The New York Herald Newspaper, May 28, 1876, Page 8

oC NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. pM OM WE JAMES GORDON BENNETT, | PROPRIETOR aenceeee All business, news letiers or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New lork BRALD, Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected commanications will not be re- turned. | PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 112SOUTE | SINTH STREET. PARIS OFFICE--AVE) 3 I Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. VOLUME XLI... <a AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW. GILMORE’S GARDEN. GRAND CONCERT, at 8 P, M. Offenvach, WALLACK'S THEATRE. i THE MIGHTY DOLLAR, at 8P. M. William Florence. TONY PASTOR'S NEW THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. UNION SQUARE THEATRE. CONSCIENCE, at 8 P. R. Thorne, Jr. HEATRE. EaG VARIETY, at 8 P. >I. PARK THEATRE. UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, at 5S P.M. Mra. G. C. Howard BOWERY THEATRE. MAID OF THE WARPATH, at 8 P. M. | CHATEAU MABILLE VARIETIES, ! SP. M. OLYMPIC THEATRE. HUMPTY DUMPTY, at8 PARISIAN VARIETIES, | oeSP. M. THIRTY-FOURTH STREET OPERA HOUSE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE. : PIQUE, a8 P.M. 2 GLOBK THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, “SP. M. WOOD'S MUSEUM. A LIPE’S REVENGE at 8 P.M. Matineo at 2 P.M HOWES & is Performances at 2 P. M. THEATRE. pM. Lester Wallack, MSP. M. NTRAL PARK GARDEN, ORCHESTRA, QUARTET AND CHORUS, a€ 8 P. M. TIVOLI THEATRE, DON JUAN, at 8 P. M. NEW YORK, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1876, e oo ae —4 From our reports this morning the probabilities ere that the weather to-day will be warmer, clear or partly cloudy. Notice to Country NewspEauers.— For ompt and regular delivery of the Henaup fe fast maii_trains orders must be sent direct to is office. Postage jree. Watt Sreeer Yesrerpay.—Gold was firm at 112 7-801131-8. Money was supplied at 21-2and 8 percent. Stocks were generally | lower under the leadership of Lake Shore and Western Union. Investment securities, government and railway bonds may be quoted steady. ‘Tue Frrexps or Senator CoNKLING as a vandidate for the Presidency have had a con- sultation at Albany. There seems to have been no definite result, except the expression of warm confidence in the Senator on the | part of Mr. Robertson and others.- The more | the claims of Mr. Conkling are considered the more surely will the republican party see | the wisdom of placing him in nomination. He represents the courage, the consistency and the unhesitating convictions of the party. Compared with him Bristow is a sentiment and Blaine an intrigue. Tae American Consut, who it was stated caused the recent massaére at Salonica by interfering in the case of the Bulgarian girl, turns out not to have been in the town | at all at the time of that occurrence, and the only connection that he had with the affair was the indirect one of having a brother who sheltered the young girl for one night. The | investigation has thus exploded a canard | which was eagerly accepted in Eurape and cust a serious reflection on our representa- tive at Salonica. | Lost anp Founp.—-In the advertising col- umes of Friday’s Heraup appeared the fol- with G. Z, Herald Uptown Braueh oflice, And in the next day’s paper was this from an advertiser who had apparently not seen the above :— H Found—Some stones, which are supposed to de din- monds. Will the loser give full particulars under the edlumn of “Lost in the Heraid? There can be litle doubt but these are the | two parts of the same event; and they fur- nish one more illustration of what has bee abundantly illustrated before of the service rendered to the public by the newspapers in \ lowing :~-- | ‘Tne party who found loose diamonds wrapped in | paper will be liberally rewarded by cowmunicating | | A Lancx Butz, was presented to the city by the widow of the late Mr. Kellum, architect of the unfinished County Court House, in which the sum of one hundred and ninety | thousand dollars was charged for profes- | sional fees, 1863 to pay the architect three per cent on the total cost of the work. Great credit is due te the legal oflicers of the city for the | practical manner in which they opposed this claim. ‘The work was measured up by an expert, and the contract prices for materials were applicd to the quantities resulting from actual measurement, and the result shows a fraudulent expenditure of over five and a half millions of dollars on this model building. based on a contract made in | fleets to the Mediterranean in anticipation of serious complications