The New York Herald Newspaper, March 8, 1876, Page 6

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, | PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY a. eens lg in the ’ ‘our cents per copy. ware ns cas per year, or one dollar per | month, free of postage. | All business, news letters or telegraphic | despatches must be addressed New Yorx | Henan. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. ‘ Rejected communications will not be-re- | tarned. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 112SO0UTH SIXTH STREET. 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. | VOLUME XLI.- AMUSEMENTS THIS ~ APTERNOON AND EVENING. | UNION SQUARE THEATRE ROSE MICHEL, at 8P. M. ACADEMY OF MUSIC. FAUST, at 8 P.M. Clara Louise Kellogg. PARK THEATRE, BRASS, at 8P.M. George Fawcett Rowe. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE. PIQUE, at 8P.M. Matinee at 1 P.M. Fanny Davenport. THIRTY-FOURTH © I OPERA HOUSB. VARIETY at & P.M. Matinee at 2 P.M. BOW: PEEP O'DAY, at. M. PARISTA VARIETY. at 8 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO MIN! BOOT! JULIUS CASAR, at 8 OLY VARIETY ,at® P.M. Matinee TIVOLI THEATRE. VARIETY, at § P.M. TWENTY THIRD STREET THEATEB, CALIFORNIA MINSTR: P.M, we TOREE FAST MEN, at WALL. Ss THEATRE. SHE STOOPS TO CON S¥.M. Lester Wallack. TONY PASTORS NEW THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P. M. CHICKERING HALL. TLLUSTRATED LECTURE, at 8 P.M. Professor Crom- well. GERMANIA THEATRE. DER VEILCHENPRESSER, at 8 P. M. CHATEAU MABILLE VARIETIES. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. BROOKLYN THEATRE. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, From our reports this morni are that the weather to-day wil rainy. the probabilities be cloudy and Tur Henavp ny Fast Mam Trarns.— News- dealers and the public throughout the country will be supplied with the Dar.y, Wrexiy and Sunpax Henaxp, free of postage, by sending their orders direct to this office: Wart Srnzrr Yzsrenpay.—Stocks were generally lower, and the market was irregu- lar. Gold declined from 114 5-8 to 1143-8. Government and investment bonds steady. Money on call easy at 3 a 3 1-2 per cent, To Crose tHe CentenniaL Exnrprrion on Sunday, the only day the people have for their own, would be an act of Pecksniffian How Personal Government Has Grown Up in the Republican Party. In discussing a question which causes such profound apprehension and alarm and occa- sions such doubts as to the stability of our free popular institutions, we make the re- publican party prominent only because that party has been so long in power. There is no good reason for believing that the democratic party would have escaped these great dangers and scandals if it had had the same oppor- tunities and been exposed to the same temp- tations, The underlying causes of the hideous corruption which infects official life are too deeply seated to permit us to fix the responsibility on any one man or on any particular party, except on the ground that this man and this party have happened to have control of the government during the period when the upas tree of cor- ruption has put forth its blossoms and filled the political atmosphere with its poisonous odors. We cannot know whether the democratic party and a demo- | cratic President would not have yielded to the same evil influences if they had been subject to the same powerful temptations. We have never had any personal hostility to President Grant, but we had an early and clear perception of the political currents on which he was drifting, and when we raised the cry of warning and sent it far and wide through the country it was more because we feared the system than the man. Ifthe circumstances of the country and the opportunities of its Chief Magistrate were the same now as in the time of Jackson or Fillmore or Buchanan the warnings of the Henarp against Cesarism and a third term would have been as wild and chimerical as our contemporaries deemed them when they were first uttered. But we saw what our inconsiderate critics failed to see, that the country had passed into a new era and that General Grant was exposed to a kind of temptation which had never beset his predecessors. We must own that we did not consider him a man of super- human virtue. It would be absurd to ex- pect that the ordinary run of our Presidents will differ from the common type of able, ambitious men. It seemed evident that in the era which had dawned any self-seeking politician of the stamp usually elected to the Presidency could not be ex- pected to withstand the new assaults on his virtue, and we feared that General Grant would be borne away by the tide. The American press and people, who at first greeted our warnings with a chorus of scoffs, gradually came round to our view, and for the last eighteen months the third term ques- tion has been the staple of political discus- sion in all the organs of public opinion. Until the indictment of General Babcock there was no abatement of the third term alarm, but the recent astounding exposure of Secretary Belknap has, perhaps, given a quietus to the discussion in that particular form. Our contemporaries, who were reluctantly forced to admit the exceeding gravity of the third term question, never seemed to under- stand the real grounds on which the Heratp started the discussion. They stuck in the bark of the question and did not penetrate to its pith, They looked upon President virtue. If it isto be closed on Sunday it might as well be closed altogether, and it is likely that its success or failure will depend upon the determination of this question. Crvgtty to Tux CuiipKex.