Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, November 8, 1872, Page 4

THE CHICAGO. DAILY - TRIBUNE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 187 TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. TERNS OF SUBSCRIPTION (PAYABLE IN ADVANCE). aile, by mail......§12.00 | Sundas. -Weoldy.... 6.00 | Weekly 2.00 Parts of a sear at the samorate. To present delay and mistakes, be sure and give Post Office address in fall, including State and Counts. Remittances may bo mado either by draft, cxpress, Post Office order, or in registered letters, at our risk, TERME TO CITY SUBECRIDERS. Dails, delisered, Sundas excopted, 2 cents per weck. Dails, delivered, Sunday included, 30 ccnts per wook. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, No. 15 South Canal-st.. Chicago, il TRIDTNE Branch Office, No. 459 Wabashear., in the Bookstore of Messrs. Cobb, Andrews & Co., whers adrertisements and subscriptions will b recefved, and will receive the samo attention as if left at the Main Ofice. THE TRIBUNE connting-room and business department will remain, for the present, at No. 15 Canal street. Ad- ertisements should be handed in at that place. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S TRIBUNE. FIRST PAGE—Election Returns—Miscellaneous News by Telograph. RECOND PAGE—Philadelphin Letter: A Birdsere View from the Now Masonic Temple; How Stephen Girard Made Philadolphia; Real Estate and Busi- ness Notes—The Ward’s Island Horrors—The Re- eult: How it s Viewed by all Parties, Commonts of the Press, THIRD PAGE—-The Murderers: How Rafferty and Per- aet Recelved tho News of Their Now Trial; The Condemned Peri Terribly Enraged Ovor the Court's *‘Partiality "—Another Expulsion from the Board of Trado—County Affairs—General Nows Itoms— Rallroad Time-Table—Business Directory—Adver- tiscments. FOURTH PAGE—Editorials: Shall Corn-Growing be Abandoned; October Voting ; Plans of Civil Ser- vice Reform; Cruelty Its Own Reward; Philadel- phia—Obituary: George G. Meade—Current News Items. FIFTH PAGE—The Law Conrts—Markets by Telograph — Advertisements. s SIXTH PAGE—Monctary and Commercial—Marino In- telligence. SEVENTH PAGE—Tho Academs of Design—Ruined by War: A Picture of Desolation and Desertion— Smell Advertisements : Roal Estate, For Sals, Wanted, To Rent, Boarding, Lodglng, Etc. EIGHTH PAGE-The Horse Discase—City in Bricf— Auction Advertisements. —_— TO-DAY'S AMUSEMENTS. M'VICKER'S THEATRE—Madison street, betwoen Btate and Dearborn. Miss Maggio Mitchell, supported by Mr. L. R. Shewell. ** Fanchon.” AIKEN'S THEATRE—Wabash avenue, corner of Con. gress street. G. L. Fox Pantomimo Combination. ** Humpty Dumpty.” HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE—Randolph strect, bo- tween Clark and LaSalle. ,Third wock of Abbott-Ki- ralfy Pantomime Combinstion. *¢Humpty Dumpty,” with new features, ACADEMY OF MUSIC—Halsted street, sonth of Madi- son. The ** Black Crook.” MYERS' OPERA HOUSE—Monroo street, between Stato and Dearborn. Arlingtan, Cotton & Kemble's Minstrel and Burlosque Troupo. NIXOX'S AMPITHEATRE-—Clinton street, between Washizgton and Randolph. The Georgis Minstrols— Stave Troupe. GLOBE THEATRE—Desplaines streat, between Madi- 30u and Washington. Vaudorille Entertainmont. The @hirage Tribmme. Fridsy Morning, November 8, 1872. In the Board of Trade, the consideration of 4he cherges against Myer, Baxter & Co. has re- £ulted in the expulsion of Mr. Myer. No action was taken against his partners, Baxter and For- z6y. Weshington rumor,—whatever it it may be worth,—is, that the members of the Cabinet have informslly agreed to tender their resignations, at the close of the present term, to the President, who can take advantage of them in any casesin which he desires achange. If ex-Senator Morgan, of New York, forbesrs to interfere in the re- election of Senator Conkling from that State, it is intimated that he may have the Secretaryship of the Treasury in place of Boutiwell, whois to succeed Wilson in the Senate, The Lutheran Church, which is holding its Annual Council at Akron, O., is one of the old- est of Protestant denominations, and in Europe the most powerful. It was formed in 1507, and mede its advent to this country in New York in 1630. It claims twenty-five million membersin Europe, and is the established religion in more European States than any other Protestant Church. It has about helf & million American ‘members. — Rbeims is added to the French towns which seller December. Cotn was active, but @3 lower, closing at $1c seller the month, and 303 @30%c seller December. steady at 205¢c seller thie month, and 22¢ seller December, «Rye was quiet, and 34c Iower, at 53¢. Barley was & shade firmer, at 60@60Xe for No. 2, and 50@5lc for No.3. The hog market was dull, and weak throughout, closing 15¢ lower, or at $4.20@4.45. There was nolifo in the cattle trade, sales reaching only about 400 head. Sheep ruled quiet and unchanged. On Wednesday, the case of the State Insur- ance Company was before Judge Drummond for the review of a decision previously made by the District Court. Under the previous de- cision, & sort of compromise was permitted, which was resisted by several creditors, This action was overruled by Judge Drummond, who, it is understood, sharply reprimanded the con- duct of some of the parties connected with the suit. By his docision, the case is remanded to the condition it was before the intended com- promise was agreed upon. Judge Drummond's decision is certainly & gain to the cause of com- mercial morality. — ‘We reproduce the admirsble letter of Horaca Greeley announcing that he -has resumed the editorship of the New York Tribune. That let- ter says : “Tho undersigned resumes the editorship of the Tribune, which he relinquished on embarking in an- othier line of busincss, six months ago, Henceforth it shall be his endeavor to make this a thoroughly in~ dependent journal, freating all parties and political movements with judicial faimess and csndor, but courting the favor and depreeating the wrath of no one. If o can hereafter say anything that will tend to heartily unite the whale American people on the broad platform of Universal Amnesty and Impartial Suffrage, he will gladly doso. For the present, how- ever, he can best commend that consummation by silence and forbearance, Tho victors in our late strugglo can hardly fail to fake the whols subject of Southern rights ond wrongs into early and earnest consideration, and to them for the present he remits it. Bince