The New York Herald Newspaper, September 12, 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 Ve copy. Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage. All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yourke Herap. —__—___ PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO.112 SOUTH 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 “AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT, BOOTHS THEATRE. BARDANAPALUS, atSP.M. Mr. Bangs and Mrs. Agnes jooth. woop: UNDER THE GASLIGHT. PAR WEP.M. Matines at 2 RA VARIETY, at 8P. HATEAU MABILLE, VARIETY, at 87. M. Mai atz P.M. BRO DUNDREARY, at 8 OLYMPIC T VARIETY AND DRAMA, at 8 GILMOR M CONCERT, at 8P. 5 COLUMBIA 0! VARIETY, at 8 P.M, WALLAG ATRE, MRE MIGHTY DOLLAR, at8 P.M. Mr. and Mrs. Flor- inca, BOWEKY THEATRE, MOSES, at 8 P.M, Mr. John Thompson, SAN PRANCISCO MINSTRELSS wSP.M, KELLY & atSP. M, MINSTRELS, H THEATRE, THIRD A TARIETY, at 8 PM, ON SQUARE THEATRE. ats, M UNION FWO MEN OF SANDY Bat THEATI . VARIETY, at SP. M. PTH A MONEY, at 8 P.M. Ch TIVOLT VARIETY, at 8 P. M. TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, SPTEMBER 12, 1876, ~ From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cooler and partly cloudy. Wau, Srneer Yzsrerpay.—Speculation was active, and prices irregular, with a de- tlining tendency. Gold opened at 110 1-4, and closed at 110, with intermediate sales at 110 3-4 a 110,14. Government bonds were firm, on a small business. Railroad bonds were generally firm. Money on call was abundant, at 1 a1 1-2 2 per cent. Servian Prospects are reported as greatly improved upon what they were a week ago, and this is apparent from the fact that the Turks have made no real progress toward Belgrade since the battle of Alexinatz. Ir Is Anticiratep that the condition of the poor next winter will be deplorable, and the thoughts of tho charitable are already turning toward means of relief. Where em- ployment can be afforded it will be a nobler gift than chari Tur Morny Macuine ville were sentenced to.death yesterday, and will be executed on the 31st of October. It is to be hoped the legal tragedy will.end the terrible conspiracy which makes these execu- tions necessary. Coromsra’s RevoLvTion promises to be one of those chronic affairs which form the principal amusement in the Spanish Ameri- can republics, More labor and less fighting or more fighting and less talk would bea good rule for these pugnacious republicans, Sprnicas has spoken. Ina long letter to the Chairman of the Democratic State Con- vention he explains his famous ‘‘Go on and nish your ticket” despatch. The gist of his explanation is that he believed Governor Seymour would be persuaded to accept; in other words, if the Convention forced the nomination upon him there would be no way out of the dilemma. Spriggs’ explana- tion does little credit to Spriggs. Brrrens.—People of sardonic humor have intimated from time to time that the famil- iar inquiry, “What will you take to drink ?” should be, for perfect. accuracy, ‘In what form will you have your poison?” But the truth of this jest has never been shown with such brutal nakedness as in the current chronicle of the barkeeper who, mistrusting the fatality of his brandy, keeps a solution of prussic acid on the bar for the ¢oncoction of more effective beverages. It is a truth which needs to be brought to public notice occasionally by cases like the one to which we refer, that the brilliant colored fluids which decorate the average bar derive the least of their flavor from either grape or grain, but are the fabrication of so-called “liquor compounders,” and are in reality mixtures compared with which the ‘hell broth” of Macbeth’s witches might be called an innocent and nutritious soup. Have You Hearp tax News rrom Mating ?— In spite of the hopes and predictions of democratic prophets it now turns out that Maine wont Hell bent for the republicans. Every Congressional district and every county in the State, from present appearances, gave Governor Conner a majority. The republicans gained every- where, and the victory is a sweeping one, The result was one which there was every reason to expect, and it shows not only the ardor with which the republicans are entering into this campaign, but that the party is still intact. At no time since 1860 has Maine done better for the republican party, and the achievement of yesterday vir. tually decides the Presidential contest. The desire for change, upon which the demo- erats depended for success, evidently bas not taken possession of the republican majority, and so noiselessly has this victory been won that Governor Tilden’s “still hunt” is apparent only on the part of his enemies. Following so closely upon the Saratoga blunder and the result in Vermont the Maine election cannot fail thoroughly to @ishearten the democracy, making Indiana ascertain for Havesas Ohio and Pennsyl- ‘vania, NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1876—TRIPLF SHEET. The Saratoga Convention from Gov~- ernor Tilden’s Boint of View. After his triumphant nomination at St Lonis in spite of the vehement opposition from his own State, followed by an apparently cordial acceptance