The New York Herald Newspaper, January 31, 1876, Page 4

4 NEW YOKK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1876—WITH SUPPLEMENT. 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 York Hera. Letters. and packages should be properly sealed. ‘ Rejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 114SOUTH SIXTH STREET. 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. ol, 0D CHOROUGHBRED, at 8 P toe at 2 P.M. GLOBE EATRE, FARTETY, at 8 P.M. BOOTIUS THEATRE. SULIUS CESAR, at 5 P. ir. Lawrence Barrett, FARIETY, at 8 P.M. GERM OER REGISTRATOR 4 THIRD AVE. VARIETY, ats P.M. WAL MARRIED IN HAST Sra BA’ PAPENHEIM GERMAN OPE: TIVOLI THEATRE, VARIETY, at § P.M COLOSSE ANORAMA, 1 to 4 P. M. o10P. M. EAGLE THEATRE, FARIETY, at 8 PM. BROOKL: PALSE SHAME, at 8 P. TONY PAST VARIETY, at 8 P.M. N THEATRE. Mr. Montague. UNION Sq ROSE MICHEL, at 8 P. M. OLYMPIC THEATRE, VARIETY, at 8 P.M, FIFTH A PIQUE, at SPM. Fant ¢ THEATRE. enport. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, “UCREZIA BORGIA, at 8 P.M.” Mile, Titiens, THIRTY-FOURTH STREET OPERA HOUSE. VARIETY, at 3 P.M. BOWERY T' TNCLE TOM’S CABIN, at 8 TRE. Mrs, G. ©. Howard, caRtery, a sf is pe Anta cvheittetin Latutribaaad mr: M.. Pu dind ze WITH SUPPLEMENT. 1876, RY 31, om. our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be fair. Tue Henarp sy Fast Mar Trarys.— News- dealers and the public will be supplied with the Dary, Werxry and Sunpay Hxnaxp, free of postage, by sending their orders direct to this | office. A Grave Cuancr.—The story of Worms telegraphed us from Montreal we give for what it is worth. The gravity of the counter tharge he makes in self-defence is very great, involving, as it does, the Executive of she United States and the Secretary of the interior in corrupt connection with an ‘ndian contract. The integrity of a Presi- dent is something that in all the teat of political passions we hope aever to see successfully assailed, and the fact that the special officers of the United States are endeavoring to secure the extradition of Worms ona charge of forgery and robbery is, at least, prima facie evidence that General Grant and Zachariah Chand- jer are anxious to have the entire matter thoroughly investigated by process of law. Mer. Beron's Brut.—Mr. Bergh’s bill in re- gard to salting railway tracks does not forbid the placing of salt on the track, except when ‘tis placed there for-a certain purpose and ata certain time. To come within the pro- uibition of this law the salt must be thrown ‘or the purpose of dissolving snow or ice. If the horse car companies can contrive any vther reason they may scatter all the salt ‘hey please. More than this, it must be snow that ‘‘may have fallen.” The act for- bidden is, therefore, throwing salt to dissolve snow that is already on the earth. Ifthe com- panies take counsel of ‘‘Probabilities,” and find that a heavy snow storm is to come within twelve hours, they can cover the whole track with salt before the snow falls and per- haps escape the penalty of this statute. Crvm Riouts.—Judge Sawyer charged a jury in San Francisco recently in a way pretty sure to invite the wrath of the friends ofthe negro. It wasa case under the Civil Rights law in which a negro sought a rem- edy for having been excluded from a theatre. There was some strong swegring on one side or the other, for the testimony was very con- tradictory on the simple facts, and it was charged by the Judge that in the absence of any rule of the theatre that ‘negroes should be excluded” there was no evidence to show that the man was excluded on account of color, and that he might have been excluded for some other reason. With the way thus opened for them the jury found a verdict, in favor of the manager. It is very difficult to enforce a law that is in conflict with the sen- timents of the great mass of the people. Carnrixo Pistors.—Judge Brady suggests a statute on this subject, and seems to have faith that it would be useful; and although we are less sanguine, yet the case is cer- tainly so bad that no step should be neg- lected that any person entitled to judge be- lieves will remedy the evil. Half the murders are probably due to the fact that the criminal has within reach so easy a means to kill as the revolver in his pocket; ‘ind if there is any means that may prevent this result by preventing the carrying of re- volvers it should be tried. It is proposed to license persons to carry revolvers, and to punish severely all who are found with such ‘weapons on their persons if they have no license. It is thought that, as the authori- ties charged with the duty of licensing would have thé right to discriminate, this “Would result in keeping so dangerous a weapon out of the hands of persons not Municipal Reform—How to Do It. If a majestic ‘and heavily laden ship, beaten and disabled by the violence of ocean tempests, were brought to the narrow en- trance of a harbor, where master and crew desired to put in for repairs, they would be glad to avail themselyes of a stanch and powerful tug. But if the pilot, approaching in a night of fog, should underrate her width of beam and lash the tug to her side, he would correct’ his mistake when he found that the two abreast could not go through the narrowest part of the chan- nel, Instead of treating the ship and tug as inseparable—as the