The New York herald. [volume], December 14, 1874, Page 4, Image 4

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NEW YORK IIERALD
BROADWAY AMU AM* STUEET.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT.
fBOFK IETOR.
THE DAILY HERALD, published tvtry
day in the pur. Four cents per copy. An
no*] subscription price $12.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.?On and
after January' 1, 1875, the daily and weekly
editions of the New York Herald will be
sent free of postage.
All business or news letters and telegraphic
despatches must be addressed New York
Bxbud.
Rejected communications will not be re
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sealed.
LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK
HERAID?KO. 46 FLEET STREET.
Subscriptions nnd Advertisements will be
.received and forwarded on the same terms
as in New York.
Volame XXXII No. 3*8
1IVIE1EIV T8 TO-XIGHT.
I'ARK THEATRE.
Broadway, between Twenty.flrnc ana Twenty-tecond
?treat*.?UILUED AG t, at HP. M.; clou** at 1U:30 P. M.
Mr. John r. Raymond.
THEATRE COMIQCE,
Mo. 514 Broadway.-variety. at 8 P. M.; oloMi at 10 X
r. m.
BOOTH'S THEATRE.
coraar o! Twanty-thlrd uratt and sixth avanua ?TUB
Hi.Hu or I kit HotR, at Sf>. M. ?, eUlMi at 10M0P. M.
Mr. Heart Stuart.
ROMaN HIPPODROME,
uraut and Fourth tvtiiL.
aitarnoon and avanlnir, at 2 and E
WALLACE'S THEATRE
IE SHaL'UHI
lu tiO P. Jt. Mr. Boucicauit
Twfnty-tUtth tuaut and Fourth arei'iu*.?FETB AT
?road wa^. ? TH KSHa L' O U It A L' .V, at V P.M.; eloMa at
terrace garden theatre.
Fifty-aifhtM ?:reet and Laxinjrton avenue?YABIBTY,
at 8 P. a.; cloaa* at 10 -30 P. H.
FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE,
Twenty-eighth (treat and Broadway SHE STOOP? TO
CONQUER, at 8 P. M.; cloaa* at 10 JO P. M. M1m Fanny
OaTanport.
BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE,
W?t Twenty.Third mreet, naar Sixth avenue.?NEGRO
MINSTRELiY, *c.. at ? P. M.; cloaea at 10 P. M. Dan
Bryant
_ BROOKLYN THEATRE,
Waahlngtoo ?tra?t?JANE EYRE, at 8 r. M. Ulm Char.
lotta Thomptoo.
SAN VRANCISCO minstrels,
Jroadwty corner of Twenty-ninth I treat?NEGRO
MiMSrRaLSY, at 8 P. M.: clow* at lu P. M.
robimson hall,
Sixteenth ?treat.?begone dull CASE. Mr. Mao.
_ _ GLOBE theatre,
Broad w*t.-YaRIE cy. at 8 P. M.; cloaa* at 10 JO P. M.
MUa Jannla Hugh**.
LYCEUM THEATEE.
Fourteenth (treat and Sixth avenue.? CHIlPEEIC, at 4
P. M.; cioae* at lu :4J P. M. Mlu Emily Soideue.
new pare theatee.
Pulton itraat, Brooxlyn.-i'HE ORPHANj. R. it Car
reU aad Son*.
GEBMANIA THEATRE,
Poartaeatb itraat?DEM YETTER. at 8 P. M.
_ _ WOOD'S MUSEUM, a
?r^way, cornar TUirtiath *traet.?OUTEX TWIST.
QUTi, at 8 P. M.; clo*a? at 10M?. M. J. H.
? __ METROPOLITAN THEaTBE,
Broadway.?YaBIKIY, at 8 P. M.; eloaea at 10:*)
w ? . OLYMPIC THEATRE.
P^jf* Broa4w*y-"VARIETY, at 8 P. M. s oloaat at 10:4S
GRAND OPERA IIOC3B,
Twenty third street and fcighth avenue.?THE BLACK
CROOK, at 8 P. M. ; cloto* at U P. M.
WITH SUPPLEMENTS
S#w Twk, Monday, Dae. 14, 187*.
From our reports this morning the probabilities ;
art that the weather to-day will be cold and
cloudy, itUh rain or snow.
Tux Aimw of a member of the German
Beichstag haa caused an unusual actuation,
and the Deputies hare unanimously united in j
demanding hit releaae beoause of the invasion :
of privilege. Even Bismarck may find that it j
la eaiy to go too far.