he will never again be s candidate for any office, and s not in full accord ‘with either of the great parties which havo hitherto divided the countrs, he will be able, and will endeavor, to give wider and steadier regard to the progress of science, industry, and the usefnl arts, than partisin Jjournal can do; and ho will not be provoked to indwi- gence in those bitter personalities which are the bane of journalism. Sustained by a_generons public, he ‘will do his best to make the Tribune o power in the broader field it now contemplates, 8s, when human freedom was in peril, it was in the arens of political partisanship, (Signed) “New Youg, Nov. 6, 1872.” Thie is the language of & patriot. Mr. Gree- ley has lost nothing by his defeat. His intellcc- tual power, his parsonal integrity, his exemplary kindness of heart will now be frankly acknowl- edged by the whole conntry, as they have already been indorsed by & part, He has come out of the election fres of all stain upon his character. His opponent has been elected President, but Mr. Greeley in every sense holds the szme high place among his countrymen that he has ever done, and to which an election to office could have given no additional lustre ; ‘and the New York Tribune will hereafter, in its independent character, bs more prosperous than ever before. — The suggestion made in the commercial col- umns of the last iesue of THE TRIUNE, that, a5 the stocks of grain in store are now so low, it would not be much trouble to go through the “ HOBACE GREELEY, and steady. Wheat was nctive, but easier, clos- ing firm at $1.05% seller the month, and S1.05% Ohts were dull and stances to the extent of 100 per cent, and the average has not been less than 50 per cent. We dopot include in this the cost of actual exten- sions or money expcnded on the roads ; we refer merely to the stock dividends, whereby, without any increase of actual capital, the conntry has been skinned to pay dividends upon stock rep- resenting nothing. Dishonest andreckless man- agement, as in the case of the Erie, under Fisk and Gonld, has frequently wasted in riotous ex- -travagance the earnings of the rond, and issued to the creditors and owners certificates of in- debtedness upon which interest must be paid. But the general fact remains, that the leading roads have now to pay dividends upon at least 50 per cent more capital than was ever invested in them. Another resson for the increased cost of transportation is the increased cost in all the materials used in the construction of railways. The prices of iron and steel havo advanced with- in the past year beyond all precedent. One cause of this is the immense demand. Nearly 2,500 miles of railway have been constructed in the State of Illinois in 1871-2. The iron for the roads has been purchased with the bonds of the companies. These bonds have been guaranteed to a largo extent by other railways, who have become lessees, or otherwise the practical own- ers or operators of the new lines. The same extraordinary construction of additional rail- ways has provailed not only in all parts of the United States, but in all parts of Europe. Forthemost part, these railways do not pay more than the cost of operating them; they are, therefore, a charge upon the trank lines that indorsed their bonds, or become lesaces. The in- torest on their aggregate defot is enormous, and to pay that interest, and to pay dividends on the capital thus invested, the rat es of transportation ‘have been advanced. Underl3ing all this, howover, and more potent than all, is the fact that our esstward lines of transportation have not kept pace with the development and settlensent of the West. Wo bave built twenty miles of railway west and northwest of Leke Mchigan, in the past ten years, for every mile ¢f rail or water route east of it. ' The consequer ce is, that the products of the soil have exc:eded in bulk the means of transporting {:hem. Railway companies and vessel-owncgs, like other people, will glways talie all they can get for theit services.. Thero is no way to avoid this. V/e must either produce less or scquire new channels of communication with the seaboard. To produce less is to check our industry, or tov change it; and changing it is checking it for-the time being, involving loss of capital alrend g invested, loss of time, and loss of acquired *skill—losses altogether too vast to be encounte.red until all other sources of relief have been -axplored. There is one such sonrce, and that irg the St. Lawrence route to tho East and to Flurope. If the Welland and St. Law- rence Canals were enlarged to the capacity of vessels of 1,000 tons, their capacity would be fully tosted to-day, and they would psy a hand-. 8omie ‘return on-their cost. The member of Con- gress-who shall take the initiative in forwarding the suggestions of the National Board of Trade in this behalf will be recognized by the people of the West as«one of their greatest benefactors. General Grant.can do nothing to signalize his second. Administration more beneficial than by giving to this project his hearty and process of weighing, 50 83 to determine exactly how much i8 in store, is one which should meet with prompt action. The weekly statement of Teceipts and shipments, of itself, affords smple grounds for such measurement. The daily bul- letins for last week of wheat showed shipments 0f 676,129 bushels ; withdrawn for city consump- tion, 11,682 bushels ; andreceived, 587,700 bush- els, showing & decrease of 100,051 bushels over the previous week, while the weekly statement of stock in store shows an increase of 20,795, In barley, there is a total discrepanc;y of 152,749 bushels during the same time. On ‘Wednesday morning, one road reported 100,500 bushels of wheat received since Monday morn- ing, which the Inspector's books showed was sbout ten times the amount sctually received| have been freed, by the prompt payment of the successive instalments of the indemnity, from the presence of & foreign garrison. Prussis is diminishing her foree in French territory in pro- portion to the diminution of the indemnity. Frenchmen heye displayed a patriotic alacrity in liquidating this Prossian bill of damages. Two ‘bundred million francs will be paid this weelk, and at the end of the year only two milliards will remain nnpaid. Tho Hon. Schuyler Colfax has published & card, in which he states that he is not a candi- date or aspirant for the United States Senate, | zor for any position, political or