The New York Herald Newspaper, January 7, 1876, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, | PROPRIETOR | THE DAILY HERALD, published every | day in the year, Four cents per copy. ‘lwelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage. All business, news letters or telegraphie | despatches must be addressed New Yors Henan. , Letters and packages should be properly The Impending Crisis. It is an unpleasant fact, but not the less a fact, that President Grant wishes to be elected to a third term. He is only fifty- three years old and depends largely on offi- cial station for the pleasures of his life. He is an affectionate husband and father, and the desires of his family confirm his own. He is a tenacious friend, and the adventurers who surround him promote their interests by encouraging his hopes. He has been often Solicited to disavow such an ambition un- equivocally, and never has done so without limitations and reservations which emas- culated the disavowal. It is also an unpleasant fact, but not the less a fact, that President Grant holds a sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- | turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO, 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—AVENUE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York, TO-NIGHT, Broadway and Twonty-second BPM. Uskey Hail, Marine E CRUCIBLE, at FAGLE THEATRE, | Broadway and Thirsy-ird street. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. BOWERY THEATRE BELPUEGOR, ond MOSE, wt 8 P.M. Mr | Bowery. Stetson. y-ninth street, et.—PAUST AND at 1045 P. Broadway, MARGUER Md. Be E PORTY THIEVES. Roberts. Belle Hewitt, GLOBE THEATRE, Nos, 728 and 730 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M. BOOTH'S THEATRE, | Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue. JULIUS CASAR, ats. M. Mr, Lawrence Barrett. | THEAT No. 514 Broadway.—VAR. THEATRE, Third avenue, between Thirtleth and Thirty-fiest streete.— t8P. Mt, BMANSTRELSY and VARIETY | COLos! Thirty-fourth street and Broadway —/?RUSSTAN SIEGE OF PARIS. Open trom 1 P.M. to4 P.M. and trom 790 2. M. to 10P. a TIVOLI THEATRE, i E’ghth street, near Third avenue. —VARIETY, at 8 P.M. WALLACK’S THEATRE, and Thirteenth street.—HOME, at 8 P. M. M. Mr. Lester Wallack 3 closes | | | Sixteenth Matinee a! BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington street, Brooklyn. —OUR BOYS, at 8PM. Mr, Jolin B. Owens, CHICKERING HALL, Fifth avenue and Eighteenth street. CONCERT, at 8 P. M. Von Bulow | 7 | UNION SQUARE THEATRE, | Broadway ana Fourteenth street.—RUSE MICHEL, at 8 eM. OLYMPIC THEATRE, No, 624 Broadway, —VARIE tS. a, FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty eighth street, near Brondway.—PIQUE,at 6 P.M. | Fanny Davenport TONY PASTOR' Nos. 586 and S87 Bri TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1876, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be clear and sold. Tue Firracp py Fast Man. Traiss,— News | dealers and the yriblic 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 Toe Heratp, free of postage, Extraordinary inducements offered to newsdealers by sending their orders direct lo this office, War Srrzer Yesterpay.—The stock mar- ket was more buoyant than on Wednesday, but prices again fell. Money was loaned on call from 7 to 5 percent, and even lower, and was decidedly easier. Gold ranged trom 112 5-8 to 112 3-8. Tur Brazmtay Caste has been repaired, and Portngal and its huge South American | baby are-once more united telegraphically, “uerrty oy THR Press in France is a | flower of slow growth. The government is | already clipping all the leaves it can reach with the shortened shears of the recently passed Press law. N LLURGISTS Who are send- ing objects to the Centennial Exposition | want more space. They have decided to take some room left in another department | of the French section, and gentlemen with this accommodating disposition should be wet on this side in the same spirit, 0,7 | - , nation in his power—what is to prevent him | from seeking a third election? Nothing but | his re-election, | the republican party are nothing to him | dication. mortgage on the solid Southern vote in the | Republican National Convention and can | foreclose on it at his pleasure. He needs | only to secure besides the delegates of a few Northern States to have the nomination at | his merey. The members of the Republican | National Committee, who are to meet in | Washington next Tuesday to fix the time and place for the Convention, will not fail, ' upon mutual consultation, to understand the | situation, if they do not perceive it already. These being the facts—that the President desires a third term and has a third nomi- a clear conviction that he would fail before the people, and such a conviction, it is plain to see, he is very far from entertaining. He is a Scotchman in name, in descent, in char- acter—a man of few ideas, firm will and ten- tative disposition. The general sentiment of the people against a third term does not discourage him, for he reasons that popular sentiment is fickle. Nor does the resolve of the House of Representatives, for he be- lieves that it was introduced, pressed and passed for merely partisan motives, personal or political. Nor do the opinions of promi- nent republican