The New York Herald Newspaper, January 8, 1877, Page 4

4 ~ NEW YORK HER. BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. posit aa a el JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. TNE DAILY HERALD, puiliched every day tn the year. ‘Three conta per copy (Sunday excluded). fon dollars per ‘ine dollar per month for any period lens be w ew Youx HERALD. ‘4 ‘Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be returned. —_-———_ - PIWLADELPHIA OFFICE—-NO. 112 SOUTH SIXTH LONVON ‘OFFICE @F THE NEW YORK HERALD— SO. 46 FLEET STR. NO. STREET. PARIS OF FICE-—AVENUE DE L'OPERA, RAPLES OF FICE—NO. 7 STRADA PACK. Budscriptions and advertisements will be received and for- ‘warded on the sume terms a» 1n New York. VoruME XDI1+ +05 tina AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. PARK THEATRE —Z1r. ¥IFTH AVENUE THKATRE.-—Tue Aurnican, WALLACK’'S THEATRE,.—Fountopex Frorr. ie VAN WINKLE. wx Two Onruans, —Granp Equxsratan Festivat, CENTENXIALSCHNURNEN, HELLER’S THEATRE. GRAND OPERA HOU: THEATRE COMIQUE. OLYMPIC THEATRE. TIVOLI THEATRE. BAGLE THEATRE.—P. BAN FRANUISCO MIN KELLY & LEON'S MI EGYPTIAN HALL.—S: JANUARY. 8, 1877, DEALERS, The Adams Express Company run a special news- paper train over the Pennsylvania Railroad and its connections, leaving Jersey City at a quarter past four A. M. daily and Sunday, carrying tho regular edition ofthe Hxnaup as far West as Harrisburg and South to Washington, reaching Philadelphia at a quarter past six A. M. and Wasbingto! one P. M. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather in New York to-day will be colder and partly cloudy or clear, possibly with strong winds. Sree THe Herarp's Srectat, Despatcn on the latest phase of the Eastern question, Tne License ReGuLations concerning cigar makers seem to be an absolute restriction upon tudustry. Tue ForGer Brent is at last at home again, and he regards all extradition treaties with well- grounded suspicion. ‘Tue Crow Inpians appear to have been neg- * lected and swindled. The same plan has given us most of our Indian ware. Tue Tatxk or a Lor or Lunatics, reported in another column, about one of their own kind, is almost as funny as that of some office-holders about thieves. Five Hunprep Dow.ars seems ridiculously inadequate bail to demand of a ruffian who at- tempted to decoy and force a respectable woman into a house of bad repute Ir 18 Prorosep that York city shall regu- late the selling of liquor within her limits, and old topers contemplate the change with a screnity that does not please champions of temperance. Goversor Hampton, of South Carolina, is said to have already taken care of the State’s lunatics and convicts. If this is true there will be no carpet-baggers left to support Chamberlain, Port Jervis 18 AGAIN threatened by an ico gorge, and if science will only devise some way of averting the danger it may hereatter talk monkeys and protoplasm at Port Jervis without encountering a single sneer. Tuose wo SNEER at the talk about danger from fire in churches will perhaps explain how a fine church was utterly consumed in Virginia yesterday, and so quickly that the congregation did not escape any too soon. Whatever a V AN ARCHITECT, actor and manager has to say about increasing the safety of theatres and their audiences demands the careful attention of the public, and we therefore ask for Mr. Boucicault's interesting letter the general notice which it will doubtless receive. Wauat a Treasure the Mexican General Men- dez would be to a clique of patriots desiring to “fix things!” Acting in the place of the usurper Diaz he has ordered an election of a President, but refuses electoral rights to the adherents of the late Juarez and Lerdo governments, and de- tlares that neither of the two most prominent members of the Lerdo government are eligible for the Presidency. Beside this comprehensive statesman how weak-kneed the shrewdest re- turning board appears! Ovr Ecnors or Yesterpay’s sermons have in them somethir y grade of believer, Dr. Armitage enlarged upon the great moments that come in every life; Dr. McGlynn held up Christ as an exemplar of practical life; Mr. Butts explained the priestly nature of Christ; Mr. Weiss, filling Mr. Frothingham’s pulpit, de- lighted the extreme free-tl Ir, Hepworth descanted upon the spirit o jowship, while | Dr. Talmage, showing that even editors are sub- ject to earthly annoyances, declared that the men of the press are to decide whether mankind is to be saved or lost. Tue Weatner.