The New York Herald Newspaper, February 5, 1871, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Volume XX XV) AY AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING. GLOBE THEATRE, 785 Brondway.—Vanrery ENTER- MAINMENT, &0.—LITTLE Bo PEEP. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.—EMILIR SGALLOTTE. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street,— BawaroGa. . BOOTH’S THEATRE, wa a Rioweriev. FOURTEENTH STREET THEATRE (Theatre Francais)— ‘Bown Fornzer as Kino Lean. between (th ang 6th ave.— NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—To® SPrOTACLE CF ‘Tne BLAOK CRooKk. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana 13th street.— WMonky. LINA EDWIN’S THEATRE, 720 Broadway.—HUNTED ‘Down ; Ox, THE Two Lives or MARY LEIGH. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Quand OpERATIO CARNIVAL. rner of 8th ay. ana 23d st.— OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—TH® PANTOMIME OF Ricweixe or rue Pexiop. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.-SFE SAw—NEcK AND OK, WOOD'S MUSEUM Broi corner 80th at.—Perform- vances every afteravon and 3 MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— us Rep Lieut. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC—REavING AND Concent. TONY PASTOR'S OP! Biviy ENTERTAINMENT. OUSE, 201 Bowery.—Va- THEATRE COMIQUE, 614 Broadway.—Com1o Vooar- ISM, NEGRO AcTE, 40. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 585 Brondway.— Meono Minstarisy, Fanors, BuRLESQUES, &C. BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOU: Pe E, M3 st., between 6th 7th ave.— GRO MINSTRELSY, EOCENTRICITIES, &0. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—HooLEy’s AND ABBLLY & Leon's Minereexs. és STEINWAY HALL, Fourteent street—Granp Con- vrEr. APOLLO HALL. corner 28th street and Broadway.— Dx. Counr’s Dioiawa oF IRELAND. rg) NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street. SoENRS IN THE RING, ACROBATS, £0. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Proadway.— Borrnor anv Arr. DR. KAHN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— ART. RIPLE SHEET. ea — CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. Pace. een J—Advertisements. ‘2—Advertisements. 3—News trom Washington—Proceedings of Con- 2 Suffering France: Appeal to the People of the United States—Amusements—Negieet- fal Nurses in the Brooklyn City Hospital—The Fenian Exiles—Cuba Libre: ‘Meeting of the Caban Ladies’ League—The Sinking Fund— Terpsichorean Trippings. 4—Murder: A History of Crime and Punishment: | The Assassin’s “sloody Work Throagh All Ages—Religious Intelligence. 5—Ruies and Regulations of the N: tion fer the Promotion of u ational Associa- re of the | Ameri rotting Turt- 10- American Beat“ Racing— a Shooting—The Roya. Marri Empire. 6—Eulitorial g Article, “The Armistice; ‘The Comi Nation sembly: What Is the Prospect ?’—Amusement Announce- ments. ‘7—Edditorials (Continued from Sixth Page)—Paris : All Quiet in the City—The French Elections— Bourbaki—General News from France—The Empress Eugénie—The European Cong The Alabama Clatmas—The Crown of G Question—News from many—The Eastern Hayti and Jamaica—Miscellaneous _Tele- grams—Important from Central and South America—Burning of the Adelphi Theatre, Boston—-Banquet to General Pleasanton— Obituary—Vie he Past—Business Notices, S—Belind the Counter: Mysteries and Miserles of the Palaces of Fashion—The Tonnage Tax: What a Steamship Agent Has to Say About Collector Murphy’s Latest Proposals—The Courfs—The Cos Miners’ Troubles—Tne 1 Reports—The Camden Riots—Down u Precipice—Naval Lutelligence— Advertisements. Contemplated Removal of the Shanties—New York City Items— Brooklyn's Bourbon Again—Destitution and insanity—Shipping —_Invelligence—Advertise- ments, 31—Advertisements. 42—advertsemen Tre CarEER oF THE Horner has been brought to a somewhat ignoble close. At last advices she was lying in Port au Prince har- hor, closely blockaded by a Spanish gunboat. Her crew had deserted her and had taken passage for New York. Recent ADVICES FROM MANITOBA show that the former accounts of the ravages of the smallpox in that country were not overdrawn. It is estimated that two thousand Indians and setilers have fallen victims to this pestilence within a few months. Tre Darien Canat.—A_ despatch from Aspinwall says that a letter has been received from Captain Selfridge, of the Darien Explor- ing Expedition, stating that a route for a canal has been discovered, commencing near the mouth of the Atrato river, which is entirely practicable, the highest point on the line being but three hundred feet above the ocean. If this statement proves correct the great prob- lem of the American interoceanie canal is solved, thanks to American pluck and perse- verance. Bes Burier as 4 ‘Buu Goxip.