growing out of the trouble in Turkey. England will be repre. | sented by a large squadron, and the Duke of | Edinburgh has just sailed from Spithead for Greek waters in command of one of the | finest iron-clads of Her Majesty's Navy. Germany has four ships of war en voyage for | the East, and France is already reprosented | in “the tideless Bgean” by a considerable naval force. Notwithstanding the assurances that ave daily exchanged by European | diplomatists regarding a peaceiul settlement | of the Turkish dificulty, the assemblage of | Tux Great Powsexs are sending powerfal | | fleots and the quict mobilization of armies | lead us to think that ‘‘villanons saltpetre” | will have to be called into requisition after adi, and that guns instead of goosequills will solve the problem. NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1876.—QUADRUPLE SHEET. ‘The Sunday Question. We presume we shall have another at- tempt to ‘execute the laws” in this city in { reference to the sales of liquors on Sunday. ‘There has been a wide expression of opinion on this Sunday question from all classes. The general sentiment is that the recent movement was officiousness rather than zeal; that our authorities were governed by a desire to create a sensation rather | than to execute the laws, This Sunday question is coming to us in a two- fold shape—first, as it applies to the salo | | of liquors in New York, and second, as it applies to the management of the Centen- nial Exhibition in Philadelphia, There is | unusual agitation on the subject in both cities. In Philadelphia we have meetings of ithe friends and the enemies of the proposi- tion to open the Centennial grounds on Sun- day. The most respectable p@ple, those who are active members of Christian denom- | inations as well as those who look at the subjectfrom aworldly point of view, have taken sides. We havea warm and in some respects a bitterdiscussion. The opponents of the proposition to open the grounds on | Sunday contend that an American exhibi- tion should be American in every way, and that as it is a law in nearly all, if not all, of our States that the Sabbath shall bea day of rest, it would be a violation of the cardinal American sentiment and the statutes of the States to throw open the gates of Fairmount Park and set the thousand wheels of | Machinery Hall im motion. They con- tend that we have no more right to give the Spaniard and the Frenchman a day in Machinery Hall on Sunday than to give one of them a bull fight and the | other a horse race, because there are bull tights in Seville and races in Paris on Sun- day. They argue that we owe it to our na- tional self-respect and the religious suscep- tibilities of our people that we should not change our laws or customs to gratify the wishes of a few foreigners, They contend that this question of the observance of Sun- day really underlies the whole American system of morals and education. They in- sist that we should do violence to the tradi- tions of centuries and the religious scruples of the large majority of our fellow country- men by doing what they would regard a sacrilege. It is feared that Sunday would become the day of the rowdy, and that the scandals and the disturbances arising from the opening of the gates would lead to breaches of the peace and the distress of the whole community. The arguments of those who favor the opening of the Centen- nial on Sunday are simple and easily understood. ‘They point out the fact that this exhibition of the industry and genius of the world, which has been brought together at acost of so much money and skill, will only have a six months’ life at the best; that it must be seen within the next six month$ or it will never be seen at all; that it was intended not merely as a show but as an education, showing what has been accom- plished in our century of national life and the many centuries of older civilizations which have gone before us. They argue that to close it on Sunday is to reduce its life one-seventh, and that, even if we had the scruples of our ancestors against doing any act on Sunday that was not an act of ‘‘ne- cessity or mercy,” we should consider the Centennial as coming within a generous in- terpretation of that provision, especially as there are tens of thousands of the poorer classes who must either see it on Sunday or not see itall, For these the friends of the opening plead in the name of ‘necessity or mercy.” It is held by all who take high ground on the question that the Puritan’idea of Sunday which we inherit, and which has become a part of our life, is as much out of place as other Puritan