—The Gulf storm which we predicted on Thursday morning has now ac- complished its movement over the coast line of the United States and is passing into the Atlantic Ocean off the Nova Scotia coust. Its progress has been marked by the conditions that we an- nounced would prevail when we drew attention to its approach. Heavy rain accompanied the storm along the coast, with snow on the weste margin of its area. The storm was 1 last two that pussed over this city—limite areca, but progressed with remarkable en ‘The gale at New York yesterday was or thirty miles an hour. The arca of precip that accompanied the disturbance extended west- ward as far as Toledo, Ohio. Westward of the Mississippi a considerable quantity of snow fell, Wut that was due to the influence of the approach- jug area of high pressure and id, A de- pression is central in Northern Texas, but it is possible that it will be filled from the adjacent before it reaches the Alle; temperature has risen considerably in the and South, but is very low and falling rapidly in the West and North. At five P. M. yesterday the temperature at Pembina was twenty-six de- grees below zero. A “‘norther” may be expected during to-day ot Galveston and Indianola, Texas. ‘We regard it as probable that many ice gorges will occur in the Eastern rivers. The weather in ew York today will be colder and partly elendy or leat, possibly with strong winds. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1877. The Danger which Confronts Us. Our institutions are really in great danger, but it is likely to come ina shape some- what different from that which is appre- hended. We have no fears of a civil war; no apprehension of a dislocation of the fed- eral government ; and, even if the federal government should be temporarily disabled, no fear that the result would be general anarchy. Our political system has its strong os well as its weak points, and among the strongest is the effectual barrier against social chaos which ex- ists in our State governments, In its general outlines our system is the wisest and safest ever devised by human sagacity. Our double system, which commits ordinary in- terests to local control and clothes the cen- tral government with the external affairs of the country, is a great safeguard against anarchy. All the ordinary interests of s0- ciety are intrusted to the protection of the State governments, The preservation of order, the punishment of crimes, the en- forcement of contracts, the creation of cor- porations, the collection of debts, the admin- istration of justice between man and man, the descent of property to heirs, the transfer of real estate, the regulation of mar- ringe—in short, ali the ordinary means for the preservation of order, come within the jurisdiction of the State governments, which insure us against the dissolution of civil society even if we should be overtaken by so great a calamity as o transient suspen- sion of the federal authority. Even an | interruption of the postal service is an evil | this that could be borne. Our express and tele- graph companies might serve as a partial substitute, although the. inconvenience would be great, especially in parts of the country remote from the principal lines of communication. A deadlock in the federal government would nevertheless involve usin fearful perils of another kind. We should be at the mercy of foreign governments. The regulations pertaining to our foreign commerce would fall to the ground, and our paper currency would so depreciate as to throw all business into utter derangement. Although the State governments would pro- tect us against sogial anarchy we should be plunged into commercial chaos. We do not fear this great calamity, because we are con- fident that whoever may be declared Presi- dent the appropriation bilis will be passed, and the authority of the President de facto will be generally recognized in spite of any defects in his title. The danger which confronts us is not so- cial anarchy, against which our State gov- ernments are competent to protect us; nor a suspension of the federal government, which public opinion would not tolerate under any provocation; nor civil war, which the defeated party could not attempt with- out utter ruin; but the real danger is that such a disgust with our institutions may grow out of this protracted agitation and turmoil that the people will be ready to ac- cept any change which holds outa promise of greater stability and better protection againét the convulsive politics from which all interests suffer. Our Presidential elections are the weak point in our system. Even at best they have a disturbing influence, During the last half of every administration all the public functionaries are absorbed in schemes for electing the next President. The session of Congress which precedes a Presidential elec- tion is wasted in political mancuvres, and it happens now that the session which fol- lows