—The belligerent ideas of Ben Butler on the Ala- bama question are, of course, well known. Hence the announcement yesterday of his probable appeintment to succeed Secretary Fish in the new Cabinet which General Grant is cogitating threw the ‘‘bears” in the Gold Room into spasms of terror and entranced the “bulls” with delight. The golden barometer registered the sensation produced by this fatelligence by marking arise in the price of the precious metal from 111} to 1117 Sovrn Amerioa.—Our despatches this morning contain the usual accounts of revolu- tions and disorders among the South American republics. In Uruguay the revolutionists are making headway, having defeated the gov- ernment forces at Cacio, with a loss of one hundred and fifty men. From Bolivia the advices are most unfaverable for the goveroment. Potosi has been captured and destroyed by the revolutionists, who had five hundred men killed in the attack. fhe city was pillaged for three days, and unheard-of atrocities were committed by Abe druaken soldiery. The Indians in all the proviaces have risen against the government, wand some fifty thousand natives are marching to join the insurgents. It is evident that the lexisting administration will soon be over- own, «nd that Morales, the insurgent - will aagume the Presidential chair Ds a ae Tidal 2 iY Nalin ala’ hi % x NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1871.-TRIPLE SHEET. ne tonal Assembly—What is the Prospect? The present armistice in France (of which, by special cable despatches, we published the full text yesterday) ends on the 19th instant. Meantime the elections for the National As- sembly will be held in Paris to-day (Sunday), and throughout the various departments on the 8th (Wednesday next), and the Assembly will meet at Bordeaux on the 12th (Sunday next). The Assembly, an organic body which we would call a natienal convention, will con- sist ef seven hundred and fifty-three deputies, and the elections, in spite of Gambetta, are to be open to all parties and all sorts of can- didates—to the imperialist and Orleanist as well as to the republican. The Assembly will be charged with the important task of recon- structing the government of France, but, first of all, with the consideration of the German condivions which await it as the conditions of peace. These terms, it is understood, will embrace, at least in territory, the surrender of Alsace to Germany, which will include the great city of Strasbourg, the removal of France entirely from the river Rhine and Rhine valley, and to the western drainage of the Vosges moun- tains. Next, France will be called to meet the demands for the surrender of twenty ships of war, acoleny in Cochin China, and a cash indemnity of two thousand millions of dollars, Lastly, Germany will probably insist upen holding Metz and other fortresses of Lorraine as ‘‘material guarantees” for the fulfilment of these other conditions, With this budget of heavy demands upon it what will be the re- sults from this forthcoming National Assem- bly of France? Very little time will be allowed the members of the Assembly for useless debates. They meet on the 12ih, and they must decide by the 19th whether it is to be peace or war, or u request for an extension of the armistice. The issue is doubtful; but the Assembly must resolve upon peace or war by the 19th inst., or ask a further extension of grace. By the first article of the armistice, which covers the land and sea, it ‘is terminable everywhere on the 19th day of February, at noon.” The second article provides that ‘the armistice thus agreed upon has for its object to permit the goverament of National Defence of France to convoke an Assembly, freely elected (mark the words, ‘‘freely elected”), which will pro- nounce oa the question whether the war shali be continued or what terms of peace sball be made.” This article further provides for the meeting of the Assembly at Bordeaux, and that “‘every facility will be given by the com- manders of the German armies for the election and meeting of the deputies who will compose the Assembly.” This is the exact text of the main article of the armistice, as furnighed from our special correspondent at Berlin. It will be observed, too, from our despatches of this morning’s issue, that Count Bismarck in- tends to have a square election, or the im- perial Corps Lé¢gislatif dispersed by Gambetta and Company on the 4th of September last. The armistice, then, has for its object the election and convocation of a National As- sembly to decide upon the question of peace or war. Count Bismarck wants nothing more than a responsible government with which to treat; and this Assembly, freely elected by the French people, and acting in their name and by their authority, will be government