politicians outside of the circle of his favorites, for he never has ac_ cepted their estimate of their own value ; he | has administered the government for seven | years, compelling without soliciting their support, and he feels none of the paternal affection for the republican party which was displayed by the late Vice President. The truth is that President Grant is and long has been testing the spirit of the country in various ways at his leisure, in- quiring quietly and curiously all the while whether one question after another which he tosses out for popular discussion will serve his purpose of an absorbing public issue for The past and the future of apart from his own interests. They never have been anything since 1872, when he said | in his second inaugural address that he ac- cepted his second election as a personal vin- He would impress one policy on the party as readily as another, so that only it would serve himself the needful turn. Two years ago he tossed out the currency question and tested the feeling of the moneyed classes by his veto of April 22, 1874. Perhaps he was unconsciously in- duced to that test by his proclivity, fre- quently manifested, to affiliate with men of ' mere wealth, without regard to their in- tellectual or social rank. Last year in the Des Moines speech, and again in his | Message to Congress, he tossed out the relig- ious bigotry question and tested the feeling of the Protestant sects. Perhaps he was un- consciously induced to that test by his Scotch blood. Buckle specifies the alliance of the crown with the clergy as the dis- tinguishing feature of Scotch politics for many centuries. Neither of these two tests giving altogether satisfactory results, it is evident that he is meditating a third and probably final test with reference to our for- eign relations. President Grant will choose his own time to toss this third and last test out ; but it is surely coming. He is not a man to be teased, coaxed or intimidated into a prema ture movement. He was commissioned Lieutenant General of our armies on March | 1, 1864, but it was the 4th of May before his troops erossed the Rapidan on their way into the Wilderness. He sat down in front of Petersburg in the middle of June, 1864, but the spring of 1865 was well advanced before Lee's surrender. He held under familiar household debate, as early as the winter of 1866-67, the subject of his first nomination to the Presidency, but the winter of the next year had passed before he put on record a word which would bind him to accept it, The same self-sustaining and _ resolute quality of character which thus enables President Grant to bide his time for all his movements, military or political, renders those movements generally impetuous, irre- sistible and overwhelming. It is high time for the country to awake to this fact with reference to the movement in our foreign affairs, which is imminent. As it probably is the last chance which the President will have to force a new issue for this year's political campaign we may be sure that he does not mean to slur his work. terday. The | reference of an ing into the Texan border | troubles to a select committee of the House was ordered, Mr. Blaine’s Amnesty bill, offered yesterday, excepts Jeflerson Davis from its provisions. A great number of bills | were introduced and the House adjourned | till Monday. Tar Paresipent’s Copan Cincuan seems to create more amusement than anything else in Europe. A special despatch to the Evening Telegram gives us the opinion of the Cologne Gazette on the precious document, which is not complimentary to the President. He has, however, himself to blame if his pe culiar policy places him in an undignified position abroad. It certainly exposes him to ridicule at home. Sprcre Resumption had the first field day in the Senate yesterday when Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, introduced his bill supple. | He favors | mentary of that of last year. the selling of four or four and a half per cent bonds, running thirty years, for legal tender notes. The subject gave rise to some flippant debate, in which the West-_ ern whiskey frauds seemed to be the prin- cipal point. The bill was referred to the Finance Committee, and when it emerges from that limbo we shall look for a more in- | telligent and earnest discussion than was given it vesterdav, The impending crisis, therefore, is a seri- ous one, and needs to be met seriously. There is but one straightforward way to meet it, and that way is for Congress and the | States promptly to take up this third term question and deal with it by constitutional legislation, Let Congress squarely recog- | nize the fact that we have at the head of the | nation a man in the prime of life, four years | younger to-day than George Washington was | in 1789, who does not mean to be consigned to the bucolic obscurity of a stock farm in | Missouri for the remainder of his days if he can help it; who does mean to be re-elected President again if it is possible; who has | rendered great public services which the | people have not yet forgotten ; who is un- | fettered by allegiance to his party and indif- | ferent to any ambitions but his own, and who commands a host of federal office-hold- ers almost as large as the army with which