of the ticket by the New York State leaders, Mr. Tilden seems to have been lulled into false security. Naturally enough it did not enter his mind that any portion of the party in this State would fail to co-operate with him or evince any slackness in promoting the wishes of the Presidential candidate. The interests of the State democracy and of the city democracy had become so identified with his own that he assumed that there was no further necessity for his usual vigilance in control- ling the choice of delegates to the State Convention. For once he relaxed his activity, expecting that the prestige of his Presidential nomination would insure the zeal and partiality of the whole party. This proved to be a mistaken calculation, for when the State Convention assembled it was found that he had no power to control it. ‘here was no open op- position to him, but, on the contrary, an affectation of deference; but the candidate he was supposed to favor encountered a stiff and strenuous opposition, There was no period, from the meeting of the Convention to the wild stampede to Seymour, when Dors- heimer would not have been rejected by a decisive majority if his claims had been | brought to the test of a vote. If we were to | say that a majority was hostile to Governor Tilden the statement would be broader than | the fact ; all that is true is that the majority | refused to be influenced by his supposed | wishes, and felt no hesitation in crossing | them. Their indisposition to accept his control was not obtrusive; they had no desire to weaken or humiliate him; but it was manifest enough that thero was an absence of that subserviency to his dictation which was so marked a feature of the three preceding State conventions, a majority of whose mem- bers had been virtually selected by him- self. In forbearing to exert himself in the Assembly districts according to his wont he presumed too much on that tide of favor which would naturally be set in motion by his position in the national canvass. This unexpected attitude of the majority, made so evident by the weakness of Mr. Dorsheimer when Governor Tilden’s inti- mates and familiars were pushing him, was a revelation to the immediate friends of the Governor. Tosave him from open defeat and mortification they attempted to hide their weakness by going over en masse to Seymour and joining the stampede, The state of facts thus developed is the principal reason why Governor ‘Tilden professes to stand aloof and take no part in the selec- tion of a candidate to replace Mr. Seymour. If he could control the Convention his abstinence would be as impolitic as it is contrary to his usual practice. If he should attempt to force a candidate his opponents believe that he could not control more than one-third of the delegates, and he is too wary to make a contest against such odds. He has nothing to rely upon, except the ap- peal his friends may make to the good sense of the Convention and the fact that they can turn the scale between contesting can- didates. Among candidates gvho are his known friends he will stand perfectly nen- tral; but if an attempt is made to bestow the nomination on some democrat who has not supported his administration he will take advantage of rivalries to defeat such o choice. From his own point of view, which is not without reason, it would be a fatal blunder for the party in his own State to put for- ward a candidate who would nullify the peculiar claim on which Mr. Tilden is run- ning for the Presidency. His whole strength lies in his pretensions asia reformer. It was solely on his record as a reformer that he succeeded in getting the St. Louis nomina- tion. The most recent part of this record, and that on which he chiefly prides himself, is his onslaught on the Canal Ring and his administration as Governor. The demo- eratic party of New York cannot afford to belittle this claim nor to seem to belittle it, They could not do so without knocking his main prop from under him and bringing the whole fabric of his canvass down in ruins about his ears and theirown. To nominate acandidate for Governor who has not cor- dially supported Mr. Tilden’s administra- tion would bea proclamation by the demo- cratic party of this State that the Presiden- tial canvass rests on a false basis and that the reform issue is played out before the contest has fairly opened. This would be an act of such egregious and destruc- tive self-stultification that it is no wonder Governor Tilden deemed it impossible and accordingly took . no pains to control the choice of delegates to the Convention. To nominate a candidate for Governor who has not supported Mr. Tilden in his war on the Canal Ring would be equivalent to striking the reform flag and trampling it in the dust, and the party would thenceforward have no rallying point. If the democracy of New York treat Mr. Til- den’s vaunted reforms with contempt or seem to slight and undervalue them the campaign is lost. The party has nothing else to stand upon. On the currency question it is like | the image, mingled clay and iron, described in the sacred volume, which was easily shat- tered into fragments because the materials were so