The New York Herald Newspaper, January 1, 1876, Page 4

4 — NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR NOTICE TO SUPSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New York Henarp will be sent free of postage. ed eis THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per year, Four cents per copy. month, free of posta to subscribers, All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yors Henarp. Letters and packages should be properly écaled. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD-—NO, 46 FL} STREET. TARIS OFFICE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be } received and forwarded on the same terms | es in New York. Five Copies Ten Copies Seat free of po Any larger n $1 50 cach often, Twenty copies, one 3 to numes of subscribers An extra copy wi sent to every club number at same price. Ul be sent to One extra coy clubs of tw These rates m he cheapest publication in the country Rprnox, every Wednesday, at Srx NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1. 1876. The Upening of tne ventennial Year, In American estimation this is more than an ordinary New Year's. Day, but we do not quite see how its peculiar importance is to be recognized in the form of greetings ad- dressed to the wives and mothers of the Republic by the friends who call to pay | their respects at the beginning of the year. In the calendar of the gentler sex years are frankly owned up to, but not centuries. “Mademoiselle, I wish you happiness for another century, and many of them,” is a form of speech which it would require social courage to address toa maiden who has for one or two decades declined to acknowledge more years than twenty-three. None of the sex can be suspected to have graced society for even half a century, and ref- erence to any larger cycle of time than mere years might, in certain cases, be thought to convey unpleasant innuendoes, No gentleman would willingly mar the courtesies of this festive day by a gaucherie bearing the most distant resemblance to sug- gesting the age of a lady. No! in spite of the impertinent intrusion of a year 60 suggestive of time as the Centennial, it is the | faith of a true gentleman that every Ameri- can lady, whether she be spinster or matron, | is like the goddess Hebe, ‘‘ever fair and ever | young,” with the ‘dew of youth” always on her sweet lips. Gallantry forbids that any caller on the ladies shall make the faintest | allusion to centuries on this interesting occa- | sion. | But still, pleasant social fictions apart, we are at the beginning of the cen- tennial year, and if we could imagine a presiding goddess America, with | youth as perpetual that of Hebe, every citizen of the Republic might make her a New Year’s call to-day, offering com- pliments which her delieacy would not spurn on the homage which events have paid of as returns” of so happy a Centennial. The last | the most glorious period of equal length in the history of the human race. It is not the newspaper press within the century. The majority of the people are indebted to the press for the most important part of their education. They derive from it almost their whole knowledge of public affairs, which is a consideration of great importance in a gov- ernment like ours, controlled by public opinion. The influence of the Hzmap on the press of this country is a matter which | Weare content to leave to the judgment of | history. Certain it is that the most pros- | perous American journals are those which have most closely imitated the Heratp. Peo- ple who think the newspaper press the most | efficient agency in modern civilization are not likely to forget the great part played by this journal in elevating the standard of newspaper enterprise and excellence, not merely in this country, but throughout the world. What Franklin was to electrical science, what Fulton was to steam naviga- tion, what Morse was to the telegraph, another American was to journalism, the great vehicle of popular instruction. We cannot be wrong in supposing that the growth and power of journalism is one of the capital achievements of the important cen- tury which has just closed. We are entéring a year which will be ever memorable in our annals and which the nation has made fitting preparations to cele- brate. We need not say how fully the Henavp enters into the spirit of this centen- nial anniversary, and we trust it is unneces- sary for us to give pledges as to the completeness with which the proceed- ings of this memorable, year will be photographed in its columns. We trust they will be a record to which succeed- ing times will reeur for information respect- ing