Indians, when they first saw mounted Spaniards, thought the horse and his rider one animal—the expert pilot would quickly detach the tug, take it through the*narrow passage alone, and then, by means of a cable, bring forward the ship, clearing the ledges on either side. In the recent reform efforts the same mis- | take has been made which we have imputed to our supposed pilot, and which the poor Indians fell into, ‘‘whose untutored minds” took the Spanish cavalry officer and his steed for a centaur, not knowing that if they fled beneath’ low branched trees skirting the shore the ridér could dismount, lead his horse through and then renew the pursuit. A spring election having been advocated as part and parcel of a new charter our legisla- tors at Albany and the people of the city have come to regard the two as so closely connected that each must share the fate of the other. But there is really no such inseparable connection either in law or in the nature of the two re- forms. In’ point of fact the law of 1870 fixing the time of our municipal election is no part of the chatter of 1870 establishing the framework of our municipal government. "A spring election for the city would be ad- yantageous under any form of charter, al- though its full advantages could not be realized under such a hotch-potch charter as we are now afflicted with, The chief purpose to be attained by changing the mu- nicipal election to the spring is a divorce of the city government from State and national politics, and, be the ultimate form ofa re- vised charter what it may, it can never ac- complish this divorce so long as the city election and the general election are held on the same day. There may be reasonable doubts as to what should be put into the new charter and what kept out of it, but there can be no rational doubt at all as to the expediency and necessity of holding the city election in thespring. Let us, then, un- lash the tug from the side of the ship, send it forward through the obstructing channel, and then throw back a stout cable to haul forward the larger craft. Let us waste no more time in trying to hoist the tug on board and make it part of the cargo. If it be asked how the previous passage of aspring election law will facilitate charter reform the answer is not. difficult. The subject would then be approached by the Legislature m a different point of view from that in which it is now presented. All re- cent changes in the charter have been made with a view to party advantage in the elec- tions. The city being unalterably demo- cratic every republican Legislature manipu- lates the charter to give the republicans a share ef the city offices, and every demo- cratic Legislature tinkers or changes it to get back the loss and strengthen its party in State elections against the republican major- ity in the rural districts. The welfare of the city is overlooked or disregarded in these reckless scrambles, which will never cease so long as the city patronage can be used asa makeweight to turn the scale in our State elections. A difference of a few thousand in the democratic majority of the city may decide the fate of State candidates or an electoral ticket, and while this possi- bility remains no Legislature will give usa charter framed in the interest of good govern- ment for this metropolis. But if the oity election were put seven months in advance of the general election the great temptation to make charters for party effect would be removed. A December election for the city was just as bad as a November election, for it gave scope to the same bargaining be- tween State and city candidates for mutual support. After candidates for Congress and State offices were nominated they made bargains with aspirants for the city nomina- tions, which were fulfilled the next month, and the city was chained to the wheels of the State canvass. But in April nobody knows who will be candidates for the State offices, for Congress and for the Legislature ; and bargains are precluded by the non- existence of parties having an interest to in November he may sell his influence to B, who wants to run for the Mayoralty in De- cember; but in April A does not know nated for Sheriff by the party conven- tion, and he has neither motive nor means to make an alliance with city candidates. A city election in the spring would, therefore, be comparatively free from demoralizing coalitions between local demagogues and demagogues at large. And this dissolution of corrupt political copartnerships would make the Legislature more willing to give usa charter framed in the interest of the city taxpayers. But so long as the two elections are blended we may despair of finding a Legislature willing | to treat this city with fairness. A spring from State politics, would break the chains by which our local affairs are dragged behind the chariot wheels of trading politicians. Nothing is more certain than that a spring question, disentangled from and unencum- bered with questions of general politics and from differing opinions as to the best form of a charter, would receive the assent of nine- tenths of this immediate community and of the State at large. As to the State, there is abundant evidence recorded in our columns, Immediately after the election we sent re- | porters to interview all the Senators and As- | semblymen north and west