The New-York Tribune Newspaper, January 29, 1867, Page 4

THIS EVE CINDERKLL THEA THIS EVENING—LA PAPILLC NEW-YORK THEATKR. THIS EVENING—BIRD OF PARADISE-—-GRAND CORPS DE BALLET. OLYMPIC THEATER. THIS RVENING — ENGLISH OPERA — LA SONNAMBULA Richioge Opsts Compan, DSRUM. S CABIN. M G. . {y'»a:‘,; S—VAN AMBURS COLLECTION OF WiLD BOW) THIR RVENING—THE U W. K. Whalley, Miss Fanuy Herri NEW-YORK CIRCUS. A THIS EVENING—JOCKEY CLUB KACES. NewTYork Clreas Troupe. & OPFRA_HOUSK HRISTI'S MINSTRELS Geargs FIFTH AVE! THIS RV RNING—GRIFFIN Christy, Oscar Burbank, Dick S KELLY & LEC THIS BVENING—MADACASC 4 1o THIS RVENING-M. HA THIS EVENING—B asd Broadway. BRBY'S ART ROOMS. T EXHIDITION OF PAINTINGA. o LEC THIS BYENISG—~Dr. HEBBAKD on * The Heart and Blood,” at the Copperiosti¥ sl A. BARTLETT on “Boys,” in Thirteentb-st. Preaby- The Rev. WAL A. terian Charch. SAMURL 8. ty-second-st. iniscences of a Voyage I NE m DOUGHTY, ia the Business Notices. AMERICAN (WAL THE BEST IN THE WORLD. - A - ?‘u_\d V\rrvnhev:. Brow BroNcHIAL TROCHE ary aod Asthimatie Disorders, bave proved their ef years, aad bave received testimouials from emineat men who Lave used JHES. for Pulmon- :y by & test of many them. Those who are saffering from Coughs, Colds, Hoarseness, Sore Throat, &e., should try “The Troches,” s simple rewedy whick is in almost case effectual Tueg FRANKLIN Brick MACHINE, Justly celebrated for perfect simplicity, great strength, and immenss Compressiag p 18 GrARAXTERD, with eight men aud two horses, 1o salftemper th 3 ks per bour. J. H. RexIcK, Propiietor N. Y., Room 69, Tue EvREKA Brick MACHINE 18 8 model of simplicity and power, it performs its work to perfection, and s mot continwally breaking down. Afcr onlering & machi of the kers in this State said e for & laying out a dollar (n vy of vep the Dest jon guaranteed to every pu Ua, General Agent, No. 14 L 20 Prie's 0. K. S0AP, SALERATUS, Axp CrEAM TARTAR. Always foll welght. WASHINGTON-ST. arp Derot, No. 802 Broad- , Freach note paper, all the uew styles; Reanomical and relisle articles for family Bold by Grocers ger Deror, 8 At Ev . Wedding it C PoMADE Restores ling out; removes Dandroff; o paid, on receipt of ten Lr. E. B. Foo No. 1,190 Broads without spec H SEWING- aryland Lustitute, “CristapoRo’s Ham 1 manafctured. W holesale end retall, slso FLc Revensible Feed Lockatitch SEwING-MACHINES. Best fa ily mackive in the world. | ¥ 3 per dozen; w1, No, 160 € Loe itch SEw- inveutor of the Sewing-Ma- he best in_the perfect dys—black or Genuine sigued Wi A. | ENSORY Cure Truss Veseyst. La TWiLLeox & Gin Tir Su For Glrcalars. app & ply 1o Hypz. Agent, No. 119 Broadway, Hakusox Boizs Wonk adelphis, Pa. THE DRAMA. THE MERCHANT OF V VINTER GARDEN. A large audience was assembled last evening at the Winter Garden, to witness the long promised revival of “ The Merchant of Venice.” That admired play was presented with a richer and wore appropriate setting than has ever hitherto been accorded to it on any New-York stage. There was, however, a good deal of delay in the setting of the scenes, and the acting, in all the parts, was manifestly injured by a general nervousness and auxicty. Mr. Booth’s Shylook was not seen to_advantage. The performance dragged somewhat. But we doubt not that it will be much impreved on repetition, and shall give it a auore careful consideration at another time. For the mnoment it is enough to say that the sc Messrs. Witham and Hilliard, have pres stage-dressing of this picce, a beautiful spe the lovers of art. The audience, last evening, was, Ly turns, cordial and_impatient; but, on the whole, the great Shakespearian revival was properly Lon- p OBITUARY. o s MLLE. Tho 1atest papers from Europe bring intelligence of the death of Mlle. Marguerite Georges Weymer, the once famous Mlle. Georges of the French stage. She was born at Amiens in 1786, At the time of her death, therefore, she had attained the venerable age of 81 years. Her professional carcer begati in 1802, when she made her debit at the Comédie Frangaise. 1t was marked by many triumphs, and crowned with the most illustrions snecess. In the days of the Con- sulate and the First Cmpire she stood at the head of the jon. In 1812 she played before the and Russia. Honors were and Russia, as well asin ied nnder the tuition id to b ce. At one period sh of Talma, and, ap) she made a remaka Joan of Are. She af Martin, and at other abors at the Theatre Fra that of classical traged He f parts was and therein i no rival but Mile, Mars. She had passed the meridian of her when, in 1821, Rachel was born. In June, 1816, le.Georges was obliged. by ill-health, to retire from the stage. She resorted fo teaching, however, in the dramatic art; and it is worthy of note that one of her pupils, in 186, "was Miss Jean Davenport, who 1s now distingnished on the American mr as Mrs. Lander. In 1849, a bene- for Mlle. (Georges—who was in pov- erty—and Rachel Madame phz:'d 4 nestra; aud, even in the fad of o great actress have been clouded by she sleops A. B, WALLER. oldest and