the manner in which the first centen- nial of our independence was celebrated by | a grateful, appreciative and patriotic gene- ration, The Henravp of 1876 will furnish all and any larger | her fora full century, and wishing ‘many | the material needed by future historians for giving a lively picture of what the American tie Waukny Hamat | hundred years have been the most fruitful and | people did on the first centennial of their independence. We fondly trust that, after | the lapse of another century, the Hrratp will continue to stand at the head of Ameri- can journalism, and that, when all who are | within the scope of our exulting congratula- | Now connected with it shall have ceased Tux Evrorka. j Cents per copy, $4 per annum to any part of Great merely what we in this country have done, Sfitdin or $6 to unyertroriie’ Gomtiaent toll to but what the world has done, that may come include posts if : ; : i | tions. The AmericanRevolution was the imme- ApvERTISeMENTS, lo a limited number, will be in | diate forerunner and parent of the Revolution | in France, and taken together these two revo- | tutions are the master events in the history of | modern times and of the human race. The | politics of the world were born anew in our | Revolution. The warm sympathy given us ‘| by France in our struggle for inde- | pendence, the participation of her illus- trious Lafayette and the French alliance j and military assistance after 1778 turned the serted in the WEkKLY Heesip and the European Edition, BROOKLYN THEATRE, Re “ Brookiya. HENRY Y., a 8P. 36 Mr. | public thought of France toward republican- ism, and was followed by the stupendous re- | UNION SQUARE THEATRE, 3 ie ‘ TASER AS tae ; Broadway ant hourtecnth virect RUSH MICHEL, a¢ 8 | Sults with which every reader of history is YO. Adarmee at 1 so P.M. | familiar. The American Revolution was the from their labors, their enterprising suc- cessors will maintain its rank in the second centennial of American independence, Anno Domini 1976. Cuba’ and the Democratic Party. It is pretty well known that at least two democratic members of the House intended to introduce resolutions demanding the rec- ognition of Cuban independence, or, at the least, the granting of belligerent rights, as soon as Congress assembled. By a piece of good luck they were prevented from doing so, greatly to the disappointment of certain third termers in Washington and else- OLYMPI No. 624 Broadway.—VAKIETY, P.M. EATRE, as PM. | beginning of a mighty change in the politi- | eal thought of the world, and many centuries | must yet elapse before the full greatness of | | the event, as disclosed in its consequences, | | will be apparent. But the experience of one | century suflices to show that the most power- | ful impulse ever given to the human mind | Matinee at 2 TM AVE reet Mati ‘Twenty-vig! IQUE, at SP. M. Faany Davenport. TONY PAST¢ Noa 585 and S57 Bro: noe at 2, x. NEW THEATRE, VARIETY, at 5 P.M. Mati- PARK Broadway ant Twenty seond cert ilik CRUCIBLE, at | in the direction of political progress hnel its | nr elie ips Ambconk tape nani hay | origin one hundred years ago in the American | ESPN ee nienghe a= se ON | Revolution, whose influence was soon felt in | Matinee at?’ France in the mightiest upheaval that has | Bow a | taken place in human affairs, and which Bioteod, Pattee at 2 P canes tt ade give shape and color to the | MINSTRELS. | politics of nations for a thousand years er of Vwenty-ninth street, | tocome, The ultimate government of na- tions, wherever the world is civilized, w be founded on the republican idea, whose | great starting point, in modern times, was MEATRE | near Third ayenue.—VARIETY, at 8 P.M. NM. woon’s M . | ca Oy + p transac PO SEE RESUS od THE OCTOROON, | the American Revolution. ‘The trans uctions | a: BE. M-: closes at 10:45 Em s. Chanfrau, Matinee | of our revered forefathers in 1776 were like | av2P. M. | more play into their hands. where, who hoped the democrats would once We trust the | democrats will remember that a war with | almost anybody—Spain or Mexico would do—would be a Godsend to the third term | plotters just now. Congress being in ses- sion, war depends upon that body; but it would be a pretty thing for the democrats to fling the game into the hands of their op- ponents by any imprudence of this kind. With a Presidential election impending, the mass of patronage, contracts, promotions and expenditures which a war would bring ‘on, and which would all fall into the hands of the administration, would help the | republicans amazingly. A war would save them from inconvenient investigations; it | | | would put off necessary reforms; it would | i cover up or condone past offences; in short, | it wonld save the republican party and put | an end to the hopes of the democrats. | let’s have him in a coach.” GLOBE TH | Nos. 728 ard 730 Broudway.