of Spuyten Duyvil, and they were nearly unanimous in the | | opinions they expressed in favor of a spring | election. As to the city, anybody who doubts make them. If Ais a candidate for Sheriff | whether he or C, D, F, or G will be nomi- | | election, by separating municipal ifiterests | election, if presented as a single, naked | lature in the rural districts. If this ques- tion were to be decided by the real judgment of the Legislature, and in compliance with the wishes of our citizens, a bill providing for a spring election would be passed without friction enough to show that it had encountered any opposition. How, then, does it happen that it is delayed and obstructed? ‘It is partly because so many think it a necessary part of anew charter and opinions do not agree as to what a new charter should contain, and partly because the selfishness of politicians prevails over the manifest interest of the peo- ple. Our amiable Mayor, frightened after the election by the widely declared public sentiment in favor of a spring election, has en- tered intoa bargain with scheming republican politicians, promising them a large slice of the city patronage on condition that his tenure shall not be disturbed by the Legis- lature. He has already appointed two re- publican Police Commissioners in pursuance ot the bargain, and the other instalments are to follow as occasions arise. Instead of se- lecting an active, pronounced democrat for Commissioner of Public Works he has taken a capable man, whose politics are of neutral tint and who is not likely to administer his office in the interest of the demo- cratic party, as all his predecessois have done. While the session lasts Mayor Wickham will do nothing that can give offence at Albany, hoping to stay the hand of the Legislature and retain his office until the close of the year. But is it right that reform should be obstructed and the city suffer in the interest of one man? Will the republicans of the Legislature in- dorse and ratifya bargain to which a ma- jority of them were not parties and by which they are not bound? This is an occasion, if there can ever be an occasion, for the Municipal Society to exert itself with vigor. This respectable society was organized and incorporated shortly be- fore the meeting of the Legislature. Regard- ing municipal reform as the paramount issue which overshadows and _ eclipses all others it has bound itself to labor ‘in season and out of season” for this one object. It passed a ‘‘self-deny- ing ordinance,” pledging its members to accept no office nor a nomination for any of- fice, in order that its influence may not be impaired by aspersions on its motives. The Municipal Society consists of about one hun- dred of our foremost citizens, whose recog- nized weight of character and solid interest in good government make this association an important event in our municipal his- tory. It includes such names as Dorman B. Eaton, its President ; Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Potter, Dr. Agnew, Jackson 8. Schultz, Lewis L. Delafield, William E. Dodge, Jr.; Professor Dwight, Patke God- win, James M. Constable, Levi Parsons Mor- ton, Samuel D. Babcock, Sinclair Tousey, Alfred C. Hoe, Benjamin B, Sherman, and the whole list is of similar standing and re- spectability. Now, as there is nothing which these gentlemen so deeply deplored, in their excellent address, as the min- gling of our city affairs with general politics, we are entitled to call on them for assistance in promoting the one reform which would do more than any other toward seyer- ing the connection. ‘The field is white for the harvest” and they have only to put in their sickles. When the great step of a spring election has been achieved every sub- | sequent step in divorcing municipal affairs from party politics will be yendered more | easy, and if, when this great point is gained, the Municipal Society will also give its in- fluence to secure the election of some vigor- ous and abie citizen like Charles A. Dana or Andrew H. Green to the Mayoralty, its mem- bers may feel sure of-aid and not obstruction in prosecuting further reforms. Great Ideas in Congress. Nearly every section of the country cherishes with local pride some peculiar attribute of its people, or the tradition of some influences it commonly exercises in the national history. Our city has an especial glory in this respect; for as it was the province of Rome to rule the world, and of | Greece to carve the brittle brass, so it is the province of this metropolis to furnish a great idea whenever the country seems to need one. No emergency can transcend our metropolitan capacity in this respect. It is in Congress principally that we exhibit this | splendid faculty ; it is in the record of legis- lative discussion that our intellectual readi- ness appears ; that our happy words dazzle the world more than Solomon's “apples of | gold in pictures of silver,” and Mr, 8. 