The New York Herald Newspaper, December 18, 1878, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. Seer pistes JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. he THE DAILY HERALD. ed every day in the yenr. ‘Three cents per copy (Sun cluded). Ti rs per Jour orat arate ct Har por month for ans peried loss than’ six mont jars for six months, Suaday | edition include WEEKLY HEKALD—One dallar per year, freo of post- TICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—Remit in drafts on Now noney orders, aud where neither of thess yin & registered letter. AlL 7. In order to insure atten- changed wust give {send the me can be money graphic despatches must properly seated. M1 not be returned, ‘O, 112 SOUTH SIXTH THB NEW YORK HERSLD— F LOPERA, nd advertisements will be received and a the same terms us in New York. BROADWAY THEATR! ACADEMY OF MUSIC: BOWERY THEATR WALLACK’S THEATR UNION SQUARE T11E. BOOTHS THEATRE— STANDARD THEATRE: FIFTH AVENVE TIE. DANCK Banker's Daventer. 4 Lire, Van Wikis, GRAND OPERA PARK THEATRE—Comxny GERMANIA THEATRE—Da Kuavs. WINDSOR THEATRE—Variety. TIVOLI THRATRE—Vanery. TONY PASTOR'S—Variwi BAN FRANCISCO MINSTRI EGYPTIAN HALL—Vamirry. — THEATRE COMIQUE—Loneaine. ABERLE’S AMERICAN THEATRE—Varierr, TRIPLE HEET. sare that the weather in New York and its vicinity to-day will be slightly warmer and cloudy, with light snow. To-mor- row it will be colder and cloudy, followed by clear- ing weather. Watt Sreeer Yesrervay.—The stock mar- ket was active and weak at the close. Gold opened at 10013 and fell to par. Government bonds were firm, States weak and railroads strong. Money on call was active at 31,04 per cent, advanced to 7, and closed ai 5 a 6 per cent. Srrrmne Bcu, the Indian contractor will be pained to hear, intends to spend Christmas and New Year's in Canada. Tue Execution or Kenor, the notorious Molly Maguire leader, is set for today. All hope of a reprieve has been abandoned. New Or.eans is not likely to suffer for a lack of notaries. If General Butler is to be believed no first class saloon is considered complete without one. ‘Tne Giory or Creepmoor seems to be on the decline. Owing to the difficulty of acceas it is not improbable that the spring meeting will } be held at the Brinton range, near Elizabeth. Ir Is Nor lurnopaure that the resolution of | the Aldermen prohibiting residents of other States from holding stands in the public mar- kets has a more or less remote connection with the Tammany machine. AccorpiNG To THE DesratcHes from Wash- ington the members of the Cabinet at the meet- ing yesterday felt like indulging in an oki- fashioned breakdown over the general peaceful condition of the country. Tur Crener Despatcnes were for the first time alluded to yesterday in the-House. The style of their reeeption leads to the well grounded belief that each party basa little.col- ored chap under the Woodpile. Governor Hamrtoy, this morning’s de spatches say, hus experienced a change for the better, and it is now thought that he will re- cover. Hepartook of svlid food yesterday for the first time since his illness, and is himself full NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 187&-TRIPLE SHEET. Bull that Squatsisagood specimen. Heisa| of Judge Hilton’s indiscreet demonstration Gold at Par—Resumption Practically Achieved. For the first time since the issue of legal tender notes they were recognized yester- day in the financial world as the full equiv- alent of gold. The premium on gold ante- dates the passage of the Legal Tender act, that act having been passed February 14, 1862, and the premium on gold having be- gun in the preceding month. The original comparison was between gold and the notes of the State banks, which varied between par and a gold preminm of five per cent in January, 1862, We do not know the precise date when the first legal tender notes were issued, but it could not have been earlier than March, 1862, since time wag required for engraving and print- ing after the passage of the Legal Tender act. But in March, 1862, the lowest pre- mium on gold was 11-8 per cent, and the highest 21-2 per cent, But it rose very rapidly afterward, and reached an enor- mous height in critical stages of the war. Now, when the volcano of public passions and fears has burnt out and become extinct and gold has finally sunk to par, it is curi- ous to inspect a record of the fluctuations in the price of gold for the sixteen years during which it has been at a premium, and especially the id and violent fluctu- ations in critical stages of the civil war. As a physician judges of the condition of a patient by marking the varying rapidity of his pulse, so the national hopes and fears and the varying prospects of success and de- feat during the civil war are registered in