The New York Herald Newspaper, January 29, 1879, Page 7

‘NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, JAMES el every day luded). ALD, publish: = any poriod less tha tree of postae. VEEKLY HERALD—Ono do axe. Pie ad TO SUBS ress changed ss subscribers wish ‘old as well ax All business, news lette Yaw York Hrxa packases should 0 phic despatebes must 6 properly sealed, tbe returned, O. 112 SOUTH SIXTIE PHILADELPHIA © STREE' LONDON ‘OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD— NO. 46 TR PARIS 0) NAPLES B. Subserip | ho received and forwarded on the san w York, ‘OLUM ~ AMUSEMENTS BOOTHS THEATRE! NIBLO'S GARDEN—H STANDARD TH GLOBE THEATRE—U. GRAND OPERA HOU BOWERY THEATRE PARK THEATRE—Do NEW YORK AQUARI LYCEUM THEATRE— BROADWAY THE, THEATRE € WALLAC! . OLYMPIC THEATER FIFTH AVENU UNION SQUARE THEATE GERMANIA THEATRE. COOPER INSTITU SAN FRANCISCO ML TONY PASTOR'S—Vaniery._ WINDSOR THEATRE. AMERICAN MUSEUM. TIVOLI THEATRE, EGYPTIAN HALIL—Vanery. ©. TRIPLE SHEE The probabilities ure that ihe weather in New Fork and its vicinity to-day will be colder and partly cloudy or fair. To-morrow the sume con- ditions are likely to prevail, followed toward night by higher temperature. Watt Srreev Yesrerva ‘he stock mar- ket was very active and excited, and was marked by a general break in prices. Govern- ment bonds were weak, States dull and rail- roads quiet. Money on call lent at lly a 2lo per cent, advanced to 7 per cent and closed at 2ly per cent. Tne Ren on tHe Treasury for four per cent bonds continues. Nearly four millions yesterday. Ir Has Been Dectpep by the Senate Finance Committee to reduce the tobacco tax. Of course it will all end in smoke. must have been carried from Jersey City. It certainly cannot belong to this city. Warren Mircne.y’s famous cotton claim was defeated in the Senate yesterday. Its re- jection will have a depressing effect upon the loyalist claims lobby. * Tue ArGuments in the Tammany injunction suit were concluded yesterday, and a decision may be expected in a few days. Somebody is certain to be scalped, Some Nice Lecat Porsts are involved in the suit against the Inman Steamship line in the courts yesterday. Shippers will watch the re- sult with some interest. Tue Hearne which the Baptist Conference denied Dr. Fulton in his controversy with Mr. Samson is given him in other columns. It will be seen that he has not yet retracted or apolo- sized, Siaie ah oan sole Were tir Recent CoxriaGrations mis- managed by the Fire Department? is an exceed- ingly interesting question, and as the charge has been made that they were it is only justice to the department and the public that it should be officially answered by an investigation. Let tus by all means have the whole story, Ar tae Davexrort Investication yesterday several of the voterd who were disfranchised by him at the last election testified to that fact. Of course nothing new was developed, and it is Teally a waste of time to continue the inquiry. Mr. Davenport has been found guilty of having exceeded his authority, and the only proper way to deal with him is to remove bim. Tne Testimony in the Reno investigation yesterday was on the whole favorable to the accused officer. Lieutenant Hare thought it impossible for Reno to have assisted Custer, and that credit was due him for having saved his command. On the other hand, the scout, He- rendcen, scemed to be of the opinion that Reno ‘was a little hasty in getting out of danger. Tuk Weatukr.—The storm centre which was over the central valley and Jake districts moved into the St. Lawrence Valley yesterday after- noon. As it passed north of our district the Pressure within tho centre of disturbance in- ereased gradually, so that it is now only rela- tively low over Nova Scotia. A large area of high barometer extends over the lake regions, the Middle and South Atlantic States. It ia, however, slowly receding into the ocean from the Jatter district on account of the advance of auother depression in the Southwest and West, This depression evidently extends northward into Wyoming and Nebraska, and tho indica- tions are that it will affect the weather over a very large portion of the western districts dur- ing the next few days. Rain has failen through- out the lake regions, the central valley districts and the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The weataer has been cloudy in all the sections except the Northwest, and morning fogs have prevailed on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in the Middie Atlanti fallen decidedly States. The winds have been gene throughout the country. In Dakota Territory, however, a very hoavy tornudo of local devel- opment destroyed a large amount of property in the vicinity of Deadwood. The Southern