-
Rata Kalakava was 00 ill yesterday that '
the reception at the White House haa been
postponed. It is to be hoped the Hawaiian
King may soon recover from the fatigues of
what to him was a severe jonrney and be able
to enjoy his visit to this country.
M. Oscui ?>x Lajayxttx was congratulated
yesterday by tbe Deputies of the Left on the
good feeling displayed toward him by tbe
eitiisns of ths United States. The return of
tba Washington watoh to the Lafayette family
is acoepted in republican France as a sign of
national and political brotherhood. In this
action, so slight in itself, there is a good omen
for the future and a trust that the two countries
will continue the friendly relations begun
nearly a century ago and go on in ths main*
tsnaucs of republican liberty.
Txx Lopzsuxa Trouble.?The excitement
In New Orleans continues, but no attack upon
ths Us turning Board has yet been mads, nor
has ths Board yet given any pretext for vio
lanes. It has done nothing, and ths outrsgs
upon justice which it is said it contemplatee
remains unexecuted. The conservativee can
do nothing that will injure their cause more
than to appeal to arms, for in that case the
decision will certainly be against them, and
ws are glad to hear that Governor MoSuery
and tbe Whits League aro opposed to any
vioienoe. Congress oan this sesaion be com*
pelled to rodeem Louisiana from misrule,
unless the democracy blundsr in making a
party measure out of what should be a na?
tional duty.
What Is Fams??-The French journals are
disputing over tho proposition to place
the stutue of Mirubeau in the Court of
J antic? of Aix. The republicans insist
that this honor is due to the eloquent
champion of the Revolution. The conserve
tires argue that as Mirab?*au had been im
prisoned in this town tor heinous offences,
and condemned to imprisonment in the very
-oourt where it is now proposed to erect his
statue, the honor would be a bad prec
edent Among the statues already erected is
that of Portslis, who, in passing judgment on
Xirabesu, stigmatized him as "a bad son and
? bad oitiaen." It wootd be a singular ilius.
tfstton of the irony of ferns if the prisouer
whs was there condemned and ths judge who
smlwisl him ifcoiM tfftnA side hv side in
Th? R?llglo?i Strife In Urrmanjr-Uli
naarek, Arnim aaa the H?r?ld.
Those who look ut national events in their in
ternational aspects cannot fail to note the rela
tion hot wet m the ultramontane contest in Ger
many and the extraordinary excitement now
pervading England as to whether allegiance
to the Pope is to govern the allegiance of the
Catholic to his sovereign. The coincidence in
the two controversies only indicates that Ger
many and England are controlled by similar
emotions. We see what we have seen so otten,
; that between the two systems, civil govern
l inent as seen in the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon
j countries and religious government as seen in
the Papacy, there is an irrepressible and
i constantly recurring conflict The war of
Luther against the indulgences and of Henry
VIEL against the Papal supremacy were early
I phases of the present strife. Those who study
the career of Luther will see that his success
came, not from any sense of an outraged
religious sentiment on the part of the German
Catholics, but from a patriotic opposition to
Italians aud the rule of Italian prelates over
the Catholic world. Henry VIIL became the
defender of the faith by appealing to that
sturdy English patriotism which was as strong
then as it is now. The contest in Germany,
the earnest effort to convict Count Arnim, the
bitterness that marks the relations between
Bismarck and the Pope, the efforts of Disraeli
and Gladstone to vie with each other in their
appeal to the Protestant sentiment of Eng
land, show that we are in a new phase of the
religious movement known in history as the
Protestant Reformation.
Therefore every phase of this contest, no
matter how minute, becomes of the utmost
importance. The conviction or the acquittal
of Count Arnim is a small matter, so far as
that nobleman is concerned. He can have no
more punishment than what be has already
undergone. The world well understands that
there is no crime in what he has done. There
may be infractions of the Prussian civil ser
vice law. The averment that the publication
of the questionable documents will be re
garded as high treason shows the anxiety of
the government as to the moral results of
the controversy. It is possible, and no
donbt very probable, that in his efforts
to protect himself against Bismarck Count
Arnim has violated the technical regula
tions of the Prussian Foreign Office. But
no one believes that he has done anything
inconsistent with his honor and his duty as a
nobleman of the German Empire. There
fore the harshness of his punishment doea
not mean the vindication of German law,
but satisfying the policy of Bismarck.