the sudden fluctuations of the gold pre- mium which were the consequence of mili- tary events. ‘The premium reached its highest point in July, 1864, when gold was rated one day at the stupendous price of 285, making the value of the greenback dollay only thirty-five cents. That was the darkest period of national gloom, the tre- mendous crisis when citizens and the gov- ernment itself came nearest to despairing of the Republic. In those dark days steam was kept up on a government vessel in the Washington Navy Yard on which the Presi- dent and Cabinet would have embarked with the public archives had the rebels under Early forced their way into the cap- ital. Lee, sorely pressed by Grant at Petersburg, had sent Early around into Maryland, and it was owing to mere luck and accident that Washington was not cap- tured and the government put to flight. Grant had despatched the Sixth corps of the Army of the Potomac to Washington, and by a fortunate coincidence Gen- eral Emory, with the Nineteenth corps, which had been ordered from New Orleans after the failure of the Red River expedition, had just arrived at Hampton Roads, and, without debarking, it was sent up the Potomac to follow the Sixth. But even that timely assistance would have proved unavailing if Early had not quailed in the very pinch of the crisis. On the morning of the 1ith of July his van was close up to the fortifications covering the northern approach to Washington, and in the afternoon the Confederate infantry had come up and was arrayed in front of Fort Stevens. The works were slightly de- fended, and Early might easily have made a dash into Washington and driven out the government if his vigor had been equal to his opportunity. The capture of Washington and flight of the government would have led to the immediate recog- nition of the Confederacy by France and: England, and the war for the Union would have been afailure. On so slender a thread hung the-destiny ofa great nation! It was in that trying time that gold reached its highest price of 285, and the greenback dollar was worth only thirty-five cents. From the calm waters in which we now find ourselves, with gold at par, it is interesting, and, even at this distance, almost exciting, to look back upon the dangers we have passed. The most compendious and suggestive of confidence in regard to his restoration to [-history of the civil war anywhere recorded health. iv Seems Srraxce that, notwithstanding our Vast commerce, the exact metes and bounds of the harbor master’s authority should be a mut- ter of doubt. That such is the fact, however, is shown by the suit in the courts yesterday. ‘The result will be interesting to shipowners and captains. Mortos ann Hunn, the Philadelphia - -etreet railroad men whose financial exploits in putting upon the market nearly two million dollars’ worth of fraudulent stock will not boon be for- gotten in that city, have been sent to the State Prison for ten years. While the sentence is se- vere it is at the same time richly deserved The Uncentarery atte ay the action: of Congress in regard to the tax on tobacco:is, it is alleged, the chief cause of the depression in that importaut branch of business. If the Washington legislators cannot help they ax suredly ought not to hurt trade, but they seem to be endowed witha peculiar faculty in that respect. CONGRESS. passage of the Blaine el on resolution the Seuate yesterday disposed of the Consular and Diplomatic Appro- priation bill, refusing its concurrence in the reduction of the salaries of the different foreign ministers which had been made by the House aud restoring them to the old figure. The Postal Car Deficiency bill led to a partisan debate in the House, in the course of which each party en- deavored to show that the economical profes sious of its opponent had no foundation in fact. As soon as the party fireworks were all ex- hausted the bill was passed. Tus Wearuer. —The pressure has increased: in the Northwest and Southwest, bat is falling along the Rocky Mouptain range as au area of low barometer which overlay Southern Utah sud New Mexico on Monday advances east ward. The relatively low preasure recently west of the Upper Mississippi Valley has moved to the lake region, causing light snow from the Upper Mississippi to the Ohio Valley, Cloudi- ness still prevails north of Tennessee and ex- tends eastward to the Atlantic coast. Tle weather is clear in the South and West. Tem- peratures continue very low all over the vountry, especially in the West, Northwest sod upper lakes. They will undoubtedly rise to-day along the Rocky Mountains and probably on the Atlantic coast. The weather on the Eng- lish coast last evening was cold, with light snow at some points, north to northwest winds anda pressure of 29.50 inches, In