—Let the Leg- islature pass the bill providing for the pre- vention and punishment of cruelty to chil- dren. Legislation is needed to stop the in- human and immoral traffic in the lives of the young. It is as disgraceful as negro slavery or the coolie trade, and New York should at once remove the stain from her civilization. Mr. McKar, the shipbuilder, who is to be summoned before the House committee ap- pointed to inquire into alleged swindling in the Navy Department, declared, “I am afraid of no one but the Almighty.” We are glad of this, for the trouble with most of the favorites of the administration is that they have not had ‘‘the fear of the Lord before their eyes.” Tae Coat Mrxe Exptosion.—It is marvel- lous that the tremendous explosion at the Prospect shaft of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, near Pittston, Pa., was unattended by loss of life. The spectacle must have been grand and terrific, and our correspond- ent gives a vivid- description of the excite- ment caused by the subterranean noises and illuminations, which were heard and seen by the people for miles around the mines. The early reports of the damage to property were exaggerated. - Tue Spanish Appness.—The address of the Spanish Cortes tothe King was read yesterday, It congratulates him that Don Carlos has left the country without obtain- ing any concessions which might encourage a new rebellion, and expresses the opinion that peace in Spain will be followed speedily by the end of the war in Cuba. It believes that the differences between the United States and Spain will soon be adjusted. Spain has not fora long while been able to make such a satisfactory exhibit of her affairs. eae Tax Reront of the Rapid Transit Com- missioners will be delivered to the Judges of the Supreme Court to-day, and at the | General Term those who oppose the route | selected will have a full opportunity of pre- senting their objections. The report takes strong ground in favor of an elevated road on Third avenue, and justly says that its ad- Grant as an exceptional man, and failed to take account of the exceptional circum- stances which were the real source of dan- ger. The constantly accumulating evidence that General Grant was seeking a third nom- ination was the only thing which changed their scoffs to fears, and none of them evinced any perception of the logic of events and the deeper philosophy which prompted the alarm and made it reasonable. When the Heratp started the cry it saw, or at least thought it saw, that the altered condition of the country exposed President Grant to a powerful temptation which had never beset his predecessors. The seeds of our present dangers were sown in the begin- ning of Jackson's administration. He was the first President who introduced the spoils system by making wholesale removals of his political opponents and filling their places with his partisans. The federal patronage was then so moderate that the evil was scarcely felt ; but wise and foreseeing statesmen pointed out the consequences to which the spoils system inevitably tended. In 1835 a committee of the Sehate, of which Mr. Calhoun was chairman, made a vigorous report, forcibly predicting the consequences of the spoils system. ‘If we turn onr eyes to the government,” said Mr. Calhoun, ‘ce shall find that, with this in- crease of patronage, the entire character and structure of the government itself is under- going a great and fearful change, which, if not arrested, must, at no distant period, concentrate all its powers in a single depart- ment.” This result might have been postponed for a long period if the civil war had not intervened to mul- tiply the dangerous patronage of the federal government five or six fold. This enormous increase was a hotbed in which all the worst tendencies of the spoils system were forced into premature growth; it hastened the results which sagacious states- men predicted at the beginning. The Heratp recognized the depth of their in- sight and the force of their reasoning, and its warning articles on Cwsarism were merely an application of the political philosophy of the profound statesmen of a former genera- tion to the new circumstances created by the civil war. We are aware that it may be said that the enormous increase of federal expenditures and patronage began with the first year of the war, and that the alarming growth of personal government was deferred until five vantages to the whole city would far outweigh any temporary losses. It is to be remem- bered that if we were to wait till everybody is satisfied with a route we should never have rapid transit at all. Tue Aproixtment or Jupcr Tart, of Ohio, as Secretary of War is another of General Grant’s experiments, and one which we | hope will be successful. The new member of the Cabinet had no} celebrity till now, but he has an un-| blemished private and public reputation | for integrity and ability. Of his special fitness for this offic little is as yet known, If ho goes to work earnestly to purify the War Department and redeem it from the | disgrace cast upon it by his predecessor the @bole conntry