8. Cox is the gentleman in whom our genius in this respect ‘‘stands confessed.” Only a few weeks since there was a debate in Congress on amnesty and some correlative topics. Maine was there, eloquent without wis- dom, Ohio wise without eloquence, and Georgia with a purpose, even if we esteem it a bad one, and the power to make it felt, | To that debate New York made one great, important, brilliant addition in these words:—“Oh, Blaine, dry up!" That was our metropolitan idea about it. Georgia, Maine, Ohio, all the other States, were | staggered by this rhetorical splendor, and | this Empire State had one more occasion to | glorify herself upon her representatives. | Now she has still another. In a warm de- bate on Friday this city carried away all the honors by the brilliant declaration of one of its representatives that another gentle- | man was known as ‘Jim Blaine’s little pup.” | As the eye that gazes on the sun is blinded, so the mind, too frequently assailed by bril- liant touches of this sort, becomes fatigued with splendor and sighs for the repose of dulness. One of our city wits is said to have once remarked that an oyster knew | more than some men, since it “knew when | to shut up,” and because of this wisdom and because of a natural aspiration of the fatigued intellect for dulness in Congress- | men we should like to see the Sixth district | of this State represented by an oyster. | ‘Tax Surrerros or rae Herzecovistans under the despotic rule of the Mussulmans, and the fiendish barbarism with which the war is conducted by the latter, wreaking known to have proper discretion; but we | has only to inquire of the first dozen persons | their ruthless vengeance on women and chil- fear, on the contrary, that this law would | he meets, and he will find that eleven out of | dren when the men are out of reach, are ‘become as much a dead letter as is now the | every twelve (politicians excepted) take the described in a communication to a prelate of old statute on the same subject, which, ap- parently, the Courts never enforce | same view that was expressed to our corre- | spondents by the members-elect of the Leais- the Greek Church which we publish else- | wheres The Greempoint Butchery. The police have made short work of the horrid crime which game to light on Satur- day at Greenpoint. The action of the criminal in leaving the head of his victim in a lumber yard made it, fortunately, easy to work up the case to the disgusting discovery of the remains of the unfortunate man, chopped up for secret interment in the house of his murderer. The case presents many points in common with a number of murders which are on record—namely, the vain attempt to dispose of the body by dismembering it previous to hiding the traces of the crime from mortal eye. What most appeals to our sense of horror in such crimes is the thought of the cold-bloodedness with which the criminal must have passed hours and hours face to face with the muti- lated remains of his victim, which at every stroke of the hatchet, every slash of the knife, every grating of thesaw, must have cried out to his frightened soul, in unbearable tones, ‘‘You cannot hide me!” In this case the murder appears to have been done in frenzy;whether in drunken jealousy, as the unfortunate child-witness and the woman Fuchs claim, or as the murderer, Andreas Fuchs avers, because he was a witness to his own dis- honor, is not clear. That he slept through the night with his murdered victim lying in an adjoining apartment might show that he was drunk; but the picture of the family sitting down to breakfast the next morning, with the body just dragged out of sight, isan appalling one. The evident intention of hiding the body under the hearthstone shows that he had either read the stories of several similar attempts to dispose of mur- dered men and women, or that the same reasoning led him to select it which had in- duced his predecessors to do so—namely, the unlikelihood of the stone being subsequently disturbed and the ease and secrecy with which it could in the first instance be re- moved. However that may be, this idiosyn- crasy of murderers has made the vicinity of the hearthstone almost the first place a trained detective would search. It is alto- gether the most terrible story New York has listened to for years. : Unnatural Scenery. Some years ago a law was passed by the Legislature at Albany forbidding the deface- ment of every picturesque spot in the State by the Goths and Vandals who wished to advertise their wares and nostrums. It was a source of great congratulation at the time, among the suffering dwellers on the Hudson River, for example, whose view of the opposite Palisades was destroyed by the abominations painted all over them. But after a time it leaked out that the passage of the law had been obtained by the first pioneers of these very Goths and Vandals, who, having carefully secured good places for their advertisements, wished to prevent the institution from being overdone. The law, like many other good ones, has virtually become a dead letter, and paint and whitewash have run riot all over the land. The coming centennial visitor, who is being whirled through what the railway com- panies advertise as “the most picturesque scenery in the world,” will gaze with dismay upon some beautiful cliff which bears the perhaps unseasonable announcement in let- ters eight feet long, ‘‘Weather Strips!” and will perhaps wonder why Matt Morgan has not long ago engaged Weather for his temple of nudities. A little further, as the train winds through a deep and solemn pine forest, our traveller will see, affixed to some monarch of the woods, a huge board bear- ing the inscription, ‘‘Sozodont !" and, if of an imaginative turn of