New York and its vicinity today the weather will be slightly wagmer and cloudy, with, probably, light snow. To-morrow it will be colder and cloudy, followed ‘by clearing weather, consists of the tabular statement in which is set down, month by month, the fluctua- tions in the price of gold during those four eventful years. The astonishing rises and falls within brief periods, cor- respondent to the violent fluctuations of public feeling, are the surest index to the important events of the war. A person may take up a military history of the war and read on and on with little profit to his judgment; but if he will take a tabular statement of the changing premiums on gold and attempt to trace out their causes in contemporaneous occur- rences he will acquire a just appreciation of the relative importance of the events as es- timated by the shrewdest observers of the period. The suddenness of the fluctuations attests the extreme anxiety and sensitive- ness of public feeling and the trying alter- nations of hope and depression while the fate of our country seemed to tremble in the balance. Even in that gloomy and ap- palling July, 1864, there was but a transient approach to despair, for although the high- est price of gold was 285 its low- est was 222, In the preceding month it had fluctuated between 169 and 251, and in the September following between 185 and 255. Those extraordinary ebbs and flows did not result from redundancy of the circulating medium, but from the interpre- tations put upon military events, exagger- ated, to be sure, by the gambling specu- lators in gold, It requires an effort to realize the great importance of the chango which has been accomplished in the monetary condition of thecountry. It has been achieved through much suffering, but it is worth all it has cost. The terrible panic of 1873 and the long years of business prostration which have followed were necessary means of bringing the country to the point it*has now reached and from which there is no appreciable danger that it will recede. The legal date af resumption being only two weeks distant, all business will be shaped, from this time forth, with reference to the par value of our paper currency. ‘The reason why paper money is at par in advance of the date of redemption is found in the refusal of the Treasury to give any more gold certificates. In consequence of this the owners of gold coin can no longer make it an article of merchandise. A man who buys gold does not wish to incur the risk of keeping it in his own custody, and his only choice lies be- tween giving it im charge to a safe deposit company or turning it into his or- dinary bank account. A safe deposit com- pany will not take it without charges which would reduce its value below that of green- backs, and unless the owner is willing to incur the risk of keeping it in his own safe he must deposit it in a bank. But no bank, at this stage of affairs, will receive gold ex- cept as ordinary current money to be checked against like any other form of cur- rency. This puts a final end to the busi- ness of the gold brokers, ‘Othello’s occu- pation is gone.” Gold coin can no longer be sold and bought by o mere transter of gold certificates, but only by actual deliveries of the metal, which are too cum- brous and inconvenient to justify opera- tions when there is but a vanishing shade of difference between the values of gold and legal tender notes. Hereafter the owners of gold can do nothing better with it than to deposit in the banks which they make the custodians of their other funds, and which will hereafter make no distinc- tion between deposits of gold and deposits of legal tender notes, Having reached this point the mere legal date of resumption ceases to be of any consequence. In the transition from the 31st of Decem- ber to the Ist of January there will be no shock or break, nor even the slightest rip- ple of disturbance, and it is not probable that any considerable amount of legal ten- der notcs will be presented for redemption during the month of January. We con- gratulate the business community and the Secretary of the Treasury (to whose skill the present condition of things is a great compliment) on the ease and smoothness with which we are passing out of the old into the new era. The Swedish Arctic Expedition. Letters from Professor Nordenskjéld’s Swedish Arctic expedition, in search of a practicable northeast passage from Western Europe to Behring Strait via the Kara Sea, have been received, and there now exists no doubt that the attempt has been crowned with success. After penetrating the Kara Sea with his steamers, the Vega and Lena, Pro- fessor Nordenskjéld reached the mouth of the Yenisei, From Dickson’s Port, a trad- ing point established there by the Pro- fessor during