enough for him. He clearly expects that the Assembly will first consider the terms of peace which he will have to offer; and evidently with a treaty of peace his business with the As- sembly will be finished. So that he gets his terms of peace from this responsible body he does not seem to care whether they recall the Bonapartes or the Bourbons or establish the republic. Indeed, Count Bismarck only asks that the present government of National Defence shall be backed by a National Assembly in order to give it the essential element of national re- sponsibility in the all-important matter of a treaty of peace. He made the same propnsi- tion for an armistice soon after the beginning of the siege of Paris, but Favre and Company would not listen to it. Outside of Paris and the other large cities of France they had no faith in a National Assembly fresh from the people. We perceive, too, in the absurd at- tempt of that audacious demagogue, Gam- betta, to exclude the Bonapartists, Orleanists and elder Bourbons from the elections, that he, at least, fears that otherwise the republic will be superseded. The Emperor William, on the other band, frankly tells his people that, while he hopes this armistice will bring peace, he is by no means sanguine of this much-desired issue. He fears that the war may have to be resumed, with new trials to the brave hearts of the Fatherland; and so, while he is prepared for peace, he is still preparing for a continu- ance of the war. But why should France, in her present helpless and hopeless condition, resolve upon this suicidal foliy? Why, with Paris starving and de- pending for food upon the enemy from day to day, with the French armies destroyed, driven off, dispersed or demoralized, with Northern France eaten out and laid waste by the armies of Germany, and with Southern France com- pletely at their mercy, why should the Em- peror William entertain the idea that this com- ing French National Assembly may still re- solve to continue the war? Because, perhaps, he expects the confusion of bedlam in this in- flammable Assembly, and that it will lack the cool moral courage to look his conditions of peace bravely in the face. They are very hard conditions and very humiliating to the proud people who but yesterday thought them- selves the masters of Europe. But they who appeal to the arbitrament of war must abide by the consequences. The people involved in the war for our late so-called Southern con- federacy were a proud people and thought themselves masters of the United States; but they were mistaken, Their war was a foolish one, an! mark the disasters and humiliations which it brought upon them; but still when their Paris was taken they gave up the fight. We are half isclined to share in these mis- givings of the German Emperor touching this National Assembly. Every intelligent mem- ber will understand that the resumption of the war may be the annibilation of France—that the armies of Germany are competent to over- run, subdue and disarm every department, every city, every hele aud corner of the republic, aad competent to held the whole The Armistico—The Coming Freuch Na- country as part of the German empire, after | The Present Musical Se: disarming it. Nevertheless, there is reason to fear that this French National Assembly, elected and permitted to assemble by the grace of the enemy holding the French capital, will be a gathering of dangerous combustibles. There is reason to fear that, by the patriotic indignation of such impracticables as Gam- betta, Ledru Rollin, the old cackling geose Victor Hugo, Flourens, Simon, and the old fire-eater, Crémieux, the Assembly may be car- ried for war, or that it may be broken up and dispersed by some bold leader, after the fashion of the breaking up of the clubs, coun- cils, conventions and assemblies of the chaotic times of the terrible first French revolution. But let us suppose that this Assembly, gathering at Bordeaux under all the horrors and humiliations of this most dreadful war to France, is still so far impressed with the ne- cessities of submission to the cruel demands of the remorseless invader as to accept his terms of peace, indemnity in money, restitution of territory, surrender of war ships, transfer of a great colony, material guarantees and all, what then? Then, we sup- pose, that, atill holding only certain frontier fortresses as material guarantees for the fulfilment of the treaty, the Germans will retire, and leave the French Assembly to settle for itself the difficult task of the reconstruction of the national government. As the Holy Al- liance restored the Bourbons in 1814 and 1815, so the Germans might now restore the Bour- bons or the Bonapartes on the terms of Ger- many. And why should not the practical Bismarck adopt this short