oditorial, State or Nutional. The country, we think, wiiiregret this determination on the part of 4fr. Colfax, particalarly as regards theSensts, fo which body hewould, as & member, sdd the dignityand character that have marked his conduct as a presiding officer, The Signal Service weather roports are now received at Washington three times each day, from 70 different stations, embracing the most ‘Promivent meteorological and commercial points in the United States, and the information thus | obtained farnishes the basis on which Professor Cleveland Abbe makes up his daily diagnosis of the weather. The Depertment has just com- menced the use of a much-improved map,—os which these reports are bulletined,—giving thg elevations of the stations, and the changes since. the last report, in addition to the usvr) sta- tistics for the date of isstc. > Tn another part of this paper will: ba found sketcli of the life of General .Gecrge G. Meade, who died in Philadelpbia on Wednesdsy. Gen- eral Meade was a soldier in the fullest sense of the term. He was hardly more distinguished for his ability than for his modesty. So long as the American people remember the battls of Gettysburg, 50 long will they bear in mind the merits of the great soldier who united the quali- ties of hero and statesman, patriot and gentle- man, snd who, as & soldier, ever beld in proper regard the sanctity of the law and the civil righits of the people. The Chicago produce markets were rather less active yesterday, and prices averaged lower, tLough several departments were unchanged. pork was quiet and s shade firmer, at £15.00 for old, S14.00 for ner, and £12.50@12.55 selier Dactinl + December. Meats for shonlders, TUGT; ¢ fu- sisi ‘or short clear, Al p i 1. Highwines were inactive =nd momunally unchanged, at 89)4@9%0c per gellon. Lake freights were quiet and le lower, &t 15¢ for wheat by sail to Buffalo. Flour was quiet | over that road. These loose and discordant sta~ tistics, sdded to the fact of the general impres- sion on the Board of Trade that the amount of grain, especially of corn, reported instore grent- | 1y exceeds the real amount, ought tobe sufficient to call for an official measurement. As the mat-» ter etands at present, it would seem asif the.rer cent warehonse investigations end scor- mer expositions simply developed the ! fuct that there were warehonse receipts negotiated, on the Board of Trade which 153 no grain behiad them, but inflicted 0o penalty against such £alse pretence, and;pro- ‘vided no safeguards for the future. If-that in- vestigation has only suceeeded in retiring these old certificates, ang crediting the difference be- tween the amount actually in store and the smount reported to mew receipts, it is only abolishing one evil by creating another of a-sim- ilar character. It is evidently time to take ac- count of stock again, and there.can be no better time than now, when stocks are light, and the opportunities for measuring grain twice over are not so abundant, —— SHALL COEN-GR0WING; LE ABANDONED? ‘Wo recently called attention to the unanimous recommendation of the National Board of Trade, In favor of reciprocity with Canads, the Cana- Government, at'its own.cost, to so enlarge the Welland and St. Lawrence Canels as to fur- nish-a continuous waber-route to Alontreal. This matter of transportation is .o one of the most vital character. We aro opening to cultivation every day new regions. The vast territories of Eanses ard. Nebraska and the country along the route of -the Northern Pacific Railway are filling up with people, chiefly farmers. What are they to do with their surplus crops? Of what useis it to raise ten million Lushels of surplug grain in Nebrasks, and Dukots, and Kansns, when the producers can get nothing for it? Corn raised in Tows, along the lines of the rail- ways, does not yield the producer first cost. ‘Wha.t are those farmers who live two or three ‘hundred miles further to do with their surplus 2 What are the peopleof Tllinois to do with theirs ? There are thousandsof farmers in Tllinois, with more than an average crop, who will not receive for it enough money to poy their taxes. 1t is perfectly plain that the farmers of the West would now be better off if they had let one-half their land lie idle this year. They would : certainly have got better prices for the corn: ' they did raiee, and would love saved the expense wasted on the yest . of their Jand. Theloesin producing grain im: 1872 is partly due to the unususl sapply, and’ partly to the increase in the cost of transporta~ tion. The capital stocks of the leading rail- roads of the country have been, since the close of the war. extensively watered, in- some inw zealous eupport. The crop of 1872 i8 mainly in the West yet. Lake navigation will ©oon close. Hore it must remain until spring, orbemoved by the railways. Unless there bo an advance in prices, that grain cannot pay the cost of its own transportation. What is true of 1872 will be true of 1873; and each year the mat- ter will get worse, until raising corn, even in Tilinois,- except for domestic use, will have to be sbandcamed. The present remedyis to securo, 88 8002 88 posgible, the free use and cheap navi- gation,to the sea, offered us by Canada. OCTOBER VOTING. AJclosa observer of tho progressof the late Presidential campaign will not be disposed to disny thet the almost unprecedented rout of the Tsiberal party was dus to the result of the Octo- “ber State elections in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Mr. Greeley might havo been defeated | if these State elections had not occurred until the day of the Presidential election. We have a quiet opinion that he would have carried Hlinois. At all events, the defeat would have been noth- ing like the overwhelming stampede which it has proved to be, and there would have been a much fairer expression of public opinion than can now be found in the election returns. It has become the custom of the entire people of this coun- try to ook to the October elections of these three Btates for a decision of the Presidential contest. In the campaign just over, this was more - emphatically the case than ever before, There was no such division between National parties a8 in former campaigns. There wasa general break-up of partisan sentiment last May. IRepublicans did not act togother as Re- publiczuas; nor did Democrats as Democrats. The right of overy man to go where he pleased, without reference to former political connec- tions, wes