rivers are rising rapidly, the con tinued high temperature aud the numerous rains emsing the ice to break up. ‘The fields of float Ing ice are reported to be very large in some of the rivers, and it is vory probable that gorges will be formed at some of the sharp bends, in whieh caso the rapid accumulation of water will endanger property in the low districts, A special despatch to the Hexanp reports the destruction of » railroad bridge near Whecling, “W.Va, vy ies. Cold weather prevails over the Britiel: Ielandse. The weather in New York aud its vicinity to-day will be colder and partly elowly of fair. To-morrow the samo conditions ave lmely 6 prevail, followed toward night by 888 Safety at Sea—The Uses and Abuses of Watertight Compartments in Steam- ships. While we may justly congratulate our- selves on the progress made in naval archi- tecture, by which the comfort of the pas- senger and the carrying capacity of the ship are increased, it is a question whether we have also secured in a proportionate degree theall-important condition of safety, without which luxurioas accommodations and superior capacity for cargo are but nominal advantages. Since the virtual abandonment of wood as the chief material in the construction of steamships the skill of the naval architect has been directed toward giving the substitute, iron, a power of flotation which would wholly justify the change. Iron, as we all know, is a sub- stance whose specific gravity is vastly greater than that of most kinds of wood used in shipbuilding. It pos- sesses, however, an enormous tensile strength ; consequently the dimensions of a ship's parts can be reduced in iron so as to make the relative weights ofthe material employed about one-third less in favor of iron—that is to say, a wooden ship of one thousand tons cargo capacity weighs in the dock about one-third more than one of the same capacity built of iron. As the flotation of a ship is governed by her displacement, which is always equal to her dead weight and that of her cargo, the iron vessel possesses the primary advantage of a smaller displacement, and consequently a greater carrying capacity, thana ship of the same exterior dimensions built of wood. It is, however, more important to the safety of an iron ship that her construction should be perfect than to that of a wooden vessel. How is that perfection of construction secured for an iron ship? First, by rendering her walls or sides and bottom absolutely impermeable to the water, which always seeks to fill her with a pressure that increases from the load or water line to the keel. Second, by pro- viding sufficient pumping power on board to overcome any leakage due to defective construction or caused by damage to the immersed part of the hull. Third, by what are termed watertight partitions, which divide the ship into a number of sec- tions, and so localize the influence of the leak or its cause, the rup- ture of the sides or bottom. Let us explain in a few words how these operate. Take a bowl made of light wood and set it afloat. It will sink just to the depth whereat the weight of the wood will be equal to that of the water displaced by the bowl. Now, take an iron bowl of the same dimensions, and it will sink until the weight of tho water displaced is equal to the weight of the iron in the bowl. Suppose we fill the wooden bowl to the brim with water; it will sink until there is just so much water displaced by the bulk of the wood as is equal to its weight plus the weight of the added water until the contained and exterior surfaces of water coincide, when the displacement becomes only that of the volume of the material in the bowl Then it will float with its brim on the surface like a water logged ship. If this last experiment is tried with the iron bowl the moment the interior and exterior water surfaces coincide the bowl sinks to the bottom, because its volume displaces a less weight of water than that of the bowl itself. Now, suppose we divide the iron bowl into sections by two intersecting partitions, and that we fill to the top two of these; the bow! will sink deeper in the water, but will not be sub- merged, because of the support afforded by the empty sections, which naturally keep the displacement within the limit of buoy- ancy. Referring to the important questions in- volved, we print elsewhere to-day a brief communication from ‘‘Passenger,” who compluins that the watertight bulkheads or transverse partitions, which steamship owners claim to be guarantees against danger at sea, are too frequently the causes of disaster, becanse while relying on them the officers of such vessels fail to adopt measures for making them reliable. It is well known that there are openings or sluice ways between