most efficient special agonts of the Post- oDork Daily Sribune, TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 187, - 70 CORRESPONDENTS. No notice eanbe taken of Avonymous Communications Whatever is intended for insertion must b eaticated by the name and addreas of the writer—sot secessarily for publication, but as a guaranty for his good faith Al business letters for this ofice should be addressed to * Tum Tain N, NowYork We canuot undertako to return rejected Communications’ A letter from the Ion. E. G. Spaulding to the Controller of the Currency; additional ex- tracts from the Census ; the meeting of the Boards of Aldermen and Councilmen yesterday ; the drawings in the Union Home and School Lottery ; meeting of the Southern Relief Com- mittee ; the Court Ieports, and the Money Aticle, appear on the second page. The Markets will be’ found on the third page. The Shipping Intelligence is on the seventh page. e— (ien. Thomas's testimony as to the continued abuse of and denial of justice to the Frevdmen of Tennesse, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, is very important and convincing. Gen. T.is a Vir- ginian—born and reared in the most ultra slave- holding region of that State—and never sus- pected of fanaticism. The country will im- | plicitly believe him. Another important step toward securing a per- manent telegraphic communication between America and the O1d World has been taken by the completion of the American portion of the Russo-American jTelegraph. The Behring's Straits have been surveyed to find a suitable Mace for a submarine cable. It is expected that the Russian portic ill be ready next Autumn. In the Senate, yesterday, the Tariff bill was materially amended. The duties on cast-iron pipes, ete, were reduced to & of a cent per pound; $1 50 per gallon was imposed on bay rum; the duty on cross-cut, mill, and other saws was inereased; the duty on bunting was changed to 50 cents per pound and 30 per cent ad valorem; cotton hosiery made by hand was subjected to the duty on that made in frames, and the duty on sal soda, ete., was raised to £ of a cent per pound. James and Alfred were two good boys, who had little ships, and James's ship sailed over the pond. Alfred was so glad that he asked James to dinner, and they had gingerbread. So James offered to give Alfred his little ship, as a proof that all James's countrymen were 50 glad Alfred had given him such a nice din- ner. But Alfred wouldn't take the little ship because it was too goyd for him, and so both boys were glad, and hoped their families would never quarrcl. For further particulars see cable dispatches. Tn the Board of Councilmen yesterday there was some difficulty in the organization of Standing Committees, the mnew Democratic members complaining of unfair treatment. Mr. Stacom offered a resolution appointing the Committees by the Board, which was lost; the President thus retains the power by appoint- ment, and the question is likely to result in a quarrel at the next meeting. Dangerous hos- tilities might be avoided by the removal of the inkstands. The new Hungarian address to the Emperor of Austria, which we publish to-day in an- other columm is a document well worthy of an attentive reading. Few abler pleas in behalf of constitutional right against princely absolutism have ever been put forth in Europe. This address is enough to justify the unbounded popularity of its author, Dea Cable dispatches ha ready informed us that the vote in both Houses was nearly unanimous in favor of its adoption. A nation which ean ‘rally round such a standard is sure ultimately to gain its point Mr. Johnson has surprised nobody by his veto of the Colorado bill, to which it appears he could not give his approval consistently with what Le calls his sense of duty. His message repeats his old opinions, with ingeni- ous conjectures appended, as to whether Colorado wants to become a State, and what dreadful things might happen if she should become a State, and what will become of her poor negroes, all of which is neither ne Y for the public to read, for Congress to debate, nor for us to answer. The bill will doubtless be passed by a two-thirds vote. Alabama has just taken a 8 reports a total population of 945, te Census, and , whereof 442,445 Blacks. In 1860, she had 964,206, of whom 132 were slaves. It is evident that lLer Black inhabitants are just about as numer- ous as in 1860, while her Whites are but 20,000 fewer. We infer from this that the Southern States have generally nearly if not quite as many inhabitants now as in 1860, and will have more in 1870. The etories that the Blacks are “dying out” seem to be utterly baseless. A good many of them have migrated northward or been taken to Texas; but they will number at least 4,000,000 in 1870. My, Stevens's Reconstruction bill was yester- day referred by the House—88 to 65—to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, all the Democrats voting to refer. We believe this was a wise decision, while it is another refuta- tion of