The New York Herald Newspaper, February 10, 1876, Page 4

t NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. - JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the Four cents per copy. Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage. i All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yors Henrarp, Letters and packages should be properly sealed. ‘ Rejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 112 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. LONDON OFFIC. HERALD PARIS 0. Subs: receiv as in New York. ! STREET. DE L'OPERA. VOLUME XLI-.++- AMUSEMENTS THIS APTERNOON -AND- EVENING. EAGLE THEATRE, VARIETY, at 8 P.M. TWENTY-THIRD CALIFORNIA MINSTRE: PERA HOUSE. THEATRE, arlotte T NEW THEATRE. BROO} JANE EYRE, at oP. M. TONY PASTO! VARIETY, at 8P. M. UNION Si ROSE MICHEL, ats P. RE THEATRE. FIFTH A PIQUE, at8P.M. Fanny Daveny THIRTY-FOURTH STREET OPERA HOUSE. VARIETY, at 8 P. M. port. BO’ TRE, UNCLE TOM'S CAB Mrs. G. ©, Howard. Pp. VARIETY, at 8’ ib SAN FRANCISCO MIN VARIETY, at 8 P.M EATRE. Mr. Lawrence Barrett, COMIQUE. Bi JULIUS CESAR, TH VARIETY, at 8 P.M. GE GRETCHEN’'S POL WOOD'S MUSEUM. JACK HARKAWAY, atS P.M. Matinee at 2 P.M. THIRD AVENUE THEATRE. VARIETY, ats P.M. WALL. THEATRE, JOUN GARTH, ats P. ster Wallack C PANORAMA, 1 to 4 P. VARIETY, at SP. M. WITH SUPPLEMENT. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 10, 1876, From our reports this morning the probablliti are that the weather to-day will be colder and clear- ing. Tue Henavp py Mam Trams. — Nevws- ealers and the public throughout the country will be supplied with the Datry, Weexry and Sunpay Henaup, free of postaye, by sending their orders direct to this office. i Watt Srreer Yesr: atabout 1127-8. Mon class collaterals at 3 1- Stocks were erratic, “fancies” lower. also “off color.” ally firm. s offered on first 2 and 4 per cent. with several of the Some railroad bonds were Investment shares gener- Hot wrra His Own Cananp—The cor- tespondent who cabled a story that an Ant- werp steamer had been coaling up with gun- powder. Tae Canuists are announced to have as- sumed the offensive at Oyarzun. The heavy weather reported from the Pyrenees should be in their favor, preventing, as it would, the concentration of their foes. The Alfon- sists are impelled by every hope of holding on to the government of Spain to ‘push things.” A Sensitive Sx Prefect of Police, who because he is running for the new Assembly at Corbeil, We have ns here who have tun for State governorships and held on to judgeships and such positions until the returns were all in. The Frenchman's plan has a better moral look. Renault, the Paris s resigned his office Tay Str Mixxion Surv against the fugitive Tweed was progressed a little yesterday, when Garvey, the “Ring” plasterer, swore to the thievish doings of his confederates. The senior counsel for the defence, in his usual able manner, assailed the newspapers in the course of thé proceedings, it being believed to be a necessary preliminary exercise to some of his herculean labors. Wuen Bismanck says, “We live in a state of the most profound peace; we have no wish for conquest; we are contented with what we possess; we have no thought of threatening any one,” it is high time to look } out for a declaration of war in some direc- tion. Ofcourse Germany needs peace, but Prince Bismarck should not say so lest the sceptical should doubt it. ‘Tar Rerty to Mr. Jay, which we print in | another column, shows that we were not mistaken in predicting that his recent com- ments on the Vienna scandal would lead to controversy. Five gentlemen, friends of Gen- eral Van Buren, send us a joint communi- cation, which we print, because fairness requires us to give both sides a hearing. We take no part in the discussion, and regret that it occasions so much acerbity of feeling. A Fac-Simmz.—We print this morning a fac simile of a cipher arranged by Major Luckey for the transmission of intelligence “regarding the whiskey trials at St. Louis, in the interest of General Babcock. The dia- gram is accompanied by a fall explanation of the cipher. This may prove a very im- portant link in the testimony now being adduced on the trial of Babcock, and at any rate it illustrates the ways that are dark and tricks that are vain to which our officials sometimes resort. ‘Tax Tota Moxey Losses by the Broad- THE NEW YORK rtisements will be | und forwarded on the same terms —Gold was quiet | NEW YOK HERALD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1876—WITH SUPPLEMENT: ee nn ncn nen ee ee Extravagance and Corruption im the War Department—Let Secretary Bel- knap