It is another phase of the strife
for power. Prussia is governed by a
capricious king?one who is as absolutely
master as the Tudors. He selects ministers,
-commands armies, makes war or peace, as he
pleases, and accepts the advioe of a cabinet
only when the advioe pleases him. Perhaps
the protest of the Reichstag against the sum
mary arrest of one of its members may have
some effect in changing the royal decision,
but we do not so anticipate. To be the
Minister of an absolute monarch haa its
advantages. There are no parliaments to
dread?unless the Reichstag shall really be
come a parliament, jealous of its dignity,
as now seems probable?no budgets to
discuss, no ultimate legislation to punish
or reward. When it is necessary to wield
the resources of a great empire, to make
sodden, swift, unp*using and unexpected
war, when it is deemed best to suddenly
sum ap all the resources of an empire for an
instant purpose, then this relation of a
favored minister to an irresponsible king has
its advantages. Without such a relation it is a
question whether Prussia coald have won
Sadowa or Sedan.
On the other hand, there are disadvantages.
A statesman may rise iike Wolsey, resting on
the affections of his prinoe, only to fall like
Wolsey when those affections grow cold. It
may be a question of grave State policy, or it
may be a simple bodily distemper wearing
upon the nerves, this royal power to build up
and tear down is unquestioned and from it there
is no appeal. With such a power Bismarck has
to deal. He serves a master who may dis
robe him to-morrow and no one to dispute
the act. So when he fights it is for power and
not a principle. He is strong when Germany
is behind him, for Germany will always be re
spected, even by the Prince who rules it
Therefore he summons up the same old feeling
for the Fatherland against the foreign priest
and the foreign prinoe which nerved Luther in
his joaruey to Worms and which led Prussia
from Jena to Waterloo. Bismarck sees that
in this struggle there is against him a power
he oannot bat fear. He is the Minister of
a very old man. la the course of nature this
Kaiser must soon go and "rent with God." In
his place a new prince will ooine, a young
man who will be as anxious to emulate his
ancestral glory as was Frederick when he sent
his father's veteran generals home from the
wars, saying that a king of Prussia could not
i "inarch with a tutor in the Held." All the
: tokeus that come from Germany show that
the new Kaiser will not rule with his father's
ministers as his military or civil tutors. Be
tween Bismarck and this Prinoe there have not
been the most cordial relations. A prince by
tho force of intellect, like B'smarck, is not apt
always to be patient with a prince by the
gracf of God, like Frederiok WiBiam. We
saw this in the dealings of Wellington with
George IV. Considering the Crown Prinoe
or the imperial family as supporters of
Arnim this proceeding beoomee very plain.
Upon any other hypothesis it is altogether a
mystery.
Everything that Bismarck has thus far done
shows that he is aimply making a desperate
contest for power against high royal influ
ences, Arnim is nothing to him. He invokes
the Protestant sentiment of Germany against
the reactionary power that waits expectant
for the throne, and the effect of which may
be ill to German unity and freedom. Else
why this impatient nervous scrutiny of what
is called "the relations between the He&4U>
and Count ArnUn ?" As our speuial cable
despatch shows, the guilt or innocence ot' this
accused Minister is practically a question of
the enterprise of the Nsw Yon* Huulo.
We learn that on the trial intercepted
| oopies of the telegrams Mat irom
our Berlin correspondent to our Lon
( den bureau have been yead. One of
our correspondents has bees placed under po
lice surveillance. Petcctiree have followed
\ ha movements from day to day end *?
his going and coming. A letter addressed !
to the Hr.iui.n is read in court. This
letter must have been taken from the
Post Office, as it never came to us.
Detectives have prowled about our Lon
don office, as we learn from a prominent Lon
| don newspaper. For all we know our office ;
! in New York has been similarly honored;
for, as our correspondent says, "Prince Bis
marck has spared no trouble or expense to
know the relations existing between the
Hjould and Count Arnica."
We cannot refrain from acknowledging
these attentions on the part of the Princa
Chancellor. The Herald has only the kind
est feelings toward Princa Bismarck. We
have received many courtesies from him, and
not many months have passed since be asked
us to become the medium for the republica
tion in America nf the Falk laws. We should
gladly do him any service that an independent
journal can render to a great minister and
prince. It may, therefore, be a service for
him to know that ihe exact "relations be
tween the Htiui.n and Count Arnim" are the
relations between a cosmopolitan journal
looking for news and a nobleman whose
movements and late interest mankind. We
have the same interest in Prince Bismarck
that we have in Count Arnim. It is a mystery
that so shrewd and gifted a minister, who has
been a strenuous journalist in his day, should
not understand this independent attitude, and
that the fact that such a relation is possible is
the best evidence that America enjoys a free
dom that Germany with all of her glory does
not yet possess.