he laid siege to Richmond. Such 4 man is a power and a danger, and to be dealt with accordingly. Let a constitutional amendment be submitted immediately to the States prolonging the Presidential term of office to six years, and prohibiting | any re-election hereafter even to a second term; and let the State Legislatures, most of which are now in session, promptly consider and adopt it. Thus we shall avert a great | public peril and show the other nations of the earth how our nolitical svstera is adavted | to every conceivable emergency. Such an amendment received a vote of 134 yeas to 104 nays, in the House of Representatives, on the 26th of January, 1875. It ought to be passed in January, 1876, by a unanimous vote. If its effect should be to continue Presi- dent Grant in office two years longer in that time he can soothe his ambition and com- plete the labor ot rewarding his friends, and the country can pick out meanwhile a suit- able successor, for that is a choice on which the minds of the people certainly aro not at present agreed. Senator Morton Hoaxed. Senator Morton wants a committee to in- vestigate Mississippi polities. There has been agreatand sudden change in party predomi- nance in Mississippi, and Mr. Morton seems to have his eyes so fixed on the South that he has not noticed similar equally sudden and even greater changes in some Northern States. He is so amazed at the change in Mississippi that he must have an investigating commit- tee and a good many thousand dollars for its expenses to explain the mystery to him. But when Massachusetts went over from the republicans to the democrats why did not Mr. Morton demand an investiga- tion? That was even a greater change, When New York flopped over from Dix to Tilden he ought to have had an investiga- tion, and now that it has flopped back again there is, on his theory, occasion for another costly investigation, If, whenever the people of a State, tired of misgovernment or of false promises or for any other cause, turn outa political party, the Senate is to investigate the causes of the change it will have its hands full, Fortu- nately the case of Mississippi does not need a committee. Mr. Mor- ton’s astonishment need not last until a leisurely investigation relieves him. Our Washington correspondent sends us a letter from a prominent and honest republican of Mississippi, which shows why his State became democratic. ‘The reasons are quite sufficient. The repub- lican Governor squandered the people's money on favorites and corrupted the judi- ciary, and the people united to fling him and the faction which sustained him from power. They did right, and they would not have deserved the name of American citizens if they had done less. Ames seems to have been the Tweed of Mississippi, and he and his Ring have been overthrown. Does Sena- tor Morton mean to say that he grieves over the result? We hope not. Yet his present demand puts him in that unenviable atti- tude. We suppose he has been hoaxed. Our Wash- ington correspondent relates that one Ray- mond is there filling Mr. Morton’s head with stories of outrages and intimidation. But this is the very man whom Judge Morris in his letter accuses of corruption. It is as though Tweed had sent Nathaniel Sands to Albany to persuade the Governor of his in- nocence. It is a little ridiculous to see a grave and usually astute Senator fall into such a trap. We advise him to read the Henaxp carefully. If he does that he will not fall a victim to such tricks, He cannot afford to make himself openly the defender of corruption. No public man can afford that; yet that is the position he has been misled into. The Grattan Memorial. Treland had another grand national fes- tival yesterday, the occasion being the un- veiling of a statue to Henry Grattan, the dis- tinguished orator and statesman. Like the O'Connell centennial, the Grattan statue is even more a tribute to Irish nationality than toa single Irish nationalist. By a happy circumstance the statue occupies the site on College Green which had been set apart for the Albert memorial—a fact which in itself must be peculiarly gratifying to every Irish- man. In our news columns this morning will be found an interesting history of the undertaking from the Dublin correspondent of the Hznatp, while the special cable despatches which we reprint from the Hven- ing Telegram of yesterday givea complete ac- count of the ceremonial of the unveiling of the statue and its attendant festivities. The whole story will be read with interest apart even from its significance as an Irish national event, for no man of his time earned a greater reputation than Grattan, bothas a finished ora- tor and a pure and unselfish statesman. The Irish people cannot recall a greater name in the whole history of their country, nor one so well deserving of an honor like this which is now bestowed upon Grattan'’s memory. In honoring a statesman who performed such signal services for his country they are honoring themselves, and the Grattan me- morial cannot fail to be an incentive, if any is needed, toward the elevation of the Irish race and character. Feuix Dupastovr, Bishop of Orleans, per- haps the ablest of living French cleries, and certainly the most astute, politically, has written a letter toa friend on his