Be Investigated, The country feels no admiration for small peddling economies attempted by the demo- cratic leaders of the House. If the expenses of the West Point cadets and of the consular service in foreign parts deserve to be leading objects of attention there is no excuse for the existence of the democratic party. We require our army officers to be gentlemen; we try them by court martial and cashier them if they do anything inconsistent with that character; and it would seem a plain in- ference that they should be trained to’ the habits of gentlemen in the military school. Tooth brushes, clean shirts, neat uni- forms and well blacked shoes foster the self-respect of the cadets, have consider- able moral influence and facilitate disti- pline. It is a niggardly and ignoble economy | which grudges the cadets’ soup with their dinners and clean napkins. It is preposter- ons to bring such matters into the foreground and abridge the decencies of civilization at the Military Academy, when there is reason to believe that the War Department is cor- ruptly managed by its head, and when there | are so many opportunities for curtailing | needless expenses, with a great saving to the | Treasury. The letter which we printed yes- terday, exposing the corrupt system of black- mailing which has been practised under Secretary Belknap in relation to army sut- lers, calls for vigorous investigation and un- sparing remedies. The facts come to us | from an intelligent, trustworthy source, and, assuming them to be true, Secretary Belknap should not be allowed to retain his office for | single day. If the President does not | remove him for levying blackmail on the | sutlers, who make it up out of the scanty pay of the soldiers, he should be impeached by the House and put on trial before the Senate. Besides investigating the official conduct of the Secretary there is a large scope for useful Congressional work in scru- tinizing and cutting down his estimates, | Let us make a brief survey of the ex- penses of the War Department. Secretary Belknap spent last year over twenty- | eight millions of dollars, and he asks this year for nearly thirty-four millions, Now | we are at peace with all nations; the | times are hard, and though Mr. Belknap, = | who lives in a princely way himself, might find it difficult to get on with less than | thirty-three millions, if the House told the President plainly that he must carry on the War Department for fifteen millions, we have faith enough in General Grant to be- _ lieve he could find a man to do it for him. He would probably have to discharge Mr. Belknap, but the country could survive his disappearance from public life. Let us see how itlooks. Mr. Belknap's estimates con- tain, among others, these items :— elling, and genoral expenses of ee $19,240,283 In these three items Secretary Belknap has increased his estimates in this year of peace and poverty by over a million and a quarter. Suppose the committee were to ask the Sec- retary what is the difference between ' “travelling” and “transportation” expenses ; what is the meaning of ‘general expenses,” and whether he could not, if he tried hard, get on with less than nearly two millions for “barracks and quarters?” For two millions | of dollars he ought to be able to house the | whole army permanently. Docs he burn | down the barracks and quarters every year? | We advise the committee to look into this | matter of ‘barracks and quarters” very closely. They may discover that it would be | economical to lodge the army permanently at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. And then let them examine also the “transportation of the | army.” Four and a half millions for moving | the army about is monstrous. Is the army perpetually travelling? Why not keep it | quiet for awhile? | » But this is not all, For transportation of | the army Mr. Belknap demands four and a | half millions ; for barracks and quarters, one | million nine hundred thousand dollars, and | then he adds to this :— Quartermaster’s Depart- | Regular supplies, | counts stand thus :—Mr. Belknap asks Con- | gress to let him spend in one year twelve | million two hundred thousand dollars for | lodging and moving about our little army! One of the great express companies, it is safe | to say, would undertake to do it for half the | money, and would not be badly paid either. But here are some other items. Mr. Bel- | knap spent last year for the manufacture of ' arms” one hundred and fifty thousand dol- | lars; and this year he wants five hundred | thousand! He spent last year on the ‘‘arm- | ament of fortifications” seventy-five