The New York Herald Newspaper, January 26, 1875, Page 6

> NEW YORK INERALD La CO BROADWAY ee ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNE PROPRIETOR, ———_+ NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. - -On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Hinatp will be sent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published day in the year. nual subscription price $12. feftataeaiie ia All business or news letters and teleg every “Four cents per copy. aphic despatches must’ be addressed New Youre Heraxp. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Re ead LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms” Subscriptions as in New York. cross tht M. liver bo: ROMAN HIPPODROME, ‘Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenue.—Afternoon and evening, ac? and & PASTOR'S OPERA HOU ARIETY, at 8 P. r No. 201 Bower: at 10:45 P.M. FIFTH AV! Pwenty eighth street and AY, at 31. ML. ; close mvenport, Miss Je et B West Twenty-ti MINSTRELSY Bryant. Broadway, bet streets. —Opera ANGOT, act P.M. uffe—LA loses at 19 245 GERMANIA THEAT Fourteen! h stro St—MELN LEOPOL at 1045 Broedway.—TRODDEN Sl. M. ; closes at 10:45 TIVOLL THEATRE, Fignth street, between ond and Third /VABIETY, ut SP. M4 tle. M. avenues.— SAN FRAN Broadway, corner of MINSTRELSY, ats P. M.; NEGRO ty closes at 10 7. M. ROBINSON HALL, DULL CARE, at Sixteenth str: closes at 10:45 19:30 P.M, KE AND WALDACK*s Broadway. —THE SHAUC 40 P.M. Mr, Boucicault THEATR HRAUN, at SP. M. closes at WYN THEATRE, at 8”. M.; clos Misr onrioca 3 Broadway. corner PARD, M. NEW YORK sTapr -—LE PART DU DIABLE, at .M. Miss Lina Mayr. corner LITTLE &M'LY, at 5 Rowe. THEATRE COMIQ Be, fit Broadway.— VARIETY, aLs'P. M.. closes at 10:45 TRIP LE SHEET. NEW YORK, TUESDAY. JANUARY 26, 1875, From our reports this mornin) the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cold and | cloudy. Warr stock market Bgestive. Priees were on dull business. Gold advanced to at 1123. § and closed t have Tue SoyTs sees only as it is recent, unusual. There has b tion, threats of other proposed, the troops all people were kil state of terror. State of Louisiar N news t cd not a several rebellions got drunk, several and everybody was in a This is almost as bad as the Tae Penvvian Revoivrion has been crushed by the government, and its ablest general, Escobar, was killed on the field of battle. Our Lima correspondence gives the details of the termination of this unfortunate conflict, which only repeats South American history for the past half century. North America may take ® warning by the experiences of the Southern part of tle Continent. Tar Fronma Sexaton is the next problem which the political sphinx proposes, It seems that we never Lad more trouble in making a Senate than we bave this year. In almost every State there has been a deadlock, and in some of them the Legislature does not seem Carar Tenecrarny.—We observe that in she Ohio Legislature a bill bas been intro- Anced regulating the transmission of de- spatehes by telegraph companies, arranging a seale of charges and making the companies responsible for damages in the event of violating the provisions of the act. This bill requires the different companies to “pro rat@ with ench other.'’ This is the beginning of what may be in time very important action. Once we legislute upon this matter of tele graphing, there can be but one end— the postal oh. We are enrious to know what ¢ sect of the bill will be in Obio, If it succeeds there it will be interest- ing to observe what other Siates will do. Pininly we are on the eve of u great struggle betweon tho rights of a great necessities of wieantic corooratious, ple and the® NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1875.—-TRIPLE SHEET. Senator Morton’s Proposed Amendment t the Constitution. We deem it unnecessary to go into a minute discussion of Mr. Morton's scheme tor changing the method and machinery of electing the President and Vice President, because we are convinced, quite aside from its intrinsic merits or demerits, that it has no chance of suecess. It would be futile to dis- j cuss the details of a proposed measure which is certain to be rejected on its main features. Mz. Morton's plan contemplates the election of the President by a direct vote of the people without the intervention of Presidential electors. This might be very well if all the voters of the country could be regarded as one electoral body and the actual votes of the whole people were to be counted as they are counted in electing the Governor of a State. But this is not the plan. Instead the simplicity of a direct popular vote, to be counted as votes are in a State election, Mr. Morton advocates a method which would be even more complex and cumbrous than the one it aims to supplant. This scheme is very much like a proposal to elect the Governor of New York by making each Assembly district a separate political unit and giving its whole vote to the candi- date who might happen to have a plurality in that districl, the successful candidate being the one who carried a majority of the dis- tricts. Such a mode of electing a State Governor would be scouted as preposterous, and yet it would be a close parallel to Mr. Morton's plan for electing a