election as a Senator for life. Without doubt the good Bishop finds himself in strange company, for the majority of his fellows are adherents of the Republic, and some of them, like M. Crémieux, tinged with red. But, granting all this, why should he say that he has been “thrown, like Daniel, into the Babylonian furnace.” As Daniel is not recorded to have been in any furnace at all (in this world, at least), perhaps Mgr. Dupanloup meant that the fears of his triends are imaginary. Even if the Bishop has mixed up his Bible history in attending to politics and meant lions’ den when he said furnace, we may be sure that he would rather be in the furnace as a Sen- ator than be “‘left out in the cold.” Jost as THe Uxrramontaye Trovates in Germany are approaching a settlement by tacit compromise the Germania (an ultra- montane organ) comes with the cry that sub- mission to the State in the perfect sense de- manded by the government cannot be ac- corded. This only shows that the organ has been so busy playing its one tune that it has not heard of the mutual concessions which are practically settling the difficulty. A settlement would not suit the extremists on either side, for their only prominence is as horn blowers and drum beaters; but Prince Bismarck desires to march with a united Germany, and he knows that perse- cuting a few thousand priests and irritating several millions of Catholics is not the way to make the Ewvire strong or happy. A City Election in the Spring. We conclude this morning the publication of the long series of interviews which we have been laying before our readers from day to day with members of the present Legis- lature on the expediency of separating the municipal from the general election. These interviews have been so uniform in their tenor that they lack the interest of variety ; but they possess the higher interest of a pretty unanimous expression of opinion in favor of an important reform by those who have the official power to accomplish it. There is no reason to doubt that it can easily be carried through the Legislature, and the Governor would stultify, himself if he should interpose his veto. The declarations of opinion by Senators and Assemblymen are so many that we can only allude to some of the most prominent. Senator Robertson, who may be regarded as the foremost man in the Senate, by his abili- ties, character and by his election to the po- sition of President, pro tem., of that body, gives it as his opinion that ‘the choosing of municipal officers in large cities should be entirely separated from State and national elections.” A valuable part of the interview with this distinguished Senator is his opin- ion that the change may be carried over the Governor's veto, if he should contradict his record and veto such a bill. Senator Robertson says, “the Governor may have changed his mind ;” but, as the republicans have a majority of eight in the Senate, and some of the democratic Senators are known to favor the change, he thinks such a bill might be passed over the veto. Of the demo- crats in that body several are committed to a spring election, and it would be a great mor- tification to the Governor if, besides renounc- ing his well known opinions, he should make an abortive veto. Another gentleman whose opinion on this subject is entitled to great weight is General Husted, who has just been elected Speaker of the Assembly. He is the ablest, most in- fluential and most ‘popular member of the lower branch of the Legislature. Mr. Husted said to our correspondent :—‘‘According to present impressions I am decidedly in favor of the proposition to separate the two elec- tions.” It will be seen that the two most prominent republican leaders in the Legisla- ture are in perfect accord with the majority of the members. With such a strong body of sentiment in favor of spring elections we do not see how this important reform is to be successfully resisted, unless by the veto of the Governor. But if Governor Tilden should veto so salutary a measure, to which he stands pledged by his record, such an act of demagogism would seal his political fate. The proposed change is recommended on solid public grounds which appeal to both political parties. But, besides considerations of intrinsic justice, the republicans of the Legislature will look to its party effect, which would, in the long run, be favorable to them. They are strong in the rural dis- tricts but weak in thisc ty. If it were not for the heavy democratic majorities in the city of New York the republican party could maintain its ascendancy in this State almost without s struggle. Now there is nothing which would have so power- fulatendency to diminish the democratic majority of the city as the separation of the charter election from the State election. In a State election, unaided by the city patron- age, the democratic majority of this metrop- olis would be diminished by at least twenty thousand. The republican Legislature will be blind to the interests of their party if they leave the city patronage as a make- weight in the democratic scale in the State elections. Mr. Peckham and the Struck Jury. Our whole legislation and jurisprudence are characterized by exaggerated considera- tion for the rights of individuals. The liber- ties of the