enactments in refer- | ence to the different creeds and religious observances. We recognize the force of the arguments on both sides of this important and interest- ing question. In the first place, we should view it as a calamity for any custom or law to interfere with that respect for the ordi- | nances of the Christian faith which ‘has always characterized us as a Christian, civil- ized people. Afterall, this Christian pre-emi- nence is a glory we share in common with all nations which recognize the spirit and influ- ence of tho teachings of Jesus Christ. Aso matter affecting the health and comfort of the peopie no one who has any regard for | the teachings of political and social economy would care to avolish this seventh day as a day of rest. If any one proposed to destrdy the Sabbath, cither as a religious or a social institution, there would be no arguments needed. On that point cur people aro decided. But the trouble with the whole Sanday question, as, indeed, happens with all questions which have a religious side, is that they are injured by their friends in the | discussion. Jf anything could ‘destroy the Christian Sabbath” it would be the arguments of many of those who strive to enforce Puritan ideas. Nothing would do more to destroy the force of the arguments in favor | of a more liberal observance than the ground | taken by many speakers and editors in Philadelphia and elsewhere, by whom tho Sabbath is denounced. as a remnant of the time of superstition and’ folly. Some- how there is no topic upon which our people are as apt to lose their temper as a réligious topic. The true position lies between the twoextremes. Jt is a mistake for our rulers in New York to dig up an old statute and | use it as means of personal annoyance and hardship. If this statute is to be revived let notice of that fact be made public, and in- si of “raids,” and submitting honorable pret 7 to the humiliation of arrest, committal to jail and finding bail, let the announcement of the pur- pose on the part of our police bo! euflicient to secure respect for tho laws with- out scandal and annoyances which were never intended by the Legislature. Then let the matter be brought up in our Legislature, where it can have an intelligent and calm consideration in the hght of the experiences of the pres- ent and not of the past generation. It is not the intention of our people—even of those who would have the Sabbath a day of enjoyment and recroation—to introduce the customs of the Continent. Exeept where manual labor becomes a work of mercy or necessity no one proposes that the Sabbath should be devoted to it But where the question becomes one of individual right and liberty, such as visiting the parks or picture galleries or museums of art and science, no one can urge any objection. This more particularly as, even with the most restrictive laws—such are the rights secured to every citizen in the State— | there can be no enforcement of prohibi- | tory laws. The real question is between selling food and refreshments up an alley | or in a back parlor and selling them in the | open public fashion. As to openin§ the Centennial on Sunday we do not see how the question can admit of doubt. It is not proposed to set all the ma- chinery of the Exhibition in motion, or even to open the bazaars forthe sale of the mis- | cellaneous articles with which the fair | abounds. It is not intended to make the Exhi- bition a workshop or a wholesale'store. It is proposed that the main building with its wonderful collection of articles of beauty and | utility ; the Agricultural Hall, with its sug- gestive and toothsome display of the fruits | of the farm, the forest and the vineyard ; the | Horticultural Hall, with its rare collection of | plants from every zone and from almost every land; the United States Building, with its intelligent and instructive array of the resources and attainments of the Repub- lic ; the Art Galleries, with the thousands of pictures from our own and other countries, shall be thrown open to the ppople. It is proposed that the beautiful grounds which surround these buildings—the\lawns, the terrace burdened with flowers, the ravines, the romantic river, rich with associations of j the days when the Indian roved in wild free- dom, and when the fathers of the country dwelt there, shall be permitted to them on Sunday. We cannot imagine any objection to this that does not arise from heedlessness or bigotry. Those who favor the opening are the true friends of the Sabbath, and the more the question is considered the more certain will be the result. Our Lo: Cable Letter. The British capital does