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NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, NEW YORK HERALD) station or se weomen asemoty BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. = A JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and y 1, 16 New Yorks Henrarp will be vfter Janua , the daily and weekly ditions of the tent free of postage. DAILY HERALD, hy THE ed every day in the year, Four cents per copy. Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage, to subscribers, All business or news letters and telegraphic fespatches must te addressed New Yorx {enanp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. jected comm ations will not be re- jurned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO, 46 FLEET STREET. TARIS OFFICE—AVENUE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be teceived and forwarded on the same terms os in New York. TOLUME Xil ~~ AMUSEMENTS NO. 2 TO-MORROW, BROOKLYN THEATRE Washington street, Brooklyh—OUR BOYS, at SPM. Mr, UNION SQUAR HEATRE. i Brgadway ana Foureenth stzee—KOSE MICHEL, at 8 THEATRE, TY, at 5 P.M. No. G24 Broadway VENUE THEATRE, PIQUE, at 8 P.M. Twenty eighth » Fauny Dave vB! Vou. 585 an .dway —VARIBTY, Co PARK THEATRE, eecond street. —THE CRUCIBLE, at TETY, at 8P.M. THEATRE, Bowery. —VAL E, and 1776, at 8 P.M. Mr, AN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, New Opora f Browdway, corner of Twenty-ninth street, UshM Bghth st WoOOD's MUSEUX, Broadway. corner of ‘Thirtieth street.—THE FORTY PHIBVES, at M.: clogee we 1045 PM. Beile Hewitt Matinee at PM 7LOBE 730 Broudway.— ATRE, RIETY, at 8 P.M, BOOTH’S THEATRE, and Sixth avenue. JULIUS C.SSAR, rence Barrett, Sos. 723 and fwenty third » WSPOM Me NG HALL uth street.—GRAND CONCERT, FIMh avemne and bich W2P.M. Vou Bulow Thirty Gret streets. — M, PRUSSIAN § P. Mo and trom ay, PARIS. o lo, Broadway and T) -HOME, at 8 P. M.; closes #1049P MY inek PARISIAN VARIETIES Hixteenth street, near Broadway. —VARIETY sPM, TRIPLE SHEET. KEW YORK, DAY, JANUARY 2, 1876 From our reports this morning the probabilities we that the weather to-day will be rainy. Tur Herarp sy Fast Man. Txatrss.— News- dealers and the public throughout the Slates of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as in the West, the Pacific Coast, the North, the South and Southwest, also along the lines of the Hudson River, New York Central and Pennsylvania Central Railroads and their con- nections, will be supplied with Tar Hrnarn, free of posiage. Hxtraordinary inducements offered to nevesdealers by sending their orders direct to this ¢ . Tue Hisvory or ras L ) SraTEs, con- densed, is published in our columns to-day. The chronology of the principal events of each year of the tury is given, and the article will be found valuable for reference and study. nLy UNPRovoKep Sgoorrxe of Tue Urrz John R. Dilleber by Dillon at the West- | tuinster Hotel has resulted in the death of the former, who, ment, fixed the guilt of murder upon his slayer. This iss case which demands the most speedy p in an ante-mortem state- bas been Tue New Year ushered in. Yesterday the renewal of hope and good resolves was pledged in the wine of hospi- tality. Festivities and before and after the annual family banquet the streets were merry with tl passage of the ca who wei midnight, and even later were j homeward way. were everywhere, cessant 2 not until Vial on their rs Ancupisitor Dupaniove to obtain the boniz More than four hus gone to Rome joan of Are. ation of nturies ago the Orleans was b t Rowen as a witch and sorceress by ad hearted, bigoted Bishop of Beauvas s after her death the French w l served and saved re entence, and declared hor ‘a ma herr her country History has avenged her wr aint is now on the calendar wh. bas x aim te ization than La I ‘ Tue Tamayy Hi LL GenegaL COMMITTEE is in itself a remarkable body, ts coms position is not nearly 8 what are known as the ‘‘ward ¢ + Tey these are represented every election district in the city, and into them are swept ull the rejected material of the party—disap- pointed aspirants for office, d Maid of | One of the more noteworthy events of the last day of the year was the final adjourn- ment of the French Assembly. On that day that remarkable body surrendered by its own act the plenary authority given it by the country in @ time of peril and disorgan- ization, and submitted its services defin- invely to the judgment of the country and of posterity. Its labors have been great, its vagaries characteristic, its recurrence to the right way usually prompt, its temptations and opportunities without a limit; but equally for extravagance of temper and for ultimate sobriety of judgment, for virulent partisanship and for steady ardor of patriot- ism, for petulance and for wisdom, for crowning and substantial success in its ef- forts toward the political reconstruction and economical restoration of the country, it will stand in history as the greatest depository of the national sovereignty ever assembled in France, as almost the only Chamber known in the history of that country capa- ble of comprehending that spirit of compro- mise which the political language of the French stigmatizes as dishonorable, but which with