TIm Bofu Correspondent.
About this time, when the Christmas holi
days unbend the hearts of hotel keepers and
the Legislatures and Congress assemble, the
I bogus correspondent of the r> resumes
his wild career. We heard of him frequently
during the summer, when the various water
ing places were open, and Long Branch,
Saratoga, Newport, Atlantic City, Cape May
and the Whits Sulphur Springs were central
points oyer a large field upon whioh he gayly
dispofted. When the summer season of
dissipation ends he generally disappears
fop a short time, leaving a trail of
unpaid bills behind and a vista of dis
appointed hotel keepers in the distance; but
he only goes "to come again," like Monsieur
Tonson. The winter opens a new sphere for
his impudence, his invention and his indus
try. When fashion ceases to furnish an op
portunity it is afforded amply by politics.
Hotel keepers are to blame if they are victim
ized by the bogus correspondent who repeats
himself so often. They can detect him by
several signs. In the first place he is always
impecunious, always extremely important in
his own person and always expecting remit
tances. He is very apt to confuse the
newspaper profession with that of the
mendicant, and to play the rdles of
King Cophetua and the beggar
at the same time. Clothed in the
grandeur of his confidential connection
with the HmuTiD and its "mysterious influ
ence," he believes, with Pistol, that "base is
the slave who pays." He will board with the
cheerlul hotel keeper for weeks, and promise
him enormous compliments when his letters
are published. But the letters of the bogus
correspondent are never published, and some
incredulous persons suppose they are never j
written. These are sure signs by which this
peculiar baisg may be detected; but in justice
to ourselves and to the army of regu
lar and occasional correspondents, who
are solvent and responsible gentlemen,
we would say to bankers, hotel keepers and
other confiding persons whom he may ap
proach, that whenever there is any question of
the authenticity of a correspondent they have
simply to telegraph an inquiry to New York.
It will cost them nothing?indeed it may save
them something?and we shall be obliged for
the chanoe of exposing some of the numer*
ons frauds and adventurers who trade upon
the reputation of this paper, not having in
their own names any oapital of the kind. We
have heard of the bogus correspondent re
oently, and we would like to do to him as Mr.
Tackletou did to the crickets?"I sorunoh
them," said Mr. Tackleton.
JolUk Stuart Mill and Hie Oppoaente.
The late Mr. Mill advanced in his posthu
mous essaye singular opinions concerning the
usefulness of religion. He did not consider
either faith in Qod or in the immortality of
human li?e necessary to the noblest interests
of man. The consciousness that our influ
ence is for the good of ths generations which
follow, he argued, should give mors satisfac
tion than ths selfish hope of continuing in
definitely our merely individusl existence.
It was an humble belief, but as it oarried the
doctrine of renunciation to its extreme there
is no probability that it will become popular.
Men cling to the idea of their immortality
with indestructible fervor, and what has given
Christianity its wonderful power over all
races is the promise, the revelation, the di
vine pledge that what is sown in corruption
shsll be raised in inoorruption, and that ths
miraole of Christ's resurreotion shall become
ths natural law of ths world, Mr. Mill's
oontsntment with the extinction of personality
in death may be accepted by philosophers of
his own kind, but it oan never replaoe Chris
tianity in ths estimation of mankind.
This fundamental doctrine of the Christian
xsligion had several expositions yesterday
from the pulpits of New York, one of the most
notable being the sermon of the Rev. Dr.
Hepworth upon "The Viotory in Christ."
Jesus, he said, wa? "the matter and substanoe
of life," aud this seems to resemble the idea of
Thomas De Quincey, that immortality is not
the natural inheritance of man, but the pre
cious giit of the Saviour of the world. Whether
Dr. Hepworth agreee with this idea we are not
certain, but surely the argument of Plato,
which Addison has made familiar to the Eag'.