President. What he proposes is that the citizens of each Congressional district shall vote directly for President and Vice President, but that the candidate having a plurality in each district shall be entitled to its whole vote, which is just equivalent in effect to permitting each Congressional district to choose one Presi- dential elector under the present system. Instead of the two additional Presidential electors to which each State is entitled by its Senators Mr. Morton proposes that the people of the State vote at large for Presidential can- didates, and that the candidate receiving a | plurality is to have two votes in addition to the number of Congressional districts which make him their choice. Instead of simplifying our present system, this scheme would make it more clumsy. It really retains the electoral votes while abolishing the Presidential elec- tors, and resorts to roundabout methods to get their function performed. As the Presiden- tial electors are mere passive instruments, hav- ing no will of their own, and as they are not ob- jectionable in point of expense, the substance { of Mr. Morton’s amendment could be more simply and intelligibly reached by permitting each Congressional district to choose one Presi- dential elector, and each State to choose two such electors at large. This is what Mr. Mor- ton’s plan amounts to, except that it abolishes the Presidential electors and substitutes a more complex machinery. This being the substance of the proposed amendment, it is easy to understand why it is impracticable. It would diminish the demo- cratic strength in the Presidential election of 1876, and the democratic party will not con- sent to sucha dimmution. An amendment to the constitution requires the ratification of three-tourths of the State Legislatures; but, as & majority of the State Legislatures are democratic, it is clear that no constitutional amendment can be ratified which the demo- cratic party does not approve. Certain it is that the democratic party will not accept a constitutional amendment which would de- prive it of sixty or seventy electoral votes in the next Presidential election. The demo- crats will regard Mr. Morton's plan as an in- sidious attempt to deprive them of a legiti- of | | mate advantage. Let us take the State of New York as an illustration. Under the present sysiem of electing the President the whole thirty-five Presidential electors to which the Siate is entitled would be given to the democratic candidate. But, according to Mr. Morton's s the State would be about equally divided between the two _politi- me, cal parties. Classing the liberal re- publicans as democrats New York, in its recent election, chose seventeen democratic and sixteen republican members of Congress. If 1874 had been a Presidential | year, aud if Mr. Morton's plan had been in 4 operation, the republicans would have had what is equivalent to sixteen Presidential electors, whercas, under the present system, they would not have had a single electoral vote in the whole State. At present the Pres- idential electors in each State are elected on a general ticket and are all given to one party. S| But My Morton's scheme would give what is equivalent to one electoral vote to the repub- lican candidate in every Congressional! district which elects a republican member. It ig preposterous to expect the democratic Legis- lature of New York to ratify an amend- ment to the constitution which would give sixteen electoral votes to the next republican candidate for the Prosidency, when, under the constitution as it stands, the whole weight of the State would be put into the democratic scale. The same reasoning will apply to Ohio, where the dem- ocrats elected twelve and the republicans eight of the members of the next Congress. those electoral votes in the Presidential elec- tion? The democratic party having secured its ascendancy in most of the great States it is absurd to expect them to ratify an amendé ment to the constitution which would deprive | them of this advantage. Nothing could be more preposterous than to expect that New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which can give @ unanimous vote for the democratic candi- date in 1876, will ratify au amendment which would strip them ot nearly half of their political power, According to present oppearances, the three great States of New York, Peunsyl- vania and Ohio will give their eighty-six elec- toral votes to the democratic candidate in 1876; but if Mr. Morton's scheme were en- grafted on the constitution thirty-four of these eighty-six votes would be given to the republican candidate, which might change | the result. It is absurd to expect the demo- cratic State Legislatures to ratify an amend- ment which would so weaken their party in the Presidential contest. Any ten of the State Legislatares can deteat a constitutional amendment, and it is quite cortain that nearly double that number of democratic Legislatures will refuse their assent to Mr. Morton's pro- posed amendment if—which is improbable— it should receive the reauisite two-ihirds of ABR fee of Congress, Nothing is more certain than that the State Legislatures will refuse to ratify Morton’s amendment if it should get through Congress and be submitted to them ; and