the Presidential election is equally ab- sorbed in strenuous partisan endeavors. We are threatened with a still further con- tinuance of this prolonged interruption of wholesome legislation, by plunging the coun- try anew into the heat and turbulenceofa Presidential contest in the year following the Centennial. If the two houses should be unable to agree ona rule for counting the electoral votes and there should be a con- flict preventing any result before the 4th of March we should immediately find our- selves in the midst of another Presidential struggle more bitter and envenomed than the one from which we have not yet emerged. Every hope of an early revival of business would be shattered by suchacontest. Fully two years would be worse than wasted in selecting a Chief Magistrate, dating from the time when the present turmoil began and running on until the two houses of Congress should have counted and declared the elec- toral votes of 1877. And, afterall, the same questions that now distract the country might return upon us after the vote in a new set of Electoral Colleges. Every well-wisher of our institutions will desire to avoid the renewal of a party con- test fraught with so many evil consequences, Business will be checked and enterprise dis- couraged until our political difficulties are settled, and almost any early settlement would be preferable toa new Presidential elec- tion this year under the clumsy, defective system whose evils are now for the first time fully disclosed. The country cannot afford to have another Presidential election until the present bad system shall have been amended, In the meantime it is “better to suffer the ills we have than fly to others that | we know not of,” The most formidable danger with which the country is threatened is a deep-seated revolt against the whole theory of an elec- tive Chief Magistrate. The people of the United States are pre-eminently o busi- ness community, more devoted to material prosperity than to any set ot political ideas, The indispensable condition of business prosperity is order, stability, permanence. If every- thing is to be upsettled and thrown into confusion for nearly two years of every @ur thé influential commercial class will be too glad to exchange our mock elective system for some other which will give a better prospect of steadiness. It is impor- tant to have the presont difficulty settled as quietly as possible, with a view to a deliber- ate change of system ir the interval before another Presidential contest. Since the civil war and the arbitrary methods to which it reconciled the country the great danger which has incessantly threatened our institutions is the stealthy approach of an imperial centralism, The chaotic condition of the Southern States, which has furnished constant pretexts for federal interference, has strengthened centralizing tendency, ronage of the central government, enormously increased during and since the war, has given the President so prodigious a power to influence elections as to constitute a formidable peril of itself. President Grant could have secured a third election, or, at least, a third nomination, had it not been “for the indictment of Babcock and impeach- ment of Belknap just in advance of the election of delegates to the Republican National Convention. But those dangers were trivial in comparison with that which now assails our political system. The business interests of the country cannot endure a recurrence of the convulsive strain which is now put upon them. Order, stability and quiet are the’ fundamental requisites of business pros- perity and commercial growth. Such a state of things as now exists tends to under- mine confidence in Presidential elections and reconcile the country to extreme methods of relief. If this exciting contest should run beyond the 4th of March and extend through the present year the country will be apt to think that a system which brings such evils is not worth preserving. Party passions must be hushed if we are to maintain our free institutions, Street Cleaning and Technicalities. The streets are just now in a condition of very decided uncleanliness and discomfort. No pretence has been made by the Street Cleaning Bureau to do anything for the re- lief either of foot passengers or road travel since the first heavy fall of snow. Police Commissioner Nichols, who is at 'the head of the bureau, informs an evening paper that the law stands in his way, that there is no appropriation that can be devoted to the removal of the snow, and that to use for one purpose an appropriation intended for another purpose is by the charter made a misdemeanor punishable with imprison- ment. Following out this theory the