these sections or com- partments, and that these, either through neglect or indifference to danger, are not closed by siluices or gates during the time the ship is exposed to danger from collisions or other casualties of the seas. If these sluices are open there is no longer a watertight bulkhead in the ship, and if her bow or side is stove in she will fill from stem to stern and go down. Nothing can be more absurd than to build these heavy bulkheads in a vessel unless they are made to serve their proper purpose. Without theif closed gates, shutting off all possi- ble communication between the compart- ments, they are as useless as protections against disaster as the uncovered ribs and stick of a skeleton umbrella would be asashelter against the rays of a noonday sun. Unfortunately, familiarity with an ever present danger is calculated to breed a contempt for it, and the fata! moment arrives when that which is looked upon as oniy remotely possible occurs, Then the contempt for danger becomes an equally senscless fear of it, indecision suc- ceeds self-confidence and death o false seuse of security. It is impossible to re- view the history of marine disasters by eol- lision with ship, rock or iceberg which has been farnished by the past ten years with- out being confirmed in the belief that whenever an iron ship's bulkhead sluices are neglected disaster is invited. The theoretical merit of the watertight bulk- head being that it localizes the effects of an injury to the hull, it is obvious that when open sluices take from the bulkheads their watertight character and leave only the extra dead weight of material, when a rup- ture of the hull occurs the vessel fills rap- idly and is sunk as certainly as if she had no bulkheads at all; indeed, these heavy iron transverse walls help to submerge her, Owing to the large space needed for ma- chinery and boilers, &c., on board ocean steamers, and the necessity tor a ready means of communication between the en- gines, boilers and bunkers, the central compartment is usually large, and if filled with water will sink the ship. Now, nothing is simpler than to adaut the arrangements of the stokers’ and engineers’ departments. to the placing of a midship bulkhead with an opening in its centre, closed by a double door so adjusted that when one door is open the other must be firmly closed. By this means easy access can be had to the fireroom from the engines, without the risk of keeping a dangerous area open for the water. Where the bulk- head is attached to the ship's side the latter should be double walled for at least ten feet on each side, so as to present a watertight area to any colliding body that would strike the ship’s side at the point where the divid- ing bulkhead joins it. Without this, or some such arrangement, a vessel's side might be injured so as to admit water into two compartments. We feel assured that properly constructed water- tight bulkheads, dividing long steamers into eight or more sections, and whose valves can only be opened by counter- weighted levers, so that when the lifting power ceases to operate the valves will be self-closing, can add so much to the secur- | ity of ocean travel as to reduce the danger to a minimum. The heaviest penalties should be imposed on the owners of vessels unprovided with these bulk- heads. Losses like those of the Pom- merania, Grosser Kurfiirst, Vanguard and other commercial and naval vessels are simply inexcusable, for they mean defect- ive construction or gross carelessness on the part of the officers. With the electric light collisions, even in foggy weather, may be avoided. We trust that this question, highly interesting to all travellers and com- mercial men, will be thoroughly canvassed, because we cannot afford to lose any more lives and property by such easily prevent- able causes. The Indian Dilemma. Sitting Bull wants to go home. ' He is cold and hungry. His arrows are shot away and his war paint is washed off, and, if his words are a fair indication, he is the littlest big Indian of modern times. What shall be done with him? Shall we open the door and invite him to come in and kilt any fatted calves that may be handy, or shall we refer him to his White Mother, of whom he declared himself so extrsmely fond a few months since? An invitation to come in and make himself at home would be consistent with the theory that all his acts were justified by the treatment he had received from the Indian authorities ; but if we thus take sides with the savage in his wrongs we ought to throw over the system of administration that wronged him. It would be a trifle ridiculous: for us to kiss and embrace this savage asa victim of the Indian agency system and yet con- tinue to deal with the Indians