the silly fabrication that Mr. Stevens is dictator of the House, as Mr. 8. strenuously opposed the reference. We believe the Committee will act promptly, yet circumspectly, and will report a biil that the House will wisely pass. We shall regret a close of the session without an earnest ef- fort for reconstruction. A bill that secures the essential rights of all the people of the South —that gives the whole land peace and rest— that promotes loyalty by protecting it, while it supplies those who have been disloyal with motive for and encouragement to loyalty henceforth—we trust can yet be framed aud passed. Reduce the number of malcontents to the lowest practicable point, and then deal with them sternly whenever they mishehave, Such is our idea of what should and we trust may be done. Mr. Kelso's resolution declaring it the duty of Congress to impeach Andrew Johnson im- mediately, was the subject of a long debate in the House yesterday, in which Mr. Le Blond, Democrat from Ohio, declared himself in favor of referring the resolution to a Select Com- mittee, upon the ground that the charges against the President were unfounded, and that he wanted the facts to be placed be- fore the country. This was a perfectly safe game of bluff, as Mr. Le Blond was well aware that the Republicans were not desirous to withdraw the subject of layed Eriphile, in ** Sphigenie.” Her conduct on the occasion, however, gaye di Veubll evidence of professional jealonsy. jardot also appeared. The beneficiary herself ‘ iy ouaty, Siata s =~ a 4 feep i D the hekle mind of Paria. Tho mnol But the tragedy is apt to be mfl.mbocfki?;nfl—und, “after life's fitful fever well.” @Y TELWORAPE 70 TAE TRIBUNE. WasIINGTO¥, Jan, 28.—A. B. Waller, one of the Office Department, died at Nowark, Del, on Saue ovening. He henbu‘: the Department about years. SAMUEL A. BROWN. BostoN, Mass., Jan, 2.—The IHon. Sammel A. ‘Brown, 8 prominent lawyer of this State, died in B roipiar _ impeachment from the Judiciary Committee, to which it had alveady been referred. Mr. Bing- ham again corrected the report that he had urged the impeachment of Mr. Johnson upon o qlirgo thaj ho Wb conyerned in 1y asss- chopty Yooauso I 18 onem, §UpROsg WO saY NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, sination of Mr. Lincoln. Inquiry was made of Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Judiciary Com- mittee, as to what progress it had made, but Mr. Wilson declined to give the information asked, for the reason that he thought it impolitic to anticipate the report. Mr. Wentworth intimated that the Judiciary Com- mittee was not prepared to go on with the in- vestigation, and advocated the reference of the resolution to a Select Comyittee, argning that the House, having taken up the subject, was bound either to press it or abandon it alto- gether. At this point of the debate the resolu- tion went over for amother week, under the l'"ll!& e e e A WORD OF CAUTION. Several bills are now before the Legislature of our State proposing additional Commissions for the control and management of the Schools, the Markets, the Public Edifices, Piers and Wharves, Real Estate, &c., of our City. So far as wo have been able to read them, these bills seem to us to embody many wholesome and wise provisions. A Board of Public Works, in our judgment, is absolutely necessary. At present, there seems to be no officer or Board authorized to perform public duties that are essential and urgent. Our Public Markets, for example, would disgrace the capital of Dahomey. They embody every character- istic that Markets should not ex- hibit. They are ill-placed, inconvenient, filthy, costly, and abominable. They should all be sold forthwith, and one grand market, access- ible by water and by rail from every quarter, with a space free to all producers of poultry, vegetables, fruits, &c., should replace and sup- plant the whole of them. Twice, at least, have ouwr municipal rulers bought ground for such a market, stealing $100,000 or so in the process; and there they have stopped, for want of a clear opportunity to steal any more in connec- tion therewith. The ground thus bought re- mains vacant and useless; the old, tumble- down eyesores and nuisances, covering the lower wards like an eruption, still answer de- testably for markets—that is, they have to an- swer. The whole market business emits one concentrated stench of municipal frand, job- bery, ineffficiency, and general rottenness. Our Wharves and Piers are death-traps—un- sightly, decayed, inconvenient, and gencrally execrable. Neither London nor Liverpool would tolerate them for even a month. Our School management is radically vicious. A Ward Board, to spend money raised in that Ward by taxation of its own inhabitants and property, is just and right; but here are Ward Boards drawing at will from the revennes of the entire City to spend in their special lo- cality—a plan that might corrupt angels. The teachers are often sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, of the Trustees, who