Ush reader by his iamous soliloquy in the
tragedy of "Cato," is strengthened by the
.etchings of St. Paul. The natural argument
of the Greek phUosopher in favor ol immor
tality has, in the example and the words of
Christ, supernatural indorsement. If the
longings of ths soul itself are evidenos of a
Mure lils, ths promises of Christianity be
gome a double assurance to the believer,
Deems also touched upon this
subject, but directed his sttenUon more Imme
diately to the ptaotical question oi the amuse,
menu whioh are proper lor religious people
the Rev. Dr. Rylauce of Christian duty toward
the poor. Mr. Beecher chose for bin subject
the slow development of Cbristiuu character,
and the Itev. Mr. Van Dunkirk more closely
considered the subject to which we have
reterred. "There is a scene in which we shall
live after the grave has closed over us," he
suid, and he also dwelt upon Mr. Mill's the
ory of the value of one life's influence upon
other lives. Mr. Frothinghtim, who is, per
haps, nearer to Mr. Mill's ideas thun any other
of our clergymen, spoke of the coming dawn,
and beautifully used the transit of Venus to
illustrate his argument. Altogether the ser
mons of yesterday are full of interest, espe
cially as they show the Christian side of the
great discussion now carried on by the ad
vanced thinkers of our time.
A Threatened Raid on tile City
Charitable Institutions.
It is evident that an attempt is to be made
after January 1 to obstruct the payment to the
city charitable institutions of the excise and
other moneys appropriated to their use under
existing laws. The amendments to the State
constitution adopted at the laBt election are
interpreted as prohibiting "the application of
the excise moneys to any of the charities
heretofore benefited by them," and also aa
affecting "the right of disposing of the eight
hundred thousand dollars or so, included in
next year's tax levy, for charitable institu
tions. " It is argued, in regard to the excise
moneys, that, if paid into the city treasury
before the 1st day of January, 1875, they may
be distributed among the charitable institu
tions, but that alter that date "there can be
no question that the constitutional amend
ments authoritatively prohibit the application
of the excise moneys to any of the charities
heretofore benefited by them." It is also held,
in reference to the appropriations to charita
ble institutions included in the city estimate
?for next year, that as the tax levy for 1875
must be finally closed before the end of this
year, the Board of Apportionment, under ex
isting laws, "will have no choice but to incor
porate the sum named in their appropria
tions; but after it has been inserted it is very
questionable whether taxes can be raised for
any such purpose, and after they have been
received it is tolerably certain that payments
under such appropriations will be illegal"
The fallacy of this is apparent. The amend
ments to the constitution adopted at the last
eleotion are in force from the moment the
vote adopting them is officially declared by
the State Canvassers. They do not take effect
on the 1st day of January next The consti
tution as it existed before the last elec
tion simply provided that amendments,
after undergoing the requisite legislative
action, should, upon receiving the approval
and ratification of a majority of the qualified
voters, "become part of the constitution."
This, of oourse, incorporated the amendment!
in the constitution from the moment the offi
cial declaration of their adoption was pub
lished. That this was the intention of the con
stitution is shown by the fact that amendments
might be submitted to the people "in such
manner end at such time as the Legislature
shall prescribe," and were not required to be
submitted only at a general election. The
new article 16, adopted at the last election,
provides that "all amendments to the consti
tution shall be in force from and including
the 1st day of January succeeding the eleo
tion at which the same were adopted, except
when otherwise provided by such amend
ments. '' But as this article could not become
a part of the constitution until after its adop
tion and incorporation in the consti
tution it applies only to ftiture amend
ments. If, therefore, the appropriations
to charitable institutions in the oity estimate
for 1875 will be unconstitutional after the 1st
of January they are unconstitutional now. In
like manner, if the excise moneys cannot be
applied to charitable purposes under the
amendments to the constitution after January
1, they cannot be so applied subsequent to
the announcement of the result of the State
canvass.
But the only restriction to the appropriation
of county and city moneys contained in the
amendments is to be found in the new section
added to article 8 of the constitution as
section 11. This provides as follows:
"No county, city, town or village ">><*11 here
after give any money or property or loan its
money or credit to or in aid of any individual,
association or corporation. ? ? ? This
section shall not prevent- such county, city,
town or village from making suoh provision
for the aid or support of its poor as may be
authorized by law.' * Chapter 649 of the Laws of
1874 provides thatall moneys recsi ved for liquor
licenses, after payment of the expenses of the
Commission, shell be appropriated by a ma
jority of the Board of Apportionment to
whatever charitable institutions may seem to
such Board deserving and proper. The
Comptroller is required to pay the money as
thus directed. In like manner, various State
laws authorize the levy of a tax for the sev
eral amounts appropriated in the oity estimate
"for the aid and support" of the city poor.
All these laws remain in force, and are not in
validated by the adoption of the constitutional
amendments. For these reasons we believe
that the attempt to divert from the charitable
institutions the moneys derived from lioenses
or appropriated by the city estimate will fail.
It will be unfortunate if the City Comptroller
should insist upon withholding these moneys
from the city oharitiss. Suoh a policy will
only lead to litigation, and in the end entail
loss upon the taxpayers, besidee oausing muoh
unnecessary suffering,
Mr, Sunday Logic.