Police Commissioners addressed a communication to the Board of Apportionment asking the transfer to théir department of some one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of un- expended balances, to be used in removing the present obstruttions from the streets. We arg now at the commencement of the new year, and the appropriations for 1877 areas yet untouched. The street cleaning bureau is charged with the duty of ‘‘cgusing all streets, avenues, lanes, alleys, gutters, wharves, piers and heads of slips” in the city, ‘‘to be thoroughly cleaned from time to time; and keptat all times thoroughly clean.” This power seems ample to cover the work of removing the filth that at pres- ent fills the streets and makes many of them not only not “thoroughly clean,” but dan- gerous and almost impassable. Under the recent financial management of the city Police Commissioner Nichols might have met with embarrassments in using the ap- propriation made for street cleaning for the purpose for which it was intended. But we had supposed that Comptroller Kelly would not be likely to offer obstructions to the Police Department in the performance of what is clearly its duty, or to refuse to pay Commissioner Nichols’ requisitions on any technical grounds. If the additional sum asked for is needed before the streets can be rescued from their present horrible condi- tion it should be transferred without delay. But wecan see no reason why the streot cleaning bureau cannot clean the streets in 1877, as required by the law, through the use of the appropriation set apart for that express purpose for that Our State Canals. The annual report of the Canal Auditor, just sent to the Legislature, makes a melan- choly exhibit of the business of the canals for the last season of navigation. It has been the most unpfosperous year ing their whole history. We do not believe that this extreme depression is permanent, but it furnishes conclu- sive reasons for o fundamental change in ourcanal policy. The railroad war which was so active during the season made the railways more formidable competitors of our public works than they have ever been be- fore. This competition cannot be main- tained for a series of years without bringing utter ruin on the railroads, and we may therefore expect the Erie Canal to recover a portion of its lost business. But the railway competition will hereafter be so formidable that the State must abandon all iden of making the canals a source of revenue. The tolls must be reduced to the lowest point that will suffice for defraying the ex- penses of superintendence and repairs, and the worthless lateral canals must be aban- doned. Itisidle to talk of selling them, for the State will never find a purchaser. Their revenues and the deficiency of tolls 18 compared with expenses are exhibited inthe following table:— Gross Income. Deficiencies. 04,944 55 Champlain Oswego... 1 Cayuga nnd Seneca 14,312 34 Chemung. 7,689 87 Chenango 4,602 03 Black Riv 23,734 85 Crooked Lake. These lateral canals are a mere burden, and not another dollar should be expended on them except one or two which serve as feeders for supplying the Erie Canal with water. After throwing off this burden the State should manage the Erie Canal on the simple principle of inviting business and keeping down the price of railroad freights, If the tolls are put low enough the main canal will always do a large business, and whatever business it does will contribute to the prosperity of New York eity, whereas all the railroads, ex- cept the Central and the Erie, divert busi- ness from New York. Water transportation will always be cheaper than transportation by rail when the roads make their charges high enough to yield o profit. The State and the city have a vital interest in keeping open this cheap channel of com- munication with the West, and the present Legislature must begin the policy of using the canal merely to attract business. The small amount of the canal debt which still remains unpaid must be discharged by a State tax, and the Erie Canal be forever dedicated to cheap transporta- tion. It will then have alarge business, even in years when the railroad competition is most active, and will prevent railway freights from becoming exorbitant in years when the roads are managed with a view to The pat- | profit. Specie Payments. The able letter of Mr. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, which we printed yesterday, recalls attention to avery important subject which hes been engulfed in the party, agitation which engrosses the attention of Congress. We suppose it is chimerical to expect useful legislation relating to the suffering business interests of the country during the Presi- dential struggle which is likely to continue during this session. Itis one of the many mischiefs of a disputed Presidential elec- tion that it renders our government useless for the discharge of its ordi- nary and regular functions, The state of the currency was recognized in the plat- forms of both political parties as the great question of the period, and it is certainly the one which most urgently calls for imme- diate and wise legislation. We havea law requiring resumption of specie payments on January 1, 1879, and i+ is certain that this requirement cannot be fulfilled without new legislation. If the subject goes over to the next Congress there will remain only a sin- gle year for the preparatory measures to go into operation, whereas two years are a very short period for preparations for executing the law of 1875. If wo are to resume in 1879 it is absurd to wait until 1878 before prescribing the method and supplying the means, It is deplorable that the present period of low values, which ig so favorable to carly resumption, must pass unimproved. ‘The scale of general prices is as low as it would be in an active condition of business in specie-paying times, and if Congress would take advantage of the opportunity it would be easy to fix prices at this standard and en- courage enterprise to embark in new under- takings by an assurance that goods manu- factured for the next year or two could be sold in a stable market. Stability is impos- sible, caloulations for the future aro impossible, unless our currency is re- lieved from the danger of fluctuations. As present values approximate the specie basis no interest would suffer by vigorous steps for putting our currency on a sound j basis. But the unfortunate Presjdential muddle blocks all such legislation at a time when it is most urgently demanded. There is one branch of Mr. Atkinson's ar- gument which seems not merely cogent but conclusive. He thinks it absurd to accumu- late a stock of gold merely for the purpose of redeeming the outstanding greenbacks. The legal tender notes are constantly com- ing into the treasury in excess of the expen- ditures, and it is the plainest dictate of common sense to cancel them instead of putting them again into circulation. It is preposterous to think of hoarding gold to pay them when a simple process of withholding and destroying them would forestall any necessity of redemption. If a merchant's notes of hand should come into his possession in the ordinary course of business it would be ridiculous for him to make laborious and expensive preparations putting them into the fire would discharge him from all further trouble about them. . It would be equally ridiculous for the govern- ment to accumulate gold for the redemption of the surplus greenbacks which come into the treasury. There is quite as little necessity for the government to make an expensive honrd of gold to redeem the outstanding greenbacks. They could be readily funded into long four percent bonds without causing the slight- est disturbance in the money market, whereas an accumulation of specie to pay them would disturb and convulse the gold markets of the world. Not a dollar of gold is needed for redeeming the surplus greenbacks, although when they are brought to par a gold reserve will be needed to maintain them at that point. But we de- spair of any sound legislation on this sub- ject during the present heated session. Marine Disasters. The perils of the sea have not for along time been brought so frequently before the eye of the public as during the present sea- son. The double wreck of the Circassian is not yet forgotten, two or three cases of un- usual sufferings by shipwreck have been reported in the Hznaxp within a week, and to-day a ship is ashore near Barnegat. There are grave apprehensions as to the safety of one of the Fall River steamers, the Newport, which is in danger near New Haven, and the unfortunate steamer Amé- rique, of the Transatlantic line, went ashore near Long Branch yesterday. The last named vessel will be remembered as the one which was abandoned at sea two or three years ago, and it would almost seem as if she had an intelligence of her own and was bent upon suicide. Happily, the loss of life conse- quent upon these accidents is small, but the similarity of the cases suggests the question whether the nation should not pay as much attention to the prevention of ac- cidents as it does to the saving of life after accidents have occurred. Powerful fog whistles at each life-saving station would in all probability have given the stranded ves- sels timely warning and prevented the loss of several lives an. « large amount of valu- able property. While cases of grounding are