plans form before he anticipated the election of a republican Legislature. Last winter he thwarted every movement in this direction, although confessing the necessity of a thorough change. Toward the close of the session he asked authority to appoint a com- mittee to examine the subject and prepare a plan. Having thus got clear of the question in that Legislature he neglected to appoint | the commission until the next Legislature was about to assemble, thus making it im- possible for their report to be presented and acted upon ‘this year, and furnishing him- self with an excuse for ,carrying the subject over to still another Legisla- to be relieved from the embarrassment by translation to another sphere, This procrastinating policy would have worked smoothly enough if Governor Tilden had not been disappointed by the election of a republican Legisla- ture. He then found himself in danger of having a new charter presented to him for his approval, which he could not sign with- out estranging Tammany Hall, nor + voto | without belying and contradicting his well known views. This put him in a dilemma out of which there was no escape but by a | bargain with his political opponents, This bargain has been «made with the Custom House. Senator Woodin being an outsider, he and the rural republicans do not take kindly to it. Mr. Jay and the World. Our neighbor, the World, with a kind of ingenuousness of which we trust it may long have a monopoly, tries, by an artful use of language, to convey to its readers the im- pression that the Henatp has renounced, on behalf of Mr. Jay, the opinion that the preamble of the consti- tution confers upon Congress authority to pass the Centennial appropriation. Our readers know, and the World knows, that we never took such a position, and we made it plain enough that it was not the position of Mr. Jay. The World blundered into making that unwarranted accusation, and, on the strength of it, proceeded to tell Mr. Jay that if the youngest attaché of his em- bassy at Vienna had made such a mis- take he should have had his ears boxed and been sent home on the next steamer. When we had shown by evidence which defied refutation that this license of abuse was founded on a total misnpprehen- sion of Mr. Jay's meaning, the World, in- stead of having the candor to acknowledge its error and the manliness to, withdraw its insults, coolly assumes that the Hzraup has retreated from an untenable position! We know not by what code of honor or accepted rule of manners, nor by what standard of veracity, such a course can be justified. Mr. Jay did, indeed, speak of Congress as | having ‘‘constitutional power to provide for | the general welfare,” and the World, quoting these words, said that the youngest clerk ought to be punished if he should perpetrate so flagrant a blunder. And now the World itself is forced to admit that Congress has such a power, as nobody can deny it with | the language of the eighth section of the first | article before him. But it attempts to cover | its retreat by contending that the general | welfare for which that section expressly authorizes Congress to provide is limited | and defined by the other specific grants of | power. | This is a point on which Mr. Jay expressed | no opinion, and the World's argument on it of course has no pertinence asa reply to him, Whatever his opinion may be, that of the World is an example of loose thinking. It contends that if the other grants do not limit the power of raising and appropriat- ing money solely to their specific objects those specific enumerations are mere surplusage. This argument discloses an utterly inadequate conception of the nature and scope of the constitution. The govern- ment possesses a vast range of powers which result from the very fact that it is the gov- ernment of an independent nation. The Declaration of Independence as- serts that the United States of America, ‘as free and independent States, have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- merce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.'y Without any constitution (for there was no federal constitution then), and without any- thing in the charter of any one of the colonies conferring a particle of such authority, the United States became clothed with all these great powers by the mere fact of their independence, or their ability and determination ‘to assume among the Powers of theearth that separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them.” Those powers were not con- ferred by the declaration, but resulted from the nature of independent govern- ments. Neither are they conferred by the constitution, but only recognized by it. It is not from the enumerated grants of the constitution, but from the principle of national sovereignty, that the law of na- tions is a part of the law of the land and is administered in the federal courts. Interna- tional law is neither the creation of the con- stitution nor of Congress, but pro- ceeds from an authority outside of and transcending both; and yet it is as binding on all our courts as the constitu- tion itself. It is absurd, therefore, to main- tain that the grants enumerated in the con- stitution are the sole sources of the power of the government. Some of the enumerations in the constitu- tion relate merely to the distribution of power among the several departments of the government. The power to declare war, for example,. results from the very fact that we are an independent Power, but this does not decide whether it shall be exercised by the executive or the legislative department. The