a former stay, the expe- ditionary steamers sailed along the coast line toward Cape Cheljuskin or the North Cape of Asia, which was passed successfully. The voyage continued until finally the mouth of the River Lena was reached—an achievement unequalled in these seas., The details of the voyages of Nordenskjéld, as well as the résumé of the history of éxploration in the Kara Sea and its vicinity, will be rendered more in- teresting by an examination of the accom- panying chart, which shows the immense extent of continental coast line explored, the positions of the North Capes of Europe and Asia and of the great rivers of Siberia that pour into the Arctic Ocean. The reader can easily imagine the commercial advantages of a navigable route from Western Europe to Japan and China via the Kara Sea and Behring Strait. Such a route, if found practicable for steamers even during a few menths of each year, would open up totrade the northern half of the vast continent of Asia now drained by the rivers Obi, Yenisei and Lena, which will, without doubt, prove navigable for great distances from their mouths. Professor Nordenskjéld has shown already that trading vessels carrying profit- able cargoes can yeach the mouth of the Yenisei in August and September, and so as to return to Europe laden with marketable freight before the ice again closes the Kara Sea. The success of Professor Nordenskjéld's Arctic explorations goes to prove the wisdom of the Swedes, who, instead of following the routes pursued by the English so long and sd fruitlessly, have struck out a new line, and with very great, if not complete, success. No one doubts that the Swedish ship Vega, in which Nordenskjild is com- pleting his voyage to Behring Strait, will reach @ Japanese or American port. In- deed she is said by whalers to be near the Strait, but beset with ice, and has thus prac- tically made the journey. The progress of Swedish-exploration in this case proves the wisdom of the late Dr. Petermann and others who urged the adoption of new routes, and shows that the way to greater discoveries and perhaps to the Pole itself is not by Baffin'’s Bay and Smith Sound, but via cither Behring Strait or Spitzbergen. The Ameri- can expedition which will leave San Fran- cisco next June, may, perhaps, in case Professor Nordenskjé!d’s vessel meets with any mishap this winter, which Heaven forbid, fall in with his party and be able to offer them a means of rescue. Should such prove to be the case no doubt the Swedish explorers, having accomplished so much by way of the northeast passage, would seize the opportunity to join forces with the Americans and proceed with them toward the Pole. It would be at least a great achievement to add so much to the geographical knowledge of the world, as would be contributed by a thorongh ex- ploration of the land to the northwest of Herald Island, even though the scoret of the Pole should not be reached. The Bull for Bulgaria. Our poor friends the Bulgarians are still without a sovereign, and one of our brilliant contemporaries proposes to send them Talfnage, the howling dervish of the Brooklyn Presbyterian circus. But we are afraid they have had a surfeit of dervishes already. Besides, Talnrage’s habits of thonght would not incline him to the tol- eration that must be practised in aland in which the religious division of the people is of primary consequence, He cannot tolerate what he does not anderstand—and he does not understand much. We, there- fore, should not like to commit the American people to this recommendation, But there ig a reverend man of another sort, who pos- sesses all the good qualities of Talmage and none of his defects. We refer, of course, to that great prophet and medicine man of the Sioux, Sitting Bull. As the Bulgarians wont an American they may prefer an American of the original breed, and the daring, bold and sagacious ruler, who main- tains his hold on a ruder race than the Bu!- garians by his superior qualities, his elo- quence and the success of his plans. With a handful of savages he has repeatedly whipped the whole United States, and laughs at the Indian Bureau conducted by a great statesman bred in Europe. He will make the Bulgarians a great king, but we warn them they will have some trouble in catching him. A Remedy Much Needed. Morning and evening there are hours when the rush of passengers to the rapid transit trains overlaxes the proper carrying capacity of the roads under the present ar- rangemenhts and leads to the dangerous crowding of the cars. It is not easy to deal with this difficulty, especially on the east side line, which is not yet open to Harlem Bridge, unless the companies are willing to afford increased station accommodation and to furnish extra trains. There are several points