Evidently the B-JV. Mr. Talmage believe*
that, in opposition to the theatres, he has
found a fruitful theme, and as he promises to
discus* the subject still further there is no
prekeot hope of his yielding it up. His sermon
yesterday was a plea for the American Sab>
bath brought over on the Mayflower and
tashioaed in severity upon tho Jewish model.
So iar as bis discourse related to the theatres
it was not so marked as bis previous efforts, j
but both as it related to the stage and the ob? >
servanoe of the day it was suggestive j
of a fsw thoughts, The first of these
is that in either aase the laws of the State
regulate the duties of the citizens. If any
manager violates or has violated the statute
forbidding theatrical or other entertainments ?
on Sunday it was only necessary to Invoke the '
oourts to stop that which the law forbade, Ko
vlnUeat sermon against the stag* eould eflbet
i any g?o4 ia the matter, Neither U a pie* lot
the American Sabbath, as Mr. Talmage calls
our Sunday, likely to have any better rexulu.
The law regulates the duty of the oitizen on
Sunday, and, so far as the law goes, the courts
will enforce it. Beyond this neither Mr.
Talmage nor the law cau go. Under a gov*
ernmeut which prescribes no creed and no
religion for the people it is impossible to en
force the Sabbath brought over in the
Mayflower. The law cannot command
it as part of the citizen's duty that he
shall go to church on Sunday. It may pre
scribe that he shall follow no business avoca
tion on a particular day of the week, but it
cannot make a Jewish or a Puritan Sabbath.
Mr. Talmage insists upon too much. Most
people will sustain him in enforcing the Sun
day laws but very few liberal-minded men will
go with him in framing an American Sabbath.
We may not want the hilarity of a European
Sunday, but that is no reason why Mr. Tal
mage and the class to which he belongs
should limit the liberty of the citizen to an
extent to make the interference a tyranny.
Char lea Rom One* Mor?<
It is hardly to be wondered at that the
lapse of time since his disappearance, now
more than five months, should have driven
the story of the stolen Ross child almost out
of notice. Now and then ? report creeps
into circulation that he is found, but is re
ceived incredulously. The public has made
up its mind either that the child has been
murdered or that the thieves will not dare to
risk the exposure of returning him. Bis
parents, according to popular opinion, may
as well lace their inevitable loss and bear it
as they can.
Now we have good reason to believe that
Charles Ross is not murdered, but that his
captors still hold him ready to give up bo
soon as the ransom is paid. It would serve
a good purpose at this precise juncture if
every newspaper in the country would
reoall the faots of the child's abduc
tion to its readers, and utge them
to fresh efforts to solve the mystery.
During the first few weeks after it occurred,
in the general alarm and horror, a dozen dif
ferent hypotheses were offered. Suspicion
was thrown first on one side and then an
other; the Ross family, being unknown, were
dragged before the bar of public opinion, in
dioted for prevarication, then licentiousness,
and finally for a deliberate scheme of swin
dling. The people caught at any theory
which would disprove the lrightfol possibility
of the presence among us ot an organized band
of kidnappers?the advent of a new crime
more terrible than murder. While press and
people were following these false scents the
thieves disappeared. Sufficient time has,
however, now passed to dispel all these
groundless theories. The character of the
-Ross family, and of every one connected, even
remotely, with them, has been brought to the
glaring light, and tested by a strict judicial
investigation, and by the yet sterner tribunal
of a suspicious public with its myriad watch*
ful eyes. The ?acts of the case now remain,
clear and indisputable, ready for our action,
and as such we offer them to our readers.
Firtt?Christian K. Ross, the father of the
stolen child, is a man of unimpeachable in
tegrity and honor. The theory once advo
cated that the boy was secreted by his con
nivance that he might obtain the ransom
money was met by an indignant and over
whelming refutation from all of his business
associates, representing the largest commer
cial interests of Philadelphia. It is worth
mentioning in this connection that neither
the oommittee holding in trust the twenty
thousand dollars offered for the boy and his
captors, nor any one of the various cor?s of
detectives, public and private, employed in
the ease, whose interest it naturally would be
to find Mr. Ross guilty, entertain the slightest
suspioion of him, but all have a profound and
thorough belief in his uprightness and re
spect for his sorrow.