will sustain him, | germinate. | ministration the in the stupendous struggle, and while it was | | doubtful whether we were to have a country or six years after the establishment of peace. | But there are good reasons why the seeds lay | so long in the ground before they began to During President Lincoln's ad- | public mind was absorbed to govern the President was not tempted to strengthen his personal authority. More- over, Mr. Lincoln was a_ peculiar and exceptional man, whose simple tastes and harrowing anxieties precluded | him from giving much thonght to self- aggrandizing projects. President Johnson, his successor, could not bave perverted the colossal federal patronage to personal ends of his administration he put himself in an attitude of sharp and bitter hostility to Con- | gress, and personal government is impossi- ble without the complicity of Congress, or at | least of the Senate. It was not till Presi- dent Grant came in that the enormously in- creased patronage of the government | could be made an engine of per-| sonal ambition. He was not absorbed | and depressed by the responsibilities of a | doubtful struggle, like President Lincoln ; he was not thwarted by the malignant oppo- sition of a hostile Congress, like President | Johnson ; he had accepted the Presidency, | not as a public trust, butas a reward for | past services, and it required no prophetic | gift, but only an ability to estimate motives | under circumstances of peculiar temptation to enable the Hxnarp to foresee the mon- strous strides toward personal government of which it warned the country in its early ar- ticles against Cesarism. It was not so much our purpose to inculpate General Grant as to | expose the dangerous tendencies inherent in | the new era of our polities, which would have created a Cesar if they had not found one. President Grant is the mere creature | of circumstances, and personal government | has so fatally overshot the mark by his blind tolerance of corruption that it only remains | to oppose the system of which accidental circumstances made him the representative. Any average republican Président would probably pursue the same course, althongh | he might practise more caution in the appointment of relatives and cronies | and take more pains to guard his ad- | ministration against exposures. resident Grant's heedlessness has been an advantage, | because it has enabled the country to dis- | cover the hideous deformities of the personal government system, and has crippled the | influence of General Grant in the approach- ing Presidential election. But the system is not destroyed because General Grant has fallen into discredit. If he should have a republitan successor that successor would be exposed to the same temptations and would be supported by the same allies in both houses of Congress. It is not merely Grant, it is Morton and Sherman and Conkling and Frelinghuysen and Logan and Blaine and Jones and Ferry and Cameron and the other republican lead- | ers that are responsible for the system of personal government which has debauched our politics. Every one of these leaders has had hisown separate share of the patron- age and has been bribed to support the bad nominations of the President by his consent to nominate their favorites on the understanding that they would make no opposition to his personal favorites. The federal appointments and patronage are managed on a system of give and take, which subverts the intention of the constitution that the President should make all nomina- tions on his own responsibility, and that the Senate should confirm or reject them with- out regard to any other consideration than their fitness. The appointments are really managed in pursuance of a bargain | that the President should be permitted to put his pets and favorites in office, irre- spective of their qualifications, in exchange for his complaisance in nominating the pets and favorites of leading republican Senators, The federal patronage is treated as a huge political placer, to be apportioned out and di- vided between the President and the repub- lican Senators, on 1 ‘corrupt system which makes each member of the pool the sole judge as to whom he will put in office. The republican Senators are as blamable as Grant for this scandalous state of things, and the Henratp will be no party to making him a scapegoat for the political sins of his repub- lican confederates. We have no hostility to individuals, but we desire to see the whole corrupt system plucked up by the roots. Cheap Gas for New York as Well as Brooklyn. Why should the people of New York pay an exorbitant price for poor gas when they can obtain better light at reasonable cost from kerosene or good oil? Gas is such a great convenience that it almost entirely ban- ished lamps and candles from our housés, But it is not. convenient for the consumer to | pay an enormous bill quarterly for an illu- | minating gas of which the quality has greatly deteriorated in the last few years, and which, in many cases, only serves to make darkness visible. Nor does he wish to pay for gas he | has never used, the quantity for which he is | taxed being measured by false meters. The | result is that in all our cities there is a re- volt against the gas monopolies, and, as pro- test, argument and appeal have all been unavailing, the people have wisely adopted more effectual