along the road where central tracks could be laid which ‘would afford facilities for the operation of special trains that would carry off the crowds that col- lect at some of the way stations during the “rush” hours. ‘This system is attempted to be put in practice by the starting of a train from Franklin square, butdt makes no ap- preciable impressionon the crowding be- cause it induces a crowd to gather at I'rank- lin square station, everybody hoping to get a seat there. Now if trains were started simultaneously from TVifty-ninth street, Sixty-seventh street, Eighty-ninth’ street, and some station between Eighty-ninth street and Harlem Bridge during the morn- ing rush, and from Fulton street, Chatham square, Grand, Houston and Ninth streets during the evening rush, people reaching these stations before and after working hours would not be compelled to stand in the cars all the way down and up town. The only difficulty to be overcome will be met by providing switches and sidings for trains at the points mentioned. For morn- ing service the ‘‘ettras” could easily be put in position without interfering with the regular traffic, but in the evening it would be necessary to make some trifling alter- ations in the present running schedule in order to send empty cars to the crowded stations. Let us suppose that on the New York Elevated Railroad all the proposed tracks and station sidings are constructed. Up to five o'clock in the evening all trains coming down town run through to the Battery. After that hour four trains coming from Harlem display flags, lamps or signs to in- dicate that they will be switched off at cer- tain stations, thas warning through passen- gersto take the next train. The switches are opened at Fulton street, Chatham square, Grand, Houston. and Ninth streets in the order given, as their designated trains arrive, and the latter aro run on the extra track or siding for local passengers. When filled they start north again, and sre succeeded at intervals by other downtown coming trains, and so on until the rush is over. Then the switches are locked and all trains come to the Battery from Harlem. On the straight line of the New York Elevated Railroad, and with ordinary care, this system could be operated with the most satisfactory results. All that is required, as we have stated, is for the com- pany to furnish trains and station accom- modation. Tracks along both sides of the Bowery ean be doubled without interfering with surface traffic, and in the narrower streets the difficulties are by no means in- surmountable, By strengthening the trans- verse bracing girders they can carry switch- offs and extra tracks, and where this cannot be done let the company purchase spaces in the blocks for their trains. ‘The whole trouble now arises from the fact that large crowds from a limited district assemble at neighboring stations on the main line. If, for instance, terminal branches, such as the Chatham street line to City Hall Park will be, or one through Worth to Broadway might be made, were in operation, they woald take the crowds from Franklin square and Fulton street, Chatham square and even Grand street, and the main line would be preserved from the danger of blockades due to pressure at its stations, Judge Hilton and the Hebrew Char- ities. The refusal of one of the Hebrew institu- tions to accept a gift from Mrs. Stewart be- cause it was to be transmitted through Judge Hilton seems to have resulted from a misapprehension. If the managers of the hospital had restrained their resent- ment until they had become better ac- quainted with the facts they would have evinced o wiser and more considerate spirit. It appears that Mrs, Stewart, at the ap- proach of the Christmas season, made im- partial donations to all the principal chari- ties of the city without any distinction of religious creed. Itisto be regretted that this act of praiseworlay benevolence should have been understood in any instance in a different spirit from that in which it was intended. Mrs. Stewart’s vener- able age, her unostentatious virtues, and the great affliction to which she has been so rudely subjected by a recent instance of unfeeling barbarity, should have protected her from any new wounds at this time, and especially from an act of charity being turned into a source of bitterness, Resent- ment, however just, against her business agent is nota sufficient excuse for a thrust at this venerable lady through the sides of Judge Hilton. Under all the circum- stances it would have been prudent and self-respecting for the managers of the hos- pital to have quietly ignored the offer if they did not choose to accept it, Had they waited a few days until they could ascer- tain the facts they might have discovered that there was no reasonable bar