incongruous. On the Southern question the drift of public sentiment is against the democratic party. The reform issue, as represented by Governor Til- den, is the only one on which tho party has the slightest chance of carrying the Presidential election, and this chance would be utterly finng away by the nomination of a candidate who has not supported his administration. This is Governor Tilden's view, and it is likely to be the view of all impartial judges. To flout and contemn his pretensions as a reformer by presenting a candidate who has not sup- ported his measures would be an act of po- litical suicide. Most assuredly he will not permit this if he can help it; he would sooner see the Convention break up in a row. 3% The only safe thing for the Saratoga Con- vention to do when it reassembies to-morrow is to nominate some unequivocal supporter of Governor Tilden'’s reform measures, | Within this rule he will leave the Conven- tion to its free choice, and itsown good sense and perception of the necessities of the canvass should withhold it from over- passing this limit. For this Presidential canvass the party has taken the reform issue and its representative ‘for better or for worse,” and they cannot seek either an open divorce or a separation from bed and board without a scandal which will blast both him and them. He saw this so plainly that he thought it needless and superfluous to concern himself in advance about the composition of the Convention, and if the Convention fails to see it it will be a perilous blindness, If a selection is made within this limit the field of choice will be very narrow. Most of the old party leaders have looked askance at the Governor, and of the candi- dates whom he would naturally favor the list has become very small. Mr. Hewitt is inel- igible, Mr. Dorsheimer’s place on the ticket is fixed, and Mr. Robinson’s nomination is rendered impossible by the fact that one of the two prominent places is already given to aliberal republican, This reduces the choice to a very small number if a warm supporter of Governor Tilden’s reforms is to be taken. But everything is so unsettled that nobody can safely predict where the choice will fall. Turkey and Europe. Lord Derby, the British Secretary of For- eign Affairs, yesterday reccived two delega- tions of remonstrants against the Turkish authorities. He made a quaintly inade- quate defence of England’s position when he said that the British fleet was sent to Besika Bay before the outrages were com- mitted. This everybody knows, for the out- tages followed the sending that fleet as effect follows cause, and therefore neces- sarily came last. But it is in a policy which produces such results as this that Lord Derby intends to persist. He has not been changed in mind or purpose by the Bulga- rian atrocities. The Ottoman Empire, it is his belief, must be maintained, and all the power of England is to be used to maintain that Empire in Europe. With such an un- derstanding between the Porte and the English Ministry it is not surprising that the peace news from the Turkish capital has little encouragement in it. The significant announcement by cable that the party in favor of imposing severe conditions on Servia has the ascendancy in the Turkish Ministry indicates’ the peril in the present crisis of European politics. It is very natural that the party referred to should at this moment be supreme in Con- stantinople. This is what was to be expected; yet it was to be hoped that moderate counsels would find favor, and that it would be recog- nized, even in the presence of Turkish vjc- tories, that there is a definite limit to Turkish power, and therefore shou!d be to the pre- tences of those who wish to have no terms with the Christians but the test of strength and extermination: But the moral condition of the Ottoman nation is just now very much like that of a Western people under the in- fluence of a great revolutionary impulse. He who in 8 revolutionary time advises modera- tion or respect for any other ideas than those of the dominant party is a traitor, and is very fortunate if he escapes from the mob in the streets or the guillotine on the public square. For the first time in many generations a Moslem people has waged a successful war against a Christian people in Europe, and the spirit and inspiration of success in a holy war has spread wherever fanati- cism has still any vitality throughout the dominions of the Sultan. This spirit is fostered by those who utilize it to force themselves into places of power or to beat down their adversaries and get the control of the government ; and that they are now in the ascendant simply means that a revi- val of Moslemism possesses the Ottoman people. But when the men who have fos- tered this spirit come to deal with the great Powers they will be driven on to rnin by it. In their demands made at Bel- grade or Vienna or St. Petersburg they must assume the same tone which they have held at Constantinople in pan- dering to the fanatical fury; other- wise they will go down as recreant. He who had “the devil behind and the deep sea before” was in a pleasant place by com- parison with the position