people, individually, are so care fully guarded against the encroachments or invasions of authority that the difficulty of punishing o criminal is almost insuperable if he has money enough to avail himself by counsel of the advantage of the glorious ob- structiveness of the law. This isthe primary difficulty in the Tweed case. The great mu- nicipal robber reaps the advantage of all the provisions made by the law to prevent the oppression of the people. But other difficul- ties have been added ; and it is unpleasant to be compelled to recognize that the prose- cution is responsible for the worst of these, The clearest ‘of the many delays for which the prosecution alone is responsible is now before the public in the case of the struck jury. It is said that this, like some others, is merely a technical point obstructively raised by Tweed’s counsel; but that is not true, It is essentially a point of principle and justice in which the culprit’s counsel is as clearly in the right as the prosecution is grossly, fla- grantly, blunderingly in the wrong. By mere “prerogative” Mr. Peckham directed a public officer to strike out the name of one of the jurors chosen and insert the name of another man—an act palpably beyond his authority and a clear violation of the modes of procedure that are supposed to secure justice, If counsel on one side or the other, for or against, may thus change one person onajury at his own will and put on or off whom he may choose, is it not evident that the result of a trial, at least negatively, is in his hands? He could always prevent a ver- dict. But if he may change one name he may a dozen; and what sort of justice would that be, where counsel of one side could name the jury? If any private person found that his time was lost aad his money wasted by service so heedless as this or so ignorant he would change his lawyer. Tux Fxetoos or Mr. Benon at the thought of a butchered bulldog or a murdered canary would give the finest play for the sad song of the elegiac poet. His letter to the Board of Aldermen on the ‘dog ordinance” would bring tears to the eyes of a Gorgon, so plain- tive and pathetic it is. The sad foreboding which haunts his pillow as he sees in fancy the bloody myrmidons of the law wring the neck of somebody's grandmother's canary or cat keeps him awake o' nights. ‘Ah, can she sleep,” he moans, ‘‘when ne’er may she Hear again her cavbird sing Unto the morning star?’ Our Hanpsomm Mayor evidently intended todo the handsome thing by General Fitz John Porter in renominating him for the Commissionershiv of Public Works. but the gentleman from Jersey is likely to pray to be saved from his friends, The reception his name is destined to meet when it @mes toa vote in the Board of Aldermen will convince the Mayor that he had much better look this side of the North Riverfor hisnominee. Mr. Agnew’s name and address can be found in the New York Directory. Valu: le Ferry Franchises. In October last the Board of Aldermen passed a resolution to establish a new ferry with Staten Island, from the foot of White- hall street, to be sold by auction to the high- est bidder. Accordingly, on the 22d ult., the Comptroller, under a resolution of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, advertised for bids to be opened on the 4th inst. As showing the Commissioners’ idea of the least the city could afford to take for the ferry franchise, which is to run eight years, they placed the minimum bid at two and a half per cent, or one-fortieth of the gross receipts. Either they were singularly ignorant of the growth in population of Staten Island or the profits of the ferry business, for the bids when opened were found to be as follows: — Staten Island Railway Company five per cent, or one-twentieth of the gross receipts; New York and*Staten Island Ferry Company ten per cent, or one-tenth of the gross re- ceipts, anda Mr. John N. Stearns fifty per cent, or one-half the gross receipts. This last bid almost staggers one. Compared with the others it looks like either Napoleonic boldness, monumental rashness or Heathen Chinee simplicity. It would seem either that the ferry business must be an unsus- pected Golconda, or that there is question- able business experience or an Ah Sin job lurking in the sleeve of the bidder. We are anxious about this matter, for as the extra ferry is undoubtedly necessary to New York, it* is desirable that we should get one in reality as well as in name. Hence it will be the duty of the Sinking Fund Commission, composed of Mayor Wickham, Comptroller Green, Chamberlain Tappan, Recorder Hackett and Alderman Gross not to be carried away by the natural exultation over such a bid. Their resolution empowers them to reject any bid if they deem that the interest of the city demands it, and although the apparent profit is great, yet if the lessee failed to run his ferry under the conditions he has proposed there would be no revenue for the city at all, Hence if all the prelimi- nary conditions are fulfilled it will be the duty of the Commissioners to guard the rights of the citizens by such cast-iron con- ditions in the lease that there shall be no room for evasion of the purpose for which it is granted without a prompt forfeiture. The lease, for instance, should reqnire the imme- diate operation