to their aceeptance of the gift. It was not a gift to the mauagers but to the poor sufferers under their charge, and if she had divided it into small sums and offered it to individual sufferers it would have seomed a strange proceeding for anybody to have stepped between her and the beneficiaries and intercepted her charity. This act of hasty resentment will be regretted and deplored by that large portion of this community who disapproved in connection with the Saratoga hotel. Murder in Mexico. Our sister Republic clings to hey unre- publican modes of government with curious tenacity. The features of arbitrary rulers, swaggering soldiers and intriguing clergy are preserved after every revolution. Against ono class or the other the people from time to time revolt, but change brings no relief, It is strange that whem they rise up they do not make a glean sweep and put despotism of every skape out of the way. The fact is that Mexicans are divided into two classes—those who eat and those who areeaten. Like the famous eels that got used to being skinned, the Mexicans who are the food of the predatory classes do not object to giving, so to speak, a leg or an arm now and then, but are inclined to pro- test when they are asked to contribute their entire bodies to the official repast. Some faint endeavor in the way of a petition to procure the remission of a heavy tax upon real estate and capital in the State of Jalisco procured the entry of a number of Juliscans into prison, and a mass meet- ing with the same object in the town of Guadalajara brought out the soldiers, who fired upon the assembled citizens, killing five merchants. We cannot understand in the United States how these things occur in Mexico without leading to an upheaval. We sent the English home about a hundred years ago for doing things to which the Mexicans either submit or else, making a change, leave themselves liable to the same treatment from their new masters. It is more than probable that President Diaz will beable to tell all meddling inquirers that peace reigns in Jalisco, thatthe tax is being cheerfully paid and as cheerfully collected, and that the firing on a peaceable crowd, which our correspondent writes of, was a little indiscretion that, however, had asalu- tary result. Miss Fancher’s Case. Dr. Hammond’s return to the case of Miss Fancher in his recent suggestion of a method by which her capacity to discover the contents of sealed envelopes might be put toa practical test has provoked two replies, which we print to-day. One is from Mr. Henry M. Parkhurst, the other from a Brooklyn physician who signs only his initials. Neither of these gentlemen is satisiied that Dr. Hammond's proposi- tion is either fair or logical, and they turn the tables on the distinguished neurologist by applying tests to him in his turn. M. H. seems disposed to apply a quasi religious test and to argue the defective spiritual nature of a man who cannot be- lieve more than he can understand, while Mr. Parkhurst is inclined to a test of the Doctor designed to expose his expertness or inexpertness with sealed envelopes. Dr, Hammond, it will be remembered, said with all-respect for Mr. Parkhurst that his test of a sealed envelope was really worth- less, because as it had been left with the person whose capacity was to be tried the apparent integrity of the seal was not an evidence that it had not been opened. If it were evidence on that point, the ‘‘cabind noir” maintained in all European post offices for hundreds of years for the exam- ination of suspected letters would Have had fewer chances to discover people’s secrets, Altogether the new words on this topic are of some interest. M. H.'s theory of the transposition of the senses—which implies that people may sometimes seo‘ with their elbows—is @ fine piece of pro- fessional imagination. Hoaxing the British Admiralty. In the gable despatches it is reported from London that the British Board of Admiralty has made an official declaration of the falsity of ‘an interview with the Duke of Edinburgh while at Halifax, published re- cently in a New York journal, in which His Royal Highness is made to say that he looked upon the author of England’s new peace with honor policy with feelings of the utmost disgust.” Alas! we are afraid those solemn and fearfully respect- able men are destined to be laughed at, and are the victims of their incapac- ity to see a joke. No New York paper published an interview with the Duke of Edinburgh except the Hznarp, and in our interview there were no expressions such as are referred to by the Admiralty. But a lively little paper published in this city, and which puts forth happy skits from time to time, published a somewhat pithy parody on our interview, and in that parody His Royal Highness