of a Turkish Minis- try which is the instrument of the Moslem spirit, and is driven by the Softas of Con- stantinople and confronted by the Czar of Russia, They cannot take a moderate posi- tion for fear of the power behind, and if they take any other they insure war with a Power that will be happy to repay what has been done in Bulgaria. Theso views are illustrated by the telegram which an- nounces that the first condition of pence as laid down by the Sultan’s Ministers is the new investiture of Prince Milan as the vas- sal of the Porte. This is intended as the repeal or withdrawal of that recognition of the Servian Prince as a hereditary reigning sovereign, in virtue of which Servia had practically lost the: character of a Turkish dependency and had almost taken its posi- tion as an independent State. Against this demand by Turkey the Servian Prince will, of course, plead the Treaty of Paris. Arti- cle 28 of that treaty declares that Servia “is placed henceforth under the collective guarantee of the high contracting Powers; that it will preserve, consequently, its in- dependent administration.” The proposi- tion of the Porte is, therefore, in contempt of that treaty, and this alone would be suf- ficient to secure its rejection; but it remains to be seen whether England will follow Lord Derby's logic to its logical consequences, and in upholding the Turkish claim pro- duce the war that is so much deprecated. Tne Civp Acarn.—Policemen use their clubs too freely, and some of them deserve to be made examples of. If the facts be true which are presented in another column in respect to the clubbing of Mr. Kochler, an aged German, the officer is unfit to be on the force and deserves a moro severe punish- ment than mere dismissal. The people want men, not brutes, to be in charge of their lives and property, Tne Work or Cuancine the galleries at Hell Gate was begun yesterday, and will be finished in abouta fortnight. We canonly trust that this dangerous work will be com- pleted without disaster, News from the Fie! In the special despatches to the Hzmatp from our correspondent at the camp of Gen- eral Terry on the north bank of the Yellow- stone River we are given a history of the straggling and almost objectless movements of the troops since the date of the previous information from the field. To say that this is in any way more reassuring than the news recently received from the Indian country would simply mean that we have suffered no further losses from the attacks of the Sioux, and that although our men are enduring severe privations in an inhospitable region there is a prob- ability that they will escape from the labyrinth of the “Bad Lands” before winter sets in. The operations which were com- menced about three weeks ago by the northward march of the combined col- umns from the Rosebud River, and which were intended to secure a successful con- clusion of the campaign, have resulted in nothing but hunger and misery for those engaged. No Indians were found, al- though wide ranges of country both northward and southward of the Yel- lowstone were carefully scouted by the friendly Indians and the cavalry. The magnificent combinations by which the Crook and Terry columns were to entrap the Sioux between the Yellowstone and the Mis- souri have resulted in what fishermen call a “water haul,” when they draw their empty nets on the beach. ‘Terry, disgusted with the issue of the campaign and disappointed on every side by the erratic operations of Crook, who seems to have been unwilling from the start to co-operate with his su- perior in command, has dissolved his column and sent Gibbon back with his contingent to Fort Ellis in Montana. The banks of the Yellowstone are being patrolled by small detachments of troops that are liable at any moment to be over- powered in detail by even straggling bands of Sioux. The absence of any news from Crook at Terry’s camp is easily ac- counted for. Arecent despatch shows that the former has abandoned the field on his own responsibility and ‘‘struck” to the southward toward the Black Hills, witha large number of sick in his column. One of the mysteries that will need unveiling in connection with this, the most disastrous Indian campaign that the United States has ever undertaken, is the utter absence of co- operation between the commanders. The general plan of operations we have hereto- fore condemned unqualifiedly becanse of its intrinsic absurdity, but even that was based upon the supposition that no officer in the field would sacrifice his duty to his professional vanity. The cruel’ Indian war is over and Sitting Bull has triumphed. The bones of our slaughtered soldiers lie in the bloodstained ravine of the Little Big Horn. A few troops will spend a miserable winter amid the snows of Montana watching the frozen Yellowstone, but the floods that will pour through its rocky canyons when spring returns cannot wash the stain of de- feat from our arms. “An Issue” with the Gamblers, Allen, the keeper of the place in Bleecker stre: hich was forcibly entered by the police « few nights since, is a philosopher too, it seems—somewhat in the style of the famous Jack Reynolds, of murderous