constitution deviates from English usage and lodges this power in Congress. There are other specific enumerations which do not confer power, but merely distribute powers which are in- herent in the government from the very fact that the United States are an independent Power among the nations of the earth. As to the World’s citations, they are either false or represent opinions which the best thinkers have rejected. Jefferson is correctly quoted, but his arguments did not convince the solid judgment of Washington, who signed the bill which Jefferson on that occasion tried | to induce him to veto. Marshall, Kent and Webster, to whom the World refers with an intrepidity which took no counsel of dis- cretion,.,are indeed great authorities ; but, unfortunately for the World, they happen to be authorities on the other side, as we could prove by ample citations if it were necessary. Mr. Bergh’s New 1 sy Mr. Henry Bergh, not wishing to appear singular, has written an original American play. That the President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals should have done this seems a little inconsistent ; yet when the play is produced we are sure that Mr. Bergh will be acquitted of any malicious intentions. It is impossible that so benevolent a man should write anything that would give pain to others. There are many rumors of the nature of this drama which would convey a contrary im- pression, as, for instance, that it isin blank verse, that it is in five acts, that itis a tragedy, that the subject is taken from the American Revolution ; but none of them are worthy of credit. Mr. Bergh is too sensible to enter into rivalry with Mr. Tupper, or to repeat old dramatic effects when he has fresh ma- terial of his own. Nothing is more probable than that Mr. Bergh intends this play to crown the work of benevolence to which his life is dedicated. | The general theme, as we have almost the highest authority for believing, will be the prevention of cruelty to animals, The plot, it is understood, is full of interest. The first act introduces a superb display of Third avenue car horses, who are cruelly driven upon the stage by excited drivers. The | horses (trained animals from the circus, | taught to represent all the principal equine diseases prevalent on that celebrated road) resist. The vindictive drivers redouble their | blows, when a tall figure in a cloak rushes to the aid of the steeds. A terrific hand-to- hand combat ensues between the mysterious stranger and the drivers, in which the latter are routed. The act ends witha tableau of grateful horses kneeling at the feet of their | chivalrous defender. The second act, we learn, presents a magnificent dog upon a real treadmill—one of the great mechanical effects of the piece. His efforts are stimu- lated by some fine pork chops hung before him, but just beyond his reach. The dog is grinding coffee which his cruel master will not allow him to drink. Again the mysteri- ous stranger appears and a fierce combat follows, in whach the master is defeated. The tableau with which this act closes rep- resents the master upon the treadmill and | the mysterious stranger and the dog divid- ing the pork chops between them. In the next act we see a noble fox entering with a fat goose, pursued by a pack of hounds and a field of huntsmen. At the most interesting moment of the fox's existence a tall figure enters and interposes. Here a fine quota- tion from ‘‘Richelieu” is introduced :—‘‘Mark where she stands! around her form I draw,” &o, The huntsmen recoil. The fox is saved. The goose dies. The fourth act has for its seene a field on Long Island. A band of vil- lains, armed with double barrelled guns, aro firing at pigeons. The only pigeons allowed in the cast are ‘‘drivers,” and always escape, not only from motives of humanity on the part of the author, but also forthe sake of economy, as the piece is expected to have a long ran, The"mysterious stranger springs through atrap, and both the pigeons and the | gunners fly. He then throws a number of gyros into the air and shoots seven times af these peculiar substitutes for birds, his score being 1, 1,1, 1,1, 1,1. The tableau which closes this act, the last, represents the tall figure on a horse rampant, with a dog couch- ant, s fox leaping over a bar sinister, a goosé reversed anda gyro pendant. The drama ends, as we are given to understand, with a grand transformation scene, representing thé fable of the old man and his son who carried the ass to market. Sometimes the ass is on top and sometimes the old man, but asa general rule it is the ass. This effect is em- blematic of the moral of the drama, If this is a true abstract of Mr. Bergh’s new play, and the plot isas probable as any of the others, there can be no doubt that it wil] have a great success. Mr. Bergh will no doubt emulate the example of Mr. Oakey Hall and play the hero of his own play. No other actor could do justice to the character. The public will rejoice to see Mr. Bergh in the double réleof author and actor, and wa do not believe the rumor that the useful society of which he is the President will at- tempt to prevent the performance of the play by applying to the courts for an injunction. Improved Street Cars. We cannot fail to recur to the singular want 4 improvement in our street car sys- tem which we noticed yesterday. Ten years ago there were as many uptown lines as there are to-day, and there are fewer cars on most of them now than in the beginning. In the meantime the population of the city has largely increased and the difficulties of transit have grown with the