a divided people ig the only source of temperate and successful legisla- tion, This Chamber came into existence upon the demand of the Prussian Chancellor. By the capitulations at Sedan and Metz all the effective portion of the imperial army had been swept from the conqueror’s path, and the lines drawn about Paris were held month after month with unalterable tenacity. But the government and the country still cherished a brilliant hope. Some fragments of the old regiments and hordes of newly levied men were brought together in Tou- raine, the Orleanais and Anjou, and called the Army of the Loire. It was thought that a force could be made from these elements fit to march on Paris, and which, by co-op- eration with the garrison of the beleaguered capital, could force the enemy to relinquish his hold and perhaps drive him from the Never were means less adequately adjusted to proposed ends, In January it ident that nothing was to be hoped from the Army of the Loire; it was equally evident that Paris could do nothing alone, and the city came to a parley. Then arose to the mind of the fearfully logical Bis- country. became marck a peculiar difficulty. With whom could he make a peace that would be worth the sheepskin on which its terms should be displayed? Who was there capable of binding France by his words? In France there was the so-called Government of Nationxl Defence. It was made up of several persons who to the re- lentless Chancellor were ‘‘gentlemen of the gutter.” It was, indeed, a mushroom gov- ernment that came up in Paris on a certain damp night, without any one having called for it; and, though its authority had been recognized, who could say that the country would not repudiate eventually whatever it might now determine, or that the indemnity it might agree to pay could ever be collected without another war? On the other hand there was Napoleon at Wilhelmshihe, the very Emperor on whom the Prussians had made war. But if they made peace with him, could he ever mount the throne to ful- fil its terms without the support of the Prussian army, and was that the sort of duty for which Prussian armies were raised? In this dilemma Bismarck demanded that elec- tions should be held and that a representa- tive assembly should be chosen by the suf- frages of the whole people, and that this body, as the only one capable in the cireum- stances of acting for the nation, should ratify the peace he was ready to make or decide to continue the war. In consequence of that necessity of the enemy, therefore, the Chamber was chosen, assembled at Bordeaux in February, 1871, and voted for peace by 546 to 107. It was, perhaps, more clearly monarchical in its convictions than any other representative body ever convened in France since the Rev- olution. At that time the royalist party was the only one that had done no harm within the memory of the active generation. For the Empire had made the war despite the seven million votes cast for peace, and the republicans had, by their untimely revolt, paralyzed even the resistance that the Em- | pire could have made—-and had not, when the nation fell into their hands, either saved or eflectively helped it Both the Empire and the Republic, therefore, were equally detested by the nation when the time to vote came, and people instinctively turned, in every part of the country, to those old ad- herents of the government that had been driven out in 1848, and even to the adherents of the one driven out in 1830— men, @ large number of whom had kept themselves apart from politics and active | life for a generation, and cherished in their respective circles the aspiration for the restoration of the elder branch of the Bour- | bons in Henry Y., or of the younger in one | of the Orleans princes. M. Thiers was | elected in a dozen departments, and con- | fessedly because he was the recognized head of the party that for a lifetime had sought to | re-estublish the Orleans monarchy. It was a | Chamber that seemed almost to have a | national mandate to restore the monarchy; and it is well nigh certain that M. Thiers, despite his then great popularity, would not have carried a single one of the departments | that returned him if it could have been con- ceived that he would become a republican, At one period it was anticipated from day t ” | to day that the Assembly would declare the monarchy, and only the dissensions of the | immediate adherents of the respective candi- | dates prevented that result. By the time that Paris was conquered from the Commune | the government had a well organized army | ready to do its will, and there were enough votes in the Chamber for the moderate mon- archy to do all that was required. But the ted candi- | Orleans party saw the opportunity to add to ates, excluded members “of the General | their house the prestige of legitimacy with- Committee, polit secking and unfaithful republicans. machinery is a wicked and perni ical bummers and even self- | out, as they thought, forfeiting the throne, They are not elected by the people but named by one or two arbitrary leaders, and the whole jous joke. | and they proposed that Chambord should become King and that the Count of Paris should take the throne after him as his