employ them and fix their remmneration, which is drawn from the general fund ; a few hundreds added here (it is urged) will scarcely be perceptible in the general aggregate. Our school-houses are built, altercd, and enlarged, under the same impulse. And so the expense of our School system is annually and most wastefully swelled, until it threatens to become intoler- able. Mr. Berryman's bill proposes to sweep away all these useless and squandering local boards; and 8o far is emphatically right. All our present Commissioners, Trustees, and Inspec- tors (their name is Legion) are to give place to a Board of seven Commissioners, chosen by the Governor and Senate. That is, perhaps, indispensable. Not so this: “§ 2. The salaries of said Comm issioners shall be five thousand dollars per annum each.” —No, Sir!—not if we can prevent it. If seven capable, worthy, eminent citizens cannot be found to undertake this most responsible and honorable duty without , then we prefer to see the bill defeated. Commissioner who acts as Treasurer, and gives heavy bonds for his fidelity, may properly be paid for that service; bat for the residue the honor and conscious- ness of well-doing must suffice. It has done so up to this time ; why not hereafter? We protest against saddling this new bill of expense upon our tax-devoured City. Last year, a bill was put through increasing the pay of our Police—that of their Chief up to $7,500 per annum. Now there is a bill at Albany which proposes to add several hundreds to the number of patrolmen, and of course I hundreds of thousands to the annual ¢ That Dbill should be killed. And we think the chief of police ought to be satisficd with a salary equal to the Governor's, The bill creating a Board of Public Works abolishes far more places than it ereates, and its passage will lessen the enormous aggregate of our taxation. We hope it may be passed ; and that it may render needless the bill creating a Board of Commissioners of Markets. We must not increase expenses; we must reduce them. Friends at Albany! a good many go up to you from this City who have axes to grind, and they want you to turn the grindstone. If by 8o doing you would add a dime to our al- ready heavy taxes, please don't! e bty PLUNDER IN CONGR 3 The subject of the increase of Congressmen's salaries to 5,000 came up in the House inci- dentally last week. A faint attempt was made to suggest a review of that action, which was speedily hustled down. The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to which the question was referred, complacently observed that, as (ongress voted the increased compensation, it would of course stand by it, and, therefore, any action on the subject by that Committee would appear to be useless. By others, the subject was turned into a joke, the point of which was, that if it is proposed to refund the extra compensation, “don’t you wish you may get it?" We suppose we may, without giving offense, express our convictions on the abstract subject of stealing. We disclaim, of course, on such a delicate subject, all pereonal allusions, But this we say: that when a body which has access to the public treasury is elected to serve a given term at a certain rate of pay, they have no right, becanse they have access to the treasury, to help themselves to more. If they do, they take from their employers that to which they bave no claim. There is in the City of New- York a municipal body who are alleged to be notorious public robbers. They are commonly reported to be thieves and swindlers on a large scale. An American burns with indignation to hear it said that the foremost city of the conti- nent is in the hands of men who would have been a disgrace to Sodom. What do these men do? They simply help themselves from the public treasury. They are within reach of the strong box, and they stuff their pockets from it. They rob the public. Now we should like to knew where the essen- tial difference is between such a body as we have imagined and the municipality of New- York 1 Where is the difference in the principle of their action? Each votes itself money from the public treasury. Each helps itself {o what it wants from an open public ough 'TUESDAY, JANUARY %, 1867 takes a8 much as he dares. Where, then, is the difference in the criminality of the transaction ? But who shall say, if members of Congress raise their own salary from £3,000 to 85,000, they are to be classed with the infamous members of the New-York “Ring?” We say no such thing. We make no such allegation. We make every possible disclaimer. The members of Congress are gentlemen and honorable men. We know that by their titles. But will every- body be charitable? The members of Congress wanted more money. They went up to the public chest in a body, and took it. That is the simple fact. The propriety of the action being ques- tioned, the response to the suggestion is jocular. “Don't you wish you may get it back " is sub- stantially the reply. The XXXIXth Congress has an honorable record, with one