mind, will catch the wood nymph’s echo, “O don't!" as he rapidly glances at the fleeting ‘most pic- turesque scenery” on eyery side, Paper hangings, liniménts, the New York Trilnine, stove polish, blacking, hair dyes, comic pa- pers, safes and pill autocrats In gay but quick succession shine, while here and there the name ofsome eminent actor or actress stands in the awful simplicity of letters six feet high, framed in verdure, as if the artigt’s mortal remains were interred near the spot and the pious wayfarer were invited to shed a tear to his memory or offer a prayer for the repose of his soul. - When the poet Cowper wrote ‘God made the country and man made the town” he did not live in so fiercely advertising an age; the gentle agriculturists of his time did not supplement their hard earned gains by rent- ing their fences to hopeful advertisers. What a poem might he not evolve could he revisit the glimpses of the moon and be con- fronted on some appropriate dead wall by the dread apostrophe, ‘‘Fancy Dyeing!” There are two interesting conundrums connected with this subject. One is, When and by what stealthy process are these tre- mendous placards painted or affixed? Has the eye of man ever rested upon an individ. ual in the act of ‘‘defacing natural scenery ?” The other wonderment. is, Who are the people tempted to buy by these hateful means? In the infancy of advertising in England a law was made and enforced against pla- carding the streets, Charles Lamb and his friend Theodore Hook on turning a corner beheld a stealthy boy running away from a legend which he had not completed, and which read, ‘‘Day & Martin's B——." The witty ‘essayist stuttered forth, ‘The rest seems to be I-lacking!" Let ué hope that this may shortly be the fate of the number- less horrors about our mountains and for- ests. Let some hitherto mute, inglorious Bergh start up to protect inanimate nature and emulate the great protector of horses, dogs,, foxes, game cocks and pigeons. So shall we no more behold From near and far o'er cliff and scaur The advertisements boldly blowing. Quaran Out of all the investigation of this much yexed and very important service comes a bill for the redistribution of the Quarantine authority. It is in the right direction, inas- much as it bids fair to make the service less cumbersome, and restores to the Health | Officer, the proper administrator of the Quarantine laws, the power of which he was. deprived by some previous legislation. It organizes a board of appeal from his decis- ions, which seems to us erroneous in princi- ple; but, as there is a sentiment in the com- mer@ial world that such a board is necessary to the protection of the merchants, it is, per haps, wise to give this guarantee to their in- terests, and if there must be a board con- trived to hamper the administration of the Health laws there are fewer objections to be made to a board constituted as this one is than could be made to any other. Properly the Health Officer should, in Quarantine matters, be absolute under the Quarantine laws, and the only appeal from his Authority should be to the courts for the interpreta- tion of the law. But the board proposed, made up of the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Shipowners’ Association and the President of the Board of Health, would seem to be irreproachable, precisely because two of its members hold the positions which give them membership without regard to party or public interest, simply for their integrity and importance in the commercial world. in Russia and the Cuban Question. We had a cable despatch yesterday stating that the Journal de St. Petersburg declares that ‘European interference in the present state of the Cuban affair is unnecessary. Differ- ences relative to the interpretation of the treaty of 1795 concern merely Spain and America. Europe is uninterested.” ‘his is what our government might have expected when it solicited the intervention of Russia in a question to which she attaches no im- portance. Russia renounced her inter- egt in the affairs of the Western Conti- nent when she ceded Alaska to the United States for a good round price, She has no commerce in the Cuban waters ; she is but a smail consumer of Cuban products ; she has no cause of quarrel with Spain ; she would herself treat rebels and insurgents with as much severity as has been practised by the Spanish government. On the mere score of humanity she finds sufferers nearer home whose grievances are more intolerable and who enlist Her more ac- tive sympathy. She has stronger motives for a general intervention for the relief of the Christian subjects of the Sultan, but as she has never perpetrated the absurdity of asking the United States to co-operate in an object so remote from their interests she is quick to perceive the folly of a similar request from us. An application from Prince Gortschakoff to Secretary Fish for the aid of our government in adjusting the differences between the Turks and the insurgent Christians in Herzegovina would “not be a whit more grotesque than is such an application to Russiato intervene for the pacification of Cuba, The Public Schools. The relation which education holds to our national life makes everything that bears upon the instruction of the young of grave moment to every citizen. We are justly proud of our public schools, but