thou- sand dollars, and he coolly demands this year one and a quarter millions! Whew! | What is the matter? Are we going to war? Is | somebody threatening us? Are we bullying | somebody? We hope the House will look | | this matter squarely inthe face. We are not a warlike people ; we do not, like the Euro- pean nations, have to live in dread of war- like and unscrupulous neighbors. Nobody is going to attack us—we are too strong. We do not want to attack anybody. The country never was so little disposed for war and | never was in so little danger of attack from other nations. We have only to mind our business, which costs nothing. And here | comes the Secretary of War, and in this year of profound peace demands one and three- | | quarter millions for small arms and big _ guns, when last year he could get on with | | less than « quarter of a million, Why should | | arises iscover, again “under the War Department,” a demand of Mr. Bel- knap for $2,044,000 for “fortifications and other works of defence,” against an appro- priation of $815,000 last year. Is not this also rather steep for a year of retrenchment? We are not going to be attacked ; we need not waste this prodigious sum of money in tinkering at fortifications the most of which, when they are completed, will be of no use, because earthworks alone will keep out the heavy shot now used in attack. Under Mr. Belknap’s regular estimates he demands one and a quarter millions for ‘‘armament of for- tifications ;" last year Congress gave him seventy-five thousand dollars. But besides the one and a quarter millions he proposes quietly to spend over two millions more, un- der a separate head, but substantially for the same purpose. What is the sense in such extravagance ? We have not nearly done with Mr. Bel- knap's accounts, and shall have to return to them again. But we have shown the demo- crats where they can save, even without any material reduction of the army, and by merely insisting on a proper economy, a sum not less than six or seven millions, and wo believe it might be made to amount to eight. We propose to show them another day where they may make still further econo- mies in the War Department, which seems to be extravagantly managed in almost every part. We confessourown surprise at the dis- coveries we have made in this matter. We had always supposed Mr. Belknap to be one of the most rigid economists our public ser- vice has ever known. We think ita pity that he has not been able to bring into his department the same genius for making both ends meet handsomely which has distin- guished him in the management of his own affairs. He came to Washington poor; he has had a modest salary of eight thousand a year and no perquisites, and on this, to the surprise and admiration of all his friends, he has been able to maintain an elegant house- hold, to obtain a certain fame for the excel- lence of his dinners, to keep carriages with outriders, and altogether to accomplish what many a man of three or four times his in- come, but with poorer business habits, finds it difficult todo. If he had served the pub- lie with as rigid economy his praises would be in all the newspapers, and he might even be numbered among the great host of Presi- dential candidates. Circumstances Alter Cases. It is not to be expected that General Bab- cock’s counsel will permit his case to be tried in any other than a strictly legal way, or that they will fail to take advantage on his behalf of every technicality of the law. In- deed, if they should fail in this they might justly be charged with delinquency in their duty to their client. But as their defence spreads itself at the very threshold on quibbles and objections, and cavils on the ninth part of a hair in every point it makes, all those who remember what they read from day to day will recur to the attitude so gal- lantly taken by Babcock and his friends when the famous ‘‘court of inquiry” was called | for. They felt then that his honor as a sol- dier was at stake, and they were solicitous that it might receive no stain, and held that anample and immediate investigation into the facts and into the very nature of the case was imperatively necessary, They wanted an investigation where legal technicalities might neither save nor ruin. It was recog- | nized by them that trials in courts of law | may by the ingenuity of counsel be turned | to one side or another, and actually leave the | real issue as to a man’s guilt or innocence untried, and even untouched. Words could scarcely picture the dismay with which they contemplated any such unfortunate issue in | the case