it is therefore a sheer waste of time for Cengress to consider and debate his proposition, It is absolutely certain that the democratic State Legislatures will not throw away from seventy to a hundred electoral votes which would be given to their Presiden- tial candidate under the present system. We therefore conclude that Mr. Morton is wasting precious time which ought to be given to practical measures. The Henaup would be glad to see the second article of the federal constitution amended, but only on the condition that the President be limited to a single term. It will support such a change, but it sees po advantages in any amendment which does not contemplate the enforcement ‘of the one term principle. Morton’s scheme permits the perpetual re-eli- gibility of the President, and we should teel constrained to oppose it on this ground, even if it were better than it is. But the foregone certainty that the democratic Legislatures will not ratify it makes it so utterly idle that we can see no justification for any waste of time upon it by Congress. is We concede the danger, which makes such a figure in Mr. Morton’s speech, that in a Why_ should the Ohio democrats surrender | close election a doubt as to the legality of the electoral vote of one or two States might en- danger the peace of the country; but we believe that Congress has full power to provide against such a difficulty without any amend- ment of the constitution. We hope that a proper law on this subject may be passed at the present session; but we oppose, as we are sure the country will oppose, any amendment of the second article of the constitution which does not limit the President to one term. The Darien Canal. Two of the great geographical points of this planet are the Isthmus of Suez and the Isth- mus of Darien. ‘he one separates Asia and Europe from Africa and the other divides the Continent of America. Both are impediments to commerce and travel, and it has only been of late years that the Isthmus of Suez has been cut through by the genius of a great’ French engineer and the Arabian Sea practically united to the Mediterra- nean. This wonderful work, which has made the name of De Lesseps immortal, was probably attended with less difficulty than the proposed canal through the Isthmus of Darien. In the one case the shifting sand was the obstacle to be overcome by the skill of the engineer; in the other it is the aboriginal forest, the, ee the torrents and ‘the mountains. If United States gov- ernment succeeds a its efforts to cut a canal . through Darien those who have conceived and those who will cxe- cute the marvellous work will deserve fame not less enduring than that of De Les- seps. Of the new surveys which are contem- plated, and the probable ronte to be selected by the American expeditions intrusted to Commander Lull and Lieutenant Collins, our letter from Aspinwall gives a full and inter- esting account. Whether a feasible route can be discovered is yet an undecided question which the expedition of Lieutenant Collins is expected to solve. The choice will tien be between the Nicaragua line and that of the Atrato-Napipi. In a few months these sur- yeys will probably be completed, and then the government should energetically push the construction of the canal on the line which is selected. What effect this speedy water communication with the Pacific will have upon the commerce of the Atlantic sea- board it is impossible now to determine, but it will certainly make the Union Pacific Rail- road of léss national importance. But com- merce never loses by increased facilities, and the canal and the railroad are both needed for the proper development of American trade, and will be only rivals in contributing to the prosperity of the United States. The ®ennessee Senatorship. The Tennessee contest assumed a new and unexpected phase yesterday, Mr. Bates, who was the leading candidate against Mr. John- son, withdrawing at a point when he was within three pointe of election. Governor Brown, who had retired from tbe battle, then edme to the front, and his nomination was followed by the adjournment of the Legisla- ture, both parties evidently being afraid to trust their fortunes to an immediate ballot. ‘The struggle now appears to be solely between Andrew Johnson and Governor Brown, and, no matter who wins, Tennessce will be sure of a worthy representative in the Senate. The preference of the country is undoubt- edly for Andrew Johnson. Of the two men he is the more distinguished and has the largest political experience. He was in 1853 an efficient civil Governor of Tennessee and in 1863 an impartial military Governor, In the Senate he had a good record, and the begins to modify its opinions of his course when he became, by the death of Mr. Lincoln, the President of the United States, He was in conflict with Congress then, and unfortunately made many enemies by his stubbornness. His impeachment was in some respects a political necessity ; but that it was also a political mano: people begin to see. Now that partis eelings begin to fade away, and that bitter personal war has a matter of history, the people are nearly agreed that it is well that the trial of Mr. Johnson by the Senate did not end in his conviction. It was an event which