exception. The members took money to which they were not entitled. This blot on their record has caused many a true Republican to exclaim, “Qut, damned spot!” There was a perilous contlict in the elections. Men swallowed their regrets, and their indignations, and their con- demnations of this act, choosing to overlook everything but the one main issue. They con- sidered that patriotism demanded as much as this, They left other things to be reviewed at other times. The increased compensation was one of them. There were plenty of men who felt the act to be a foul stain upon the party to which they belonged, and in whose glorious record they claimed a personal share. They felt their own individual pride humbled by it. Their banner was no longer clean. It had the smut of greed upon it. They still bore it aloft, but they averted their faces, and to the taunts of their enemies they were silent. Now, when the subject is alluded to in the popular branch of Congress, it is met with a chuckle: “We have taken the money. “You think it should be refunded. Don't you ‘yon wish you may get it?” Even the “Ring” could not improve upon that style of talk. Now, what is the plain duty of Congress in this matter of raising salaries? Shall Congress exercise no power over the pay of Congress ? Certainly. But not over its own pay. If it be said that the salary of members of Congress is insufficient let it be turned over to a proper committee of the body for investigation. If it shall be determined that that compensation is inadequate, and should be increased, then let thie inerease be applied to prospective ser- vico—to future Congresses only. This is the only honorable and manly procceding. It is the only way the thing can be done without scan- dalizing the whole body. Such an example of helter-skelter grab for extra pay as was made by the members last session, such a shirking of personal responsibility for a dirty act, such a dodging of yeas and nays on the vote, such at- tempts to retreat into the dark to avoid censure for an act that would not bear the light, were a burning disgrace. 1f the present Congress is too mean to do anything but skulk on the sub- jeet, let that which is to assemble on the 4th of March have the grace to enact promptly that no future Congress shall raise their own pay. If they will not do so much as that, we may some day b a Congress elected that may conclude to take fifty thousand dol- lars a year apiece out of the Treasury, instead of five thousand. On principle, the one act would be just as defensible as the other, [ —— A BRIDGE THAT IS NO BRIDGE. Some hundreds of thousands of people in New-York and Brooklyn agree upon the urgent need of a bridge to conneet the two cities. Bnt this popular unanimity will be no warrant for hasty Legislative authority of any private job. The daily reports of the dangers of transit between the metropolis and its great lodging place across the water have prepared the way for a favorable reception at Albany of any scheme promising permanent relief. The presentation of such a scheme was not long delayed. On Friday, Mr. Senator H. €. Murphy—not wholly unknown as one of the Legislative partners in the three monopolies controlled by the Uaion Ferry Ring—intro- duced a bill to authorize the construction of a bridge across the East River, naming as incor- porators sundry rich men of the two cities, a number of whom we recognize as among the leading owners of stock in these monopolies, viz: the Union Ferry Company, the Brooklyn City Railroad Company, and the Brooklyn Gas- light Company. Convenient additions are made to these names, but it is safe to call this scheme one of the branches of the same Ferry Company whose utter disregard of publie safety and convenience has aroused the public to the necessity of a bridge. The coincidence of names, however, is not the only evidence we have of the coincidence of interests, tho prov 18 of the bill itself furnishing proof. The first scction allows the incorporators five years in which to commence the work. This is a fraud at the start. The bridge should be begun before six months more have passed by, and opened to travel within two years' time. Brooklyn real estate interests will suffer immensely from the late ice-blockade, even although a bridge should be ene y carried forward to completion; how much more if five years are allowed to pass before a stone is laid in the buttresses? Then, as to the completion of the bridge, there is absolutely no limit in the entire bill. Once begun, the work of construction may procced 80 slowly that— “. Generations yet unborn May point it to their'sons,"” and speculate upon its probable completion. No explanation of the five years of grace has been made publie by Scnator Murphy, but we note an addition to the coincidences already re- ferred to, in the fact that the lease held by the Union Ferry Company runs to May, 1871, nearly five years from this date. With a bridge, a renewal might be impracticable or unprofitable ; without one, and with the time of