through the same machinery, Perhaps it would be more than ridiculous, for the agencies would of course cheat him again, and as we had ap- proved his revolt there would be another revolt and more butcheries. It would bea good deal safer to shut the door in the In- dian’s face; to tell him we do not want him, that we have got enough Indians already. He went on his own account, let him stay on ours and make himself comfortable if he can, and if he cannot, to die calmly as be- comes a red stoic. But if we replied thus the Bull would come as soon as the grass grows in spite of us, and we have not got troops enough tostop him. Our army is so small that we cannot pursue an indepen- dent policy towatd this squalid savage, A Hair Raising Tragedy. Seldom has it fallen to the lot of the Heratp to stir so directly, so powerfully, the sympathies of the gentler and better sex as it does this morning by its recital of apparent rapine and real woe among the hills of the Hudson, Willingly would we refrain from raising the veil that hides some of the tenderest, most delicate secrets of woman- hood ; but our position as truthfal chroni- clers of the leading events of the day forbids our yielding to those sentiments which we tearfully assure our lady readers are mak- ing us the miserable prey of conflicting emo- tions. With this assurance we shamefacedly preface our history with the statement that the glory of woman--to wit, her long hair— appears to be not always permanent in its nature, and that sometimes an additional supply of glory becomes necessary to an effective chevelure, ‘his may be purchased outright, under the names of braids, switches or curls, or the glory that-has dis- appeared under the remorseless teeth of time and combs may be reconstructed in forms that age cannot wither nor custom stale. The graceiul filaments thus dis- placed are termed—we shrink from taking the pure nomenclature of the boudoir upon our blackened pens—are termed “combings,” and by many a fair hand they are as tenderly and sacredly guarded as the curls and love locks that lovers may once have stolen from their lustrous cnds. And now for the tragedy. For weeks some canvassers of an alleged manipulator of feminine hair have been soliciting busi- ness among the matrons and maidens of certain of the Hudson River towns, and many wore the capillary treasures and secrets confided to their care. What sweetly mournfal romances these delicate confi- dences inight have inspired had they fallen into manly hands is beyond the human im- agination to conceive. We will merely sug- gest that it may be bad for printers and good for tho course of true love that the canvassers wero ladios. Tho switches that had lashed many a masculine soul to words and deeds that women prize; the curls which had enwound manly hearts too tightly to over be unloosed; the combings that for months and years had shared the pure privacy of which men may dream only as the lost soul dreams of Paradise—all these went into prosaic paper packages or bungling boxes and off to Boaton— that fertile fountain of dire disturbances, Then ensued a period of waiting, whieh, in the absence of historical details, imagina- tion may, with a certain dogree of probabil- ity, reproduce. It is likely that during this period lovers’ pleas for capillary love tokens were answered by blushing appeals for longer acquaintance, by no meané to blunt the virginal sense of modesty, but to increase that maiden courage that comes of growing love, It is quite possible that “erimps,” ‘“frizzes” ond “puffs,” whidh are so apt at preserving the shadow of fulness ‘in the absence of the substance, were skilfully and suc- cessfully used. But lovers cannot be “expected to wait forever; crimping and frizzing are not always practicable in winter, owing to the straightening effect of damp weather upon wavy hair; it was the season of festivity, and consequently of radiant heads—and the hair failed to re- turn. Murmuring began to arise; suspicion grew apace; explanations were demanded, and the constable appeared on the scene, but as for the expressman with the longed- for hair, ‘ ‘He cometh not,’ she said,” and in this thrilling but tragic situation the affair stands at this present writing. The New Encyclical. We print, as a document of great re- ligious and still greater political interest, the long encyclical letter recently promul- gated by His Holiness Leo XIII. It is di- rected against the theoriés of society vari- ously designated as socialism, communism and nihilism. It is very emphatic in its condemnation, as well as very argumenta- tive in its exposure, of the errors of these social revolutionists. We cannot be ex- pected to express any opinion as to the soundness of the fundamental tenets