will stand alone in our history; at least, we hope that it will remain £8 a Warning, never to be cated as fact. The country likes Andrew Jonnson as much as at one time it hated him. It admits his ability, respects his courage, and, though it does not consider him a model statesman, it believes in his integnty. He lett the Presidency a poor man, and that is a point very greatly to his credit, for he was Executive of the government during times that were almost as cor- rupt as those in which we now live. His election to the Senate would give gatisface tio everywhere—excepting in the White House—and be a democratic triumph whieh would partly atone for the made in retiring Carl Schurz, But if Governor Brown is clected to-morrow coun! become mistake Missouri there is every reason to expect that Tennes- see will have a competent Tis course as Governor has been conservative and wise. and his recaut Messave in reward to the Senator, Louisiana affair won him many friends in the North as well as the South. However the contest in the Legislature may terminate we may rejoice in one fact—that the State of ‘Tennessee will not be represented by a Sen- ator whom nobody knows, and that the choice of either Andrew Johnson or (Governor Brown will have the goneral approval of dis- interested citizens of both the great political parties. The Proposed French Senate. In the French Assembly yesterday the bill for the creation of a Senate passed it first reading by a decisive vote. Hitherto the parli.montary struggle in regard to the con- stitutional bills has been mainly over the point of procedure; not whether or no the bilis should be considered, but in what order they should be taken up. But this was not, as it might appear, a mere point of detail ; it n- volved the vital differences between the par- ties, and hence was a point of principle. With the republicans the endeavor was to have a positive declaration of the Republic go first— to put that down as the corner stone of the constitutional edifice it was proposed to con- struct. Other parties, equally ready to make a constitution, objected to making it in that way, and were satisfied to accept the Septen- «| nate without formal definitions, and construct around that as a primary postulate. These lat- ter have triumphed, and the Senate which it is now proposed to make will therefore be not the first institution of a visionary machinery all the rest of which is in chaos, but an addi- tion to the machinery in actual operation. The law for the organization of the Senate was presented in the name of the Commission on the Constitutional Laws by M. Lefevre- Pontalis. It provides that the body shall not number more than three hundred members, of whom there shall be three classes—first, Senators by right; second, Senators named by the decree of the President of the Repub- lic, and third, Senators elected by the de- partments and the colonies. The Senators by right are marshals, admirals and cardinals, judges of the courts of Cassation and Claims, and such members of the Institute as the Institute itself shall designate. Senators named by the President shall be to the num- ber of one hundred and fifty, less the number ot the Senators by right. Elected Senators shall be chosen by the departments and colonies, one for every four hundred thousand inhabitants. They shall hold office for nine years, but their terms shall be distributed in such a manner that there shall be Senatorial elections for a third of the number every third year. All the Senators by right hold, of course, for life, and those appointed are also immovable. The powers of the Senate will be fully defined in a later law. in which this body,e with a Chamber of Deputies, to be organized, will. be treated as “The Congress;” but meantime it is declared that the members shall receive no pay; that the body shall have, equally with the other chamber, the initiative of all bills except money bills; that it shall try impeachment cases, and that ifs members shall be elected and appointed one month before the adjourn- ment of the present Assembly and shall meet for their first session on the day of that adjournment. this body is ao cross between the British House of Lords and our Senate, Half its members represent territorial and ad- ministrative divisions of the nation, as our Senators represent the States; and the other half will represent the conservative elements of privilege and high station, but high sta- tion, it must be recognized, that has been earned, not inherited. Certainly this is an admirable feature. In the provision for its first session appears an evident purpose to employ this body as a parliamentary bridge over that uncertain abyss which lies between tho dissolution of the present Assembly and the meeting of another. The Republican Congressional Caucus. The inability ofthe frequent caucuses of the republican members of Cungress to de- cide on any policy to bind the party exhibits the. weakness and the division of sentiment in the republican ranks. The great immediate topic is the Loufsiana question, but the repub- licans in Congress cannot satisfy themselves that they ought to indorse the Kellogg gov- ernment nor that they ought to provide for a | new election, nor can they agree upon any practical