heir. Chambord, however, required such a recog- nition of monarchy by divine right as dis- sition of the Chamber. Many republicans came in by the supplementary elections. All vacancies made by deaths or resignations were filled in favor of the republicans or Bonapartists, and these soon had a vote that enabled them to give the victory to either of the monarchical factions they acted with, and thus the monarchy was made impossible in a Chamber that had five hundred monarehi- cal votes, Bat the Chamber, while they divided on what seemed the great essential point, acted with patriotic unanimity on what were, in fact, the really essential points of the situa- tion. It paid the indemnity, relieved the country of the presence of the enemy, estab- lished an effective machinery of administra- tion, and finally gave the Republic a stable foundation in the constitution of 1875. By that constitution the National Assembly con- sists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies— the differences in the representative character of which honses is substantially analogous to the difference between our Senate and House of Representatives. By these honses acting together the President is chosen for the term of seven years, and is re-eligible. This is essentially the same ontline of government as Our own, and it is a frame upon which can be organized a government of an aristocratic character, as our own was in the early days of the Republic, or which may hold to the limits of formality a very liberal democracy. Thus it isa scheme upon which with repub- lican forms a government can be kept in re- lation with the actual condition of the people as to democracy or aristocracy. It is con- sistent with an extensive range toward one or the other, and this is its great excellence, and promises to give it permanent success in France. Outdoor Sports. America has made great strides in the en- couragement of manly outdoor sports dur- ing the past few years, and our youth are eonsequently receiving vast benefits by their indulgence in them. Rowing, base ball, cricket, football and pedestrian matches are progressing all over the country, and much amusement, vigorous health and muscular accession are the rewards of such exercise. Numbers of our right-minded wealthy men, aware of the benefits attending outdoor sports, have recently shown a liberal de sire to assist in their promotion by indulging in racing, yachting, polo, coaching, hunting, rifle target practice and other kindred amuse- ments, Already two coaching clubs have been established—one in this city and another, we believe, in Philadelphia; so that what with the excitement attending the dis- play of grace and skill in handling the rib- bons, and the fine manly exercise required in polo, steeplechasing, hunting and shoot- ing, we are likely to have a very lively and interesting centennial year. Many of our wealthy citizens also keep Jarge stables of thoroughbred horses, some of them for flat racing and others for steeple- chase purposes, The latter style of racing, it is well known, is growing more and more in favor with all classes of people every year, and when these races are run in this country in the same manner that they are in Europe they will be vastly more popular than the short flat racing that is now forced on the patrons of the turf by the various managers If any citizen wishes to see how absurd and rig yet how deleterious the whole thing is he has | gusted the upholders of constitutional mon- only to study the names composing the | archy in the Assembly, and there was a “ward committee” in his own assembly dis- | hitch. Before this was disentangled some trict changes had taken vlace in the compo- of race courses throughout the United States. We would suggest that the time test be ig- nored altogether in steeplechasing, and that the walls, fences and hurdles be made much higher than they are now, so that good jumping, and not speed, should constitute the horse's excellence. Accidents would not then beso frequent as they are under the present system, because the horse would have time to see and measure his jumps be- fore he made them ; whereas with the pres- ent plan a horse is run at full speed all through the race, and the hurdles and fences are so low that many operate as mere snares to trip and throw him in his rapid flight, Jumping high walls, fences and hurdles constitute the entire charm of the steeplechase, and not the running, except for the last few hundred yards at the finish, The breakneck way of going over hedges and ditches is only popu- lar with certain classes of followers of the fortunes of the turf, who are interested in the events for speculative purposes, which they arrange with the professional jockeys who have the mounts. Steeplechase horses should be ridden by gentlemen only, and stakes should be made up by the vari- ous jockey clubs of the country to encour- age the sport. Then we would have cross- country riders of character, and races would be decided on,the merits of the horses, and not as they have been on many occasions, since the time of Zig-Zag and Nannie Crad- dock, by bribery and corruption. As the American Jockey Club are at present opening stakes for the Centennial we would