we know that only the most jealous care can keep them up to the desired standard of excel- lence. As our city expands fresh needs arise and new problems present themselves, and hence that our system should occasion- ally fail to meet all the demands. upon it is not surprising. Elsewhere we print a copious digest of Superintendent Kid- dle’s report of the condition of the New York schools during the past year, and although he finds much to praise, yet the points wherein he is moved to censure or complaint should receive careful attention. The most important point is the insuffi- ciency of accommodations in many of the primary schools, particularly in the growing districts of the city. The packed and therefore unhealthy condition of some of these where the very young are taught should be remedied by dividing the districts and erecting new buildings on the most improved plans. The fair expense necessary to accomplish this will not be grudged by the city. The working of the Com- pulsory Education or Truancy act has not been satisfactory, mainly, we believe, because it has not received proper attention. We fear that the difficulties in the way of enforcing this act ina large city like New York have led those responsible for its execution to form a theory which is not likely to help the bringing of the unwilling to school. This may be put as follows :—If the children who are kept away by dissolute parents, or who stay away from precocious depravity, could be brought to school the} would prove a most undesirable addition to the schools, and would require an expendi- ture of money and effort to keep them at school which would bring no re- turn of credit to the schools or good to society. We do not say that this theory has been laid down in so many words, but traces of it may be found among the teachers and others at the head of affairs. The matter isa little too serious, however, to be dismissed in this manner ; for the rescue of those children hanging on the verge of what may be termed juvenile delinquency, for want of a better phrase, is worth all the trouble that can be bestowed upon it. Undoubtedly in many cases they will furnish the teachers with stubborn ma- terial, but that is not a sufficient excuse for neglecting them. We are glad to see that Superintendent Kiddle recognizes this in the patience which he enjoins on teachers who have ‘hard subjects” to deal with, It is pleasant to note that only one expulsion was made from the female | schools during the year, and we are sorry to observe that in the colored schools the per- centage of excellence is so much lower than in those attended by white children. Why isthis? Is it racial inferiority or defective in- struction? The evil of “cramming” children to push them forward in their classes is sub- versive of true education, and we hope to see it discouraged. We do not think that hard study is injurious, but concentrating the intelligence of a child on what will shove him up a grade, without reference to the | whole structure of his education, is indeed reprehensible. Tax Frencu Sxnatonta, Exections were | completed yesterday, and the results show that while the republicans elected but | ninety-three out of the two hundred and | twenty-five the remainder are divided up into a number of fractions, which will leave \ the republicans the most powerful party, if | not an absolute-majority. On the topics most | likely to unite the conservative, monarchical and imperialist fractions against the repub- | Jigans the latter will he asgisted by the radi- | vals, and, taking*into consideration the political complexion of the life Senators already elected, it will xequire an actual di- vision to say where the actual majority lies, and to see how many enemies of the Repub- lic have been elected under itsJawa ee The Sabbath Paulpits. Many characteristic sermons were defiv- ered yesterday in this city and Brooklyn by the army of divines who are fighting the good fight according to their lights. Mr. | Beecher preached his religion of bodily ease and comfort while following out the law of God. Far removed from cold shrinking from severe definitions and bathing its dictates in a rich light of senti- mentalism, it requires, according to the strict constructionists, a soul already almost above the reach of temptation to secure good fruit. Rev. Morgan Dix, in his sermon denunciatory of fools’ laughter, shows that he does not approve the sometimes jocular way in which the Plymouth pas- tor enforces his religious ideas. We shall not attempt to decide between them. A sharp contrast will be found between the sermon of Mr. Hepworth and that of Mr. Frothingham. Liberalism in religion, with a broad faith in the Bible, is confronted by religious radicalism, supported by materialistic incredulity of inspiration. While thé revivalists are being prepared for at the Hippodrome Mr. Forrester at the Universalist church declares . such movements to be mere “religious effer- vescences,” to be regarded by many sober Christians with ‘‘real disfavor.” Many other apparent contradictions will be found in our sermon reports, upon which tho thoughtful Christian may profitably exercise his faculties. ; Dreams and Assassination. Belief in dreams is far from being gen- eral, and yet, even with people entirely free from superstition and superstitious fears, the