on which the Pope bases his reasoning, it being quite too late for a secular journal to take any part in the great ‘world’s debate” which has been in progress since the carly part of the sixteenth century. It is a matter of course that Leo XIII. adheres to the Catholic view both of all questions relating to the Church and of all questions relating to the civil constitution of society. The interest of this remarkable encyclical letter consists in the light it throws on the skill of the new Pope as an ecclesiastical statesman, and it is gnly in this aspect that we think it expedient to consider it. Ever since the Papacy has been stripped of its ter- ritorial possessions the head of the Catholic Church is necessarily 2 statesman as well as na Pontiff, and the conduct of every new wearer of the tiara is closely watched by the governments of Europe with a view to ascertain his policy and to judge of his temper and ability. There is no position of authority in which strongly marked peculiarities of individual character have been more apparent than on the Papal throne. Leo XIII. is in some respects a contrast to Pius IX., and a very different work seems to lie before him. So far as he has yet afforded the world material for judg- ing, it seems to be the general verdict that he is a Pontiff of enlightened views and liberal impulses, who is aiming to restore that influence of the Papacy with secular governments which was interrupted in the later years of his venerated predecessor. Withont surrendering any of the claims or pretensions of the Church the new Pope judges it wise to pave the way for the res- toration of cordial relations with the gov- ernments of Italy and Germany. He is not insensible of the obstacles which lie in the way of such a policy. Pius IX. had to fight the great and losing battle for the temporal power, and the necessities of that contest required him to take positions from which he could not afterward recede, and which, to a certain extent, bind his successor. Moreover, the Sacred College consists of cardinals, a great part of whom were created by Pope Pius with a view to insure the permanence ot his policy. On the new Pope is devolved the difficult task of renew- ing relations with certain temporal Powers without seeming to deviate from the views so stubbornly maintained by the late Pope, and without exposing himself to be thwarted by the Sacred College. Asa piece of ecclesiastical statesmanship the new encyclical must be judged with reference to the condition of things on the accession of itsauthor. His aim being what it is, and the impediments being what they are, we think the encyclical displays the hand of a master, In order to judge of it we must keep our eyes fixed on Italy and Germany, the two countries to which the late Pontiff stood in an attitude of irreconcilable opposition, The trne source of civil authority, as ex- pounded by Leo XIIL., is such as cannot be accepted in the United States or France ; but these are not the countries with which the Papacy has been in conflict. His theory of the divine origin of civil authority will not be objected to by the Emperor William or by King Humbert, and it is with these two monarchs that he seeks to come to a better understanding. He skilfully avails himself of the recent attempts on the lives of these sovereigns to point out the difference between the teachings of the Church and the theories of the socialists in their bearing on the satety of rulers and the tranquillity of society. He makes it apparent that tho Catholic Church is a valuable ally of civil governments against the perils of wild and desperate communism, and this not from any new born zeal against these desperate and dangerous fanatics, but because the Church has always held submission to the existing civil authority to be an important Christian duty. In reading such manifes- toes as this encyclical we must look be- neath the mere wording if we would catch the real drift. ‘They are to be interpreted in the light of contemporary history and the known policy of the authority by which they are issued. Will Hanlan Win In England? It is doubtful if any man ever went, to England who created the uneasiness among her fast scullers now felt about Hanlan, Nothing Hamill had done at home made the hollow thrashing he got improbable, and Walter Brown, after reaching England, failed to measure blades with her best men, and she is now especially rich in them, probably more so than ever before. When Trickett came suddenly forward and, beat- ing Sadler handily, won the world’s cham- pionship tho great Renforth was dead, Harry Kelly's best day had passed, and even Sadler himself was stale, so that Trickett caught her exceptionally weak. But to-day, besides Higgins—a