measure for relieving the, party of this great scandal. The Louisiane affair will ruin the republican party unless Congress | does something, but when its members as- semble in caucus and attempt to pledge the party to a definite course they find that there is no agreement among themselves. Those who support the President favor one course and those who study public sentiment prefer an- other. Itis a question between Grantism and anti-Grantism; but the drift and tendency is toward the absorption of the republican party in personal devotion to President Grant. He has foolistily staked his reputation to the sup- port of Kellogg, and the republican party hes- itates to thwart bim, although its wisest mem- bers see that indorsement of Grant is ruin to the party. Mr. Green and the Compitrollership. It is fair to the Mayor to suppose that in dealing with public affairs he will do one thing ato time. Just now he is busily con- cerned with Mr. Corporation Counsel Smith. ‘Till that matter is settled he will probably not undertake to deal with Mr. Green. We think, however, that His Honor made a mistake in not first taking up the case of the Comptrol- ler. There is no charge that can be made against Mr. Smith that cannot be made against Mr. Green, with many others of a more serious character. If Mr. Smith is the appointee of the old unreformed Tammany Hall, so is Mr. Green. Ii Mr. Smith, as Cor- poration Counsel, has interfered with the dis- pensation of justice Mr. Green has stifled the growth and prosperity of New York, adding to nothing but the taxes, diminishing nothing but the advancement of the metrop- olis. Furthermore, the powers which Mr. Green wields are not alone those which are conferred by the Tweed charter, but the still greater powers embraced within the order of Judge Barnard confirming him in the Comptrollership and making him as much the master of New York as Napoleon was the master of France. It was never intended that the Comptroller- ship should be an imperial office, or that Mr. Green or ahybody else should have irresponsi- ble and jinperial power. Even if this power } It will be secn that | had been wisely exercised. it wool be an in- justice to the publi service; but Green has abused it, He has never been a Comptroller of New York—a monitory, restrictive officer— but he has beer its master. Mayor Wickham can only sustain Mr. Green as Comptroller by consenting to perform the function such as Mr. Havemeyer occupied—the function of a vassal and a slave. He cannot be Mayor of New York unless he controls its fiuancial adminis- tration, and this is impossible as long as Green is Comptroller. We do not care to press the Mayor upon this point, nor to appear to deal imperatively with him in what is, after all, the discharge of a high pubhe duty. We simply represent that public opinion which looks upon Mr. Green's incambeucy of this office as a mis- fortune to the city, which expects from the new administration the removal of that mis- fortune, and which feels assured there can be no success to Mr. Wickham’s Mayoralty so long as he prefers to be the vassal of the Comptroller rather than the Chief Executive of the metropolis. A New Carcer for General Grant. One of the most characteristic stories we have heard of Gener] Grant was related by the members of a committee of Louisianians who waited on him a couple of years ago to lay before His Excellency a petition of tho mercantile community of New Orleans, pray- ing him to remove General Casey from the Collectorship. Accompanying this petition were affidavits and other papers showing con- clusively the unfitness of Casey for the place, and one of the committee, after a mild address setting forth the nature and reasons of the request, handed the petition and accompany- ing documents to Mr. Grant. His Excellency had listened silently to a good many ugly truths about his brother-in-law, and the com- mittee did not doubt that they had brought conviction to his mind. He fumbled the papers for a minnte in embarrassed silence and then rémarked, with u vexed and puzzled expression of face:—-‘‘Well, well; but what can I give General Case. Whore can I put him?” The committce were intelligent enough to see the situation, and as they had not come prepared to suggest General Casey's transfer to another and perhaps more lucrative post they had the good sense to bow themselves out of the presence in silence. Remembering this incident it occurs to us that one of the main reasons why Mr. Grant hesitates about resigning the Presidency is that nobody has yet suggested another place for him, and there seem to be so few vacan- cies! Sherman is General of the Army and in the enjoyment of the most ridiculons good health. The office of Quartermaster General is Incrative, but it can with more propriety be held by General Ingulls, or by a subordinate member of the family. The Collectorship of New York is a good fat sinccure, and con- venient to Long Branch; but, alas, His Ex- eeilency's-successor might bestow it on some- body else. ‘The situation was becoming embarrassing to us, for we feel in a manner responsible for Mr. Grant’s future; having advised him to re- sign, we do not mean to let him suffer loss. Fortunately, once more, a reference to his last annual Message, that precious repertory of wisdom, helped us out. On the thiricenth page of this document we found a suggestion which persuades us that when he wrote it Mr. Grant had already conceived the great and popular idea of abandoning the Presidency, and with the prudent iorethought for which the family is noted, and of which he has so eminent @ share, took care to provide an open- ing for himself. His Excellency recommends, for reasons which he says ‘are obvious,’’ meaning probably that they were obvious to him as he wrote, ‘ihe establishment cf a pro- fessorship of rhetoric aud English literature at West Point."” Could anything be better?