—VARILTY, at 8 P.M nee at 22M Mati- BOOTIVS THE | Twenty-tiird street and Sixt atvoP.¥. Mr. Lawrence Bai JULIUS CESAR, Matinee at 1:30 P.M. CHICKERING HAL Fifth avenue and Fighteenth street.— et2 P.M. Vou Bulow. ND CONCERT, THEATRE COMIOTR, No. 514 Broadway.—VAKIETY, at 4 PM. P.M. Matinee at 2 THIRD AVENUE THE | Third avenne, between Thirtieth ar | ght and VARIETY, © rst_atres Matinee at Thirty-fourth street and PARIS. Open trom LP. to 10 P.M. | deepened and broadened in its flow until i | movements which stir public thought to its | ment of intellectual activity which they set | science have followed a mighty tide in pub- the sources of a great river, whose bed is There is a story out in Kentucky of a , Union quartermaster who was captured by | the rebel General Morgan during the late unpleasantness. Morgan, being an old | friend of his, treated him extremely well for a week, and then announced to him that he might go North; he had been exchanged. The Quartermaster was not overjoyed; he had had a good time, but he looked as though he still needed something to make him happy. ‘Can Ido anything more for | | you?” asked Morgan, and the Quartermaster | replied, “Weil, yes, John; couldn't you | just burn up my vouchers?” That is what a | expands into the everlasting ocean which it feeds. The merely political consequences of great profoundest depths are perhaps the smallest | part of this influence. The universal fer- in motion is felt beyond the domain of poli- ties. All the splendid eras in literature and lic events, like the great outburst of intellect which followed the Persian wars in Greece, the Protestant movement in Europe and the w Broadway and Thi French Revolution in our own century. | POOR YOUNG M. : : (aed } John Gilbert. It may be said, without exaggeration, | | that the additions which have been made to | | human knowledge since the Declaration of | _| American Independence in 1776 are of | ‘ i | | greater value than everything which had ! been previously discovered since the land- | ing of Noah's Ark on the summit of Ararat. The application of steam to locomotion on . PARISIAN VARIN-TIES, Sixteenth street, neur Broadway.—VAKIETY, at 8 P.M. Matinee at 2 P. KEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1876, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be warmer and | clearing. | land and water, and of electricity to the | T Hi : M. = 1 a N | swift communication of intelligence, may be | coma em dae MATL TRAINS. — Ves | entioned among the thousands of exam- | dealers and the public throughout the & ‘ lates of | ; % | es which could not be enumerated without | New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as ne ie well as in the West, the 4 . | giving this article the tedious dryness of a | c Athan bers yen catalogue. The art of taking photographie | the South and Southwe so along the lines | —. " : . the Ehidson River, io. Torte: Oonthalk tied pictures and the invention of the sewing | ft al be Central Re boneliy pis PRBS, machine may be mentioned as additional avias Veit be pen ad seal Tie Hy a | illustrations of the multitudinous inventions 5 supp! ith PRALD, free of postage. Latraordinary inducements | | a | of which we cannot give a detailed inven- offered to newsdealers by sending their orders | direct to this office. | Wat Srreet Yesrenpay.—Gold closed at 113, after sales at 1127-80 1131-8. Money on call loans was supplied between 7 and 4 percent. Two or three fancy stocks were a trifle higher, but the feeling concerning the immediate future is very unsettled. investment securities appear to be most at- tractive. as Tue Barrisn Apmrnaty is unfortunate in dealing with the slave question, and the new circular gives as much dissatisfaction as the first one. ae Tae Aston Estate.