New-York tribune., 1874-08-12

regulations of postage throughout the civil
lied world, and for its immediate object the
abolition of all transit charges on mails and
the consequent abolition of all accounts on
postal intercourse, it will be blunder for
which the present unsettled condition OF
things in the POst-Ofice Department can
hardly be wholly responsible. The invitation
| to the Department was accepted year ago,
| and the postponement Of the meeting inval-
| idated neither the invitation nor the accept
ance. There are few more important subjects
of administrative reform, and few in which
the United States are more interested.
We are not to have monopoly of the good
work In organizing and filling frst-ciass
scientific museum in this city. New-Haven Is
preparing for a friendly rivalry, or rather, we
may say, judging from the description OF
correspondent on another page. is already I'D
great measure prepared, though as yet ground
is scarcely broken for tho new edifice. Inc
Peabody Museum is intended as an adJunct
10 Yale. very much as that which is Agasslzs
best monument adds to the superiority Oh
Harvard. When our great institutions Oh
learning are thus supplemented. our students
will be provided with abundant means for
prosecuting here a class of researches, III
which COMPARISONS with known forms are abb
solutely necessary; and will no longer be
required to cross the Atlantic to settle ire
quent questions occurring In the pursuit Oh
science.
| f1y no pd
hours of his confinement by endeavorlng 10
repair the great error of his life. His failure
to escape from Metz brought upon him SEN
tence of dishonOr and death. In the more
limited sphere to which his genius has re-
| Gently been confined he has nOby succeeded
| in demonstrating his capacity for setting at
nought the vigilance of his jailers. after the
great oapitulatiOn be wrote q defense
of his course which seemed to convict
him of extraordinary weakness of character,
If he should deem an account of his escape
from the island of Salnte Marguerite neces-
sary. he might doubtless tell a tale of cOur-
ageous bribery, and a rigid determination TO
abandon his coarse prison fare for the lux
| uries of civilized life. So far as France Is
! concerned, however, it does not make par
tcle of difference whether he is i'll prison or
out of it so long at least as he Is not re-
instated in his commando contingency by
no means probable.
What majestic figure in the Brooklyn
drama is that of the Male Gossp! Informed
by a second cousin of sister of his wfe's
aunt that a great preacher is accused of a
heinous crime, he busily spreads the news,
| otho doh hp
honored with Mr.. TiltOns own effusive con-
fdence and, fattered at such mark of dis
tinction, devotcs himself to "prming" editors
from New-YOrk to Chicago on the interesting
subject, so that when the public charge comes
it shall be made to jury already prejudiced
in the case, or spends portion OF his
time IN thoroughly drilling every acquaintance
in the story and fitting each one to set out as
a missionary of the new gospel of slander and
malice. The great scandal of the age has
made, looking at it from any point of view,
the most painful and depressing revelations
of human nature, and though perhaps not
ranking among these, the discovery of the
Male Gossip is certainly not the most pleasant.
| He has just broken out afreSh at Ithaca; but
at present his labOrs are confined to a very
| lab0riOus effort at vindicating himself from
| the suspicion of blackmaI.
The one fact which stands out clearly from
the clouds of rumor and surmise, in which the
Plymouth Committee have cOntrived to wrap
MIR. Beecher's case is that Mr.. Moulton has
withheld his principal evidence, and to that
extent may still prove the master of the situa-
ton. 1t is a pity that there should be idiots
at large in Brooklyn, still talking about COM
| promise and that even the wisest of those en-
/ gagged in conducting the matter do not yet seem
sufficiently alive to the fact that nothing but
! the utmost frankness and thOroughness on Mr..
| Beecher's part can dissipate the injurious sus-
piciOns which every days delay tends to
! strengthen. Mr. Beechers own examination is
at last promised for tonight. We can only
| hope that it may be so conclusive as to leave
nothing for subsequent explanations or apollo
gies If Mr.. BeecheT's character is to be saved,
| there must be an end of suppressing parts of
the case because eminently respectable citi-
"zens" are involved. No one, not even the
great preacher himself has the right to ruin
! Mr. Beecher's good name (unless it deserves
TO be runed), that somebody else may be
saved. There has been too much of this fool
ishness already.
A few negroes are reported as joining the
armed whites moving to the relief of Austin,
on the ground that they "want to see this
"foolshness stopped They are probably
among the wisest of their race in that region
Those will be the wisest of the white race
who know how to stimulate such a feeling
among the negroes, and thus put an end to