and decisive pro- cess? Perhaps because he thinks that this concession which he makes to the will of the French people as a concession to popular sovereignty will tickle the German people. We suspect, however, that he anticipates such a fearful mess of it in France, such dismal scenes of confusion from the fighting cliques and fac- tions, such fantastic tricks from aspiring dem- agogues in this new Assembly, as will cause the Germans to be thankful that they are better taken care of by their imperial master and his imperial establishment than are the poor, un- fortunate French people, left to the mercy of ambitious adventurers. We suppose, too, that Count Bismarck sees how the game will pro- a Bonaparte or a Bourbon, rati- iscite. We, in this direction, have our apprehen- sions; but we are still strong in the hope that this coming French National Assembly, puri- fied by the fire ef this war, will make peace, and, on the good and strong feundation of American principles of popular government, will establish the republic. Congress Yesterday—The Postaze Laws— Aid for the European Belligerents—Territo- rial Business—Pensions to the Veterans of 1812—The Soutbern Pacific Railroad Bill. The House bill, te revise, congplidate and amend the postage laws, was under considera- tion in the Senate yesterday, but no result was reached, This is the bill in which the repeal of the franking privilege is provided for, and therefore its passage will be loeked forward to with interesi. With the lopping off of this abuse a great many other abuses connected with it will drop off, such as the wasteful ex- travagance in the public printing, the making ofbuncombe speeches in the House and the loading down of the mails with electioneering documents. By freeing the Post Office De- partment of the incubus of franked matter the reduction of postage to two cents, er one cent, as suggested by Mr. Sumner, will become practicable and may be looked forward to within a few years. The Senate passed yesterday, after some debate, a joint resolution authorizing the President to station at this port one or more national vessels for the purpose of conveying breadstufts and sapplies, to be contributed by the people, in aid of the destitute and suffer- ing people of France and Germany. This is a proposition which will meet with the appro- val and hearty concurrence of our citizens, though we doubt whether the vessels of our navy are well adapted for the purpose. There are, however, plenty of merchant vessels and steamers owned in this city which will be much better suited to the purpose, and which can be chartered at the expense of the gevernment. A fleet of such vessels, laden with provisions, would be inadequate to supply the war-wasted inhabitants of those countries; but we are sure that the generosity of our people will be equal to the emergency. Let us, therefore, contribute with full hands, and thus manifest at once the benevolence and wealth of the United States. The House devoted most of the session of yesterday to the consideration of bills con- nected with the Territories. There was no proposition to convert any of the Territorial governments into State governments, ner is it likely that any such measure will pass at the present Congress. A bill to organize Alaska into a county, with the county seat at Sitka, and with the public laws and the jurisdiction of Washington Territory extended to it, was passed. Notice was given by Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, that he would move to-morrow to take from the Speaker’s table the Southern Pacific Railroad bill, passed by the Senate last session, with a view to have action en it this session. As it will require a two-thirds vote to get it up out of its order there is not much probability of the motion being suc- cessful. The Senate amendments to the House bill, granting pensions to the surviving soldiers of the war of 1812, were non-concur- red in, as a mere formality, and the whole subject referred to a committee of conference. Rewer FOR Frencn Srrrerers,—New York is never found wanting in good works. Her charitable institutiens are monuments to the benevolence of her citizens, and never hag an appeal for aid been made to her in vain by sufferers of other countries. Her charity is truly catholic, and the universal world has been recipients of her generosity. This characteristic of our citizens was happily exemplified yesterday in the prompt and ener- getic response of our Chamber of Commerce to the appeal of the sufferers by the war in France for relief. Fifty thousand franes were at once placed at the disposal of Mimister Washturne, to be disbursed for the benefit of the poor of Paris, and this sum will be daily increased. Let this example of the Chamber of Commerce be followed by