—more accu- rately suited to his genius? turned to the plough; and it is probable that he made a poor fist of it too. What a noble example of retiring worth the world will ‘see in Professor Grant, at West Ppint, teaching the nascent Napoleons the value of periods, the importance of the rising inflection, and the arts and artifices of style in general; the meaning of the ‘middie term,’ and perhaps the absurdity of a third term! There will be | people, we suppose, contemptible enough to say that a man who never reads anything is hardly fit to be of literature. But, \ we scornfully ri , he will be as fit for this office as Casey or Crampr or Orville Grant are for the places they hold; and if His Excel- leney does not r he does better, he writes, end he can carry to Wet Point with him, in a flour barrel, a collecion of his own mes- sages as conspicuous txamples in literature. What a fine word, for nstance, is ‘‘self-neces- sity!” It could be imroduced at West Point with the greatest su:cess; for some of the young fellows there would see at once the “seli-necessity” of laving their bills unpaid and the ‘‘self-absurlity’—so to speak—ot making themselves uthappy abont the regrets of their creditors, jusi as Mr. Grant, the other rofessor day, noticed the “‘selinecessity” of dispersing | a legislature at the pont of the bayonet. And then whata noble reflection is found in the same Message, where he reltes, in a spirit of grati- tude to the Giver of al good, that, hard as the times are, “three chments of prosperity to the nation—capital, labor, skilled and un- skilled, and productsof the soil—still remain with us!” Or what could be finer or more perspicnous than his axiom in politi- cal economy, which he flings out care- lessly, as men cast pearls before swine— “Those articles of maunfacture whieh we produce a cons' of, but do not pro- duce the whole, thi t which we do not produce free also."’ Not even His Excellency’ most insidious enemy will dare to say that 1e cribbed this trom Mill or Ricardo. What a pleasing tlonght it is thatan Amer- ican citizen can thu ran the gamut of mih- tary and civichonos! Andrew Jobnson gavo | should Cincinnatus re- | the public some reaon to believe that he was proud of his own whievements in this line; he had been aldernan, he some time told us, and councilman, atd member of the Legisla- ture,and so oh wtil sccident made him President ; justas Mr. Grant has been leu- tenant, and captain and colonel and gen- eral and Presiden, antil no imaginable acci- dent that we can think of would keep him in that office seyond tha presept term. But what a tutire opens before him in the Professorship of 4nglish Literature! In this fiald be Grant he will rapidly be advanced to Doctor Grant; if he should issue his messages in the form of a text book—a kind of “‘aid to com- position”—-he might sign himself on the title page Professor, LL. B., LL. D., D. C. L., da, &c., and if he wished he might even add “late President of the United States.” It would in- crease the popularity of the book and givea final blow to the absurd report of his enemies that he aimed at a third term. Gag Law in Congress. Debate in the Senate is unrestrained by rule and is limited only by the courtesy of members. In the House it can be suppressed by the calling of the previous question, which has again end again proved a powerful weapon in the hands of the dominant party. It is deeply to be regretted that yesterday an attempt was made in the House to suppress free speech during the remainder of the session. Mr. Cessna, of Pennsylvania, whe offered the resolution which is elsewhere printed, has been regarded as a fair-minded republican, but in this case he has made a mistake which will be of . lasting injury to his politi¢al reputation. There is no emergency now that could justify the suspension of the rules of the House to prevent the democracy from exercising the usual parliamentary privileges. ‘The democrats, so far as affirmative legisla- tion is concerned, are in a hopeless minority, and the Cessna resolution would havo prac. tically destroyed their legislative functions. As Mr. Eldredge said, it would have been as well to abolish all rules, or, as Mr. Cox suggested, Congress might as wisely have adjourned and gonéhome. his is the first instance, in our recollection of the history of the country, that a majority in Congress has tried to choke the minority by preventing the calling of the yeas and nays or forbidding the Speaker to consider a motion to adjourm If it had been approved fair play would no longer have had existence in Congress and the nation would have been degraded in