building one completely in the hands of its friends, the Ferry Company could afford to pay liberally for a further tenure of life, We believe it is customary, in legislative grants for transportation purposes, to limit the tariff of prices, beyond which the company shall not go. But the Bridge bill under considera- tion provides only that the profits, after de- ducting all expenses, shall not be more than 15 per cent per annum, the tolls being so re- duced from time to time as to comply with this limitation. The unthinking reader may suppose the public is protected by this clause. By no means. Let each incorporator be made a Di- reetor at a salary anywhere from one thousand to twenty thonsand dollars per year, and let these salaries be included in the “current ex- “penses,” and the annual statement to the Secre- tary of State may easily be kept down to the desired point, Meanwhile such tolls may be imposed a8 will make the bridge a luxury, and the boats & necessity, to the great mass of those who must patronize one or the other. We do not say that these things would all be done, but they all might be done, under the bill as introduced. A bridge is needed, and many plans w.lll 'be discussed; but, if possible, log 35 by bt ip-the ipterest ok o ook S35 and not of a cligne which has as little disposition to do the fair thing to any- body beside themselves. e REVIVING SHAKESPEARE. We rather dissent from Mr. Stuart's announce- ment of a “Shakespearean Revival,” although we thank him for doing for the stage what few managers have had the intrepidity to do. To revive a play memorable for scenery, and danc- ing, and music—to bring upon the stage a melodrama—is the merest mercenary enterprise. Sometimes we have a foreign importation, which attracts very much as an elephant, or & giraffe. The most popular drama ever performed in New-York owes its attraction to the belief that it panders to a questionable taste, and in some of our theaters we find managers competing with each other as to who shall show the most attractive disregard of morality. We do not say this in a canting spirit; for the ballet is not bad, and the beauty of form and motion is not to be condemned. The human form, decked and draped, moving purely and gracefully to the tones of music, and the vary- ing figures of the dance, has a poetry of its own. 1t is not the element of beauty, we fear, which leads our managers to vie with each other in sensational dramas. Mr. Stuart and Mr. Booth deserve commendation for daringin a new path. To revive Shakespeare, and play his dramas with the addition of elaborate and gorgeous scenery; to see that every dress is historical, every piece of furniture copied liter- ally, and the details of the scemery exact to give us Hamlet as he lived, and the castle at Elsinore as it was; to bring the Rialto upon the stage, and have the laws of Venice determined in a Venetian court, is a noble ambition, and we thank Mr. Stuart for making the effort. We have nothing nearer to us than Shake- speare. He embodies the poetry, the wit, the beauty, the life of English literature; and to have him torn, and elipped, and amended, by Dblacksmiths like Colley Cibber, merely to make an effect, is to wus the unpardonable sin of the drama. We honor an actor for daring a new reading, or invent- ing a new sitnation. When Mr. Fechter wears an auburn wig in Hamlet, and Mr. Mont- gomery tears out a page of Hamlet’s imaginary Juvenal, as he speaks of slanders, we may crit- jcize them as fops, stage dandies, milliner trage- dians. Yet the spirit is well, for they mean to do their work and speak their parts as they should be spoken. We leave the critics to de- termine the precise rank of Mr. Booth. Perhaps he is our greates: tragedian. We shall not say so —for he is too youn g a man to be smothered by flattery; and with the exception of Hamlet, Tago, and Othello perhaps, there is no Shakes- pearean part which he has invested with more than ordinary interest. His Richard is tradi- tional, his Romeo tame; although Richard and Romeo, as written by Shakespeare and not as played by the stage-managers, are grand crea- tions and worthy of as keen a study as Hamlet. Not to have done this is not Mr. Booth's faults for we must give him time. We are content to see that he uses his time well. He can do nothing better than revive Shakespeare's dramas, in a manmner worthy of Shakespeare, and we thank him for giving us the Merchant of Venice as superbly as it was performed at the Winter Garden last evening. Society de- mands dignity, and purity, and elevation of the the stage, and we are rejoiced to see its minis- tegs anxious to attain the moblest mission of the Drama. SCHOOL REFORM. If it shall be asked why a bill has been in- troduced in the Legislature, the intention of which is to place the whole of our school interests in the hands of a commission, we have only to refer the questioner to a few facts notorious to those who have interested them- selves in our school system, if not well-known to the public at