our citizens gen- erally and a fund be contributed that will be worthy the Empire City, the Me- tropolis and the Country. Music has not received this season the attention and encouragement that it deserves from those who profess to be its particular patrons. In this city its sphere has beer limited te the Nilsson concerts, which were financially above the reach of the greater portion of the music-loving public, to the Stadt theater, where a regular soasen of German opera has been given, and the opéra bougfe at the Grand Opera House. We say limited, beeause the occasional concerts of the Philharmonic, Church Music and Vocal societies cannot be classed among regular entertainments, as they are like angels’ visits, few and far between, We mention the Nils- son concerts, brief though the season was, on account of the impetus they gave to music, which, however, no manager here could be found capable or willing to take advantage of. It is a melancholy fact that there exists at present an inexcusable stagnation in musical entertainments in this city, a metropolis abounding in musical tzlent, conservatories thronged with pupils, a liberal public and materials of the best description, The fault is mainly in the absence of true management in the divine art. We have dozens of persons whe affix the title impre- sario to their names, and who deal with music pretty much the same as with stock that has been placed on the index as shaky. Music is an unworked mine in New York, and the lucky individual who can succeed in unearthing its treasures and working it properly will be re- paid by as great a rush of eager patrons as ever thronged to California or Ballarat when the auriferous wealth of these regions was first announced. The Philharmonic Society, comprising pro- bably the finest orchestra in the world, con- tent themselves with six concerts only each year, and the programmes are confined to one school of music—the German, The encourage- ment they have received for the last few years should embolden them to try monthly concerts and enlarge their répertoire. The Church Music Association, now ia its secoad season, is a very promising organization. Founded by a number of wealthy and liberal people, and pgssessing a chorus and orchestra of the most select kind, the concerts of this society are a source of pleasure to the true musician. So successful have the efforts of the organization proved so far that the concerts might now be given more frequently and ina less exclusive manner. The name, ‘‘Church Music Associa- tion,” might also be profitably changed toa more expressive title. The same remarks will apply to the Vocal Society, another excellent institution. When one considers what a wealth ef vocal talent we have in this city— the two socleties mentioned above, the Berge Choral Union, Harmonic, Mendelssohn Union, Liedorkranz, Arion and a score of others, and Rumerous amateurs im private life, whese talents would grace either the concert, epera or oratorio—it is distressing to know that all this talent remains comparatively idle and unknown to the public. Former mismanage- ment of concerts and oratorios has ereated an aversion or at least indifference in the public mind towards these entertainmonts, but epera is an ever welcome guest in this city. By opera we do net mean those spasmodic efforts im which a newly arrived artist is breught out as a mere catchpenny, with old fossils as support and choral and orchestral accessories of the most contemptible nature. We speak of Italiam opera (for the other branches of the lyric drama are merely sub- sidiary), produced, as it should be, with all attention to the mimutest details and a care- fully considered programme for a season. Not such a horrible chorus as that which our tor- tured ears have been accustomed to hear for years past; not a hastily improvised orchestra and leader whose only idea of music is noise; not antediluvian scenery and well-worn dresses, but a perfect ensemble in everything such as they have in Eurepe. The usual answer of our managers to this argument is that there is not the same encouragement shown to Italian opera in this city as there is in London or Paris. Ne wonder, certainly, when we contrast the performances. There is as liberal a spirit and appreciation of true art in the public of New York as may be found anywhere. The concerts of Nilsson, an enter- prise so costly that many of Strakosch’s friends were dubious as to the result; the apparently extravagant system of our dramatic managers in sparing no expense in the production of plays; the constant, unre- mitting labor of our leading piano manufac- turers to supply the increased demand for their instruments, and even the lavish expen- diture at the Academy balls, have all met with success proportionate to