everywhere conceded, except, per- haps, smong the office-holders. In this condi- tion of things, it was impossible to foretell the division of the people with any reasonable assur- ance of correctness. There was only one point upon which both parties united, nd this was, that the results of the October State elections would dirtermine the battle. There was a tacit agreement among all parties and among all mon o abide by these results. The events that followed the October elec- “tions stritingly confirm their infiuence, as those | {preceding them wero prophetic. No sooner wwere the.esults announced than the influence ‘which hadibeen predicted was fully acknowl- +edged. Tho Republican majority had been ma- terially reduced in Ohio, Hendricks hed been i elected in Indiana, where hewas defeated four years ago under similar circumstances. The fraudsin {Pennsylvania were so glaring that ' there was scarcely a disposition on the part of . the Hartranft party to deny them. But the agreement had been made; the custom “was too strong to resist; the oppo- ‘- sition buried it head wunder its ;wing, poor thing, and ‘quietly gave up the ‘ghost. There was nothing else to do. The ut- ter collapse of confidence and hope is shown by the election returns of November in these same States. Pennsylvania increased its Republican majority some 85,000 over that of October; Ohio returned = majority of 925,000 more, and one ¢ounty in Indiana (Allen), which gave a ma- Jjority of more than 3,000 for the Liberals on the 8th of October, only returned some 1,800 ma- jority on the 5th of November. It will scarccly Jbe claimed that 5o vast a change in political sentiment could bave been accomplished in the (- brief syace of & month by the eloquence of ora- ".tnrs or the Jogic of newspapors. The result simply shows that the stakes had been lost in the October electiona. Practically, then, the choice and sentiment of the thirty-seven States of the Union are now, as heretofore, controlled by three States. In certain emergencies, the elections of North Carolins and Maine may have some influence upon the general result, but it is small in com- parison with those of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indisna. These thres States constitute a great big piece of . the heart of this continent, while North Carolina and Meine are but inferior parts of two opposite limbs, - It seems ridiculous, of course, to suggest o method to endow the voters of other States with the requisite moral courage to vote their own convictions ; but, taking hu- man naiure as we find it, we discover that they are deficient, and the discovery is not now made for the firat time. To offset or countersct the undue influence of these three States in deter! mining a Presidential election, there might be a remrrangement of the dates of elections. Anamberof other large and powerful States might adopt the same day for their State elec- tions as that used by Indians, Ohio, and Penn- sylvanis. If New York, Massachusetts, Virginis, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, and California should select the Tuesday after the first Monday in October for their State elections, those States, 2t least, would have an equal chance of having their say on that important question. CRUELTY ITS OWN REWARD. The fact cannot be made too prominent that s quick penalty has already followed in numerous instances where the greed and carelessness of owners has led them to work their sick horses. There were more deaths of horses yesterday than at any period since the malady broks ont in Chicago. Thore were a greater number of teams and single vehicles abroad then at any time dur- ing the past week, and the most inexperienced observersmust have seen that; not one in ten of the horses thus forced into use was fit for the task., Our city column presents some very striking proofs of this fact, and we hope to chormecle arrests to-dsy by the Humane Society officials, if the spectacle iz re- peated. Every horse owner should understand by this time that the disease is one to which strength instantly suecumbs, and the: treatment necessarily weakens the animal still. | further. Itisan outrage on humanity, anda burlesque on care, to load the horse with blankets and put him at work-in harness. We cannot too strongly enforce this repeated warn- ing to let tho sick horses alone, and leave them 28 quiet 28 possible, relieved even. from the non- gensical fussiness that prevails in some of the stables, where the grooms and helpers might bo far better employed in blistering one another, and forciog gargles down esch other's throats. All that is necessary” is shelter, rest, and 8 few simple remedies. Al ‘boyond this is worse than folly, and hastens nothing but the alresdy thickening proofs that the horse disease, bad as it is, may be made worse by man’s agency. Welike the rule adopted in alarge boarding-stable in the Bouth Division, whero not a horse has yet been lost. A boarder pressed to use his horso. The answer was: “Yon may take him out, but you need not bring him back if you do.” The horse ~was left ; the better:for him and his owner. Will our citizens, sorely suffering from this unparal- leled visation, exercise Christian and humane ~patience mlittle longer? PLANS OF CIVIL-BERVICE REFORM. 1t is yet tco early to predict by whatsmeasures effect. As the evils of the Civil Service are 'various, various.remedies have beon proposed, +some of which doubtless invoy've as much fresh mischief as they will cure. It is generally felt that the chief chronic evils of the Civil Service are: 1. The Presidont's power to-control the office- holders.appointed by him in furtherance of his own ends, and, especially, to secure his own re- election. 