—We print this morn- ing an interesting résumé of the will of the Good 1 { tory. These are mere applications of science, but the discoveries in science itself within the century which has passed since our | national birth would require volumes for | | their enumeration. It is a matter of just | national pride that our countrymen | | have contributed their full share to the won- | | derful improvements of the century. Frank- | lin’s discoveries in electricity preceded, in- | | deed, the American Revolution; but our Ful- | ton was the inventor of the steamboat, our | | Morse of the electric telegraph, our Whitney | | of the cotton gin, and we have contributed a | greater share of valuable practical inven- | | tions to the general stock than any other na- tion. The sewing machine, and the mowing, | done so much to abridge the labors of agri- war would do for the republican adminis- tration. Tne Dynamivx Horror at Bremerhaven | was one of those unnatural and exceptional | events that the German press only made it- self absurd in associating with American civilization. The comments of the Berlin | newspapers were a folly that it is idle to argue against, and the National Zeitung is | welcome to any opinion it may hold on the subject. We might suggest with as much | propriety that the disaster was the result of | a scheme of the German government to pre- vent emigration to this country. Such a suggestion would be unjust, certainly, but | not more unjust than the libels of the Ger- man press upon American character. Tue Frexcu Assempry has finished its work and gives place to the new legislative machinery. Few bodies labored under greater difficulties and none accom- plished a more important mission. If the | French people are true to themselves the Assembly has achieved the Republic, well be proud. Tue Dearn Rate in this city last year was | greater than in 1874, as will be seen by the statements we print in another column. A Cuntovs Story comes by cable from Liverpool in regard to Thomassen, who caused the dynamite explosion at Bremer- | haven. The gist of this story is that Thomas- s R sen is supposed to have had something to do | reaping and threshing machines which have with the loss of the City of Boston six years | ago. It would be a fearful thing if it should late William B, Astor, which was adwitted to | oulture, are of American origin, Having torn out that this man, either alone or by robate yesterday. Tue Latest Ratwar Prosect is to connect ‘onstantinople with Vienna. This would be ‘asurer promise of Turkish retorm than all the guarantees of the Porte. forcement of the ecclesiastical laws is being vigorously pursued, and now a Roman Catho- | lic bishop is in prison serving out a sentence for their violation. In the end this course fa likely to work more harm to the Empire than to the Vaticas- | done so much in the century which formed | our national childhood we have given fair promise of the part we may play in our ad- vance toward maturity. We have done our share of the work of this century not only in arts, but in arms, and in humanity as well | sured its early extinction throughout the the aid of accomplices, made the destruction of ocean steamships for the sake of gain by insurances o bnsiness, and there is a possi- bility that such was the case. “Att Apusxs” is a comprehensive phrase ‘Tux Geran Portcy in regard to the en- | as in political institutions. By the abolition | when applied to Cuba, and the promise that | | of slavery in this country we bave in- | General Jovellar is to put an end to all these } naturally provokes incredulity as_ to its pos- This | is an honor of which any Legislature might | The Whiskey Frauds. If there is any Presidential capital to be made out of vigorous and successful opposi- tion to corrupt rings it will inure to Secre- tary Bristow and not to Governor Tilden. Our democratic Governor has made a great | parade of zeal, but he has not accomplished | any important practical results. He has, in- | deed, suspended the Canal Auditor end sent him to the Senate for trial, but in other re- spects everything goes on in the State govern- ment as it would have done if our reform Gov- ernor had not been born. He has not saved the State treasury as much money as his Commission of Investigation has cost. Sec- retary Bristow has acted on a larger scale and with more satisfactory results. He has broken and demolished the Whiskey Ring at St. Louis, and the Whiskey Ring at Chicago is equally certain to be prostrated by his vigorous onset. He will recover large sums to the national Treasury, whereas it does not yet appear that the taxpayers of the State will be saved a dollar by Governor Til- den's assault on the Canal Ring. It is a fur- ther point in Mr. Bristow’s favor that he has done his work without boasting or parade or yainglorious attempts to blow his own trum- pet. Secretary Bristow has shown that he is bent on business, not buncombe. The proceedings against the Chicago Whis- key Ring have been admirably managed, and there seems no doubt that the Secretary of the Treasury has got the thieves within the clutches of the law. He did not seize the Chicago distilleries until he had quietly got possession of evidence and made sure of his ground, and he is likely to recover a