subject has a curious interest, to which circumstances sometimes give sin- gular effect. The dream of Rubenstein, which led to his arrest upon the charge of being the murderer of Sara Alexander, is a case in point, as is also the dream of John Johnson, shot in Brooklyn a fortnight ago, that he was to be assassinated. In the case of Rubenstein the reasonable theory is that he dreamed too much, while Mr. Johnson's dreams are either to be ac- cepted as facts or to be explained upon the police theory of suicide. The whole subject needs scientific exposition; for if Mr. Johnson really dreamed that he was to be assassinated, and the assassination took place in the way he described on_ hia death bed, the scientific theory of dream- ing is completely overturned. It will thus be seen that the Brooklyn police have two incentives to unravel the mystery of Mr. Johnson's death—to settle the question whether he was murdered by others or by hia own hand, and tg show whether his dreams came true. In any eyent, the curious con- nection of his dreams with his subsequent death will occasion wide discussion, and, to say the least of it, the subject has interest for the curious. OvercnrowprxG oN THE Cars.—How the vile process is conducted on the Sixth avenue line isshown in another part of the Hrraxp. Although not approaching the infamous con- dition of affairs on the Third avenue line it will be seen that they can pack fifty on asingle car when necessary. It must be re- called that the Elevated Railroad has drawn off a great deal of the through traffic on thia and other west side lines, and hence the ob- jection to enforcing the rule of a seat fora fare is decreased by the ease with which it could be done. The chief objection ot the grasping car companies is that the re- form is impracticable; but, with a law passed compelling them to seat passengers, we have heretofore shown that a month would find them perfectly ready to respect the righta they now outrage. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Max Miller, who will leave England, has been offered ‘a professorship at Florence at a larger salary than waa ever before paid in italy. Boston Journal:—‘The Sandwich Islands are going to adopt a new flag, but they can’t decide whether to take a gray horse bianket with a hole in it, or an old vest with the back ripped oat’”’ The citizens of Elmira propose to hold a public mect- ing to express their indignation at the assertions of Hill, of Georgia, in regard to the rebel prisoners con- fined in their city during the war, Says the Wilmington (N. C.) Herald (dem.):—“It ia understood that in Pennsylvania there is a Conkling movement developing, which has been nurtured under the tender training of that shrewd old politician, Simon Cameron. He is opposed to Blaine tooth and toe- nail.” “Our ticket,” avers tho Indianapolis Journal (rep. “Morton and Blaine, meets with favor and has winning qualities, Both are especially popular in their respective sections, Morton in the West and Blaine in the East, and both would run well in all sections, It would bea fair union of the West and East.” Dr. Nebror, of Hungary, a Spiritualist, insists that each person has a double which may be existing some- whore distant. This is painful to think of; for while a ‘man sits tranquilly in the botom of his family his and bis wife's doubies may be sporting around with other people, one in the Sandwich Islands and the other with Bill Tweed in Bermuda. Is Jimmy Blanchard, after all, the double of the editor of the Washington Repud- ican? Tho following is given ag Cincimnati view of inside secrets at Washington:—‘‘Blaine and Morton may mu- tually destroy each other and prepare the way for some one else, Tho personal struggle for advantages will Still go on between them, and as neither will consent to accept the Vice Presidency it will probably end in the defeat of both. Itishere that the third term ticket of Grant and Hayes will be presented, and ir Grant finds that {t will not be accepted he will with- draw his name and make it Washburne and Hayes." From those observations it would seem that the wind at Washington is decidedly setting westerly. (From the World} Has the nomination of Mr. Gratiot Washburne, a son of the American Minister in Paris, as Secretary of Legation in St. Petersburg, been confirmed by tho Sen- ate? Ifit has it would be interesting to know what Justification the republican Senators and the republican journals have to give of the act, This young man has never been heard of before excepting as the agent of a cirous company. He came to Now York last year from anywhere; he was attached as a subaltern at the publie expense vo his father’s legation and publicly advertised for bareback riders, queens of the lofty wire and other pertormers of the same sort for an American circus in France. At that time the office of Secretary of the American Legation in Russia was filled by a gentleman, | Mr. Bugene Schuyler, who has distinguished himselé among American diplomatic servants in recent times by making @ careful study of the language, customs ang policy of the country in which he was serving. Mr. Schuyler 18 now displaced, and sent to Turkey, in order that the son of Mr. Washburne may be put into his shoes! And this is the sort of Civil Service reform which the republicans offer the country om the eve ®& 4