Stoond?The allegation that Mr. Ross was a
debauchee, and that his disoarded wife was
really the kidnapper, was the fabrication of a
Reading newspaper, for which its publishers
have been found guilty in a criminal suit for
libel Mr. Ross' affidavit in this case, deny
ing one by one all the allegations in the Read
ing article, was proved at every point. The
brothers and near friends of Mrs. Ross, and
the poor, broken-hearted woman herself ap
peared upon the witness stand to testify to the
exceptional purity and fidelity of his life as a
husband and father. "Christian Ross," said
his brother-in-law, with a natural touch of
bitterness, "has but one fault to excuse this
attack?he is poor." The Ross family led a
quiet, reserved life, and this very reserve, this
distaste tor playing any melodramatic roll
before the publio, irritated the press and was the
chief cause of the unjust aspersions cast upon
them. We feel it is but proper in this connec
tion, as a ooncetsion largely due to the bereaved
family of the stolen child, that the n
should say that while its investigations of the
matter carried on at a distance were meant
simply to serve the publio, they were in
certain particulars erroneous in theory aud
facts. Oar correspondent, acting upou false
information, believed by him to be true, did
the character of Mr. Ross gross injustice, and
we would be wanting in the commoner feel
ings of humanity wers we not thus to dis
tinctly disavow his erroneous accusations and
express our sincero sympathy for the afflicted
family of the gentleman whom they afiected.
Third?It is now reduced to a certainty that
the ohild was stolen from no motive of revenge,
or for other ill purpose than simply to com
mand the ransom. It has beoome customary
of late years to bargain with burglars for the
return of stolen bonds and jewels; this is but
a new branch of the same business.
The oase, then, stands thus:?The child
stolen on the first day of last July, it is be
lieved, still lives; his abductors bold him tri
umphant, defying the law and outraged
domestic life of the nation. The sum of
twenty thousand dollars offered by the citi
zens of Philadelphia is not, let it be under
stood, to be paid for the ohild alone, but tor
the child and its captors. Meanwhile help, if
there be any under God, must come from the
people. It is not possible in these days of
close communication that the ohild can be
always hidden. If he be in the country some
human eye must see him. The more remote
or isolated tho village or hamlet the more
chance that he is secreted there. It is not for
poor Charlvy Ross* help alone that we would
have every man and woman in the land ievve
as a deteotire, but f?tr their own child's take;
that thei* own baby Mid that ?I every aethek
may sleep henceforth securely in its cradle,
and not become a subject of barter for men
more cruel than death.
?'Alas I Poor Yoriek."
Our irrepressible and benevolent friead
Bergh makes his appearance in a new charac
ter. Having fulfilled his mission as the cham
pion of the animal kingdom he now becomes
the champiou of the plays and the players. It
is perhaps thj most natural transition, for
alter his crusade of benevolence what remains
to a philanthropist of an active nature but to
try his skill on the comediuns. A few days
i^C0-c<^r the enterprising manager of
e Avenue Theatre, having exhausted
e iterarj resources of France, made an ad>
venture into Spain. He discovered the play
o orick. It is a good play of the sombre,
gruesome school, with touches of sadness that
evidently suit the tastes of a Madrid ftudienc<J
fresh from the bull fight. Somehow our
American taste does not welcome "Yoriek."
We have our merry moods, and shrink
from entertainments that strain the nerves
and keep us awake at night. Then Mr
Duly invoked the saored fi^n, 0|
Shakespeare, dragging it from the Olympian
heights of an almost holy fame to walk up
and down the stage as a mere
play oppressed more than it amused, and wa
presumed it would gently sink into the well
filled sepulchre of unappreciated dramas. Mr.
Bergh insists that it shall not die; that no
such play was ever written or acted, and thai
we must all hasten and see it.
For Mr. Daly's sake we should like to sea
Mr. Bergh's advice accepted, for he is an in.
genious, original man, who has labored hard
to elevate the stage and has won goldea
opinions. It is not pleasant, especially in
these mellow, gracious, Christmas times, to
see a manager with so many natural resource*
and so high a purpose buffeting the cruel
waves of a receding sea. He has a fine thea
tre and a splendid company. But who can
rule the uncertain chances of popular taste ?
We can imagine that, for a bull-fighting com
munity, "Yoriek" would be an attraction. Bat
we have no bull-fighting fancies, as Mr. Bergh
must be happy to feel, and Mr. Daly cannot
even get up a newspaper controversy as to the
merits of his play. Just now our theatrical
people are under the spell of a great geniua
of one who can write a masterpiece and act it,
Boucicault dwarfs everybody else, and all the
world is concerned about the "Shaughraun."