large. The wildand pernicious spirit of rivalry between the local boards, and the self-interest greedily at work within them, only tend to keep up a system of ignorant, willful wastefulness most damaging to education and to the city. Itjhas been seen that, for the pur- pose of throwing away the public money, the Sehool Boards can break the law with as much zest and coolness as can a Councilman. The twenty-fourth section of the Amended School law for the City of New-York provides that “Upon a decision favorable to the estab- “lishment of a school or schools in any of the “wards of said city, it shall be lawful for the “school officers of said ward to proceed to “organize one or more schools, such as may be “authorized by the Board of Education, and “ procure a school-house, by purchasing or hiring “the same, or by procuring a site and erecting “g building thereon, according to plans, and “gpecifications, and contracts which shall have “been duly filed with and approved by the “Board of Education; the erection of which “ gaid building, and the fitting-up thereof, and “the fitting-up of any hired building, shall be “done by contract, proposals for which shall be “advertised for two weeks previous, &e., &e,, “unless such fitting-up shall not exceed the “gum of two hundred dollars.” By reference to the proceedings of the Board of Education, June 27 of last year, it will be seen that a Mr. James Miller presented a re- port from the Committeo on Buildings relative to the condition of one of our grammar schools. Thereupon it was resolved that the sum of $32,000 be appropriated for the ex- tension of the main school building and for alterations and repairs, the bills therefor to be paid on certificate of the Committee and Su- perintendent of School Buildings. In Deecem- ber following the same Mr. Miller reported another resolution that the sum of $19,048 81 be appropriated, in addition to the amount aforc- said, for the same purposes as formerly set forth, and that 8,245 77 be given for the pur- pose of providing such new furniture as may bo required, including pianos. The extrava- gance of appropriation did not end here; for #5860 were added for the repair and purchase of stoves. Thus, altogether, £60,155 were appropri- ated and spent in repairs and alterations of a | school building, which ecould have been built | for the same sum, and with a fair profit to the builder. Does this school-house job look very unlike the new Court-House swindle? and if it does not, what is the difference, if any, be- tween the Board of Education and the Board of Councilmen? Here, then, we have not only a flagrant abuse of power, but a plain and palpable vio- lation of the intent and meaning of the law It will not do for the Board of Education to take the ground that the law-making power intended only to hold them to a strict accounta- bility for all sums over $200, expended for the erection of new school buildings, or the fitting up of hired ones, and give them unrestrained liberty with the public money in rebuilding or fitting up old ones. This view would be too absurd to be sanely entertained. The simple enforcement of the law might remedy many of the troubles of which we complain; for it is the qonitiat sgitng ab yauglt of Lo, a3 ol 4 PAPEE AND THE TRIBUNE. A Western journal—which seems unable tg comprehend any other than a sordid motive fop any human act—caleulates that Tur Tripuwe lost £83,000 during 1866 by the existing duty . (20 per cent.) on Printing Paper, which (it says) - would have been abolished by Congress bug for our opposition. Then, we sy, we pre. vented Congress, at our own cost, from dof a great wrong to au important interest and to American Labor. We cannot sec how a duty of 20 per cent. can plausibly be stigmatized as prohibitory or oppressive ; and we insist that it would be unjust and unpatriotic to require oue paper-makers to pay Income and other heavy taxes, yet compete in open markets with foreigners who bear much lighter burdens, Much of our paper, for example, is manufac- tured at Niagara Falls, but on the American side. Admit foreign paper free of duty, and the makers would almost inevitably be driven across the river, to avoid the heavy imposts they now pay on Bleaching. Powdors, &e., and to escape the general burdens im- posed on our people by the late War, There may be Tribunes which would regard this with indifference, but this one is of another sort. That a little paper might be imported cheaper, in the absence of any duty, than it is now afforded by American paper-makers, we know; but it by no means follows that a great deal might be. On the contrary, were half the paper used in this country imported, we believe the foreign price would thereby be carried up to the present American standard. OQur American paper-makers have been mak- ing large profits for the last three or four years—making them under a twenty per cent. Tariff. Had the duty been forty or fifty per cent., with no fear of its reduction, we believe the price of paper would have long since