increase of population. Overcrowding, always a nui- sance, has become intolerable, and no measures have been taken either to prevent or mitigate the evil. The remedy is a seat for every passenger—cars enough at all hours to afford every passenger a seat, This the companies must give; volun- tarily if they will, but compulsorily if they fail much longer to afford it. In other cities, notably in Paris, the pub- as they will seat. The same rule must be applied here. The railway companies must give us more and better cars and devisa means for conveying all the passengers who desire to be carried. To this end why not carry passengers both inside and out? It ia the idea of the old-fashioned stage coach, and is equally practicable. A car of thia kind will carry almost as many passengers aa can be packed into one of the unwieldy things which now traverse our streets, and, what is more, every passenger may be pro- vided with a seat. Which of the companies will bo first to give us the double-deckers ? Tue Lonspaty Srrmke appears no nearer @ solution than in the beginning, but it can have only one termination if the allegations of the owners of the mill are well founded. If they are determined to shut down rather than run their mills at a loss they can do sa without regard to commercial consequences. Apparently such is their purpose, The re sult of such action would be much suffering, and it is to be hoped that to prevent it an accommodation will soon be reached. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Dry salt relieves coughing. Neapolitans ill-use their horses. | Senator Beck is fifty-four and Scoteb, Vallandigham’s grave has no headstone. Ex-Senator Harlan bas gone to California, Mrs. Secretary Robeson 1s a brilliant talker. A wild swan was shot near Charleston, 8. 0. Venetians eat fried cuttle fish with lemon juice. America produces 1,000,000 paper collars a day. Girls in India marry at tho age of ten or twelve, Ex-Senator Tipton is lecturing in Nebraska on “Tom | Corwin,” The German working classes are fast moving toward socialism. Austria keeps Russia and Germany apart on the Eastern question. Donna Lulalia Guillen is 140, and has gone to San Jose for her health. Three boa constrictors hid in the hold of a ship sail- ing from Batavia to Marseilles. Whore is less gambling and drinking among Congress- men this year than for several years before, Italian fishermen in San Francisco are leaguing with Greeks and Portuguese against the Chinese fishermen. There is good reason for saying that the republican delegation from Virginia will go against Grant in the Convention, Miss Amy Foy, pupil of Lisztand musical contributor to the Atlantic, bas made a successful début at Cam- bridge, Mass. Cardinal Manning has confirmed in Catholicism Colonel E. M. Hudson, formerly aide-de-camp to Geu- eral McClellan. Everywhere in Italy snails are eaten, at Romo badgers are reckoned a delicacy, and at Nice foxes are exposed California proposes alaw requiring banking corpora- tions to keep posted ina conspicuous place the names of their stockholders and the number of shares held | for sale in the market, | by them. Western paragraphers can’t find a word to rhyme with ‘month’ without lisping and using “‘dunth” and “wonth.”” If you must joke stick to good old fash- joned punths, The San Francisco Journal of Commerce estimates the wheat crop of California ata value of $26,000,000, and, what will surprise many people, the gold and silver crop at a million less, Mr. Falk, the Prassian Minister of Education, com- missioned a Bavarian professor, Mr. Von Raumer, of Erlangen, with the task of drawing up rales for a re- formed German orthography. Saturday Review:—‘General Grant would care little for the fate of the constitutional amendment which he proposes if the no Popery party were strong enough t« control the republican policy. ”” “There have,” says an English journal, “been in, stances—M. Thiers himself was ® very conspicuous one—of a politician having @ much stronger position ia the country than in Parliament.” A keen relish for excitement, if only restrained bys strong will and directed by a clear judgment, seems, says an English critic, to be porfectly compatible with a resolve to seek, the greatest amount of happiness attainable, The Pall Mall Gasctle says that nothing is: casier tham for a man of nervous temperament to dream him- self into a belief that he cares more for his thoorice than for his person, and that he declines action rathor from moral dislike than from physical repugnance. Max Muller says:—‘‘Let no one be frightened at the jdea of studying a Chinese grammar, Those who cuo take an interest in the secret springs of the mind, in the elements of pure reason, in the laws of thought, will find a Chinese grammar most instructive, most fascinating.” J. M. Hutchings, of Yosemite, has discovered in the head waters of Kern River, 10,500 feet above the sea, a new and beautiful fish, which he named the “golden trout.” Its color was like that of the gold fish, but richer, and dotted with black spots a quarter of am inch in diameter, and with a black band along its sides. Professor Haeckel, writing of German war civiliza- tion, says:—“The stronger, healthier and more spirited a youth is the greater is bis prospect of bemg , killed by needle guns, cannons and other similar in- struments of civilization, The more useless, weaker | or infirmer the youth isthe greater is his prospect ol j ercaping the recruiting oflicer and of founding + ! family.” lic vehicles carry only as many passengers — adopt cars after the German pattern and,