not present a picture of light as seen in our cable letter of to-day. There are times when a great city takes on a gloomy aspect and everything seems to lend its aid to deepening the tones. Hanging a batch of mutineers and having another batch of these to try is unplensantly at the Queen's birthday is darkened by fearful shadow of a great European war hangs brooding over the metropolis and drives stock brokers into panic, and bonds are sent downward with a rush. News of troubles in the coal and iron trades lend their depressing influence. A valuable pic- ture is stolen, and the Four-in-Hand Club take their drive in the rain. News comes, too, that a daring speculator has been buying his way to the credulous public through the money articles of the London papers. These things are not pleas- ant to contemplate in a group, and it is with a feeling of relief that we descry the blue ribbon of the turf waving a fews days off, and learn that all London, from Belgravia to Whitechapel, is interesting itself pecuniarily in the result. Then, among smaller matters, we learn that Mile. Rosavella has fallen happily under the care of Mme. Patti, as her American sister singer was fortunate in engaging the kindly assistance of Mme. Nilsson. The Pandora left Cowes yesterday for the Arctic regions, and in her mission to the brave explorers, now so long unheard from, the hearts of the fair and brave will go with her. Our Paris Cable Letter. Leaving aside the politics of the French capital—which are principally marked by a settling process, wherein the old enemies, republicans and Bonapartists, are having the débris of other parties cleared out of the way for their grand battle—our let- ter brings us a mass of light gossip whith shows how impervious to the wear and tear of great events is the joyous heart of Paris. The list of new pieces brought out in the theatres shows the deli- cate cream of French humor seeking the top in spite of the whirl of events. The engage- ments for the coming season in opera and opéra bouffe sound like a series of betrothals before the altar of the muses, and when we learn that. the old clothes sales of Lemaitre and Déjazet do not attract much attention we are reminded how out of place artistic mourning seems in a city where ‘‘the King is dead, long live the King!” is the motto in art as it was in royalty, We are sorry to sce that none of our American artists have won official honors in the Salon. The French artists in our Centennial Exhibition are | not likely to leave us so empty handed. Thero is a little panic in Turks on the Bourse, to be sure, but the gay young gandins who are getting ready to play Polo on the Skating Club's grounds will not let that fact hinder their prospective enjoyment, Tux Excisz Law.—The mass meeting held | last night to denounce the action of the police authorities for their arbitrary enforve- ment of the Sunday law was a decided ex pression of popular feeling against the measure. Indignant speeches were made by prominent politicians and others denuncia- tory of the police spy system which in its | operation must tend to diminish phblic | respect for those who are the custodians of law and order, ‘The instructions of the Superintendent to the police for to-day are very speciiic, and we are | glad that he has abandoned the demoral- | | | izing plan of spying through back door®and tempting liquor dealers with smail curreney in order to entrap them into a violation of | the law. Tho Legislature, being the highest | source of authority, is the proper tribunal before which the merits or otherwise of the | Excise law should be discussed, and we, | therefore, deprecate any action which does | not tend to refer the whole question to the lawmaking power as the only one competent | to alter, amen@or repeal. ‘Tur Inuxess or Denmark's Crown Parxce throws that plucky little nation into mourn. | ing, but we trust that the danger of a fatal | termination to his sickness is too remote to be | seriously considered. Denmark loves her royal honse, and the death of the Crown Prince at this important juncture in Euro- pean politics would be an irreparable calam- ity for that nation, er suggestive work. A sort of outward joy | the illness of the Prince of Wales. The j There isa fashion in the vagaries of thought as there isin the ent of garments; and a fashion somewhat in favor now is for men or women to exhibit their courage by a declara- tion of independence as to what shall be done with their bodies when they can no longer be personally distressed by it. Some men will their bodies for dissection—a dis- position of them which we would recommend