of the President's secretary, and | hence their eagerness to take the case out of | the ordinary channels to put it before a | board of officers who would try it on its | merits, and would not condemn the man who might be only technically guilty, but would not absolve him who might be only technically innocent. But they have evidently ehanged their mind about technicalites; or is it that the counsel try the case as they | please? From whatever reason the difference | it cannot help the ease in public | opinion ; and it isas much on trial in the public opinion as it is before the Missouri | jury. In this case the moral and legal as- pects are related very much as they were in the case of Mr. Beecher. People did not want to know, in the Beecher case, if there was evidence that would convict the accused in the minds of the jury ; but they did want to know if he was guilty. In the case of tlie | secretary people do not want to know whether he can be proved guilty, or whether the dexterity of counsel may cloud the evi- dence so that he shall just escape ; but they want to know if official corruption has actually made its way into the White House, | and they will make up their minds on this | not merely from what the jury says when all | is over, but from what is said by counsel on the trial, and still more from what counsel | endeavors to suppress. Tue Fatan Frost Piatronm.—In our court reports will be found a suggestive case showing the willingness of the horse car mo- | nopolies to have a young man’s leg broken in getting off the front platform without any desire to compensate the young man for the same. In defiance of their printed rules the | companies try to make the sardine-packing | process as little a barto running trips on time as possible by hustling passengers on and off the front platforms at the risk of their lives. The companies, we see, insist that a man should be privileged to stand in a car if he likes standing. Fifty-five such men is the Third Avenue’s limit, while the Second he have more this year? But this is not all. If the committee will | too, should, the companies believe, be | | | turn to the head of “Public Works” they will find a sub-head ‘under the War De- Avenue can take fifty-eight. All these men, allowed to break their legs or their necks in getting off or on if it is their pleasure. way fire will not, it is thought, reach more | partment,” and they will discover, ingen- | would not, moreover, do this at the com- than three million dollars, which is said to | iously concealed there, some remarkable | panies’ expense, if the arguments of the lat- ‘be pretty well covered by insurance. The loss of life is already known. It is not so easy, however, to gauge the criminality of construct- items. For instance, besides the half mill- ion which Mr. Belknap has the face to ask in his regular estimates for what he calls the ters’ lawyers were law. Tae Ice Harvest or Deata has not been ingsuch lumber piles in the business heart of ‘manufacture of arms,” he demands here, in | so productive of obituary notes this season, great city, and we could point to a great a corner, $917,218 more for machinery, &c., | owing to the extraordinary mildness of the many other pretentious buildings in New York which are only awaiting a stray un- | he got last year! hed cigar stump, @ match on the floor, in arsenals, nearly half a million more than Thus, in fact, for the manufacture of arms he proposes to spend fa faint breath of flame, as it were, to spread | this year nearly a million and a half, against similar, if not greater, disaster. winter, The thin ice which has formed on ponds and lakes offers deadly inducements to the adventurous and the thoughtless. The tragedy in Rhode Island, described in | | This is halfa million last year! What isthe matter? | another part of the Wen+rn, should mrove a good time to begin an examination of them, | Nor is this all, Under the same head of | warning s a | Then we should have a canvass worthy of the | name—a canvass of love and peace and har- | Presidency would be upon the most approved ‘has been perjury enough to damn even : ciety and go far toward removing the doubts | to send the editor a free strap for the season. | should mean a seat. | or a crumpet we want something to eat. If The True Methods of “Revival.” The Moody and Sankey revival at the Hippodrome may be regarded as a winter sensation. Mr, Sankey at the noonday prayer meeting thanked the Lord for the blessings showered upon the meetings. There are new inquirers and a deep interest in the holy work. As Mr. Moody says, with repeated emphasis, it is nota