the eyes of the world. The ultimate effoot of the resolution would have been, not merely to suppress political debate on Louisiana and other ‘questions—and never was free speech more necded--but to prevent any check upon the corrupt schemes now pending on the floor and in the lobby of the House. ‘The rejection of such an arbitrary measure was absolutely necessary to the honor and dignity of Congress, and the republicans who voted in the negative deserve credit for their refusal to be accomplices in an infamous outrage upon every admitted prim ciple of fair pla: PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Mr. Jay Cooke, of Philadelphia, is at the Brevoor# House. “salacious dabs of appetizing jelly,” means oysters. ‘Thirty-four railroad accidents in England in De- cemiber last. Prince Leopold, notwithstanding nis exalted Station, had a low fever. General Abner Doubleday, United States Army, is quarcered at the Coleman House, Anotner young English lady has been reduced te ashes in Greinen’s furnace at Dresden. Captain Heury W. Wessels, Jr., United States Army, is sojourning at the Sturtevant House. tate Senator Heury C. Connelly, of Kingston Y., is registered at the Metropoilttan Hotel, Professor C. 8. Peirce, of the United States Coas? Survey, has apartments at the Brevoort House. Don Jeronimo Ossa has been recognized as Com sui of the United States of Colombia at Coptapo. Lieutenant Colouel C. Grover, United States Army, das taken ap lis quarters at tne Brevoort House. David J. Williamson has received his exequatus as Consul of the Cutted States of America at Vab paraiso. Mr. Robert E. Carr, President of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, 1s residing at the Hoff man House. Captain Wiliam Gore-Jones, Naval Attaché os the British Legation at Washington, is at the Clarendon Hotel. General Robert Lenox Banks, of Albany, forme erly of Governor Hoffman's staf, mas arrived as the Clarendon Hotel. Mme. Norman Nernda, the violinist, has jast purchased tor $2,500 the violim—a Straduarius— formerly owned by Ernst. Rashear Mehrban, bead of the Parsees of Persia, has been assassinaied, ‘The crime is attributed ve Moslem iuncttonavies near to the Shah, who were jealous of the privileges enjoyed by the victim, Yhe migration of tre Tartars from the Crimea has been going on so extensively that but few re- main who are fit for military service, and these are beginning to leave, They scoot tor Islam, English writers are once more discussing the economy of close stoves, and they say they “burn the air.” What conception musta man have of the meaning o: words who talks of “burning thie aur? Serrano, on nis way out of Spain, received from the new governmeut a long telegram thanking nim in the name of tie whole nation for having avolded ail bioodsaed by his generous self-sace rifice. Lieutenant Colonel Frederick D, Grant and wife arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel last evening from Washington. ‘They are awaiting the arrivat oi Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris, Who are among the pase sengers in the steamship Republic, bow due at this port irom Liverpool, Parts recently sau an experience that it is dim- cuit to imagine with all our own knowiedge of the bad condttion of streets, Smooth ice, the smvothest and slipperiest possible, covered the whoic city; streets and sidewalks were like glasa, and locomotion seems to have become impossible, Persons who can live at ali in Brazil live a great whtie, ‘‘hey have a man who dances on his knee his grandchildren’s grandchildren, At Ceara, im that country, there is a Woman in prison who was sentenced for Ite, November 6, 1815. Sac was them sixty years Old, Sheis therefore 119 years old now. Vice President Wilson isin this city, staying at the Grund Central Hotel, He appears to be ‘im bealth, and he ia auxious to return to bis duties im the Senate as speedily a8 possible; but he is de~ sirous also to attend the Union League Club's meeting to-night, and, thereiore, le May remain in this city unt to-morrow morning, Yne London Society tor Promoting Christianity amoug the Jews bas Just secured permssion trom the Emperor for the recurn of the Society’s mise sionaries (o the Russian Empire. Those missione artes were expelled in 1356, at the time of the Crunean war. Simce that period the Jews tm Russia bave veen deprivea of the inestimable blessing of British cant. Poucet, the sculptor, died at Nice suddenly. His young wife, stunned with grief, never wrote to her family, but brought the body to Paris. Quite unexpectedly she entered the house, of ber father, and ail mquized immediately, “Your has, band; where is he?’ “Down at the door,” she said, and they hurried down to help lina, out ey carriage, Dut found hun tn a hearse. Mi, Gladstone was called upon to renew his subs scription of One guinea to the Plumstead Soup and Bread Society. He wrote in response that be left that sort of benevolence “as one rather for those on the spot than at a distance,” and said, ‘4 done propose, unless under spectal circumstances, to renew my contributivn.” Ha Jorgor, it sccma, that Plumstead fs in GreenWAch and that he rep resents Greenwich In Puriiamont and is therefore, Vik WiesaewW Lonor. From Proiesuor | savnased to ve vogy nears