advise, before they finish their work, that they make up one on the plan of those run at Auteuil, near Paris, and the Grand National, at Liver- pool, as we are sure that this course would in- augurate a great reform in that style of racing on the American turf. Vital Statistics. In the year 1874 there died in this city from the ‘diréet effects of solar heat” nine- teen persons. In 1575 there died from the same cause the same number of persons, In 1874 the deaths by drowning were 174; in 1875 they were 178. In 1874 the deaths from cancer were 416; in 1875, 400. Convulsions killed respectively in the two years 671 and 666, These results, taken from returns on a population of 1,000,000, are sufficiently near to give great.comfort to all believers in the doctrine of averages. Nothing would seem more essentially accidental in every respect than death by drowning, and we might, therefore, expect great variation in the re- that, for instance, 200 would be drowned in one year and 100 or 300 in an- other. But positively regarded we have the | same number of miles of water front in the two years, and, if not the same population, perhaps about the same engaged in occupa- tion or pleasure near the water, and so the chances give us year in and year out about the same number per mile of ‘“demnition moist, unpleasant bodies.” Essentially in- constant causes exhibit the force of the prin- ciple by their variation as in the spread of contagious diseases. In 1874 there were 484 sults ; | deaths from smallpox; in 1875 there were 1,265, JANUAKY _ 2, 1876.—-TRIPLE SHEET Journalism tn 1776 and 1576. Nothing illustrates more forcibly the prog- ress of the world during the first centary of the American Republic than the Hunan it- self does on this 2d of January, 1876. We do not say this as a boast, but gs a fact; for it is in the very nature of a great newspaper that it should inevitably summarize and include human affairs as they are. Shakespeare said of the stage, and it was true of the stage in his time, that it was its end to hold the mirror up to nature, That is now more true of the press, This number of the Hznaxp is the product of the world’s best achievements in invention, skilled labor and culture. In its mechanical depart- ments it represents more arts than we have space to enumerate. In the application of practical science to the photographing of the face of the world for one day—if we may use that metaphor—it is a contrast to the journalism of a century ago even greater than the contrast between the painfully executed manuscript works of the monks in the four- teenth century and the printed books which issued from tho magic press of Guttenberg or Faust. We will pass over that vast system of news gathering on this continent, and ask our readers to give their attention to one single fact. A century ago a sailing vessel, painfalty struggling with the ocean and the winds, bronght our ancestors the tardy and meagre reports from Europes, which in their unconscious simplicity they dignified by the title of news. Three months sometimes elapsed before even Eng- land was heard from. Whata leap journal- ism has made since 1776! To-day the Hznatp prints letters written yesterday in all the capitals of Europe. Our mails are carried over electric bridges and our letters cross the ocean in an hour. This is not sim- ply our own enterprise. It is the utilization of all the arts, sciences and in- ventions that can in any way be made to carry journalism to its highest point of value, The ocean telegraph, fast presses and fast trains are used to collect news from every quarter of the globe, and to distribute it over a continent. To-day we have cable letters from Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Athens and other cities. They report the political con- dition in Germany, France, Austria, Russia and Turkey. They tell us of the dangers that threaten the autonomy of Belgium and Switzerland. They reveal the new policy of Bismarck toward the Catholic Church. They give important facts concern- ing the Vatican. They inform us of the latest gossip in literature, art, music and the drama. The finances in London and the Continent receive thorough attention. They report the movements of celebrated men and women. They give the complete history of Thomassen. They epitomize, in fact, the events which occurred in all Europe on the first day of the year. Is there anything that human ingenuity has achieved in the past one hundred years that is more suggestive than this? We think not. Journalism is the mirror of mankind, and the feat of travelling around the world in eighty days is eclipsed by the accomplished fact of encircling it in one. science, The Reasons for MHarvard’s Threat- ened Withdrawal. We publish to-day a letter from a Harvard Undergraduate on the late threatened with- drawal of his University from the Rowing Association, which offers much the best statement we have yet seen of their view of the step. The association, by consulting the wishes of the whole body, must conform its course less to the wishes of any individ- ual crew than the action of the latter and a single rival would, and there can be little question that many of the inconveniences and indeed positive