multitude he desires at the Hippodrome, but the few who really feel the burdens of sin and desiye to lead a better life. Moody and Sankey show the true feeling when they depregate the attempt to turn their work into amere Hippodrome business, like the show of the prodigious humbug who was there before them. But if the movement is to be a success it should be driven home. The way to drive out the devil is to strike him wherever he is strong. We are afraid he has strength not always ap- preciated even by those most engaged in the Master's work. We have the devil in our politics, in our business, in our churches, in our public life, and Moody and Sankey should begin at the root. Why not have special nights for the different classes ? In this way there is no knowing what a great and good work may be done, Thus there might be an ‘“editors’*night” for the conversion of the gentlemen who manage the newspapers of this great city, and for those who are connected with the rural press. What a glorious sight it would be to see our respected coworkers, headed by the Nestor of political journalists, the Hon. Hugh Hastings, marching up to the platform to be wrestled with by Mr. Moody and his “band of trained workers.” The in- fluence of the conversion of a man like Mr. Hastings would be widespread, as he is known to be near to the President. The New York correspondents of the rural news- papers could be made the subject of a special service as to the sin of lying and slander. The religious newspapers, if all we hear is true about bond _and stock gpecu- lations, need the severest treatment. In fact, the only newspapers that do not espe- cially need such an interposition are our estimable and Christian brethren who con- duct the morning press, and who seem to have fallen upon a millennium, where the lion and the lamb lie down together in the utmost harmony and peace. ie! In politics also we need a great awakening. We trust that Brother Moody will take special pains to move the hearts of those who now boss the different organizations. We fear that Tweed and Sweeny are past praying for, and that it would require a miracle to bring Fields and Genet to the Hippodrome. But what a fine work might be accomplished if Boss Kelly of the Tam- many braves, and Boss Ira Shafer of the ham stealers, and Boss Jimmy O’Brien of the Tipperary statesmen, and Boss Tom Mur- phy of the beef eaters, and Boss Alonzo B. Cornell, with Davenport thrown in, could be marshalled some night on the platform, under the fervent speech of Brother Moody ! mony. Our political campaigns for the ecclesiastical plan. There would be no slanders, no defamation of character, no wounding of private and public reputations, no attempts to gain power by false pretence. What a glorious thing it would be to have a real old-fashioned ‘‘scandal night,” with special prayers for the actors in the Brooklyn scandal, There is a fine field for Brother Moody, If Mr. Beecher and Mrs. Moulton, or either of them, is to be believed, there Sodom and Gomorrah. Even now the truth is not known. Why, then, not have the whole party, Beecher and Tilton, Moulton and Bowen, the ladies as well, and the coun- sel on both sides all in a row, with Moody in his best trim to wrestle with them? Beecher's counsel, with Mr. Evarts at their head, and Tilton’s counsel, with the vener- able Beach marshalling them, could stand a yast amount of praying. Who knows but that under the influence of the evangelist one side or the other would suddenly fall upon their knees and make full confession. If Brother Moody can only solve this painful problem he will confer an inestimable boon upon so- of the wavering as to the efficiency of his work. Give Them Free Straps. A correspondent calls our attention to the amusing objection of the Sun to the general desire that when a passerfger rides in a car he should have a seat. The Sua thinks that this is a violation of the passenger's right to stand up if he wishes to doso. No one questions this right, and since the Sun so gallantly comes to the rescue of the com- panies it would be a good idea for the Presi- dent of the Third Avenue Railway Company The question at issue is simple. A fare If we pay for a roll we buy a cigar we desire something to smoke. If we ride in a car we are entitled | toaseat, Standing up in the cars and hold- | ing on to the straps is an annoyance to the | passengers who are seated. They are enti- | tled to be free from this when they enter the ‘cars. The passenger who holds the strap as well as the passenger whose toes are trampled are all entitled to their rights, and espe- cially the right of taking