great part of the money out of which the govern- ment has been swindled. If the republican party should nominate Mr. Bristow as its candidate for the Presidency there is no democrat who would have any chance of suc- cess against him if the election should turn on the question of official reform. At any rate, he has quite eclipsed our more demon- strative Governor in the solid results and practical value of his work. New Year's Calls. ‘There are calls of all kinds about the first of the year. You may call upon your friends, and your friends may call on you. But how shall the calling be? Chrononhotonthologos says in one of his heroic moments:—‘‘Go, call a coach and let a coach be called, and let the caller be the man who calleth, and in his calling let him nothing call but ‘Coach! Coach! Coach!" Here is calling which will be exclusively used to-day, when all the Youth of New York proposes to call upon all the Beauty. This general | demand for cabs and coaches makes a happy New Year's Day for those whose calling is to keep carriages for the public good. No young gentleman with a large feminine ac- quaintance can expect to make all his calls | as a pedestrian, and as the Brummagen tailors said when they took George Frederick Cooke home from the theatre, so may we say of the typical buck, ‘‘Confound the expense ! To-day is the day for extravagance in every phase of life; and it is also the day to resolve that we shall never be guilty of such folly for the rest of | the whole year. But about New Year'scalls. If your friend calls upon you for friendship and good fel- lowship, it is a delightful compliment and beginning of the year. But suppose he calls upon you fora loan? New Year's then be- comes a day of gloom, a day of wrath, some- thing akin to a day for fasting and swearing. This is unhappily very often the case. By a singular combination of fortunate and lers and of duns. Everybody who calls punctual visitors are those who call for their little bills. We have always thought this was a bad arrangement, one which is de- cidedly inconvenient toa large number of worthy, yet somewhat impecunious citizens. Why should not pay day be the 29th of Feb- But, as it is, people have their good and evil inextricably confused, and New Year's Day, like all the other days in the year, must | have its share of sorrow and joy. We can- not advise people where to call, ex- cept upon their friends. They need not call upon Mayor Wickham, for he will not be in his office. If they get into a row they should not call upon the police, for they might come, and would then be sure to always ‘‘at home” to the public. | they wish to make calls which Heaven will hear let them call upon the poor, whom we mid-winter festival, which contrasts so strangely with their pinched and suffering lives. Insanity and Murder. signification of these two words are immi- nent. ‘‘Murder,” as the name of a crime, is likely to drop out of use, and insanity is likely to lose its former meaning and take, in common speech, the place hitherto oceu- pied by the word ‘‘murder.” Reporters will not say “another murder ;” they will say | “another case of insanity.” Insanity will constantly come up in all the barroom broils ; it will settle all domestic difficulties and pay everybody's debts, and, finally, | legislatures will find themselves compelled | to enact statutes to punish ‘‘insanity” with | | death. Already the proposition is made to provide for the punishment of that kind of insanity which saves murderers from the halter. This isa sound proposition. It is time that we should have on this subject a plain, short law, providing that every person who has killed another and has escaped the death penalty through the plea of insanity shall be kept in prison for life, and a change in the constitution should provide that no pardon shall in any case be extended to such persons, ‘Imprisonment for life” is as farcical as some others of our punishments, | method ‘seems beyond all human attain- ment. } Our Cable Despatches. Our brilliant neighbor, the Sun, is still dis- satisfied with our despatches from Europe. It does not say that they are not the best de- spatches ever received by an American jour- nal. It does not object to any essential fea- ture of the despatches. Doubtless its love of truth stood in the way of allegations to that effect. Ourcontemporary is as justly vain of its love of truth as Sir Plume was of his amber snuff box, and therefore it could not say that our despatches are not the best, and even only good, ones that come over the cable ; for they are. Our contemporary ob- jects to the way in which some of the words in one