to people about to die, since it hasin its favor the fact that they who were never of the least benefit to humanity before may still be usefal in the article of death. Not distinguished from others in their lives they may yet cut up well at the end, and, as some memorable trees that figure in | gold headed canes and snuff boxes and simi- | lar mementoes, they may shine in the pages of medical writers and in the cases of medi- ‘cal museums like trinkets on the neck of science. Others lately have given their bodies over to the stoker for cremation. In thickly populated countries of comparatively narrow area this also may be regarded as a public service, England, for instance, is a little bit of a country, and people have been dying there for two or three thousand years in such numbers that there is probably not an atom of the soil of Britain to a depth of ten feet that has not fig- ured in the persons of hundreds of Englishmen ; not a bit of wood grown in the island but has been in the heads of the na- tives, -It is probable that the wonderful prevalence of fever in that country is due to this fact that the whole soil is human or at least animal detritus. It may, therefore, be called benevolent, humane, patriotic, for an Englishman to get himself burned ; not that a few individuals further contaminate the soil, but the example may be followed, and in the course of a thousand years, as fashions spread in England, this one may prevail, and the general health may be the better | for it, 3 ‘ But the latest of these scraps of post mortem vanity has been shows here, and is ' the exhibition of a desire on the partofa certain Baron de Palm to confound himself with the Egyptians, Perhaps there is even a public servicein this, It stirs the hilarity of the judicious, and it furnishes idéas to the lunatics of mild type who get up socie- ties and sadly need ideas to base them upon. | An Egyption funeral would be a sensation if we could® have an out and outer; but a compromige—an Egyptian funeral that is. not Egyptian—cannot but prove as flat as stale soda water. If, for instance, there were to be a trae Egyptian rite the Baron should already have been dead sey- enty-one days, and his primary error was, therefore, in dying nearly seventy days too late. He should by this time have been hand- somely embalmed, That, we fear, has been omitted, and it may prove im- portant If the rite is taken up faithfully from that point it may still be quaint ; for the Baron must be dragged on asledtoa pond. The pond is an indispen- |; sable accessory in the Egyptian rite, and the nearest one that will answer. is in Central Park. The procession thither will, therefore, be a rare sight, for the coffin must be accompanied ~ by female mourners, whose toilet would aston- ish even the Black Crookers, and these women must do the “ululation”—that is, they must how] the virtues of the deceased in the ears of the multitude. At the edge of the pond must be organized the Judgment Day apparatus. The coffin must be put in a boat and forty-two judges must stand in a semicircle on the shgre, and then if any person has any accusation to make against the accused he must make it. If any landlord or tailor or washer- woman is unpaid then is the time to hand in the bill. If any accusation is made the case must be tried before the judges, and if it goes against the Baron he will be sent home again to be kegt by his friends till the accuser is satisfied. They will then see how important was the omis- sion of the embalmjng process, for when the thermometer goes to one hundred and tive in August the Baron will become offensive. But if the case goes in the Baron’s favor he will then be rowed over the pond, which ‘we will call the Styx, by our classical friend Charon, and will be deposited with the blessed. This, however, is his mere Egyp- tian body, and it is to, be presumed that the Baron did not heedlessly become an Egyptian without consideration of his soul. If the god Osiris, upon critical examination of the soul, is not satisfied that | it shall become part of himself, down it will come again. ‘Then it will circulate through a whole cyclopedia of natural history, It willappear in the eel, the oyster‘ and the clam, in the ring-tailed monkey and the pensive sloth, nay, even in the howling gyascuticus. Then, in the-year 4,876, it will again get the form of humanity, and try it all oyer again.. Perhaps the time will come When the Baron may regret his revival of the Egyptian system. % “Promiscuous Dancing.” From their expressed objections to ‘“pro-- miscuous dancing” it might be supposed | that there is some other sort