the ride for which | they pay in a comfortable manner. i | There is one way in which the criticism of | | the Sun could be met. Let there be | ‘ears without seats and with a liberal supply of straps for passengers who object | | to being deprived of the right to go dangling | | home from their places of business. Our_ point is that when a passenger pays for a Id have it. Ifhe only wants a | | seat he shou! | be glad to establish a “strap line” for his | accommodation. How to Ger rae Ixsurceyrs in the Turk- ish provinces to lay down their arms and let the Porte try Andrassy’s plan of reform upon govern them will ve well worth studying. According to tho earnestness of the attempt Austria's serious desire for a peaceful settle- ment can be judged. Am Alabama Claim. In the case of the Texan Star it was pre- eminently desirable that she should present herself as a British ship to the eyes of Ad- miral Semmes as he sailed, as he sailed, and on the other hand, that she should present herself as an American ship to the eyes of any Court that might inquire into the case. It all happened just the other way, because, perhaps, it was done on a Friday, or for some other reason equally sound and nautical. To Semmes the ship was a flagrant Yankee, and he burned her; to the Court which is politely requested to pay for her out of the fifteen million dollars she seems a regularly docu- mented Britisher, and the Court, it is ar- gued, must, therefore, sefuse to pay for her. Her history is somewhat tangled, but not badly, and, like the tangled web of pious rhyme, it resulted from the attempt to de- ceive. She was an American until she got to India, in 1863, and then, as the Alabama was in the neighborhood—and as in those cir- cumstances the Stars and Stripes at the mast- head was worse than a thousand barrels of petroleum in the hold with regard to fire— she was sold toa British subject, who did not pay for her, but gave a mortgage for more than the purchase price. She went out as his ship, with regular papers. But Semmes, the moment he sighted her, “some miles away, saw by the cut of her jib what country she came from, and he stopped her. Her papers, therefore, were put to an immediate and troublesome test. They were required to remove from his mind the impression made by the sight of the ship and his recognition of her national character or to assure him that to touch her would com- plicate his relations with England. They did neither, He burned her on the ground that she was a Yankee, with trumped up pa- pers. But the papers that were not good enough for him are good enough in the eyes of our government lawyers, who say that the transfer to a British owner was regular, in all respects properly made, and thatshe was a British ship, and for this reason she should not be paid for out of the great indemnity. But the Court has not yet said this. In case it does ye must write on the documents, as the posi ters do on misdirected letters, “Try England.” If England refuses, why Semmes himself is somewhere in Alabama, or those parts, and the owners might try him, Perhaps he will pay. In Paris ‘they sued Courbet to make him pay for the Vendéme Column, which he helped to cast down, and if the owners of a few ships would sue Semmes for their value—they might get it. A Season of Peril—Unhealthy Weather. Those among us who are congratulating themselves that they are being spared the miseries of a cold winter, snow blockaded streets and all the other etceteras of abomi- nation which they love to croak about, forget that under the cloak of mildness and almost genial warmth the winter is working more evil than we care to contemplate. Winter is the season during which nature rests from her labors. Under the blanket of snow the exhausted earth recuperates her powers and prepares for the labor of pro- ducing in season the flowers and fruits that | gladden the eye in the spring and summer, The decaying vegetation with which autumn strews the ground is in the winter time re- absorbed by the soil and enriches it, while the process of putrefaction is®rendered innocuous by frost. The poisonous gases | which would permeate the atmosphere dur- ing the season of decay are gathered by the snowflakes and carried back to the earth to add to its fertility in the spring. These poisonous fumes, unless so imprisoned, be- come the fatal sources of such epidemics as are found in every instance to accompany warm winters. We therefore view with alarm the advance of winter without its natural accompaniment of cold weather and snow. Indeed, the fatal spread of contagious diseases, such as diphtheria and