was made to say many startling things—for it is the privilege of wit to make things piquant without regard | to the proprictics. Alas! that the British Admiralty should be fooled by our neigh- bor’s drollery. A Sexgen ive Compartoom, For more than a century the Black Hole of Calcutta and the fiendish cruelty of the heathen who, fora few hours, madea prison of it, have ranked high among the stock horrors of the world. This ‘hole’ was a cell about twenty feet square, and as its two windows, both open, were too high to be reached from the floor, its ceiling must have been at least twelve feet from the floor. Into this cell the natives, who reconquered the city from the British, immured tho gar- rison, numbering one hundred and forty- siz men, for an entire night, with the resalt that only twenty-three were alive at day- light. The cubic allowance of air per in- dividual was only about thirty-three feet, and the ventilation afforded by the two open windows was not sufficient in the hot climate of India, But in a communication addressed to the Board of Education within two years by committee of phy- sicians, the air space per pupil in some of the rooms of a single public school—s new building—was estimated atfrom thirty-one to thirty-four feet. There are some important differences between tho two cases. ‘Che windows of the Black Hole were always open, while those of the school- room are usually closed, and the Calcutta building had no artificial heat being steadily forced into it, Still more, the sufferers at Calcutta were grown men and soldiers, with the adult physical quality of resistance, whilo the children are young and peculiarly pubmissive to physical influences, The world has learned a great deal about ven. tilation since the morning when a hundred and twenty-three dead Englishmen were dragged from the Black Hole, but scyool boards do not seem té have taken their part in the general improvement. The Blaine Resolution. This resolution has ‘passed the Senate, only six democrats voting against it. We are sorry that this small handful had not the good sense to give a silent vote, and that some of them thought it necessary to make speeches on the subject. Fortunately the speeches were not of sufficient mark or interest todo much harm. ‘The majority of the democratic Senators judged wisely that it is better to let this investigation take its course, and not to’ waste the time of the Senate in a debate which would merely have obstructed business of real jm- portance. The country is heartily tired and sick of the everlasting Southern ques- tion, and further agitation will only deepen the general disgust at politicians who are willing to subordinate great interests to their ambitious hopes. We are passing into a new era, when questions relating to the material interests of the country will be the hinges of politics. Mr. Blaine is at- tempting to ride a dead horse, and it is pre- posterous to consume valuable time in at- tempting to prevent him. He will discover his mistake, and before he gets through with this experiment he will regret it. As no legislation can possibly result from his investigation it is wise to let him alone to discover his folly and want of foresight, PERSONAL Beate Texas is receiving many German emigrants. Capoul has lost money and has closed the Salle Ventadour. Governor Lucius Robinson arrived from Albany last evening at the St. James Hotel. Colonel John Carstairs McNeill, C. B., Equerry in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, is at the Windsor Hotel. Representative Williams, of Michigan, was still alive at o late hour last night, but was not expected to survive until morning. Frank Buckland, the naturalist, gives entertain. ments to his scientific friends on Saturday evenings, and calls them “pipes and grog.” An Italian in San Francisco has been prosecutédifor cruelty to cats, of which he haa been in the habit of buying dozens from boys. He is a sausage maker. Lord Beaconsfield will receive to-morrow the depu- tation which came to present to him an address and casket from tho English residents of the Pacifio Coast. The English agricultural laborer receives the year round @ little more than $5 a week, with a small al- lowance of beer money. The agricultural unions ar¢ fighting for more. Nasby :—“The nigger hez the rite dimvotn. Weunden stand that and respect it. But there must be limita shuns. He may vote—the law sez that—but the law don’t say how he shel vote. That is for us.” General Iguatictf writes tos friend that the cause of Russia is being better served in Constantinople by the English Minister, Sir Henry Layard, whom he re- gards as a blunderer, than it could be served by any Russian. Norristown Herald;—‘The New York Henatp ie giving specimens of humor from London comia