means of bring- ing their plunderers to terms, In the Revolution our great grandmothers patrioti- cally covenanted not to use British tea, and now thousands cf public spirited citizens | refuse to burn gas, and have returned to lamps. Elsewhere we give some important and interesting information of the move- ment in New York and other cities. In | Brooklyn the municipal government is seriously considering a proposal to use kero- sene in the public buildings, and the stock of the gas companies has perceptibly de- clined. The effect will be that gas will come down, We shall have cheaper gas here very | soon if every victim of the gas companies’ extortionate prices will send away his meter and use the improved lamps which are now so common. It is the policy of the gas com- | panies to keep us in darkness in respect to their gains and our lo: but they have gone too far in their greed, and the public will submit no longer. Tar Frencn Assempry will meet to-day. | It is said that President MacMahon will not | {send a Message. An English paper is authority for the statement that M. Dufaure demands that the Cabinet shall be formed exclusively from the Lett, in which event | the AssemMy will have some exciting scenes. | The action of the republican union and the | opposition of M. Thiers and Jules Simon to its policy show that the division of the re- | publicans is likely to be a decided one. | Tae Exe or Price Mian would be a | startling event in the Eastern war, and if it be trne that he has been escorted to tie | frontier and a republic proclaimed then | Servia is determined upon open war. Such an act would be in harmony with the history \ if he had been inclined. At the beginning | and spirit of the Servians, but the rumor needs to be confirmed. | placed. | oners for that purpose in Spain, The Other Side of It. There is one phase of this unfortunate business in Washington that should not be forgotten. The moral will, no doubt, come tous in many a form that it all comes from the tendency to display which has taken possession of our modern Washington society, and which has become a feature of this administration. Ever since the open- ing of Congress we have had a succession of stories about the social glories of the season. Columns have been printed about the dia- monds and laces, the dinners and recep- tions, the beanty of air women, the balls and the routs, the constant flood of fashion and social emulation, We seemed to recall all that we have read of the gandiest and most immoral days of the French Re- gency. If any fact is apparent now, as it has been ever since the panic of 1873, it is that we sbould “ have to take in sail and pass a little time in economy and a modest life. For months the duty of coming down to “hard pan,” as it is called in the homely and expressive dialect of the mining regions, has been the duty of all classes. We have had a shrink- ing of values in some forms of property amounting to bankruptcy, a lowering of | wages and a universal movement toward economy. In this example, at all times com- mendable, but neyer more so than at the close of a panic that brought with it wide- spread ruin upon thousands, and the effects of which are still fresh, we have had no sup- port from Washington, Our rulers, who are supposed to have an interest in the wellbeing of the country and to stimulate economy by thrifty examples, have been as lavish as | old Tweed in their displays. No one has been more conspicuous than the unhappy and miserable outcast who yesterday was Secretary of War. The Secretary of War came from a modest station—an officer of the revenue, we believe— who, in the army, had won certain military prestige by his amiability and his desire to be a “hail fellow” with the old army cliques. He was nominated to tho Cabinet on the strange theory which animated the President at the outset of his administration that it was not necessary to have statesmen, but staff officers as his constitutional ad- visers ; not leaders of the party who had served it for years and were high in its con- fidence, but cronies. Belknap was among the most attractive of this class. He had no party record. We question if he knew to which party he belonged when he was summoned to his high station. Instead of gracing the office it was an extraordinary honor tohim. He had no in- come, his life had been spent in the army and in the revenue service, and when he en- tered on the duties of his high station he was a very young man. Instead of follow- ing the examples of frugal men and giving himself solely to his duties and to those modest courtesies which are open to the poorest of our citizens, and form the most delightful forms of social intercourse when they are inspired by good taste and educa- tion and a pure, virtuous life, the new Secre- tary could not resist the attractions of his place. He would stand well with the Jenkinses of society, with the curled darlings who float around Cabinet parlors. That fame that comes from constant news- paper notoriety, so intoxicating to weak minds, became precious to him. A life like this—a life of excitement and celebrity--re- quires a large income. It involves a fine house, retinues of attendants, horses and carriages, and precious stones. The poor Secretary, who a few years since was glad to collect the revenues in an lowa district, found himself face to face with a terrible