of our despatches were spelled. On this point we are thoroughly liberal. Not Only do we admit that our contemporary could have spelled the words in question more ingeniously and quaintly than we did, but we will promise that if our neighbor will send us an outline of his system of or- thography all our future cable let- ters shall be spelled according to that system, provided only it can be reduced to practice in an ordinary sublunary establishment like ours. Indeed we are so willing to please our contemporary that we are seriously thinking of having special cable letters every day. We invite his criti- cism of their merits, and shall endeavor to profit by his suggestions. To-morrow, as usual, we shall have our Paris and London letters sent by cable, and, though we do not know what they will contain, we shall print them as they are sent—gossip, news, rumor, facts about the finances, the theatres, the opera, politics, literature, science, poetry and all. We only regret that we do not have the opportunity of rendering our critical neighbor the same service it renders us, but as it does not seem to care for special news letters by cable the burden of obli- gation must rest upon our own shoul- ders. Unfortunately, however, we be- gin to fear that it is not possible that our ad- mirable despatches can ever be altogether agreeable to our neighbor, print them as we may. It is credibly recorded that Webster's father once called upon him to repay with his services in the hay field some portion of what had been spent on his education. Web- ster cut into a swath, but found that the scythe did not ‘thang right.” So the old gentleman readjusted the blade and snath at a different angle. Still the scythe ‘‘did not hang right.” But after some ineffectual endeavors to improve the implement the old man impatiently said, ‘Hang it to suit your- self,” whereupon the scythe was imme- diately hanged upon the limb of a handy apple tree. Is it possible that we can- not please our contemporary with our de- spatches unless we hang them in such a way that they will not make our columns lively with the latest news from all parts of the world? The Brooklyn Ring. As will be seen by our news columns, the Grand Jury of Kings county yesterday | indicted William A. Fowler, a member of the Board ot City Works, of Brooklyn, for bribery | and corrupt practices in the discharge of the duties of his office. Under a contract be- | tween the Brooklyn city government and the | | | | | People’s Gas Light Company this company agreed to supply gas for a large number of | city lamps and to keep the lamps in condi- tion and light and extinguish them. For lighting and cleaning the lamps there was a fixed sum due the company from the city ; but as the price of gas might vary, and as the amount supplied would necessarily vary for the different months of the year, the com- | himaif inauspicious fates the first day of the year is chosen as the anniver- | sary for the calls of festive revel- does not call for a glass of wine. The most | ruary or any other suitable anniversary? | Some peculiar changes in the use and | | crement, arrest the wrong man. They should not call | such of the disbursing agents oO : too often upon the ruby wine. If they wish | might stand in the way if ther attention to call upon the Hxnatp they will find us | Were attracted to the company's heavy bills. Finally, if By such an arrangement commission- | and such an arrangement is the usual form | have always with us, but who never need | taken by municipal thievery in these days. our assistance more than in this brilliant | Strangely enough, however, the present in- ‘ its bills and agree that the C)mmissioner pensation due the company had to be deter- | | mined at stated seasons between its agents | and the city authorities. It was the duty of | | Mr. Fowler, as a Commissioner of Gty Works, | to certify to the correctness of th? accounts | presented by the gas company. Without his | certificate the company could nof collect its | bills from the city treasury. With this | | certificate it could apparently cjllect what- ever sum it demanded. Here was an oppor- | tunity for that sort of colluson between | those whoact for the city and thise who sup- | ply it by which New York was 90 effectively | robbed in the régime of Tweed, Jonnolly and ' company. Evidently it only was tecessary for the gas company toadd a hundr percent to should get at least half of the f@udulent in- For his part the Commissioner | — with the city as could make an arrangement for ers get rich and gas compadies thrive, dictment does not deal with such a trans- | action. Indeed, it is