annoyances 80 well stated by this writer exist. But cannot the main grievance—the conduct of the conven- tions—be so improved as to work o cure in at least many of the directions named? Harvard, in determining whether to withdraw, has wisely taken a step which cannot fail to work well. She has called in old men, graduates, to her aid. One strong, clear head, with a working knowledge of parliamentary rules, could have almost certainly so steered the last meeting of the convention as to have made the one on next ‘Tuesday unnecessary. Let each college send one such on Tuesday—and they will hardly care to admit that they have none—and con- fusion will be a stranger. But the fact which seems to impress the public, and especially the graduate mind, is not that these annoy- ances do not exist, but that if the University it withdraws now, after being so often beaten, will so closely resemble backing away from a dangerous looking foe that it will be about universally considered just, and that any amount of annoyance, if it cannot be done away with, had better be manfully borne than anything done which would be sure to cast such an imputa- tion. In this connection it may be well to add that over a hundred graduates in or around Boston have signed a protest against withdrawal, including Mr. Agassiz, the Crowninshields, Mr. Loring and many more of Harvard's best known oarsmen, and that out of a large number of graduates visited in this city hardly one even hesitated about having his name go to swell the protest. Old Cambridge was beaten for nine long years running, but she went up the tenth and won. Let her young namesake keep the example in mind. The Administration and Doctrine. Our despatch from Vienna, published some days since, made the country ac- quainted with the strange circumstance that the President had gone all the way to St. Petersburg to endeavor to drum up moral support for his Cuban policy, which had proved distasteful to the American people, because, deeply suspicious of his intentions, the people believed that that policy was adopted as a mere cover for the attempt to overcome the repugnance to a third term. We pointed out at the time that this request for ‘moral support” was as repugnant to our traditional policy asthe third term itself; that the fathers and founders of this Repub- lic not only did not send round a platter to European capitals for diplomatic and politi- cal cold victuals, but they maintained that the safety of this zovernment lav in the total the Monroe independence of its policy, its complete abstention from all European disputes and its complete exclusion of European Powers from any part in its decisions on American topics. An answer to these strictures is now put forth in the government organ. It is said that the government did not regularly senda Cuban circular to the several Pow- ers, but that it called their attention to the part of the Message that relates to Cuba; and that there is nothing in the spirit of the Monroe doctrine which makes such a course improper. As tothe matter of fact, if the President inserts in his Message the parts of acircular intended for foreign contempla- tion and then diplomatically requests several foreign governments to give him their opin- ions on those parts of his Message, how is this essentially different from the allegations of our Vienna despatch? As to the Monroe doctrine, if we ask the approval of foreign governments for a policy which we propose, do we not thereby admit that they have such a right to disapprove as we would bein honor bound to notice; and is not this an abandonment of the essential point of the Monroe doctrine ? Thoughts of the fous Press. New Year Relig- Most of our religious exchanges this week indulge in New Year’s comments and reviews with more or less hopefulness for the future. The Independent cannot recall anything specially notable in the dead year, except the continuance of commercial depression, a scandal or two, and the purchase by Great Britain of the Suez Canal. The new year will be one of excitement, according to the Independent's outlook, because it will not only be our centennial year, but will be the Presidential election year also, This journal looks with pleasure upon the relig- ious successes of the past year, and with hope for the future, The Methodist attempts briefly to recall the century's progress in re- ligion, intelligence, commerce, manufacture, growth could not be half told in a day. The work before us rather than that behind us commands our attention, and, according to the Methodist, the most impor- | tant feature of this work is in education and morals, We shall have to beara strain in these departments within the next quarter of acentury that shall tell for weal or woe on the hopes of the Republic. But the editor has no fear that we shall be able to bear the strain. The Christian at Work regrets that the New Year call is not what it once was, as Irving pictures it in the simplicity and dignity of the early idyllic life in New Amsterdam. The day was once poetic, rich in the warmth and color of sentiment; a re- union and solemn pledge of friendship; a perpetual vow that however, the flying time might be divided, the Fates should sever no