of the ferry with at least as many trips daily as would accommodate the public, with strict covenant and full security for the performance of the requirements. But no matter who gets the lease ultimately, such aone should be drawn up and pre- sented to these bidders to test their sincerity. If, then, the fifty per cent or next highest bidder failed to comply with its terms the public would be assured of good service and the city would get some revenue, When the fighting Maories of New Zealand cut the tops off lucifer matches and used them as percussion caps to fire their muskets the English journals speculated largely upon what was possible in the way of peace to a people that so ingeniously made the most of their slim resources in war. A similar course of reasoning may be applied to the ingenious criminals in the Columbus Penitentiary, who were recently found to have a mint for counterfeit nickels in full blast. It is difficult to compute how much sly, clever, skilful work was involved in the manufacture and utterance of each five cent piece. Itissafeto say that each coin re- presented a dollar's worth of honest labor, and it is painful to think what wasted possi- bilities lie in the lives of the men who stole the harness-plating amalgam, labdriously fashioned the dies, furtively stamped or cast the metal, carefully filed the coins and diligently sought an agent to circulate them, finding one at last in the warden’s son—and all for a little tobacco. It is not long since a “crooked” whiskey distillery, probably the ‘“‘crookedest” in the world, was dis- covered snugly dropping its stimulant among the quarries of the Sing Sing Prison. What a chemist the thief might have made who compounded his illegal “mash” out of the prison offal and im- provised a still out of an old kettle till he was able to run off his five gallons ata time and make his fellow convicts and a deputy warden or two merry under otherwise de- pressing circumstances while making a little money for himself The state of discipline these instances suggest is far from gratifying, but they show how painful and laborious are the pursuits of crime. No tools are so well made as those of the burglar; no engravers more expert than those of the counterfeiter. They are patient and painstaking, and nearly always have more thought visible in their work than is seen in that of the average honest craftsman, but they spend the best of their lives in jail, and for the week or two of wild debauchery that follows a successful coup they have years and years on prison diet. Victor Hugo in “Les Misérables” paiats vivid pictures of the year-long minute toil of the convicts in the galleys who, stroke by stroke, day after day, make a fine saw from a piece of watch spring, who cut a large sou in two and make a box out of it to hold the saw, leaving no trace of the work upon the coin, and who with this tiny instrumept begin painfully and slowly to cut their way out of their chains, and when all this is done to know that their chances of being shot or drowned in the attempt to escape are two to one, and the chances of being recaptured if they are not killed ninety-nine in a hun- dred. The mind recoils from the romancer's picture of exquisitely painful toil and ago- nized hope in the gloom of the prison ship, but, by the light of the nickel makers of the Ohio Penitentiary, those who know nothing of the esoteric mysteries of prison life, may see how feasible is the process Jean Valjean describes, It would be easy to construct a comic commentary on prison discipline out of the two cases we have mentioned, as, for instance, why should not Sing Sing have a counterfeit nickel mint in addition to its whiskey still? Whv ahonld ee aan not Sing Sing trade its “crooked” whiskey against the “queer” nickels of Columbus? But the sad social problem behind it all is inexorably serious. Why do men devote such lifelong pains to crime? How does the transgressor’s path of rocks and thornsallura men to follow it, and even when forcibly turned from it to plunge into it again at the first opportunity? The search for an answee would take us to the very roots of that puzzle of the ages—the human mind. ‘The Romance of Charley Ross. The latest developments in the Roaw abduction case are not less remarkable than the story of the abduction itself. It is now nearly two years since the child was stolen, In the beginning, so far as the public knew, the whole case was shrouded in impenetrable mystery, and in spite of those marvellous letters, of which Mr. Ross was the recipient— marvellous alike for their audacity and brutality—the police were in as great ignor- ance as the public. It seems incredible that this should have been the case, but at no time has ordinary sagacity been shown by the detectives in following up the clews in their hands. Had there been any sach thing as police efficiency in this country the romance of Charley Ross would not need to be written, forthen Mosher and Douglass would have been arrested and the lost child recov- ered long before the two burglars met their fate at the Van Brunt mansion at Bay Ridge. It is owing entirely to the imbecility of the police, especially of this city and of Philadel- phia, that the search for the boy has becoma hopeless, and it is not surprising, under all