very good man — there are Elliott and Boyd, so nearly his equals that many think it hard to choose between them. Hanlan, who won at the Centennial when Higgins, who had entered against him, stayed out, regards any one of these three as the superior even of Renforth, claiming that while they lack his great strenoth and stav the ove than the Post Office. greater indeed, éven in a country "Where sculling is as! dl ‘art as it is in Eigland, it is in no way strange that the last eight or ten years should have brought some improvement in pace and style at the sculls. Hanlan is sure to do well abroad, and if he can beat the champion of England this year it will be no more than his friends believe en- tirely probable and than his record would tend to justify. No man on'this continent ever met so many fast scullers and rowed them all down, Courtney was the only one who ever gave him a, good race, and while so many believe that on a fair racing track he can beat Hanlan, it is unfortunate that something has not been done to arrange a match between them. No one in the whole world as young as Hanlan ever had sueh wide experience in racing with formidable antagonists. Strong, véry enduring and of excellent judgment, taking abundant time abroad to get acclimated, familiar with the best work of his rivals, and knowing how well his own compares with it, there is good reason for thinking that, confident ns he seems to be that he can there, as he has done here, go straight tothe top, that confidence is well placed. We wait with interest, therefore, for the developments between now and July, and wish Hanlan the success which he so eagerly covets and so well deserves. The Stolen Telegrams. The Potter Committee has very properly directed its earliest inquiries to the larceny by which the despatches were obtained, as- sorted, examined, manipulated and pub- lished. It is a piece of secret history which is disgraceful to all the participants. It is fully established by the testimony that the Morrison Committee of the House com- mitted no theft and violated no confidence. A careful list was made of all the telegrams it received, and when. they were returned to the Western Union Company a comparison was. made with the list and the telegrams duly receipted for, There was a much larger batch of telegrams, some thirty thousand in num- ber, which was delivered to the Senate Committee on Elections in obedience to a subpoena, and a deceitiul pretence was made of returning them. They were sent to Washington in a trunk, and the same trunk was sent back, with an attempt to convey an impression that it was returned with all its original contents. That pre- tence is proved to have been a falsehood. The contents of the trank had been tur- tively searched and a large number of the telegrams stolen. Quite aside from the partisan uses made of that theft the trans- action was infamous—deserving the same scorn as a tampering with letters in It is now in evi- dence that the sneaking theft by which certain telegrams were selected and retained and the others restored to the trunk was perpetrated by republicans. The motive of the theft was to make party capital, and that motive explains the nature of the proceeding. The democratic despatches were kept for publication, and such repub- lican despatches as might offset them’ were culled out and destroyed. There is proof that some of the republican despatches were covertly taken out of the telegraph office and given up previous to the issue of any subpewnas. The president of the company was so ashamed of his order to that effect that he directed it to be burnt. The people who examined and sorted the contents of the trunk had shame but no scru- ples. They fished out damaging republican despatches to destroy or hide them, and damaging democratic despatches to convey them clandestinely to a newspaper for pub- lication, When this use had been made of the preserved despatches they were con- veyed by stealth into the private office of General Butler in his absence and left there, The ghouls who stole Mr. Stewart's body did not conduct their operations with more studied secrecy or display a more skulking consciousness that they were doing a thing which would not bear the light. California opinion of the sott of which Kearney was the most vigorous exponent has made itself felt in the House by the passage of the bill to restrict the number of Chinese immigrants to fifteen in any one ship, but the bill may find less fuvor in the Senate. As the bill is drawn it may be de- fended as notin explicit contravention of our treaty with the Emperor of China, By treaty we have pledged ourselves that ‘Ohi- nese subjects visiting or residing in the United States shall enjoy the same privi- leges, immunities