been cheapened by the erection of new mills or the enlargement of old ones. . But the clamoe for the free importation of paper has kept men of enterprise from rigking their means in a business which seemed so precarions; and thus the price of paper has been kept up by a deficiency in the home supply. We greatly need cheaper paper; but we believe the road to it lies through Protection, not Free Trade. THE LAST LOTTERY. The New-York Lottery follows closely upon that of Chicago. The scheme which has been extensively advertised under the title of a gen- erous object, reached its climax yesterday, and somebody is supposed to be 10,000 richer to-day than he or she was yesterday, while sundry others have drawn prizes in the lottery ranging in valuo from a Westchester homesteadto o 15+ cent package of stationery. But who the lucky ones are, the managers sedulously refuse to tell us, although there is no pretense here, as there wasat Chicago,that they donot yet know. Indeed, 5o well-known to the managers were the per- sons holding the fortunate tickets, thad although they would not furnish their names they would tell where they lived. Accordingly, a list of residences was furnished the reporters, ranging from West Twenty-first-st. to Detroit on the one side, and Boston on the other. This list was intended to be proof conclusive to doubting minds that the chief prizes were actually drawn. “That flonr cost me $12 & “barrel,” said a storekeeper to a questioning customer, “and if you don't believe it, I can show “you the barrel.” Whether that sort of proof will satisfy the three hundred thousand who drew blanks or nominal prizes, remains to be seen. It was announced yesterday that the exaet number of tickets sold was 252,862. Allowi g for the reduction to clubs, this should represenc considerably more than £300,000 received Y.\y the managers, The liberal estimate placed upon the “presents” in the hand-bills was §176,0005 their actnal cost was probably not over £100,000. It was further announced yesterday that the “Fome,” in whose name the lottery has been carried to a successful speculation, would prob- ably realize $75,000 from the enterprise. Now, what has become of the odd $125,0007 Even if one-half of it has been spent in advertising —which we doubt—there is still a deficit of from £30,000 to £60,000, concerning which we trust a full exhibit will be made. We make no charges of fraud &gainst the seheme, save the general charge that it has been no more nor less than a lottery, and that every lottery is founded upon swindling the many for the sake of the few. We neither congratulate the few now sympathize with the many. But we want to see the managers of the scheme held to a stries accountability for every dollar which they have collected in the name of a Home for the Child- ren of our Defenders. INCREASED DUTIES CHEAPEN PRICES. One of the principles laid down by Commis- sioner Wells in his report, that “an increase of “ duties contributes to an increase of prices,” is a free trade fallacy which has been a thousand times exposed and refuted. The Iron and Steel Association, at their Convention in Washington, pronounced it “false and delusive,” and af- firmed, on the contrary, the economical truth, that the invariable effeet of productive duties which establish industrics up to the point of successful competition with rival imports, is to reduce prices to consumers. In proof of this, the fact was instanced that the duty imposed by the Morrill tariff on cast-steel, amounting to 100 per cent on previous rates, under which the manufacture of American steel was suc- cessfully established, brought down the price of the imported article from 19 cents a pound to 124 cents; and that when gold was at 280, and the best English cast-steel had to be sold a$ 45 cents, American of equally good quality nevee sold for more than 32 cents. This fact was likewise adduced: that previous to the present extensive preparations in this country to pro- duce Bessemer mails the English agents charged for them £150 in gold, but dropped the price to £110 npon learning that we were going largely into the business, under the expectation of a protective increase of the tariff. So it is with thewhole range of manufactured products. The first effect of protective duties is to impose checks upon the demands of importers and to reduce prices; the final effect is to cheapen the articles by the underbidding of producers com= peting with each other for the possession of the market. An Olio friend, who has been planting Cotton in Louisiana for the past year—his first farm- ing experience—privately writes us: "I:uwhmvlfimmmunMMu- the entire practicabulity of growing cotton by free labor. But negroes, like other laborers, must be handled with discretion and by men of executiye capacity. It is amas- 1ngly easy for & fool to find the negroes unwilling to work for him.” Tae MUTUAL BaLL—The annual ball of the Ma- tnflmnmcnunmmm:fl:‘;‘m‘u The hall was handsomely decorats e attonsl ol gl Qo g o e S1SB ¥y : (4 $1 D