smallpox, in New York and its vicinity, furnishes terrible proof that we are hasty in — congratulating ourselves on the mildness of the winter. It is an axiom in meteorology that ex- tremes of temperature are counterbalanced by extremes in each year, so that the mean temperature from year to year rarely varies more than a few degrees. Thus, if we have a warm winter, we must look on it as a com- pensation, as it were, for an or to be experienced in the one com- ing. We had cold weather during the spring of 1875, and the summer months | were not as warm as in the two or three years | previous. It is reasonable, therefore, to sup- pose that we are now receiving a liberal in- | stalment of the heat which we were deprived | of in 1875, Another very important fact is to be considered when we attempt to account for this extraordinary season. During the past year, and even up to the middle of January of this year, the American continent has been violently shaken, from San Franciseo to the Missis- sippi Valley, by earthquakes, and the enor- mous amount of heat which the force of the convulsions represented was and con- tinues to be liberated into our atmos- phere, thus materially affecting its | temperature all over the continent. In New York the weather is entirely governed by | conditions and causes arising or existing to the westward. We must, therefore, pre- sume that if the terrestrial shakings referred to can affect the temperature of the air in their vicinity we owe to them our warm but | | unhealthy winter. They | strap the company will, we have no doubt, | them isa nice problem. A denial has been | sent to the statement that the six consuls at Mostar had received instructions to begin the task. Whatever truth there may be in either the report or its contradiction the means taken to pacify the rebels for the pur- The latest advices from the Pacific coast inform us of the approach eastward of storm. ‘The rate of progress of this meteor | will be watched with the greatest interest by scientific men, because its movements, al- though governed by well known laws, will indicate clearly the atmospheric conditions within the immediate line of its advance. * Storms of this character are as sensitive to the presence of atmospheric or topographi- cal barriers to its progress as a billiard ball on perfectly level table, It is deflected to the right or left as the obstruction acts on it; but, being always under the influence of the pose of giving the Turks another chance to . initial foree which gives itan eastward move- ment, It seeks an outlet of escape, which it, a8 @ general rule, finds. Now, if the surface of the continent is liberating heat in excess of the natural loss by radiation the effect on the advancing storm will soon be ob- served. We take an opportunity of recom- mending increased vigilance to the sanitary authorities during the coming spring and summer. We are passing through a season of great peril to the health -of the city of New York. A Vindication of Secretary Bristow. We published a few days since a long com- munication from Atlanta, Ga., purporting to be a circumstantial statement of facts con- necting Mr. Bristow with an alleged Presi- dential intrigue in the Southern States, and asserting that he is actively employing the patronage of his office in that seetion of the country to influence the choice of delegates to the Republican National Conventisa, abnor- | mally cold season either in the past year One of our Washington correspondents has undertaken to investigate the statements of the Atlanta letter, and, as the result of his inquiries, he feels justified in contra- dicting both the main allegation and the particular facts cited to support it. The writer at Atlanta gave ‘ such an air of circumstantial plausibility to his narrative, and furnished so many clews for testing his accuracy, that im- vestigation has not been difficult, and the result, as will be seen, is a complete exon- eration of Secretary Bristow from the charge of seeking the Presidency by the vulgar methods of ordinary politicians. If the country has thought of him as a candidate it is solely in consequence of the resolute and successful energy of his magnificent campaign against official corruption, He onght to have sagacity enough to perceive that if he has any chances they rest solely on that basis, and that he would only weaken them and sully the lustre of a bright and enviable record if he should descend to the levelof wire-pulling schemers. Sec- retary Bristow has strongly intrenched him- self in the confidence and esteem of his fel- low citizens, and not even the Presidency