of dancing to which the Presbyterian discipline would not | take exceptions; but this is an error. By promiscuous dancing they seem to include ull dancing as now indulged in by the people of civilized countrios; ali waltzes, polkas, germans, cotillons, contra dances, reels—in short all dances in which the sexes are mingled cither more or loss intimately. They recognize that certain Scriptural per- sonages danced before the Lord, and be- lieve apparently that that sort of datcing might still be admissible, except that this human act is no longer a recognized ex- pression of religious impulses or enthusi- asms. They assent, therefore, that because the world is changed, some biblical passages have lost force ; yet they would rigidly ap- ply others, without regard to the widest possible departures of modern from ancient social usages. This does not seem consist- ent. In their disposition to separate the sexes, to crush out the indulgence in inno- cent pleasures, the Presbyterians tend toward asceticism. Their impulse in the separation of the sexes is apparently based upon the notion that the sexes cannot asso- ciate innocentiy. In so far as this iden ap- pears in the Bible it is only an ordinary part of Oriental life—the custom of all the Ori- entai countries. Yo apply it in countries where the women are not scrupulously sep- arated-from the men it can be based only upon the ides that vice necessarily follows the commingling of the sexes, and this com- mits the religions denomination that holds it to am bad range of ideas In short, it exhibits the Presby- terian men acting on very mean opinions of the Presbyterian women. Young people of all countries will dance, and they may be Presbyterians ; but if they cannot be one and do the other—if they can- not combine their adherence to a certain religious discipline with the enjoyment of youth and simple pleasures, it is obvious which they will relinquish. Strakesch and “Fair Play.” What has become of Mr. Strakosch and our other correspondent, ‘Fair Play?” Only a short time ago they were discussing the merits of various prima donnas and operas.to the great delight of the public, which is always edified when managers appear in print. This is especially the case now when we have no opera. The managers are expected to supply the music themselves, and everybody hoped that Mr. Strakosch would “ontinue his letter ducts until he is ready to bring out opera in the grand style he proposes. But all of a sudden there is silence in the orchestra, We have neither Strakosch nor ‘Fair Play,” and we want them both. : The direful spring of the unnumbered woes of this operatic war was the opinion of Mr. Strakosch, expressed in an interview published in the Hzraxp, that Mile. Titiens and Mme. Trebelli were not quite as good singers now, and not quite as attrac- tive in opera, as when they were young. We hardly approved of his prudence in making this public statement ; for, as Hamlet said, although a thing may be potently believed, it is not always wisdom to have it set down in print. The ire of the admirers of Trebelli and Titiens was, of course, aroused and increased by the su- periority which Mr, Strakosch claimed for Mlle. Belocca over these ladies. ‘Fair Play” appeared as théir champion. In tones like those of a tenor robusto he de- clared Mr. Strakosch’s opinions to be ‘‘ridicu- lous,” accused him of “issuing pombastic pronunciamentos,” said he had “thrown dust in our eyes” and “insulted our taste,” and concluded by advising him to get some ‘one else to write his mind forhim. Practically, ‘Maurice Strakosch, who has been at the head of Italian opera for twenty-five years, was requested to hold his tongue, and it was natural he should be as much shocked as Dom Pedro was when Doorkeeper Fitzhugh slapped him on the back and welcomed him to Washington in the name of the American people. To this fiery attack Mr, Strakosch responded with the indignation of an insulted basso, In his communication he affirmed that a lady had been ‘‘grossly insulted,” and that he had been treated ‘impertinently ;” he defended himself from the charge of under- rating the merits of Titiens and Trebelli, and accused ‘Fair Play” of “‘untruthfalness and sneering.” Since then the public has anxiously awaited the end. Whatseems tomakeit the more incumbent on ‘‘Fair Play” to reply is the fact that he is reproached with being afraid to give his name, and that Mr. Strakosch actually went so far as to say, ‘‘had the writer given his name I should have been obliged to demand satisfaction of him, who, I am sure, is no American, for Ameri- cans never insult ladies.” We do