If there is one thing the people know, it ia
what pleases them. Mr. Boucioault has suo.
ceeded in pleasing. He has written one of the
best comedies that has appeared since the
"School for Ssandal." Envious critics may
say it is all stolen ; that it contains effects taken
from Byron, Shakespeare and Hugo; that the
dog is only a copy of the dog Schneider; that
there is the same old priest, the same hand
some officer, the same forward Irish girl an^
ious to be kissed, the same police spy and
informer; that the fox hunt is repeated
from "London Assurance," and that Conn,
the Shaughraun, is a kind of Irish Rip
Van Winkle, who drinks, idles, poaches,
sings a song, plays on the fiddle and
dances with the lasses. But a genius for
stealing is genius after all. If Boucioault con
steal so well why can not his critics do tha
same ? The field is open to them 'juat as it
was open to the rivals of Shakespeare, who
proved that he stole his plots from Plutarch
and Boccaccio, old jest books and wherevei
he found anything worth taking. If the dra.
matists cannot write as well as Bouoioault let
them steal as well, and the people will be
satisfied.
We welcome Mr. Bergh into the gqild at
dramatic criticism. He makes a brave battle
for "Yoriek." We wish it were a winning fight
But the misfortune with Mr. Bsrgh is that, like
his immortal prototype, the last of Spanish
chivalry, he always puts on his armor in a hqpe
less cause. He cannot fight public opfaion
any more than Don Quixote could fight the
windmills of La Mancha. The mil la turn
when the wind blows. Just now the wind
blows in the direction of the "Shaughraaa."
Good Mr. Bergh may shoulder his lanoe and
go home. As for Mr. Daly he has won so
many fights with his splendid ooopanyand
his own unsurpassed taste that he can enter
with courage and the assurancs of renewed
success upon brighter campaigns.
PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE,
Rev. Dr. Coltou, of Philadelphia, la ataylnf il
the St. Denis Hotel.
Loita, the actress, arrived la ttila city yesterday,
and la at the Firth Avenue Hotel.
Rer. Dr. Harrow, or Waabiagton, la among tki
latest arrival* at the Westmlnater Hotel.
Lieutenant b. T. Stewart, or the Royal Artillery,
Britian Arm/, la quartered at the Graarf Central
Hotel
Mr. James F. Jo/, President of the Michigan
Central Railroad Company, baa apartment! at the
Windsor Hotel.
Mr. A. B. Mallet, of architectural fame, la a*
Journlng at the Astor House, whenoe he aurveya
the new Post Offlce.
Lleutsnaut Governor John c. Robinson, whose
home is at iilngbamton, la residing temporarily
at the St. Denia Hotel.
Mr. cuariea P. Kimball, of Portland, formerly a
favorite, though unaucoeaafnl, democratic caadt.
date lor Governor of Maine, la si the Fifth A venue
Hotel.
A deputation of Knights Templars from the
United States have been visiting Havana and the
Interior or Cuba. They will return to New Orleani
to-day on the steamer Wilmington.
And now here la the Emperor of Auatria up Hot
economy. A snort time ago one ot hia imperial
Majesty's ships arrived at Stamooul, and tbe A as.
trian Internuncio, Count Ziohy, at obm chose bet
lor a gat* pleasure trip up and dowa the Boa
pborua. An official and grandiloquent report to
headquarters seems to have been drawn up aboat
the event, whioh waa even submitted to the Em
peror. On tne return ot the diplomatic dooumeat
tbe following pencil quary, written by tbe Bm*
peror, was lound ou ilte margin:?"Who pays lor
the coal t"
It le reported In London that tne rumor about
tbe queen's alarming Illness had Its origin In tbe
following circumstances:?M]n a certain Loadoa
newspaper offlce tuere la a biography ot the Sov
ereign. which was written ten years ago, aad the
editor, with the provident ioretbougbt of bla close,
deemed It desirable ttut it should ba revised aad
brought down to date. It wss given out to one of
the atao and duly 'revised and correoted.' The
editor thought it would be well to see the artlolo
in type, and ho consequently gave It out to be tet
np. A compositor happened to see the aotlot
when it wa< in type, read me solemn and aiftotlag
announcement with which it opened and name*
dlateiy proceeded to aiasemiaare the melaauUoiy
intelligence. As soon as the story was iai<iy aet
a-going it travelled la all dlreotlons and auder>
went ail a?na of modifications, la oat at lit
format! reached a'Loadoa correspondent.'aad
thus obtained ? widi si>o?lati?a mi over tae
?VttOlf#."