temptation—terrible in this, that it appealed to his vanity, to a domestic craving for show, to his amiability even, his desire to stand well with men, to be a generous liver and giver. And since no other method was open, since the income allowed by law for his office was insufficient, he took to plun- dering the poor soldiers on the Plains. It was not merely crime, but the meanest kind of crime. That madame might be the centre of the grand salon; that her form should radiate with jewelled glory ; that the wines might be rare and the viands choice ; ! that this most fortunate adventurer should not only be the Secretary of War, but a leader in a false and showy society, he would descend to robbing the poor soldier of his scanty pay. Could anything be meaner than this? Could anything show the degra- dation that has fallen upon our society more clearly than that these things should be toler- ated? Scarcely a day passes when we do not hear of the achievements of heroes of society who only a few years ago were glad to earn a small salary, and for whose sudden wealth there is no means of accounting. | How did Babcock, the modestly paid en- gineer, find his cottage by the sea? How did Shepherd amass his vast fortune? What affluent goddess has showered plenty upon Robeson? How is it that Senators and Representatives grow rich upon the small salaries of their station? We know (alas! how sadly we know) the source of Belknap's social distinction, his dinners, his ronts and magnificence. If we ever know the trnth about the others we shall probably have revelations as painful and astounding. General Sherman Speaks Out. In another column appears an interview with General Sherman. It is important to the people. Of General Beauregard, who recently attacked him, he speaks in words of strong personal praise. General Sherman , claims that he himself employed rebel pris- oners to remove torpedoes placed in the route of the federal army, because those | prisoners would know better than his own | soldiers where the explosive missiles were Lord Wellington employed pris- | The rebel prisoners removed the torpedoes without loss of life. Concerning his ‘‘Memoirs” the General NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY; MARCH 8, 1876.-TRIPLE SHEET. | the facilities of communication had received | of a bad harvest. | back and rebuild their houses when the lava says that he is correcting them as fast as | critigisms are published, and announces that his object in writing was to show that | political mancnvres sometimes destroyed | the efficiency of his army. Speaking of the Southern generals Sher- man highly commends them, going so far as to acknowledge that he has recently recom- mended Braxton Bragg for a position in the army of the Khedive. He can recommend anybody but Jeff Davis, who must remain | tion are responsible for the lives of these | ture of a startling catastrophe. | just as might a ship’s crew in midocean somewhat unnecessarily as an object of hate to the Northern people. He says the South- erners fight like lively Frenchmen, and the Northerners like stubborn Englishmen, and he infers that united they would fight like the devil. Most important of all is General Sherman's unequivocal declaration that he would refuse @ nomination for the Presidency. Military men are not fitted to rule in civil govern- ment, and so he thinks he would not make a good President. While praising Blaine and Hayes he confesses his love for Morton. The Old Story at the Home for the Aged. When will these horrible incidents cease to darken the history of our boasted civiliza- tion? Is the progress to which we point with so much pride not yet sufficiently devel- oped to insure the safety of a few aged and infirm recipients of our charity, or is a ter- rible death to be regarded as among the probabilities in store for them when they accept our protection and submit to our care? These questions present themselves forcibly for our consideration when we read the shocking details of yesterday's holocaust in the Brooklyn Home for the Aged. This unparalleled calamity by which a score of poor creatures, already trembling on the brink of the grave, are hurried into eternity by the most terrible form in which death presents itself, leads us to doubt whether we are living in an age in any degree advanced beyond the barbaric past in its appliances for the protection of human life. The evi- dence gathered from the panic-stricken sur- vivors shows beyond a doubt that the exist- | ence of fire was discovered in ample time to permit of the escape of all the inmates if any proper means of escape had been pro- vided for them, The only means of | egress from the building was the burning stairway, which was impracticable under the circumstances, and the windows of the several stories, which only meant death in another form. There were no fire escapes attached to the building by which the in- mates could flee from the devouring flames ; | so they were forced to take temporary refuge on the roof and rely on the aid that could be rendered them from outside by means of the Fire Department ladders. Setting aside for the present the question of the origin of the fire, and which will doubtless be attrib- uted to some unexplainable cause, for the flames have devoured all the evidence as well as the victims, we must reiterate our protest against the damnable negligence