not think that this threat has had the effect of keeping “Fair Play” silent. But it is @ plausible de- mand that he should give either his name or good reasons for withholding it. As it is, the duet which began with a pleasant alle- | gretto, then changed to an allegro furioso, | next became a marche funébre, stops just when a fortissimo movement, with drums and perhaps cannons, was expected. So the public is deprived of pleasing enter- tainment ; it has neither operas’ nor discus- sions of operas, although next to harmony on the stage there is nothing it likes better than discord off of it. The Presbyterian Assembly. . This body has been with us now nearly ten days and has transacted its most impor- tant business. Two days of last week were devoted to the consideration of home and foreign missions, parts of days to such themes as the relation of the Presbyterian Church to the German population of the United States, of the Northern Assembly to the Southern, of education among the freed- men, of ministerial sustentation, Church publications, Sabbath observance in differ- ent aspects, of promiscuous dancing, repre- sentation and Roman Catholic baptism. Ex- cept on the subject of missions, domestic and foreign, and fraternization with the Presbyterian Church South, very little en- thusiasm has been displayed by the body. Indeed, it is altogether too conservative and staid ‘a body to evince much spon- taneous enthusiasm on any subject. A cer- tain Puritanic reserve clings to 1t which it is next to impossible, if it were desirable, to escape from. It has been quite refreshing, therefore, to listen to the humorous sarcasm of Dr. Kempshall or the sober centennial wit of Dr. Dickson, who invariably dis. turbed the sombre sedateness of the Assem- bly and set the Commissioners im roars of laughter. On the question of fraternization with the South, notwithstanding the rebuff that the Assembly met with a year ago and the tone of the Southern official journals since, the Assembly exhibited unexpected enthusiasm and sent its grectings sonth- ward again. It the Southern Church after this refuses to fraternize she deserves to be treated as heathen and publican by her Northern sister. With churches, as with States and individuals, there is a limit where all efforts at reconciliation must end, either in peaceful union or in open hostility, The Northern Assembly bas done all that good fellowship and Christian obligations required to effect reconciliation with its Southern sister, and if the issue is a failure that Church alone will be f blame. The Assembly contains very few able debaters, or else the ablest men are holding back for something that is yet to come. - It is notable that the voices of Dra, Adams, Hall, Vin- cent and Prime, of this city; Ganse, of of St. Louis, and Talmage, Ouylerand others stati inca aac iil i ttc ans ec a a en a i a a a a rs lentes ademan gts tenia \ ee ee eee ee reece cee ne ee eeinnanatuie ae of Brooklyn, are scarcely heard at all i the debates before the body. Drs. Edwards, of Dlinois; Knox, of Chemung, N. Y., and Knox, of Newark; Dickey and Musgrave, Philadelphia; of Missouri, Briar, Fowler, Chamberlain, of Brazil, and two or three other delegates are compelled to defend and protect the eloquence of the Assembly from’ utter destruction. The ab- sence of ladies from all the sessions of the Assembly up to the present is notable. 4 Methodist Conference of one-quarter the size of this Assembly, convened where it is, would crowd the galleries with ladies and draw out from the hearts and lips of the speakers that and enthusiasm which no doubt in. the breasts of many only await such inspiration to evoke. But the law of natural selection has evidently something to do with the pla- cidity and conservatism of the Assembly. ‘The session yesterday was devoted to 8 discussion of the validity of Boman Catholic baptism, and while all those who spoke, except one, took the posi- tion that the Church of Rome is nol a true Church of Christ, yet the sentiment of the Assembly was very manifestly against any disturbance of whatever friendly rela- tions may exist between that Chu.ch and Protestant Christianity. And ‘hence the matter was postponed for another year. The Charter Amendments, The city charter amendments embraced in the Woodin bill, upon the fate of which the Governor will have to ‘decide by next Wednesday, possess some good features, But we question whether all the provisions will receive the Comptroller's approval, es pecially those in relation to the weeding out of the debt payable from assessments and ta the collection of claims against the city. ‘The ‘temporary debt,” as its called, is now nominally about twenty-three million dol- Jars; but this contains a considerable amount which, as it will never come back to the city from assessments, is actually per- manent debt.’ The Comptroller is di- rected to sift this down to hard-pan. by deducting from it all assessments on city property; all sums for st im- provements chargeable to thé city special laws; all amounts for ille va- cated, erroneous or remitted assess; ts, and all deficiencies, whether arising from the insufficiency of the value of property benefited, from short accounts and returns of collectors prior to 1859, or from any other cause, All these amounts are to be trans- ferred to the permanent debt by th¢ issue of ten years’ consolidated stock. In regard to claims against the city the Comptroller is required to pay the departinent employés on payrotis certified by the proper officer, and to pay all claims against the city for out standing indebtedness that may lp sworn to and passed by the Auditing notwith- standi have same. This certainly seems téfover a wide field and to open the doors of fhe treasury in a suspicious manner. | Some of the amendments #re, undoubt- edly, desirable, A three-fofrths vote of the Aldermen is required tqpass an ordi- nance or resolution over’ the Mayor's veto, instead of a two-thirds, vote,/4s at present, and ordinances and resolyfions involving liability or expenditure are p receive a four. fifths instead of a three-for ¢. These changes are important unfer the minority representation system. provisions in the criticism that they vigually block the growth of the city and stof all such works of progress. Buta single point will Ptobax bly dispose of the whol bill. The charter law, the work of the headed by Mr. Evarts, will be ready for pie sentation to the next Legislsture, and in all probability, comigg from such 4 source, be accepted and As the main provisions of the Wj bill are not! to become operative year, they would have but a few montis’ life should the | Evarts Commission chotter become law. Th¢ Governor will not'be Akely, under these cir cumstances, to give a bill of questionabl« expediency his approyal. ‘Tux Intxzss ofthe Prince of Wales, com: ing atter ns return from a trip that is trying to the best of constitutions, may well excite alarm. His disease is also of a disquieting character, and we are not surprised to see that the money market shows signs of anxiety in consequence. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Queen Victoria wears the Koh-i-noor as a brooch, An adjutant mayor travels with the Count Von Moltke, Ex-Governor Washburne, of Massachusetts, favora Conkling. * The lialians say that “she is beautiful whom you thivk beautiful,” oe ‘A strong Thurman feeling is rising among the demo crats of Now Jersey. Judge Taft thinks that the republican party is strong enough to nominate men of brains, The Princess ot Wales at Court wears pale chamois satin, trimmed with leaves and roses. The Duke of Wellington said of some officer that he had been over-cducated tor his intéllect, 1 Granville wishes that ready means may be given to women for obtaining medical degrees, ‘The Tennessee democrats are divided on local issues, andthe republicans claim the State by alarge ma jority. ‘An administration Senator says Wirt Sikes was ¢ good man to take the Conswiship, but——. And Sixes, he takes the but. Longlellow, who has been ased to spending his sum- mers on the seashore, will this summer rusticate in a P yivama village. i The Chicago Tribune sees as one of the signs of re- cent) business Ife that the capitahsts and the mer chants have beon two distinct classes, Since Mra Ole Bull has for Europe to join her husband the gossip abuut thelr reparation on account ‘of his cruel treatment seems to be exploded, When Fitghugh was (oid that he did not know how to spoll “bigger” he supcreiliously exclaimed, “@? haw!’? And now he is going buck to drive Texas cattle. When a lady complained to Tarnor that she could not see the same bri.lant colors in nature which he painted iu his pictures, be replied, “Don't you wish you could?” Te St. Louis Republican thinks that, in coasidering democratic streugth and policy, 5,000 independent votes mm Califurnia or New Jersey are worth more thin 20,000 democratic votes in a sure State, like Missourt or Ken- tucky, Some paper says that the lamp posts on Pennsylvania Aveuue in Washington are so weak that they all incline toward the west, or away from the Capitol. This 1s natural enough, for a Congressman. is aiways more \ired when he is going home than he is in the frech bright moraine i ad