so frequent it would scem as if fog sig- nals are fully as necessary and useful as lighthouses. The Story of the Florida Return- ing Board. Our special Washington correspondent gives a concise account, from democratic sources, of the manipulations by which Florida was declared first for Stearns and Hayes, and on a recount ordered by the Supreme. Court for Drew and Hayes. If this story is true the Returning Board has been clearly guilty of fraud; the republi- can managers are also guilty of frand in the counties mentioned, and the republi- cans cannot afford to count in Mr. Hayes by such fraudulent methods. If they cannot show that the vote of the State was honestly taken and fairly counted public opinion must set against them. If they can refute this story we advise them to do so without delay. They had control of the State; their Governor was a candidate for re- election; they appointed the election offi- cers, and they are fairly accountable and 4 must show that they dealt honestly, for their payment when the simple process of | The Vanderbilt Obsequties. The peculiar impress of Cornelius Van- derbilt seemed as perceptible in the rites over his remains yesterday as it ever was upon what transpired about him during his lifetime. In the ceremonies there was noth- ing done for the sake of mere display, yet the strict’ appropriateness of all that was said and done was, like the Commodore's } own deeds, more effective than any labored efforts could have been. In death, as in life, he was surrounded by his friends, and by them alone; the prayers offered were strictly appropriate to the occasion ; the hymns, like the man, were as effective as they were unostentatious, and the sermon was a practical discourse instead of an artificial eulogy. Even nature itself seemed in sym- pathy with the occasion and its subject, and was by turns as stormy and serene, as gloomy and bright, as the fitful life of the man who was returning to nature's bosom. Over the scene of his earliest triumphs o greater conqueror led him back, and con- ducted him to a final home close beside the one from which he started when he went into the great world. Departing from their usual custom, even the pulpits of the city kept silence before him and forebore to review his career, but left the man to the Maker who alone comprehended him, and his example to those to whom for many years it has in all its phases been plainly apparent. The Board of Apportionment. The new Board of Apportionment will hold its first meeting to-day. President Wheeler, vf the Department of Taxes and Assessments, is the only member of the old Board who remains in his position. His as- sociates in the first Board on which he served where Mayor Havemeyer, Comp- troller Green and Alderman Vance. This body had not been long in existence before Mr. Green got into an entanglement with Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Vance, and as the ex- Comptroller carried the Mayor with him the Board was tied up, two and two, and its sessions were at once quarrelsome and farcical. When Mayor Havemeyer's suc- cessor took office the composition of the Boatd of Apportionment was Mayor Wick- ham, President Wheeler, Alderman Lewis and Comptroller Green, The latter then found himself in a minority; but Mr. Wheeler on several occasions was unable to co-operate with the Mayor, and was com- pelled to join with Comptroller Green, thus again tyin@Jthe Board. The present Board comprises Mayor Ely, Comptroller Kelly, President Wheeler and Alderman Purroy. It is decidedly the best Board we have had under the charter of 1873, and, as it is en- tirely harmonious, it can do much to pro- mote the interests of the city. If the Board of Apportionment will be guided by sound common sense, and while properly protecting the taxpayers will ap- propriate money for all desirable purposes and aid the departments in improving and benefiting the city and in discharging their duties efficiently, it may make itself a very useful element in promoting a good munic- ipnl government. Heretofore if a transfer of money or a special appropriation hap- pened to be required technical and factious obstructions were almost certain to be thrown in the way, no matter how proper and expedient might be the object sought to be promoted, Sgme quibble of the charter was sure to be discovered to delay if not to defeat the desired action. It is to be hoped that all this wrangling is now at an end, and that the present Board, instead of obstructing the progress of the city and paralyzing the departments, will be found valuable aid to an efficient and intelligent administration of our municipal affairs. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. California shipped 36,000,000 pounds of wool Kast last year. Boston Transcript:—“The farther of all horse cars is ‘stop farthor forward.’ ”” Charcoal dust mixed with soll increases the bril- Hancy of leaves and flowers. The Kansas City Times speaks of “golden words from Tilden,” but makes no reference to checks. Tho Los Angelos Herald says that Southern Califor- nia needs farmers and money, and not helpless clerks, ‘The Chicago Tribune discourages Murat Halstead in his desire tbat Bob Ingersoll shall be United States Senator from Illinols. Oregon salmon are caught by millions and canned, The meat is redder, wf and of higher flavor than that of Eastern salmon, Washington Chronicle:—“‘Fun is just as good as fruit out-of season, A Capitol Hill boy who applied a kettle to a dog’s tail yosterday says it ‘laid all ovor Crismus,’ ” ‘There is an inexcusableness of misuse of similes in the writing of some men. Here, for instance, democratic editor, who calls General Gran plum,” as if he were a sort of candy date. In our country the successful politician grows to power upon brilliant lap robes and magnificent dinner acis, but Jules Simon, the French Premier, hves with his family in a filth story flat on a moderate income, Mr, Moody sonsivly that pretty giris should not permit men to kiss them at church fairs for twenty- fivecents, That is right. They may be Just as easliy kissed after they leave the fair and tora hundred per cent lezs in the price. Aman in achurch fair who hada fifty eent bowl of oyster stew suddenly roso in great excitement and began to pull off his coat and vest. “Why do youdo that?” asked the pious frau— lady who took the fity cents. “Why, great heavens!’’ hecried, ‘there isa little oyster drowoing away down in there, and I’m going to dive for it.” What the Boston people most liked about the walk- ing girl Von Hillern was her wonderful technique. Her phrasing was correct, and she did not show that weakness which compels failure of effect inthe third and fourth toes Her rendering of Chopin opus No, 91 in B foot flat was applauded; and though she had Iittle of Shoeman, she gave tho leggatto of Shoebert with great sole, Some men, not scientincally educated, wonder why the great, luxuriously beautitul plains of the tropics aro comparctively unpeopled, while tho cold, fortorn towns of Now England are crowded; and Buckle, in his “History of Civilization,” and even Spencer, in ‘ork on “Social Science,” forget to remark that oysters nover laugh all round to thoir ears in a climate below thirty-six im the shade, Into a saucepan puta largo lump of butter ard a small onion finely chopped, and when the option is fried to an atnber color throw in slices of evla boilea potatoes, which must bo thoroughly stirred until they aro turning brown, Atthis moment put in a spoontul of fnoly chopped parsicy, and, a8 soon as it In cooked, drain thtough a colander, so that the potatoes retain the moisture of the butter and many particles of tho parsley, Thus you may have Lyonnatse potatoes. Mathews and Young, the actors, had some grudgo to pay off cn a surly toll-bar keoper, It should be premised that just beyond the bar there was a road whieh Jed back into the town. Dressed precisely alike, driving gigs almost exactly similar, with horses of the samo color, making up their faces to the same expression and putting to bim tho samo grotesque questions they drove through His gate in an apparently | endless succession of precisely simtiar tudividuals. weet TELEGRAPHIC NEWS From All Parts of the World. THE OTTOMAN DIFFICULTY. Turkish Stubbornness Encouraged by Russia’s Supposed’ Weakness. THE CONFERENCE CONFESSED A FAILURE. Moslem Protests Against For- eign Intervention. RUSSIAN TROOPS READY TO MARCH, The Biack Sea Fleet in Position at the Mouth of the Dnieper. [BY CABLE TO THE HERALD.} Lonpon, Jan. 8, 1877. ‘The situation in the East is still unchanged, ana the strain on the public mind is intense. From the action of the Plenipotentiaries at Constantinople it Js plain that the desire for peace is sincere, but the stubborn tenacity of the Porte renders it extremely diMcult to see how war can be avoided. The ten- sion is becoming so great that almost any change would be a relief. ‘THE CONFERENCE A FAILURE The HERALD correspondent in Vienna telegrapha that the unanimous opinion of the press and the public in that city is that the Conference is a failure. The propositions agreed upon by the assembled Plenipotentiaries were thrice modified to meet the stubborn opposition of the Sultan, but without pro- ducing any corresponding effect on the action of the latter. MOSLEM PROTESTS AGAINST FOREIGN INTERVENTION, ‘The Turkish monarch was encouraged in hig ob- stinacy by the attitude of