discreetly, and, we suppose, properly silent as to whether the city was robbed by understanding between the company and the Commissioner. It charges Fowler with the attempt to extort one thousand dollars from the company, on a specified day, by the threat that if the sum were not paid he would not certify to the correctness of the company’s accounts against the city. Whether this were a fitst demand, promptly resisted, or whether it was his regular monthly ‘‘consideration,” objected to at last as exorbitant, will, no doubt, be shown on the trial. Asoturr Ocxan Disaster is reported by | cable to the Heratp this morning. An Eng- lish steamer came into collision with a Nor- wegian bark, and the steamer sank almost immediately, causing the loss of twenty- | three lives. The frequency of accidents of | this kind on the other side of the Atlantic | suggests unfavorable comment, and we trust that greater precaution will be exercised in the future than has been shown in the recent past. Trearnicat Perrormances on Sunday are determined by the General Term of the Court of Common Pleas to be in violation of law. This settles a question in which great unless the case be removed absolutely from | interest was felt some time ago. the limits of the pardoning power. There is | Poracr Commisstonens Matsell and Dis- civilized world, There is one point on | sibility. If offenders are to be punished ac- which obvious reasons of propriety forbid us | cording to the advices from Madrid there ment of murderers, and that is to purge the only one other means to secure the punish- becker were removed yesterday by the Mayor, with the approval of the Governor, to dwell at any length, though it is really of imvortance—the growth and influence of will soon be lively times in the “Ever Faith- ful Isle.” Bench thoroughly of the kind of judges who and De Witt C. Wheeler and Joel B. Erhardt | Se ee Reform’ in Legislation. Some of the measures passed at the last session of Congress are of such character aa to justify us in suggesting that there should bea reform in our whole method of legisla- tion, An amendment was.attached to a Post Office bill, which, it was discovered after the adjournment, imposed a tax upon mail matter never intended by Congress ortby the govern- ment. This tax has been of the most op- pressive character to the readers of news: papers. We have @ despatch from Washington, informing us that an act of Congress guaranteeing the issue ot what is known as the three-sixty-five Dis- trict of Columbia bonds is open to acon- struction not intended by Congress. In other words, this measure was passed for the purpose of securing a debt incurred in the improvement of Washington. The plain in- tention of Congress in passing it was to guar- antee the payment of these bonds, principal and interest, in currency, at the rate of three and sixty-five hundredths per cent per annum. The principal was made payable im fifty years from date, August 1, 1874 It is now discovered that the law was so peculiarly worded that the holders of the bonds, mainly Washington ring speculators, mean to insist that the government shall pay them, principal and interest, in gold. If any one point was clear in the minds of the Senate and House when they passed the act guaran- teeing these bonds it wus that the guarantee should only be for their value in currency. Now, we discover that a ring of speculators, by an adroit management of the bill and the suppression of phraseology and vague ex- pression of ideas, have practically committed the government to a pledge which was never intended by the legislative power. This tends to show the want of responsi- bility in Congress, which leads to crude and inefficient legislation, Take this measure of the Post Office, this taxing of newspapers. There never was a grosser outrage, and yet wecannot hold the administration respon- sible The administration does not con- trol Congress, nor can we hold any party in Congress responsible. The an- swer is that they passed the measure hastily, without knowledge of its real effect, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The Sultan has 1,200 ladies. Nocne hears of Butler now, Pays ladies use no false hair. Erhine is fashionable in Paris, England imports American oysters, Qujen Victoria is enjoying sleigh riding. Auprican immigration /s one-half less this year than it waj last year, Thi Temple of Juggernaut is being destroyed by the rootgof a banyan tree. Semtor George 8. Boutwell arrived at the Fifth Ave- nue Jotel last evening from his home in Massachusetts, A trooklyn man sat down on the shadow of a ferry. boatthain; but it was Ben