2. The control exercised for the same pur- ‘pose by Cangressmen and Senators over these -appointmenta by reason of ‘the assuwmed obliga- - on of the President to comsultthem. ! Benator Trumbull, last winter, struck at the Alatter evil by proposing tomakext.apenal offence for a member of Congress o recommend sny person for appointment by tlie President or - heads of'Departments, except in.answer to their written request for tatormation. Mr. McCreery, of Towa, struck radically at the former-evil by s |, proposed amendment to the Contitation mak- cing all Hederal officers whose dutis pertain to localities elective by the people of the diatrict in which they serve. Postmasters, Assiesors, and Collectors of Internal Revenue, numb ering some forty thousand in all, would *thus be re- moved from the President’s comtrol, and i‘en-~ dered as independent as any other officers why 88 tenure of offico is fixed by law, and who dera /@ their ofiices directly from the people they sorve - Thet Mr. McCreery's measuro would accomplish the refor it is designed to, may perhaps be in- forred by-compering the Federal with tho State olections. In the State elections, not only- the Governorfibutall tho State, wounty, and town officers are elected. The Governor's appoint- ments are Insignificant. Accordingly, we hear notalk of s Governor using. his appointing power corruptly to effect his own re-olection. But if the poople merely elucted the Gov- ernor, and ho appointed thesJudges, Sher- iffs, Coroners, Justices of the Peace,. Asgessors-and Collectors of taxes,s School Com- missioners, and B0 on, thers vtould be the | same tendency of & Governor to cse his appoint- ing power tore-elect himself asithere now is on the pert of the President. It vrould be simply: inevitable, Yet we do not find in our+State. Governments - sny diffienlty in holding ofiicers o their oficial: duty‘arising from the absence (>t any power in the Governor to appoint and remove them. Those State officers who are {x handle money give bonds, and these bondis are generally a8 effective as those given by Feileral oficors. In- deed, while we have no datr. st hand for testing the ratio of defalcations ur.der the two systems, we should incline to thre belief that ithe per- centage of defalcations ta collections hm3 been smaller among State than Federal offi- cials. The terms on which State officers aro removable for cause .secem to suflice to sccure their remioval whenevers pub- lic opinion demanded it, whikh is as much ;a8 is done under the appointing system. It is true, the vis inertie against fard her amendments of the Constitu ticenis a strong G ne. It is, doubtless, also true that many frieads of Civil Service Reform may doubt the expodier: 7 of go radical & system of cure as that of divest - ing the President of two-thirds f his appoint - clerkships, and customs, and diplomatic, and army and navy services to fill, In the effort, however, to embody the existing public gentiment in favor of reform into some tangible and effective measure on which all true friends of reform may unite, we anticipate that the plan of making local Federal offices elective will become prominent. OF THE EARTH, EARTHY. One of the most palpable lessons of the re- cent election, by which Mr. Greeley was allowed to resume his editorial duties and thereby fill a more exalted and dignified position than that of President of the United States, is contained in the renewed emphasis it has given to the old truth, that it is vain to expect perfection in this vale of tears. Itis possible, we believe, to extract from the current election returns which are disfiguring so many newspapers, a philoso- phical essence, as full of comfort, and consola- Iation, and homely common-gense, as were the remarkable zpothogms which the elder Weller 50 frequently and effectionately lavished npon his son Samuel. From time immemorial, notwith- standing the warning of Solomon, ¢ Vanity of vanities ; all is vanity,” man has periodically been afflicted with a desire to reach per- fection, or hss gone wandering about with the expectation of finding it, as industriously as the alchemists songht for gold, or Ponce de Leon wandered after the fountain of perennial youth. It is to be pre- sumed that there is a poetical yearning in the bréast of every man to reach an ideal height of porfection. Most men, after having stumbled over the stones at theirfeet a few times, while looking at the sun, quit the high-fiying business and strike a general average. Others fire every arrow out of their quivers into the clouds, only to loso them, and go whining through the world ever after, while a few, like Ixion, construct their wings and takea bold flight towards the realms of the ideal, only to come tumbling down into the Zgean Sea of disappointment, and are never heard of afterwards. These insane yearn- ings, for which Byron, Bulwer, and Goethe are 80 largely responsible, are usual- Iy characteristic of that period in youth when there is too much of veal andnot enough of beef in the human composition. It is an epidemio which sots in usually just after the young person has graduated from the mea~ eles and chicken-pox, and runs until the young porson getsmarried. A butcher’s bill for two, or two and & half, is its sovereign remedy, and cures theyoung person a8 effectually as Werther was cured when he discovered Charlotte cut- ting bread and butter. The application’ of this general truth to poli- tics is shown in the experiences of the past six ‘months, which commenced onthe 3dof May last, ab Cincinnati, and colminated pretty generally st the various voting places in the United States on the 5th of November. The Liberal party was young. Like all youths, the Liberal party started out in life with buoyant spirits, high hopes, and & laudable purpose to reach a lofty ideal of per~ fection. It surveyed the political field, and it found only dull mediocrity, or corrupt superi- ority. It found an Administration employiog the Presidency as a perquisite of the Chief Magistrate. It found a Civil Service almost hopelessly incompetent, and nsed as an instru- ment of partisan tyranny. It found the people taxed for the protection of monmopolists. It found every department of the Government full of political and financial rings, which were robbing the people while pretending to relieve them. Itfound one great section of the conntry suffering from carpet-bag plunder and brate ignorance. It found jobbery, corruption, selfish- ness, insolence, and wanton disregard of law, holding high carnival in many places where vestal purity onght to prevail. Finding all these things, and supposing that the people would accopt something better if it were offered them, the Liberal party, withall the eagerness of youth, at once determined to reach perfection at & bound, and in six months’ time to establish & Bepublican Arcadis. It told the people of this Arcadis, bot all its fruits have been Dead Bea applas. Jtmade the fatel mistake of youth. It .evughit;for perfoction,—that delusive will-o™the- wisp of the -world, often seen, mever caught. Its ambition was none the less laudable, its aim none the less lofty, its fate none the less mag- nificent. If it did not construct its matchless castle in Spain, it has produced an imposing and picturesque rain. If it did not elect its candi- dates, it succeeded in bringing out s majority against them larger than any other party has succeeded in doing. 