tie of the heart. Now, the New Year call is scientific, enumerated on a prepared list of availables, its limits sharply divided, its funereal for- mality religiously observed and its conversa- tion guided by certain fixed laws of human stupidity. The Clarchman thinks the new year will be an eventful one because it is the legal majority, so to speak, of the nation. Hitherto the American people have been in a state of moral and mental pupilage. Say what one will of American ideas, they have hitherto been put forward very much with an idea of what ‘‘the old folks at home will | say when they see this.” thought of what is best for national civiliza- tion and development, the grappling with The undivided | immediate and personal problems, have yet | to be undertaken. The importance of time as an element in | human destiny is ably and philosophically | e | bind him “more than ten minutes.” That presented in the Christian Advocate by its editor. Most of the days and years are lost to the world because the great mass of hu- | man beings do no more for themselves or their fellows than the vegetables of a kitchen | garden. Living without a purpose, they die | without fruit. The idlers of the world can be counted by thousands, while the industri- | ous gleaners of the moments are as rare as diamonds in the sand. ‘he uncertainty of the year on which we are entering, says the Advocate, is one of its most serious aspects. We need to enter it with reverence because of the veil that conceals the future from us, and yet with confidence, for we know that the trusting heart has nothing to fear. pardonable pride the outgrowth of this Republic from the monarchies of the Old World and traces the springs of its origin to the political philosophy of John Locke, a gone by, congratulates the «mp rors, kings princes and potentates of the Uld World for having got along with the killing of, compara tively speaking, so few of their fellow crow tures. The Leader sums up by saying that, all in all, the departed year has used the world family very well, better perhaps than it has deserved, and hence it bids the old year a hearty and regretful farewell. The Northwestern Christian Advocate and the Standard, of Chicago, pay their respects to the old year and the new in somewhat like strains. All our exchanges, indeed, think well of the departing year and look hopefully to the new. Pulpit Topics for the New Year, Under the inspiration of the new yeas several of our city pastors will make a fem ture of the day in their sermons to-day. Among them we notice Messrs, MacArthur, Lightbourn, Phelps, Saunders, Pullman, McCarthy, Seitz and Harris. The last named will deliver the Salutatory of 1876; and the first named from the watchman's outlook will tell us what he sees in the distance, and offer appropriate suggestions for the occa- sion. Mr. Phelps will take a little from the old as well as the new year, and furnish us with things new and old; and Mr. Seita will shake out the old clothes of the dead year, to see if there is among them any article that will fit the new. Dr. Deems will enter upon. a new year of his ministry with the Church of the Strangers, as well as a new one of his life, and will therefore preach a Now Year church anniversary sermon, But all of our city pastors are not thus inspired by the new year. Some of them realize that to many of their hearers every day is the beginning of a new year or the ending of an old one, and hence they preach as if it were their last opportunity Christ and Him cruci- fied. Mr. Leavell will therefore present life as a thought and every day as a day of salva- tion. Dr. Armitage will picture an old age hee . a A | as forsaken of God, and a young life in the -, but stops because the story of our same condition, so far as the Prodigal Son can illustrate it. Mr. Willis will expound the parable of the sower and present the prize which awaits the success- fnl winner in the race of life. Mr. Merritt will draw from the royal feast such lessons as it contains, and Mr. Johns from the barren fig tree the lesson of the seeming in contrast with the real, the almost per- suaded with the fully persuaded. Mr. Knapp will make it clear, if any one doubts it, that the abiding and abounding Christian is the victorious one, and that the human heart is the devil’s resting place. Mr. Kennard will deliver a Christmas sermon to his people and explain to them the visit of the magi and the re- lation of baptism to other Church ordinances. Bishop Snow will explain how and when the earth is to be filled with the glory of God. And thus, in part, will the pastors of the city inaugurate the New Year 1876—the Centen- nial of the nation’s existence. We wish them a peaceful and prosperous year spiritu- ally in their several fields of labor. Mr. Bowen Exprarss.