that devotes human beings to destruction when the expenditure of a few hundred dollars would render life secureeven from fire. In- stead of compelling the half asphyxiated inmates of this Home (?) for the Aged to leap from third story windows or to trust their trembling limbs on ladders erected against the roof, why were there not fireproof iron stairways affixed to the main walls, or, better still, a detached turret stairway communi- eating with each dormitory, by which the occupants could quietly retire in case ef a sudden alarm of fire? The house was not a prison, that so much precau- tion should be adopted against escape. Even a well ordered menagerie would present more evidences of humane foresight than has this ‘Home for the Aged.” If the old and infirm are to be cremated. when they attain a certain age or degree of physical debility, why not adopt at once the customs ofthe aborignal Indians, and scalp our prisoners on Black- well’s Island, eat dog at our daily meals, and compel our legistators to wear war paint when they assemble at Albany to enact laws for our government and protection. Shame rests on the head of every individiual con- nected with the bringing about of this catas- trophe. The architect who planned the building and those who controlled its erec- poor victims of ignorance and misplaced economy. We recently suggested the pro- priety of placing the erection of public structures under the superintendence of competent State inspectors. Brooklyn’s latest horror shows how necessary it will be to include even ‘homes for the aged” in the list of edifices needing such a super- vision. Starving Danes. The report of the condition of the people of the Westmanna Islands presents the pic- Five hun- dred people at their homes, by their own firesides, have probably starved to death, with their stores exhausted. This is such an event as might have occurred and doubt- less frequently did occur to isolated commu- nities in remote districts in the ages before the development that has characterized them in modern times. All the inhab- itants of a valley shut out by their mountain barrier from the world at large, at too great a distance from other communities for assistance to be brought by primitive roads, saw starvation in the winter as the necessary consequence But railroads and steam- boats have made all the nations one com- munity in the presence of such dangers, ex- cept where men are placed in such excep- tional circumstances as these northern islanders, for to them the wintry sea has been the same impassable barrier that it always was, Civilization has not bettered | their condition, and even calamity will not teach them the wisdom of going to other | countries; for, if a few only survive, they will hold on to their isolated home with all its possible horrors, just as the Italian pens- ants, driven from the sides of Vesuvius, go cools. We Grve THe Fort Story to-day of a terri- | ble accident which occurred on Sunday night near Harper's Ferry on the Valley branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Atrain of cars fell through a bridge, and eleven persons were killed and others seri- | ously injured. The condition of this bridge will, no doubt, be investigated when suits for damages are brought before the courts. Those who intend to sne the company should obtain the testimony of competent engineers and Dnilders at once; for the | strength of the ease depends upon the weak- | ness of the bridge, and the safety of the pub- lic tpon the punishment of carelessness or neglect. | much more freedom is enjoyed by the press there”? The War Department Cabal. Some Congressional action should now be taken toward the re-establisment of the headquarters of the army at Washington. It is true that the General of the Army, in an interview, prefers to attribute his departure from the national capital to the expensiveness of living there ; but this, we believe, is an explanation that does not cover the whole case, and stands in lieu of others that the General did not care to make. But the reader will get in a letter from Washington, which we give elsewhere, a fuller view of the causes for Sherman’s march to the Missis sippi than any that the General will proba bly ever give, unless in twenty years from now he should add another volume or two to his ‘‘Memoirs.” Our letter gives an account of the cabal by which the War Department was administered; and with Belknap, Babcock, and the spall military syoo- phants of the Secretary in power, it is evident at once by what small and pitiful maneuvres they made a retreat from the capital the only course consistent with the dignity and self-respect of the commander. But the commander should be in Washing- tonand in sympathy with the ministerial head of the department, and any Secretary honestly inclined would rather desire than oppose this. A Hail Columbia Canvass. A correspondent whose mind is evidently in a good condition for celebrating our cen tennial year writes:— Pur.apecvura, Feb, 28, 1876. To rue Epitor ov THe HERALD:— 1 bog to thank you for your inspiring words in favor of a centennial canvass for the Presidency. Iam aw old line whig, and I voted for Bell and Everett in that movement belore the war to bring tho old ship of state around to its moorings. But the people smelled the battle afar and would not be content with peace. But now we have another