1t will now accept the result with good grace. It does not intend to commit suicide ; neither will it go howling ita sorrows or throwing ashes onits head. It recognizes the fact that in this ~vale of tears there is no such thingaa perfection ; and that, if there were, the people don't want it. It hasno further speciel interest in the elec~ tion returns, having deduced from them the only result which i of importance to itself. The " people having expressed a preforence for me- diocrity for another four years, it has no desire to interfere with that preference, but as an sof . of courtesy would move to make the election u nanimous. Mennvwhile, consoling itself phil- o0, "phically, Isboring on hopefully, and waiting pat, ently, it is firmly convincod that the sum- mun »bonum ia a myth, and that political suc- cesse '8 Of the earth, earthy. Recognizing this fact,«ii '8 long future will be asglorious as its briefyE ast has been deplorable. PHILADELPHIA. n thhisn'esue we give a very interesting lettor from Philadelphia, containing facts from that widespresd . city of comfortable homes, whose pmaontmnnt\md study will be of especial value to.Chicago insthis period of our grow:h. A new ~view ia give 2 of the dobt the Quaker City owes to Stephen Girard, whose forethought had so much to do - vith the generaluse of brick asa building mater &l It will furnisha hint .tZu?t may bear transpi 1#4ing, toread how easy it is for the thrifty per *om.of small means to become & householder in _?hfli‘flezphim either from the system of ground 1%Rts, ‘which is a specielty in that city; o ¢hwough the favor with which custom: has brought capi- tslists to look upon tene wnent building achemes ; or by the numerous Bujlding Associations. These features are wer,7 clearly stated by our correspondent, and must be regarded as the key to the growth and prosperity of the City of Brotherly Love, which for no ofher reason bet~ and mode of growth fav.or domestieity, and tl.mt strength which commrunity ean alone derive ter deserves the name than because her policy from a multiplication of prosperous household- ers. The mode of conveyancing and transfers of real estate are described by our correspond- ent, and will be of interest.for the sake of .mm- parison, mow that the gueption isa prominent Chicago is willing to learn from her older sis- ters, and with none of them are her trade rela- tions closer, and & warmer friendliness main- tained and deserved, than with the city of Will- iam Penn. The denationalization of Alsace and Lorraine, under the German regulations, is pursued after the most rigid fashion. Not sn announcemeént is permitted in the streets of Strasburgif it be in the French language. Allthe polica regula- tions and the names of streets are posted in German, though s large mass of the people are ‘unable to read them in this form. The rule in regard to emigration, making all males under 21 years of age follow the decision of their families, and prescribing the usual term of military servico in case their families should decide to Temain, has had the effect of driving out many gmall land-owners, whose indusiry and capital in the aggregate wonld have contributed materially to the revenuos of Germany, had they remained. Descriptions of the scenes along the roads leadihg into France contain many sad pictures of national dovotion and do- mestic suffering. The action of the German authorities, however, will be extenuated by those who recall the fact that Louis XIV. de- nationalized German Alsace and Lorraine in a much fiercer manner. The French language, dress, customs, and religion were then enforced upon the Germans in more despotic ways than the German Government have adopted in re- taliation. The saddest reflection is that, in both cases, the same people of Alsace and Lor- raine are made to suffer in this strife of nations to get even. — Norway can legitimately claim the Itest tri- umph in Arctic explorations. Captain Nils Johnson, who sailed from Fromsoe, Norway, on the Bth of May last, has rediscovered the Open Polar Sea, and has accomplished still more in lo- cating the lands to the east of Spitzbergen, which have puzzled the geographers and map- makers for two hundred years ormore. He finds these lands, which were supposed to consist o three islands separated by chennels, to be a broad stretch of ground, low in places, but con- tinuous. The atmospheric conditions, from the facts reported by Captain Johnson, are very different from what they have been commonly supposed to be. In the Open Polar Ses, and all around the coast of the ferra incognita, be failed to meet with any icebergs, and nowhere was ice to be seen except from the summit of the hills, Dr. Augustus Peterman, of Goths, who makes the report on what Cap- tain Johnson hes already communicated, holds thatthe immenselongitudinal piles of driftwood, which were discovered along the coast, are con- firmatory of the supposed current conditions of the Arctic Ocean. Captain Johnson reports birds, seals, and reindeers in great numbers. ‘His maps and charts, which have not et arrived, are expected to be of great service to geography, and s discoveries in the fanna and flora of these Arctic regions will form important contri- butions to science. A New York correspondent has made a discov- ery that isdreadfully shocking to old prejudices, 28 well a8 o singular indication of some notable ‘mental differences between the sexes. He says thet, in canvassing the Eighth Ward, where nearly all the negroes of New York live, he found more than, 8,000 negromen married to ‘white women, and but one white man married to 8 negro woman. Among the females mmny are claimed to be young and handsome, while most of them are represented to be contented and even cheerful. The correspondent who has made this discovery says that he inquired of several of the white women how they came to ‘marry negroes, and that the answer was that it was better to be the wife of a black man than a white man’s mistress.” If these answers are true, it seema that the alliances are justified moreon the score of morals than on that ©f msthetics. If there is sucha disproportion between white men and white women, it would also indicate that the women are the more sus- ceptible, though the obstacles in the way of the ‘merriage or the