—In a suit for libel, which grew out of the great Brooklyn scan- dal, it was shown the other day that Mr. Bowen had made a contract with Jay Cooke to use the Independent, a newspaper of an aw- fully high moral tone and the purest con- ceivable piety, for the propagation and as- sistance of that enormous swindle the North- ern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Bowen now ex- plains that he never made such a contract with Jay Cooke, but that on the contrary ho made a verbal agreement ‘‘which was put in writing,” a distinction so delicate that no court of justice could see it; and that con- tract or ‘‘verbal agreement put in writing,” or whatever else it may be called, it did not is the peculiar weakness of the whole Brook- lyn lot. Their contracts never bound any of them for more than ten minutes at a time. LI LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. ——__— We learn that early im the new year Wait Whitmaa mall edition of his complete works in two “Leaves of Grass” will be one. The other, ernations of prose aud verse; the umes. “Two Rivalets, themes about ag diverse as they can be—poctry, polt- ties, the war, &c, to 1865 of 5 pital, camps, b great part of Mr, Whitman kept a diary trom 1862 in Virginia, Washington; and the hus- ies, are given almost verdutim. A “Two Rivalets,”’ prose and poetry, i# ! iresh matter, bitherto unpublished. Mr. Whitman will The Jewish Times reviews with | in actual whose writings influenced Jefferson, Frank- | lin and Adams, the three men most con- | cerned in preparing the immortal Declara- tion of 1776. The progress of mankind has since that time been most wonderful. The bell of Independence Hall not only pro- claimed liberty throughout all the land, but the birth of a new civilization also, which should embrace all mankind and Uisenthral the human mind from the dogmatism in which ithad been held. In this view this centennial year commemorates one of the grandest epochs in history, and all Europe must join in celebrating it as the memorial day of the | birth of the mother of modern progress. The | and Victor Hugo for ee PbPaelghday : Baptist Weekly takes a parting glance at the old year and finds that it has wit- nessed more of disaster to men engaged in commerce than most years which have preceded it. In the religious aspect of the world there has been much of hope of re- vival, and as the year closed it promised well for the extension of Christ's kingdom in the land. ‘The year,” says the Weekly, ‘thas also witnessed fresh manifestations of Romish arrogance in giving us a Cardinal prince of the Church professing at the same time to be a citizen of the Republic.” In seeking our moral purification the Weekly would have us diligent, and especially would it have its coreligionists active in every de- partment of Christian work in this centen- nial year. The Freeman's Journal would have its friends in this New Year at peace with God, standing alert for duty, resolute for all that God in His providence may call them to do, and ready and anxious for every new opportunity to earn merits for heaven. The Christian Intelli- gencer would have its readers review the past and resolve for the future to grow in grace, to be more useful and in every respect to be better this year than they were last. The Christian Invader, in a review of the vear publish and geil bis book nim that the health and stren irrecoverable. We are sorry to say of this poet are probably His mind, however, is as brilliant av ever, and his spirits g He 18 poor in parse, but not ant, He will probably end bis days with his brother in Camden. Scribner, Welford and Armstrong have issued, in re. duced fac-simile, the works of William Shakespearo irom the famous first folio edition of 1623, with an im troduction by J. 0, Halliwell-Pbillipps. The drst folio was originally tssued st the selling price of twenty shillings. The present average value of a perfect copy ts $2,500. Lady Burdett-Coutis bus a fine specimen, for which she paid $5.570, This fac-simile, which ts sold ata very low price, will be a greas boon to students and lovers of Shakespeare. The London Journals speak very favorably of Sted. man’s “Victorian Poets ;'’ and well they may, for the book is just and appreciative in its criticisms. Mrs, Augusta Evans Wilson has made $100,000 by novel writing in the past eight years, and she says that “Infelice’ is ber novel @adiew. She has married a Tich husband and lives near Mobile, Ala, Robert Bachanan bas written an article on Hschylus The author of “My Littie Lady," one of the Leisure Hour series, has written @ Bew 6tory, entitled “Ereilia” Mrs, Mary J. Holmes has ju*t returned from Europe, ne has been enjoying berself upon the proceeds ory writing. Hepworth Dixon protests against the purchase of the Khedive’s shares in the Suez Canal. Professor David nm calls public atvention to the only house of Miltow w standing. It tatNo. 19 York street, Westminster, and came very near being burned down the other day. It is a mere hovel and eyesore. Mrs, May Agnes Fleming ts one of the most popular of young novelists She gets large prices for her books and lives comtortably over in Brooklya. She is origs. nally from Nova Scotia. Tennyson's “Elaine’’ and “Enid” have been trans lated into Spanish by Don Lope Gisbert, THE TORPEDO STATION. Newronrt, RL, Jan. 1, 1875. In obedience to orders received from the Navy De~ partment several of the employés at the torpedo sta- tiom at this place were discharged to-day EASTERN RAILROAD RECON- SIDERS. THE Dover, N. H., Jan. 1, 1876, ‘The Eastern Railroad reconsiders, and will pay the imécrest on the Portsmouth and Newer Rarirqad ainck,