the circumstances, that even children practise on the credulity of Americaw policemen. We may regard the boy Blanchard, who undertook to personata Charley Ross, as a wonderful specimen ot the youthful and precocious liar; but hia fairy tales would never have been told it an absolute want of sagacity had not char- acterized the management of the searcle after the lost child from the very outset. Even the lad’s foolish story, full as it was of unblushing falsehoods, left days of doubt a to young Blanchard’s identity, and his fabri- cations found many believers in spite of their improbability. For this very reason the St. Albans episode is a wonderful addition to the romance of the Ross mystery. In itself the abduction was heartrending, and the let- ters of the kidnappers made it even mora terrible. The tragic death of Mosher and his companion and the subsequent convic- tion of Westervelt added to the interest as well as the terror of the romance. All the feelings of grief and fear which had been excited in the beginning and were kept alive by means of these unexpected events wera revived by the frequent stories of the finding of Charley Ross. The latest story, and wa trust the last—the fabrications of the Milford lad—is worse than any that preceded it, mostly because of the universal belief in it and the unjust reflections which grew out ot it. Let us hope that the romance of Charley Ross is ended, unless, indeed, the policecan clear up the mystery. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, incident. Disraeli is seventy. Jowell has rheumatism. Pauperism spreads in China. Miss Braddon will visit America. Tilton has gained fifteen pounus, Forney will be here in February. San Francisco expects a big fire. Arizona is receiving large colonies. Poot Swinburne has turned Protestant. Osgood begins The American Architect, England is not preparing for actual war. San Francisco grows too fast for stability. The Pope biessed a Milwaukee girl's voice. Better class of Englishmen tike Virginia Kighty-three thousand Americans are m a :rs, Thirty-Qve thousand tons of coal cost one life. A. T. Mitchell, of Milwaukee, is worth $10,000,000. Theological students decrease in numbers in Ger- many. Murat Halstead says present tax laws are millstonc@ about our necks, John Forsyth edits bis paper and servos in the Alas ama Legislature. As European trade declines European cabinets tat, about neighborly war. What Washington really needs is a statesman whe does not have to live up to bis wife’s gros grain silk. M. Taine says that these men sproad the eerms of the French revolution :—Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot and Boasseau. Tennessee papers propose to reduce the interest on, government securities so as to compel capital to invest in Tennessee. Haywood, a California bonanzaire, defends himsel; trom his wife's application for divorce by saying, ‘Lect her have it," Califormia desires the whipping post for cruel hus. bands) Why not, also, revivo the ducking stool fur certain wives? Postmaster General Jewell ts still suffering fror rheumatism and was not able to be at the snp yesterday. Tho duties of Postmaster General wei pertormed by the First Assistant, Mr. Marshall. A. H. Stephens continues in a very feeble state fromm disease in one of his langs. Though he eats and sleep well he does not regain his strength. It is feared ha will not be able to take his seat in Congress during the present session. All over the country the ery is that local—that ie city, township and county—governments have got thet people into immense debt But boards of frecholdera and of supervisors wore no wiser thao other mon im the recent flush times. St Louts is every day Interested by the colamo of paragraphs in the Gtobe-Demoerat, which tu every de- partment ts one of the spiciest papers west of the Alleghanies. [tis pleasant to know that St. Louis may’ sread the “Personals” of the Naw Yor« Henato shroug td the columns of the @lobe- Democrat, | The Rocky Mountain News of Denver, Col.g, makes a (ne, enterprising columa of “General andi Particalar,” mainly from the New Yore Haraco ‘Per~ sonais.” The News shows its sonse in this respect, andi is such s brilliant, enterprising paper in ali other re~ — Tocqueville based the beaaty of American democracy ' upon township government. For a great many years, while demagogues were screaming about the evils of er ee oo aliacs Gee cee al yet, during those years, the townships were, alter thet swoetest home rule fashion, piling up townstip debug that the people do not know bow to pay. CHARLES O'CONOR. Fort Wasnimotox, Jan, 6—11:06 P. Mf. Mr. O’Conor shows but little change since yesterday. ‘The tendency, however, is toward improvement FUNERAL OF EX-GOVERNOR COLID« FORD. . New Baovoro, Mass., Jan. 6, 1876. The funeral of ex-Governor Cliford this alternoom was attended bya Jarge number of distinguished pers sons and many employés of the Boston and Providenc@, Railroad, of which the deceased gentieman was Preste dent. In addition, the population of New ited In the last tribute of respect. A special train cars (rom Bostou brought an immense de’ beste ig ig were a! the ravi oon, contributiny . Private wore Se tid tase teabers aid pubite gierwards 1G the Tlaitarian chureh. Rev. B ‘oficlauina, i 4 , ‘ j