the degree of liberality shown by their projectors. Why, then, shoud not Italian opera be made a suc- cess, no matter how costly it may be? The musical season in the country has proved disastrous to all travelling companies, with the sole exception of Nilsson and Kel- logg. We know of one concert troupe that left this city with four Italian artists as man- agers, and reached Chicago, after many peril- ous, ludicrous and strange adventures, with exactly twenty-five cents in the treasury. A kind barber in the Lake City enabled the un- lucky impresarii to get back to New York. This may be taken as a sample of musical business outside the metropelis this winter. And we may add here that never before has there been such @ dull dramatic seasen, also, in the country. For the future prospects of music there are already indications of a revival in the fall. Rumors are afloat that Parepa and Kellogg will each have an English opera company, that Adelina Patti will be the next star of Strakosch, that Grau will essay Italian opera (the last manager, by the way, who furnished us the real article), and that we will have a regular inundation of European artists. Let them ceme; there is room enough for all here. At the same time we trust all present and prospective managers will not forget home talent, and that they will engraft it upen the fiourishing laurels that crown the brows of those who have had im Europe better opportu- nities to become great artists than our young American vocalists. Toe Missourt Stave SENATE yesterday passed a resolution instructing their Senators and Congressmen to oppose further appropria- tions for vublig buildings in Washington. The Knight of La Mancha’s famous tilt against the windmill was not more absurd than this attempt to remove the national capital. The Taylor Wil Case—Closing Proceed- ings. On Thursday last, the twenty-ninth day of the trial, the last of the witnesses snmmoned to give testimony in the Taylor will case appeared on the stand, and, with the usual formal words of the interrogating counsel, “That will do, sir,” the case for and against the disputed will closed. The mass of testi- mony taken during those twenty-nine days of actual sessions.of the court is enormous. The able counsel to whom was entrusted the task of eliciting from the witnesses on the side of the proponents every word, act or incident in proof, or tending to throw the miautest gleam of light on the genuineness of the will, of course omitted nothing that could possibly be favorably construed in support of his view ofthe case. Oounsel on the other side, who had made himself thoroughly master and con- fident of every incident in the home life of the parties—before the marriage and after—when disappointments and regrets had, as alleged, usurped the place of affection and fond antici- pations—he, too, certainly made the best pro- fessional use possible of the material at his hand te upset the will, During the twenty-nine days of session forty-four witnesses were summoned, called and examined. Here was a chance for a coincidence, and the coincidence actually occurred, that twenty-two witnesses were ex- amined on either side, making the whole forty- four. Ina legislative view this would be a “tie,” and the presiding officer by his casting vote would determine to which side the scale should preponderate. But it is not to the number of witnesses that justice adheres, but to the weight of testimony, so that in the eye of the law a witness or any number of wit- nesses only count according to the value of the testimony which one or all can give. Sur- rogate Hutchings, presiding, was scarcely elected te the bench of the Surrogate’s Court when his term of office was inaugurated by disputed will cases of very grave and impor- tantcharacter. For instance, the Alexander and Fox will cases, which came up befere him almost on the moment of his assumption of the office. The Alexander case excited almost universal public interest, and the mystery interwoven therewith was only finally dispelled through the searching examination permitted, en- couraged and sustained by Mr. Hutch- ings’ rulings as Surrogate, and which resulted in the contestant--the daughter of the deceased—Mrs. Burke, recovering a large amount of the property which had been fraudu- lently alienated from her. But the Taylor “domestic drama” has certainly no parallel of late years in the testamentary jurisprudence of our country. The whole of the inner family life exhibited through all the evidence of the witnesses, who, like Wilkie Collins’ charac- ters, ‘‘tell their own stories,” furnishes testi- mony upon which the most sceptical or the most credulous, on one side or the other, may be excused if they waver and fail to judge at once into which scale, like Manlius, they are to