weeklies. If a man has just lost rich sunt, and wants to assume a funereal and grief-stricken expres- sion to ft the supposed solemn occasion, he should read the chunks of foreign humor now appearing daily in our New York namesake. An able-bodied onion as a tear-producer is no comparison alongside of them.” * Lendon World :—“For quict ‘extra dry’ sort of swagger give me s fashionable jockey! One dainty little gentleman down at Kempton Park last weck was hailed by a friend of mine, ‘Hallo, ———, where have you been? Missed your mounts lately—not been riding much, eh? and soon. And the languid jockling made answer, ‘I? No—weather quite too beastly horrid and damp for riding ;’ then, with the smallest of shivers, ‘Really must get away to Nice for ‘ month or so;’ and off hé drove in a brougham—to Nice, I suppose,’ Captain Richard Burton, the traveller, is living at Trieste. He is five feet eleven, square shouldered and deep chested, and he has little feet and hands. He resembles an Arab; his gray hair is close cropped, and he has piercing black eyes. Under a straight nose andover a #quaro mouth is a black mustache. On his travels he carries the Bible, Shakespeare, Euclid and the Breviary. Mrs. Burton daily swims for a couple of hours in the Adriatic and takes broadsword exercise from a German trooper, after which she pro= motes a society for preventing cruelty to animals, THE THIRD AVENUE STRIKE. A QUIET DAY AMONG THE STREET CAR DRIVE 4s—- DETERMINED TO HOLD OUT. ‘The strikeof the car drivers of the Third Avenue road was continued yesterday without any notice- able events. The company have the inside track and are determined to keep it, and their helpless employes have to grin and bear it. In the morning a vast crowd of men, over five hundred in number, collected around the depot at Sixty-fifth street. The pclice of the Third inspection district, under com- mand of Inspector McDermott, were on hand as on the day previous, and were sufficient by their presence to forbid any idea of ariot. The drivers mot in consultation at a couple of places on the avenue, and the disposition was to ‘a tain the strike at any cost. Late in the evenis met at No, 1,041 "Third avenue ond hutecocneattinne, and the revs ‘alent fecling was to keep the strike going. James Kenny, the car driver who was arrested on Monday night for interference with a new driver, was yest y in the Fifty-seventh Street ayn fined $10 and held in default of $500 bail to keep the peace for six months, Histriends paid the ‘fine an and secured, & bondsman. On the ixirty. -Afth street branch of the road none of the “bobtail” cars have been run since the ee began. Some say this is because the com; not trust new drivers, while others ot Bio care e care = not pay and have been been withdrawn AN APPEAL FOR THE DRIVERS, New Yoru, Dec. 17, 1873, ‘To Tur Eprrom or tie HenaLp:— Believing that you are and always have been in sympathy with the working classes, and especially with those who are willing to work for a moderate @ompensation and who dosire only a meré sub- sistence in these times of depression, I confidently appeal to you to use your powerful influence in be~ half of the car drivere of the Third Avenue Railroad, ‘These poor men, uiany of whom have families, find it impossible to support themselves and those dependent upon them on the wages proposed by that company, and therefore I conclude and I think every humane and just man will agree with me that this strike on the of the drivers is at least justifiable, I know it is not within the se hy Page power to directly compel that coi better fordheir men, but I have not the ‘cast doubt | that you could, if you see fit, indirectly a them, by su, geating to the public, who sympathize wit! hese poor men, to travel by tuner ines until thia dominant railroad shall have: Lgl to a Spmone ag 4 atreet, FLUTTER “AMONG OF FIGTALS, It was rumored in official circles tn Newark lest evening that efforts are Weing made to have the Com. mon Council indicted for alleged improper use of the public funds. The amended State constitution (ar ticle 1, paragraph 1,) says:— P. McCAR’ No evunty, elty, borough, town, parva or village shalt heroaf ‘e any mouey oF peoporty, or loan its money vt ‘credit to or is aid of any individu: al aseuctation oF corpo. ration, &e. It is asserted that the Common Council has violated this provision of law on various oceasions during the year, such a8 making appropriations for the National Regatta of Amateur Oarsmen, held on the Passsia River last summer, and for the celebration of the Fourth of July, City Clerk we} when asked for information on the subject of the rumored iudict- meht, gave it aa ae opinion k og tg had vio- lated no law. Nev: the rumor has ereated quite p futter in offical clteles,. The Grand dary is