and exemptions in respect to travel or residence as may there be en- joyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nations.” Now, the law does not abridge any of the immunities or ex- emptions of Chinese who reside or travel here; it only regulates navigation, provides how many passengers may come in one ship. But of course it is intended to circumvent the treaty, which course is taken in preference toa motion to abolish the treaty, because we presume the keen-eyed Culifornians want to retain its advantageous effects while eager to re- lieve themselves of the others. It is odd that Americans should at last become con- verts to the great policy of the Chinese wall, China has been dragged from her se- clusion, commerce has been forced down her throat. For ages isolated, and desiring to maintain her isolation, she was besicged with appeals for treaties till she made them, And now-that she ventures inter. course with other countries we also want to build a wall to keep her out. Lighting the Parks, Alderman Morris has made a sensible movement in calling for the opinion of the Corporation Counsel as to the pawer of the Gas Commission—which consists of the Mayor, Comptroller and Commissioner of Public Works—to contract with gas com- panies for lighting the public parks. Lamps are needed in the parks just as much as inthe streets, and it is absurd to sup- pose that anything in tho law can oblige the city to leave those places of public re- sort in'datknéss, The Céilital Park is a de- lightfal evening promendde"ih the summer, but Indies ate prevented front ‘using it be- canse they are subject to fisilts and annov- darkness to escape detection and punish- ment. It is not safe driving through Cen- tral Park after dusk, and lamps are needed there, in fact, even more than in the streets, It is absurd to suppose that be- cause for certain purposes the parks are placed under the management of a sepa- rate commis:ion the proper city authorities have not the power to provide for lighting them just as other public thoroughfares are lighted, and it is to be hoped that the resolution introduced by Alderman Morris yesterday will lead to prompt action in the matter, MacMahon'’s Threat. Marshal MacMahon is reported to have said at a Cabinet Council that he would rather resign his position than yield to the demands of the republicans in replacing several commanders of army corps. But it is very likely that he never made such a declaration, and, at least, the statement te be credited should be given on more sub. stantial authority than a mere Parisian on dit, Between the Ministry and the major. ity relations are a trifle strained since the recent vote, for the Ministry and its organs have endeavored to blur the result in popular appreciation by representing it as a clear Ministerial victory, which every member of the Chamber knows it was not, Such an attitude is near enough to a defiance to provoke unpleasant irritation in the repub. lican lines, and that spirit of irritation would seize upon any convenient reason for a repetition of a trial of strength with the government, Any declaration such as credited to the President would, in the present situation, be ace cepted as a challenge, and the Minis- try would be brought to a vote on that very point and would be beaten, and thus the situation would be prepared for the fulfil. ment of the Marshal's threat, ‘ PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Arizona has nine newspapers. Rey. Hugh MeNeile, Dean of Ripon, is dead. Cardinat Antonucci died at Ancona, Italy, yester day. Brown hair is the fashionable hue in London just now. The policy of the Indians seems to be that they want to be exterminated, Bret Harte lectured at the Crystal Palace, last even- ing, and was well received. London thieves cut off the hair of young ladies who look into shop windows. Cardinal Antonio Antonucci, Archbishop of An- cona, is at the point of death. It was the New Orleans Picayune that said a pawne broker always plays a loan hand. Mrs, Logan is the queen pin of Illinois and she ought to have the seut in the Senate, M. Sylvestre de Sacy, member of the French Academy, is dangerously ill at Paris, Lord A. Gordon Lennox and Colonel Vivian, of England, are at the Hotel Brunswick. It has been suggested that the Washington Monus ment might be finished for Major André. ‘The Biddeford Miniature says that Othello was a tawny General of Venice. Isn't that a russety joke? Yung Wing, the Assistant Chinese Minister at Washington, has been seriously ill with bilious fever, but is now convalescing. ‘ ‘The Rey. Talmage says that a country village ig the heaven of gossips. The Rev. Tulmage spende hia little vacations at Ridgewood, N. J. The Boston Transcript