throw the sword. A careful perusal of the main points of the testimony is all-important to the issue. We have before spoken of the little reliance that can be placed on expert testimony, and, in a case in point referred to at the time, proved the ufter worthlessness of all such testimony; and yet, as admitted by counsel and his clients, this is the class of testimony upon which their cause mainly depends. The stress laid by counsel upon the deep and lifelong affection of the deceased for his granddaughter, with his frequent allusions as to the certainty of her being his sole legatee, combated on the other hand by the facts tes- tified to of the estrangement of these affections in consequence of Kate's unacceptable mar- riage, and the bitterness and unpleasantness following thereon, are more within the pro- vince of counsel for discussion and of the Surrogate to rule upon than of a newspaper article. And here we dismiss the case for the present, assured that the summing up of coun- sel on either side will be worthy of the inter- est which the case has heretofore excited, and that the decision of Surrogate Hutchings will be strictly in accordance with all the facts and justice of the case. A Sensible Juror. A day or two ago there was finished in the Superior Court a trial which had lasted through two weeks, The points at issue, in- volving a charge of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment growing out of the pur- chase of some old United States gunboats for the Peruvian government, are not material. The point worth noticing is this :—Through these two weeks the jury had patiently sat and listened to direct testimony and cross-examina- tions most tediously protracted, and lawyers more tedious, talking against time ; and then came the summing up, tiresome tirades of words long drawn out, and then the judge’s charge. To all this inquisitorial torture the jury submitted without a murmur. It was believed a respite had come at last. Not so. No sooner had the judge finished than all the lawyers jumped to their feet. One insisted that the judge should charge this. Another insisted that he should not, One persisted in reading sev- eral pages of written points, which he urged should be given to the jury. Another lauached out inte a review of the whole case. The judge went over part of his charge again. There was a general jumble of talk all around. A juror could stand itno longer. ‘‘I protest,” he called out to the judge, ‘‘against this sort of talking. “ It is only bewildering the jury, and if kept up will get us in such a mud- dle that we won't know anything about the case.” This was a sensible juror. He had the courage to speak out his mind, andit is pleas- ant to record the historical fact that the law- yers at once took the hint and subsided into their seats and silence. It is a great pity that there are not more jurors of like sense and courage. The extent to which jurors in all our courts have to submit to this sort of infliction is an outrage. If lawyers are sen- sible they will stop it. If judges are sensible they will not allow it. If jurors are ecnsible they will not stand it, Washington Society. Just as France exults in the preservation of the Boulevards as the symbol of world-wide pewer, so the South may exclaim, ‘Washing- ton, at all events, is still ours,” The Blairs, the Corcorans, the Carlisles, the Kennedys, the Army and Navy and departmeat bureau- crats, all the same coteries which basked in the sunshine of the cotton aristocracy, are as flourishing as ever. Mra. Fish’s house, in days of yore the favorite resort of the Slidells and Masons and all the grandoes of the South, is again the great focus ef society, with this difference, that while in the days of the supremacy of Mrs. Slidell, Mrs. Clay and Mrs. Fitzpatrick Mrs. Fish was only characterized as being bighly respectable, she is at the pre- sent day extolled as being supremoly queenly. Bevies of young girls, recruited from the remnants of the ex-slavery gentry, with here and there an interloper from radical ranks, revelve, as in the days of Jefferson Davis, around Mrs. Fish’s throne, while small attachés, supposed to represent royal and gentle blood, confirm the pretensions of aristecratic associa- tions, dazzling the imagination with distant glimpses ef court life and permeating even unsophisticated Westerns with rapturous ecstasies about the foreign legatiens. The plantation lords and ladies of the South con- sidered themselves jast as good, if not better than foreign legations, and were consequently less subservient to them than is the fashion nowadays. Rank and power somehow are more intensely worshipped in the late Southern and present federal capital in these days of negro liberty than was the case in the days of slavery, the