Butler who hung bis hat up | on aby. Th} total income of the Prinee of Waies, from all sourzes, is about $575,000. The Princess receives, be- sides, $50,000, Proident Grant's friends say that things are so man- agedjhat he never reads very offensive articles about It is a pity about him. Dr William Playfair and other prominent English | phy¢ctans are trying to reform the system of nursing empoyed by the Sairey Gamps. Ajadies’ club in London for suburban shoppers and mathée attendants gives dinners, lunches and dress- ing toms, but prohibits talking, Gmeral Burnside, who expected to attend the sol- diers’ reunion at Pottsville, Pa., to-day, is detained at Providence by sliness in his family. London Punch places Disraeli in Egypt, holding the koy of Asia and looking at the Sphinx, which is wirk- ing at him, Caption :—‘Mose m Egitto!” Cardinal Manning says ‘‘the pastoral vigilance of the Pontiff is great, but it hardly reaches to the weights and measures and quarterns and eils and gallons of Christendom.”’ The London Saturday Review says that ‘‘the farmers and traders of the United States are probably superior in moral and intellectual qualities to the bulk of any other civilized community,”’ Murat Halstead constantly prints articles against Spirituahsm, or as he calls it, “Spooks.” The fact that he hangs round the subject so much testifies that he hasa speaking notion about spookualism having something teasing in it that he would like to have ex. | plained. Avery fine set of large photo-lithographic plates o1 the building and grounds of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia has been published by Julius Bien, 0: New York. In addition to the perspective drawings the “Album” contains a complete set of ground plans, with descriptive letter press, The plates are finely printed on heavy glazed paper. Herhert Spencer, who since tho death of Mr. Mill hat been accorded the position of leading English philoso pher by men like Huxiey, Tyndali and Batn, is in very poor health. He has had his autograph printed for the gratification of pestering curiosity seckers, He is fifty five years old and has uever been married. Those whe think he is ascetic are mistaken; he delights in chil dren’s sports and likes a roaring farce. The report on the geology and resources of the re. gion of the thirty-ninth parallel, from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, by Mr. Dowson, says:—“From what I could learn, I believe that at the present rate of oxtermination twelve to fourteen years will see the destruction of what now remains of tne great northern band of buffalo, and the termination o the trade in robes and pemican, in so far as regards the country north of the Missouri River.’ Mr. Arthur Clive, in the Gentleman's Magazine, falle into lofty extravagances about Walt Whitman’s poctry: He calls him “the noblest literary product of modern times,” “electric and vitalizing” and ‘preserving # balance of mind and a sanity such as no poet since Shakespeare has evinced ” Per contra, the last Fort- nightly Review declares Walt Whitman's writings to be “reproductions of the thoughts of other men spoiled by obtuseness or exaggeration,’ ‘street sweepings of lumber land” and much more to the same effect. The new edition of Pepys’ famous ‘Diary’? throws much new light on the times of Charles UL All former editions of Pepys’ have been curtailed aud con densed. This gives the whole except some passages, unfit for publication, Ome volume out of six only is yet published, which i, however, full of revelations ot the drinking, gallivamting and naive touches of the social and domestie life of its quaint author and ines contemporaries. —————— DESIGNATION OF ASSOCIATE JUSTICES. ALBANY, Dec, 31, 1875. Governor Tilden has made the following designation of Associate Justices of the General Term of the Su- preme Court in the place of those whose designations are about to expire:;— First department, Charles Daniels; Second depart. gent, Jasper W. Gilbert and Jackson 0. Dykeman; Third department, Augustus Bockes and Douglass Boardman; Fourth department, John L. Taloots, A NEW ELECTION ASKED. Carcace, Dee, 31, i875, Three members of tho Citizens’ Association to day sent to the Supreme Coust a petition fora mandaniis to compel the Common Council of Chicago to orders new election for Mayor, which office the petitioners de clare is vacant in the letter and spirit of the law THE DOMINION PARLIAMENT. Ottawa, Ont., Dee. It ts officially announced that the Dom ment will be called together to desnaich hasiness 0% sit only $0 obstruct justice. But this latter | have been anointed instead the 10th of February.