regards pauperism as the great question of the day. The paper's idea is to help those who are helping themselves, General Sherman and staff, in company with Geng cral William Warner, passed through Rome, Ga., yes- terday, on the way to the Tecumseh Iron Works. : A Janesville (Wis.) dentist, speaking of his new machine for plugging teeth, says:—‘Its operationd are swift, easy and beautiful, pleasant to the patient, like the humming bird as it moves from flower to flower to get the sweet nectar.” Atlanta Constitution :—“During the recent cold weather it is said that Wilhelmj was compelled to saw the j off the end of his name and wrap it up in hot flannels. It is fearcd, even now, that the frost has undermined its constitution.” London Truth.—“This question of the legitimate rate of wages is one of the most difficult of the age, In Germany it has led to the spread of socialism, in America it has led to attempts to crush out Chinese labor, and it is now brought home to our own doors, Can an English artisan live for what supports a for- eign artisan? Without attempting to answer this question, I limit myself to asserting the solf-evie dent truth that if he cannot we shall be undersold by foreign nations, and, as an inevitable result, we shall be driven out of all open markets and cease to manu- facture.” AMUSEMENTS, STEINWAY HALL--VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAIy CONCERT. Few concerts during the present season have in- cluded a better array of artists than that which was given last night at Steinway Hall, under the manage- ment of Mr. John Darcie, Lhe programme was like- wise exceptionally good, but as much cannot be said of all the performances, It commenced with acornet solo from “Un Ballo in Maschera,” played in Mr. Ar- buckles best form, so well, indeed, that it compelled @ recall and the production of one of his own taste- ful arrangements. Signor Susini was in fine voice, and gave an aria from Verdi's’ “I Vespri Sicilian,”* with the breadth of tone that usually characterizes this artist. One of the chief triumphs of the evening was achieved by Mr. Christian Fritach, who, of late years, has come rapidly to the front as one of our most reliable tenors. He sang ‘‘Bell Raggio” from “Semiramide,” and, being encored; sang one of Wallace's melodica, “The Wind That . Subsequently he rendered a romanza from “Mignon.”" Miss Maud Morgan, not withstanding the drawback of a harp that was out of tune, played adinirably “La Danse des Fees,’* and was recalled. Gounod’s “Serenade” was rendered by Mrs. Florence Rice-Knox, whose contralto won baskets and bouquets of floral offerings and an abun- dance of applause, in return for which she sang, with charming effect, » tender Scotch melody. Mr, W. Courtney, the well-known oratorio singer, was not in good voice, and while singing with his old fervor “Sound the Alarm," from Handel's oratorio, struck false notes and slurred several of the passages. Hoe was evidently suffering from s cold, The Misses Porring sang a trio, “Row Away," by Campana, but not with the excellence that demanded an encore, Thoy also sang Rossini’s “La Carita.” The you ladies have good yotces for parlor entertainments, bu not such as will bear the severe tests of the concert Mr. J.C. Hill formed a fantasia stage. 4 “arrico = ofrom.)=— “La Fille’ «du ——_-Kegiment’* one violin delicately and with” grace, but in the rapid movements his execution was faulty. However, he docs not pretend to be a Reményi or a Wilhelm), ‘The event, instrumentally, of the even. ing was the, grand duo on two Variations,” “as -g Schunu B. Mills and Mr, Frang Ramu second time these well known pianists have performed the composition in public, and it certainly loses repetition, Mile. ie Marske was enthusiastically received, and her singing of an aria from ‘‘Semiramide’’ again re- veoled the wealth of vocal power and brilliancy that has made the name of this artist famous. Bein recalled she rendered @ Gorman »; Guimbert which drew forth # repetition of pp jause. It is to be placed to her credit that, rather t rec ome the audies she lett ® sick bed for the purpose making he: pearance, A violoncello solo by Herr 'W. Popper, & duo between Mra, Florence Rice-Knox and Mr. Charles Fritsch, handsomely executed, and a iano solo by Mr. W. F. Mills, consisting of themes iy bi pt 9 and his brother, 3. B. Mi concluded the diversified but enjoyable entertain- ment. Mr. Mills is one of the best of our pianists, and his concert labors on many occasions during the fast two or threo seasons show what a close student he must necessarily be, The audience fairly the hall, and if a profusion of floral tributes and ¢ warmest of applaase mean anything tho coucert wi be written down a6 @ success. nothing by tl