black man himself being as obse- quious to those dressed in a little brief autho- rity as he is impertinent to those who are not. Anybody with a handle to his or her name is toadied in a manner which surpasses in the heaviness of its incense that lavished on Officials in the capitals of the Grand Duchesse de Gerolstein, or the Prince of Monaco and the Duke of Modena. But this tendency is not without artistic compensation. It intro- duces the opéra bouffe element into Washing- ton society, and nothing can afford more exhilaration than the accounts published, and even telegraphed, of the social entertainments of the District of Columbia. The negro contributes not a little to impart a pleasant zest to these comical ingredients. In a city where that party which rose to power through him is enthroned he is more than an Irish or a German citizen. He looms up in the epical pro- portions of a party pet and a nation’s darling. He stalks throngh Pennsylvania avenue with a proud consciousness that had it not been for him and the African sun, which bronzed his skin and woolified his hair, there would have been no war, no public debt, no Boutwell, no Grant, no Revels, no Downing, no Wormley, no Forney, no Sumner, no loaves or fishes for his patrons. But socially he is still under the ban. Only a year ago the mar- riage of the Portuguese Minister's brother-in- law with a lady of that anointed race set the District of Columbia's old Southern gentry wild with furious emotions, and alihough several gentlemen of Nubiau descent are members of the House of Congress their ladies have not yet had the entrée to the Fish entertainments. Still the dense African population crowded in from the country in the past few years to certain districts give @ pleasant pastoral aspect to the city, which is enhanced by the cattle which browse with idyl-like sim- plicity through the streets. The cows and pigs in Washington do not seem disturbed by contact with what are termed superior animals. They deport themselves like peers and peer- esses in their own right, and don’t go out of their way to make room for a Congressman, a foreign minister, or even Mrs. Fish. Still it would carry romance too far to pre- sume that Washington was entirely opéra boujfe or idyllic. There is a demon of cor- ruption lurking beneath both. And the South- erners never loved cotton more than their suc- cessors in Washington society love dollars. Hence, in a population noted for its dependence on _ public support, the smallest amount of wealth goes a great way secially. The consequence is a number of emigrants to Washington who have accumulated some means by dabbling in real estate, or in governmental contracts and miscellaneous jobbery, rise to a social eminence in Washington which they could never acquire here. So that amusingly obscure and insignificant people become in Washingten, by skilful manipulation of local society what Mrs. Grondy se pleasantly pronounces the “eréme de la créme.” Thus a small shoddy element is added to the opéra bouffe of social Southern legacy and its Northern reinforce- ments. Then there are the millionnaires of the Senate—Chandler, of Michigan; Pomeroy, ot Kansas; Sprague, of Rhode Island. In fact, most of the Senators have managed to gobble up land aud dollars except Wilson, Sumner, Schurz, Edmunds, Patterson and a few others who constitute a pauper minor- ity. In the House there are Fernando Wood and Joh Morrissey, both renowned for their fabulous wealth, and the former for his gorgeous entertainments, which are attended by Mrs. Fish and the foreign ministers. Then there is Mr. Hooper, of Boston, whose very presence would make a pauper wince and call up visions of England’s landed gentry, and Oakes Ames, who, though his affairs are like Hudson, the railway king, slightly embar- rassed, continues to rank among the heavy ones. In the House, however, pauperism rages more virulently than in the Senate, and many of the members have only their salary to keep soul and body together. But, whether rich or poor, there is less sociability among Congressmen than there was in the olden Southern era times, when they lived mostly in hotels, instead of being scattered as at present in cheap and dingy lodgings, and herding, according te State right doc- trine, Maine with Maine and Wisconsin with Wisconsin, parish bound, in fact, so that in the midst of what might be deemed to be mind-enlarging influences previncialism reigns supreme, with a tendency to be pleasant: and communicative only when it pays tobe so. Of intellectual communion or fellowship there is little, most of the Congressmen regarding the capital as @ place to meet their clients, the lobbyist and jobbers, with here and there an unsophisticated rustic constituent. While the opéra bouffe and shoddydom rs