the Mosiem population of Bulgaria. It isweported that they are greatly re- joiced at the promulgation of the new constitution and vigorously protest against foreigi? intervention in the affairs of the Empire. MIDHAT ENCOURAGED BY RUSSIAN WEAKNESS. There can be no doubt that Midhat Pacha places considerable reliance upon the unreadiness of the Russian army at Kischenef. The reports of thean- expected lack of resources and the inadequacy of the preparations for immediate war in Russia have been repeated from various quarters, and it seems to be an established fact that the force which the Czar could at present bring into the field would be much inferior to what was expected a short time ago. PROBABLY EXAGGERATED REPORTS. It is thought, however, by shrewd observers, that there is a great deal of exaggeration in these re- ports, and that the Russian army, notwithstanding many disadvantages, would still be able to give @ good account of the Turks if the fight were left between them. Some even think it is a piece of artful Russian diplomacy to spread reports of @ breakdown in their army 80 as to encourage the Porte to provoke a war that must come ~.»me time, and might as well be faced now. A RUSSIAN ARMY READY FOR ACiTOR, Russia has certainly 180,000 good troops vonce! trated on the frontier and ready to march into Tur- key at very short notice. This force would give the Turkish army ample occupation for some time, to say nothing of reorganizing the shattered Servian army and the thousands of Turkish Slavs who would rally around the Russian standard. THE BLACK SEA FLEET IN POSITION, ‘The Russian naval preparations are as complete as could be expected, and the Black Sea fleet is in position at the mouth of the Dnieper. This posi- tion, outside Nicolaief and east of Odessa, is well situated for offensive movements, The object being to assume an offensive-defensive position for the purpose of protecting the coast towns and gecund- ing the movement of the Russian land forces in their advance toward the Danube, no better strate- gic point than Nicolalef could be selected. ADVANTAGES OF NICOLAIEF. It possesses railroad and telegraphic communica- tion with the coast and the interior and is weil lo- cated as a base of operations and supply. Sebasto- pol being rendered invulnerable to — naval attack by. the new torpedo system of har- bor defence, and the Sea of Azof being too distant from the Bosphorus to warrant the operations of the Turkish iron-clad fleet in that direction, it is presumable that all the efforts of the latter will be directed toward securing the mouth of the Danube and against the Russian ports of Odessa and Nicolaief. The Russian fleet, therefore, awaits the development of the Turkish plans and is in a position to attack or defend, as circumstances demand, PREPARING TO WIND UP. A despatch from Constantinopio says that the Euro- pean plenipotentiaries met at the Russian Embasey on Saturday evening. It is said they decided to de- clare at Monday’s sitting of the Conference that they have not modified their views and cannot make any further concesstons. AN ULTIMATUM TO WE PRESENTED. A dospatch from Constantinople dated yesterday says the European governments have instructed their represcntatt' in the Conference to refuse to consider Midhat Pacha’s constitution, and to present on Mon- day what is really the European ultimatum, The Powers are very determinea, and undoubtedly mean to try to forco the Porto to accept their proposals. THK PORTR GIVEN TWO DAYS TO DECIDE. The plenipotentiaries will give the vorte until Wednesday or Thursday fora final and direct answer. In the event of a refusal they have decided to with. draw trom Constantinople. Tho Porte begins to show a disposition to yleld, particularly in rogard to some sort of an international commission, which is the moss important part of the seheme. REVIEW OF THE SITUATION. A Vienna correspondent says the Porte seems to be willing to grant a con: commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but resists in regard to Bulgaria, Tho correspondent concludes an exhaustive review of the situation as —_follows:— “The = difficulties still existing are not quite so irreconcilablo as not to excite hope thata compromise is possible, or at all events that a further delay in the decision for a few da: Justited, A Berlin despaten says Austria is calling out the ree serves in Bohemia and elsewhere. ROUMANIA AND TORKRY, A correspondent at Vienna telegraphs thero is evory hupo that the differences between Rou- mania and Turkey will bo arranged. Tur. key has already informed the Roumanian government that tho Porto nevor could have any in, ention of altering by an act of interasl policy the See s »