self-support of women in the lowar olasses of life undoubtedly influence them in the choice between a colored husband'or none atall. —_— It has been roserved for a Herald correspond- ent to witness, personally, the appearance of “La Dame de Massabielle,” and the miracle, in which a deaf and dumb girl was immediately cured by an application of water from the spring at Lourdes. If true, the apparition and curebe- come doubly miraculous in being told by the Herald. There is & strong suspicion, however, that this report is rather in the interest of the inventor of a new liqueur, * L'Immortelle,” in which a very little water from the miraculous fountain, at Lourdes, is made to assist the spir- itual effects of a preponderance of alcohol. The moral properties which have been found to asgist in the distribution of Benedictine and Chartrense arc expected to contribute to the popularity of “L/Immortelle.” It may be easily believed that its effects will depend on the pro- portion of the miraculous water which shall be found in the admixture of highwines. —_—— The writer of the American articles in the Lon~ don News, who is supposed to be Mr. Justin Me- Carthy, recently took occasion to describe and comment upon what he aptly named s ‘singing campaign,” as applied to the attempted revival, for the late Presidential canvass, of the Log Cabin and Hard Cider measures used in the days of Harrison. The conclusion was that the time for a singing campaign wWas over, The writer said, ¢ Give me, the modern politician may put it, the making of s people’s laws, and I don't care—let us sy, in American phrase—sa ‘red cent’ who makes their ballads.” Theconclusion was based, as the results hsve proved, mpon very good judgment, if not a spirit of prophecy. POLITICAT. ‘There have been elected to fill vacancies in the present Congress, Joseph R. Hawley, Republi- can, of Hartford, Ct., vice Strong, decessed ; E. W. Beck, Liberal, of Griffin, Ga., vice Speer, decensed ; Harry Lott (cu.ored), Republican, in Louisians, vice McCleary, deconsed ; C. C. Esty, Republican, of Framingham, Mass., vice Brooks, resigned ; and Ozro J. Dodds, Liberal, of Cin- cinnnti, vice Perry, resigned. —There will be in the new Congress, to meet a year hence, probably one colored Senator, Elliott, of South Carolina ; and six colored Rep- resentatives. —The Cincinnati Enquirer says : In the desert of Grantism, Hamilton County stands forth a8 » fresh oagis, It isas the shudow of o great Tock in a spent and wearyland, We have carried the county for Greeley by 4,759, which is s decrease of but 894 on the splendid majority of October, In view of all the circumstances, the Liberuls of Hamilton have done nobly. Our toful vote casein October was 42, 473, That of yesterday waa 44,897, —O0'Conor appears to have polled here and there & few votes, possibly 25,000 in the whole United States ; and in Ohio a couple of hundred swere thrown away on the Black,—James Black, of Pennsylvania, Temperance candidate. —Governor Hadley is put forward as a candi- date for the United States Senate from Arkan- sag. —The vote for Congress in the Hartford; (Ct.) District, was: Joseph R. Hawley, 13,030; Wil- liam W. Eaton, 12,406. Last spring the vote for Govenor was: Republican, 12,008; Democrat, 11,292, 5 —Tho Republican majorities for Congress in Minnegota, are roughly estimated: First Dis- trict, Dunnell, 10,000; Second, Straight, 4,000; Third, Averill, 7,000, —The Wisconsin Legislature will probably divide as follows: Senate—21 Republicans, 12 Liberals; House—57 Republicans, 43 Liberals. —It i8 neck-and-neck between Kansas and OBITUARY. General George G. Mende. TIn the sudden death, at the comparatiyely early” age of 56, of Major General George G. Meade,— whose decease was no doubt accelerated by the wounds and privations he had suffered,—Amer~ ica has lost one of her best citizens, and a sne- cessful and tried soldier, who, with a brief inter- mission of two years, has beon in her service since 1835. General Meade belonged to s family honored in many of its branches with public dutiem. His father, Richard W. Meade, was United States Consul st Cadiz, Spain; and, at this place, George was born, in the rooms of the United States Consulate, in the year 1816. His brother; R. W. Meade, entered the navy at an early age, and rose to the high position of Commodore. George had the family aptitude for public: duties ; and, even in his youthful days, the im~ press made upon his tastes by the troubled: scenes amid which he was born marked him for the army. Through familyinfluence, he obtained an appointment, as Cadet fror: Pennsylvania, in the Military Academy at West Point, which he entered at the age of 19. It is not a little curious to note how, from first to last, Pennsylvaniahas been the theatre of General Meade’s activities. His family was Pennsylvanian; he entered the army 25 o Pennsylvanian; it was in Pennsyl- vania that he won tho decisive battle of the war, which rolled back the invading tide of Rebellion, and gave Freedom the empire of the continent; and it was in Pennsylvania, not many days’ march from the scene of his historio schievement, that the old hero breathed his Iast. Immediately upon his graduation from West Point, where he gained fair honors, BrevetSecond Lieuntenant Meade,of the Third Artillery, began, in 1885, in the Seminole War, the martial carear which carried him through five wars, and enti- tles him tobecalled the hero of fifty battles. After the close of his first campaign, he resigned: his military commission, and engaged m the. Topographical service, in the surveys of the: Deltn of the Mississippi, the Tesas boundary, and the northeast boundary between' Canadar snd the United Stetes. But his military tast. es, 89 imperious with him #s s military necessity, took him back into the army, and, in 1845, he was inactive service in the military occupat ion of Texas. Inthe war with Mexico, Second Lieu- tenant Meade became conspicuous. He fought in the battles of Palo Alto and Resacade Ia Palma, and bore himself 60 valiantly in the sev. eral conflicts before Monterey that he was pro- moted on the fleld of battle, and, s Brevet First Lieutenant, was active 2t the siege of Vera Cruz, in 1847, Thereafter, service in the Seminole “War of 1849-50, and engineering duties, which, in 1856, won him promotion to & Captaincy in the Topo- phical Engineers for fourteen yeers' con- inuous service,” occapied him tilt the out- break of tne Rebellion, He wos then im charge of zil the