would be worth purchasing by acts which would cause any abatement of the warm public approval which he has so nobly earned. Py Westox, well known to our public as a professional pedestrian who was always at- tempting ‘‘feats of endurance” and, we are sorry to say, generally falling short of his tremendous calculations, has been trying his fortune in England. He has again failed to accomplish what he started out to do, but has beaten his opponent, the English cham- pion, Perkins, under circumstances not at all discreditable. The two hundred and fifty dollar cup can be walked for again, Enoianp Suvems Trxrmiy Anxious to get Egypt head and ears in her debt, and her desire in this direction is only surpassed by | Egypt's wish to get somebody to be in debt to. The new loans which the Anglo-Egyp- | tian Bank has contracted to advance to Egypt amount to eighty million dollars. The immense monetary reserve of England can be judged from the way she sets about buying up the imperial valley of the Nile and ‘‘fixins,” but the impetuosity. with which the successor of the Ptolemies rushes to the sale suggests what Wall street would term ‘‘a sell all round.” “No Szat No Farz.”—The bill intro- duced into the Assembly by Mr. Killian | providing that horse car companies shall give a seat where a fare has been collected under the penalty of a fine of one hundred dollars for every such neg- lect, is threatened by the railroad | lobby with suffocation in committee. We | should like to know what, the members o1 | the committee have to say to this threat. | The bill is printed in full elsewhere. We ; can promise the lobby, the committee and the Legislature in general that it shall not, be lost sight of. Tux Lovrstana Rapvicats have shaped a jeasure for keeping the State republican by creating a Returning Board of three repub- licans and two democrats, in which tho majority can throw out the votes of any elec- | toral division they please. The section de- scribing the pretexts under which this can be done is printed elsewhere, and for infamous audacity and defiance of every citizen right is without parallel in the history of in- _ famous and audacious republican misrule at ‘the South. It is a good democratic cam- | paign document, and it remains to be seen | whether it will not prove too strong for even the ostrich stomach of the rule-or-ruin re- publicans at Washington. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. | | | | | | | ' Blaine is gettipg fat. Californians are bothered with silver. An English book tries to prove that State atd to pau- pers really produces pauperism. A Charleston (3, C.) goose talks good English, and excels the average Congressman, A beautifal and aristocratic Louisville gifl of seven- | teen smokes a short black clay pipe filled with the strongest plug tobacco, She imitates Carlyle. Mr, Bodwell, Superintendent of the Welland Canal, has concluded arrangements with the Minister ot Public Works for the management of that work. A St. Louis woman tried to commit suicide by taking a dose of pins, evidently thinking she'd want them to pin back her angel overskirt in the other world, It was Prince John Van Buren who, being stopped by highwaymen one night in the City Hall Park, said, “Gentlemen, I haven't got any money, but I'll give you my note for three months.’” A “Son of Seventy-six’’ is anxlous to know how Charles Francis Adams and John Jay would do for tho Centennial ticket. Adams, the grandson of the glorious leader of liberty; Jay, the grandson of Washington's favorite counsellor and friend. Sir Walter Scott is said to have written or dictated the whole of “The Bride of Lammermoor” in a morbia condition of body and under so intensely concentrated an excitement of mind that ald not recall writing any part of the story as his own afterward, and heard it/as if it were all new to him. | Dr. Von Rilow said in Chicago:—“I cell you the | only reason why I play Beethoven, Schumann, Men- | delsgohn and all these, is because the gigantic igno- ramus with the inevitable beer glaes—tho German music teacher in America—has interpreted so many of these badly, I would rather ‘rom choice play Waguer and Liszt." In reply to our advertisemout for a rhyme for Conke ling, apropos of ® campaign song, ‘The Spirit of Lord Byron” sends :— Blaine of Mat bet Roscoe ld wot ow cng bi can’t And General Grant said, ‘Boys, Go back on curly Conkling.” An American in Liverpool said:—‘I've just asked ‘em where they kept their barber shop, ‘They told mo there was ono on the opposite side of the square. Thoy call this a first class hotel. This is a nice country, this wal iene ibe