generation—a generation wired of war. Cap not we, therefore, have a centennial Hail Columbia canvass, with en in nomination who have tne true spirit of the Revolution? I like the idea of Adams andJay. They are glorious names. They make | the blood of every American tingle with pride, kinupe is they are Christian men, who fear the Lord and kee; commandments and are not afraid to proclaim it im the housetops. If this is so and we van have a old fasbioned Hail Columbia canvass, with Chrisuan candidates tn the fleld this centennial year, there ma: be an awakening that will be felt for a generation, We could have the aid of our Christian divines, of such mes as Moody and Sankey, in the canvass. Go on, Mr. Editor, in your good work. Rouse the Christian patriotic men ot America to their duty—the duty of rescuing this glorious country from the thieves and picayune politicians who have so long ruled it. A PENNSYLVANIA QUAKER. We cannot answer explicitly our corre spondent’s question as to whether Charles Francis Adams and John Jay are members oj any church that would justify the interfer. ence of Brother Moody in their canvass. Our impression is that both of these dis- tinguished citizens are active and prominent church members. So that if we are to have men who would excite the religious enthusiasm of the country they may do ag well as any other. We admit the force of having a Christian man in authority. Most of our Presidents have been members of some denomination. But our idea was more one of patriotism than religion. We cannot fail to remember that among those wha signed the great chart of our liberty, the Declaration of Independence, were Wither- spoon, the Presbyterian; Jefferson, the liberal, and Carroll, the Catholic. It was not a religious but a patriotic revolution, and in this centennial canvass we should have men in nomination who would com- mand the suffrages of all sects, from Brother Moody to His Eminence the Cardinal. What we want is a canvass that will bring out the whole spirit of the Revolution. The way to do this is to nominate some one of the men we have with us whose names will recall the old times. We name Charles Francis Adams and John Jay as candidates who may be acceptable to the republicans. But the democrats are no less fortunate in their opportunities. They havea fine col- lection of statesmen in whose veins runs the best blood in the nation. There, for in« stance, is John Quincy Adams, of Boston, commonly called ‘Johnny Q.” There are the Lees and the Hamptons of the South, There is Carroll, of Maryland. There are those in Virginia in whose veins runs the blood of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and their compatriots. Pennsylvania is rich in names hallowed with the memories of the Revolution. So we may go over the whole list, and discover hidden away from the glare of newspaper notoriety some noble citizen whose merits have not been known, but who has the fitness for this high station. The time has come to throw the trimmers and tricksters overboard. If our people are only true to themselves and the memories of this glorious time we may yet have a canvass worthy of the centennial year of our liber- ties. Queen Vicronta so seldom consents to be seen in public that her appearance at the opening of the new wing of a hospital caused a general holiday in London. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Mrs. Belknap is a Presbyterian, Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are Marshing. The new color is “cream.” That is @ big thing on | fee. Since the Utjca Observer went for Conkling he »neg: Jects his spit-curls, Judge Hoar now says he can’t fiddle, because Morrill has got all the rosin, Marsh is now called the second George Washington because he could not tell a jie. Marsh is by some people cailed tho more despicable thiet because he even stole away. The Kansas City Zimes idiot calls his column “Cast of Thought.” That is all in his eye. It isclaimed that Jadgo Jeremiah Black has declined | to be a connsel for the late Secretary, Sam Bowles is very mad because a tailor forgot to put a pistol pocket In C, F, Adams’ pantaloons, A great many people aro urging that the fall of Bele knap means the speody revival of the whig party, No. 1 ‘hall we pitch into Belknap’s baby!” No, 2, “Yes; he didn’t give us any post-tradership,” That ‘son of a lord” who fooled Buffalo so hugely has gone off so quickly that they now call him a “som of a gun.’? Mile. de la Ramé, better known to readers of sensal tional fiction as “Oulda,”’ has, it is said, lately been married to a Russian gentleman. ‘The Reveille saya there ts a gontleman in Austin who is so noted for his reserved manners that nobody ever saw him display any. A correspondent who reads that William Worth Belknap was named after a great man Sneeringly asks, “What was William Worth? Avout $20,000, Chicago Times:—Is it billiards that are “a healthy exercise” or is it the act of walking from the table te tho bar, throwing the head back and murmuring “Mm um-ain #7” Rx-Secretary Gideon Welles and Messrs, William Faxon and ugar T. Welles, formerly of the Navy De- partment, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, om the way to Washington, The Cologne Gazette says:—“If Socialist doctrines jnspire less fear in England than with the Germans, this is attributable in no slight degree to tho fact that