Northern Yakq surveys. He has sometimes besn reproached v thoge whe think “war tobe an accidentel seiduce,” with: being ‘s soldier of the lamp,"—wkich, by the way, Nepoleon and Von Meike did not scorn to court; but his conduet gt this crisis, as throagh- out his previous lifs, shows little warrant for the aspersion, He at once forsook the peaceful studies of the Topographical service, an command of a brigade of the Pennsylvania serve Corps, went to the front, atthe right of the lines before Washington, on the 8lst of August, 1861. - xcept during the interval when, prostrated: by the severe wounds received at_the battle of Glendale, June 30, 1862, lio was absent cn_sick leave for a few weeks, General Meade was fight- ing all through the war. _He was engaged in the battles of Dranesville, Mechanicsyille, Gaines' Mill, Glendale, Manassas, South Mountain, An- tietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, ‘Bristoe Station, Kelley's Ford, Rappa- hannock Station, The Wilderness, Epottszlvmig North Anna, Tolopotomy, Bethesda Church. Coal Harbor, Petersburz, Jerusalem Road, Boydtown Rond, Peebles' Farm, Haicher's Run, Fort Steadman, Sailors' Creel and. was' one of the gromp of distinguished Union commanders in whose presence Gen- eral Lee surrendered his army and the Con~ federate cause at Apggtamnx Conrt-House. During _this _time, had been * rapidly promoted to the position of Major, General in: the regular army, and, for two years, had the' command of the Army of the Potomac. ; General Meade will be known in history as the hero of Gettysburg. At.the moment Genersl Lee undertook his first, last, and most disas- trons invasion,—intended, sccording to his own. report, to capture Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and conquer a peace on the soil of the Nnttgem States,—General Hooker was in command of the Army of the Potomae. He was relieved, at his own request, and General Meade was appointed in his place. All the aray was surpriaes at this appointment, but no ona more so than Meade himself. He had so frank- 1y and freely expressed his conviction of Hook- ar's incapacity at Chancéllorsville that the latter had threatened to arrest him, and when, late at night, June 27, he was awakened in his feny by the ~ messenger from Washington, ~ his first question to Gonmeral Hardie, who ‘brought the commiceion, was, whether he had come with the order for his arrest, Hardie, evading the question, told him to strike a light, and then placed in his hands o paper which he found to be an order appointing him to the com- mand of the Army of the Potomae, and com- mitting to him all the powers of the Executive and the Constitution, -in order that he might have every needed resource to meet the emer- ency of the invasion. At this time, he is Sasonbed by Swinton a8 “an able commander, 48 years of age, in person tall and slim, with & long, grayish, thoughtfal face, an exceilent tac- tician, and imbued with sound military idess. Ho immediately put the army in moticn, with the determination speedily to bring Lee to bat- tlen ‘This was the crisis of the war, and the result was the salvation of the Union. Thirty-six thousand of the flower of the Southern infantry | were left on the field of that three days’ struggle; allhope of aid from Northern dissension wasgone; Europesn intervention, which the Richmond Government was ossured would follow the suc- cess of its invasion, wag abandoned; and the Confederatecause began the backward march that ended at Appomattox. To General Meade, the in- atmmentof%)ivins?mvidenminthm “crowning mercy,” Congress, on the 23th of January, 1866, yoted s resolution of thanks in behalf of the Republic, “for the skill and heroic yalor with hich, at Gettvaburg, he. repelled, defeated, drove back, broken and dispirited. beyond the Rappahanriock, the veteran army of the_Rebel- lion.” | Major General Meade continned in active ser- vice till the close of the war. He waa then laced in charge of the Military Division of the Rtlantic, and, from Auzust, 1856, until his death, was in charge of the Department of the East, with bis headquarters at Philadelphia. In 1865, he received from Harvard the degree of LL. D. Hig lost illness was sudden and painfl. Thursday week, he was taken with pneumonia, & dicense from which he had suffered severely two years ago, and had not_fairly recovered. Despite the utmost medical gkill conld do, he Bank mpid.lg, and expired on the evening of the Gth inst. General Sherman has ordered sll the military honors to be paid the illustrious dead, and he will be followéd tothe grave by the hearts of his countrymen. 2 One whose deeds were 80 Bluqnul:’t qw: :;g; need our eulogy, nor any monument, since union of the S:{tesstaniln to testify that thegood he did lives after him., Even in the halcyon days to come, when swords sfsll be beaten into low-shares and spears be made pruning hooks, Bowill bar reveronced as ons who went forth to Dattle, not so much to kill, 28 to bekilled, it need be, for the rigiit. Thomas Sully. From the New York Tribune, ¥ov.0, The petriarch of American artists died in Phil+ adelphia yesterdoy morning. Thomas Sully was 3 portrait painter of distinction 80 long 220 that tho first impulso of most of those who read of his death will of surprise thathe.was living until this date. BHe came to this country, a lad of 9 ears of age, in 1792, with his parents, who were nglish plasers. He began the study of painting at & very early age, and in 1803 established him- Self as an artistin Richmond, Va., whencohesoon removed to New York. He did not remain long hiere, however, but soon betook bimself to Philadelphia, where he spent the rest of his long life. His greatest successes were attained ‘many years ago, although he has never entirely 1sid down the pencil. Among his best known works are portraits of Thomas Jefferson, La~ fayette, Commodore Decatur, and Dr. Benjamin Rush. Tn 1338 he was commissioned £o paint & portrait of the Queen of England. His princi- pal historical picture is ¢ Washington crossing Minnesota which polls the biggest aggregate vote. —General Bepuregard made s gallaot rum, ‘but was beaten, in New Orloans, for Administra- ing povwer, leaving him ligtle, I fact, buk the and unsettled topijy here. There is much that tor of Improvements. the Delaware,” now in the Museum at Boston. His son, General Suily, of the United States Army, is a gallant and accomplished officer, who has t{lstinguished ‘himself in our Indisn wars on the frontier. .