mem- ory. Reynolds laid down an axiom in regard to the administration of justice in this city to the effect that ‘Hanging was played out.” He was hanged in consequence. Like many another philosopher, he perished for the truth, for his statement was accurate; but its cool recognition of the condition of justice in the city stimulated the author- ities for that occasion, and he was made an exception to his own rule. Allen, the gambler, has de- clared, as it is testified in Court, that the attempt of the police to stop his game ‘had assumed the form of an issue, and that the house should not be closed.” It is further reported that he will pursue the police authorities ‘‘on a charge of burglary.” In these declarations we get a measure of law and justice in the metropolis from the gambler’s standpoint. Plain people sup- pose that gamblers are furtive fellows who live in trepidation lest the attention of the police should be called to them, and that when the police do come around with all the majesty and authority of the law they, the said pamblers, are desirous that the earth should hide them. Such a conception is in the natural order of ideas, but how far it is from the truth is seen in the attitude of Allen. He is not a trembling fugitive. He merely has ‘‘an issue” with the police—an issue, moreover, on which he means to fight them—to resist by all the devices of the law and the lawyers, as well as through all the relations of political ter- rorism with an elective judiciary. Perjury is cheap, and he can prove what he will if he comes to court; but the impunity enjoyed by men of his class throughout the city may safely indicate that he will smooth the ruffled vanity of the police and never come into court. Allen is no doubt right. His house will, if ‘‘closed” temporarily, be open again in a few week, and flourish as hitherto, let the law be what it may. “Twid Autelme.” Nothing ever happens to thas distin. guished statesman and traveller William M. ‘Tweed that is not extraordinary. His emi- nence in public affairs, and especially in the Public Works in this city, was remarkable. His downfall was not less astonishing than his elevation. Nobody ever believed the “old man” would get to the Penitentiary, and everybody was surprised when he got out of it. His subsequent escape from Lud- low Street Jail, the secrecy of his flight, the ease with which he evaded his pursuers for many weary months, and finally his capture were all surprises. When it was announced that ‘“I'wid Autelme” was in custody the sin- gular blunder of his Spanish captors was not more ludicrous than the consternation of his former New York associates. Evidently the Spaniards believed he was the man who had confiscated Charley Ross, and, no doubt, were surprised to learn that instead he had only stolen six millions of dollars. But Tweed's old friends could not be persuaded that ‘‘Twid Autelme” was indeed the ‘‘old man.” Many of them refuse to believe even now that he has been arrested. That emi- nent statesman, Alderman Bryan Reilly, still refuses to believe it, Other eminent statesmen are equally sure he cannot be extradited, even if he has been ar- rested, forgetful that even in Spain they are anxious to get rid of New York poli- ticians. Those who are slowly coming round to accept the news as true are speculating as to the probable results. The question now is, “Will the old man squeal ?” It is wicked, we know, to use these elegant phrases of Aldermen and Sheriff's officers and Tam- many politicians generally, but they are so much better understood than the ordinary terms of speech that we are justified in their use. Yes, ‘‘I'wid Autelme” is coming back to us—coming back in time for the election, perhaps—coming back, perchance, with his little book in his pooket and a great feeling of love for Tilden in his heart, and there is no wonder that some people should like to know whether the ‘old man” will “squeal”—whether Tweed will forget his “honor” and tell what he knows. Another Interview with Grant. The free and communicative spirit which President Grant is beginning to indulge be- tokens not merely high health and good spirits in his holiday at the seaside, but a sense of relief at the prospect of putting off the burden of public cares. He is likely to prove the most entertaining and delightful of ex-Presidents, Since he rose into general notice the world has seen much of the officer and but little of the man; but when the heavy weight of responsibility is lifted from his mind we shall come to know him better as an open-hearted citizen and genial gentleman. He will retire from his long public career a comparatively young man, with his faculties in full vigor, and no other outlet for the energies of a strong nature than pleasant social intercourse, If he hada taste for literature that might be a resource for beguiling his leisure, and he might occupy himself in writing memoirs of his remarkable life and the great transactions in which he has borne so conspicuous and controlling a part. But as books do not attract him and his pen will be idle his chief resource in retirement will be a liberal intercourse with his fellow citizens, to whom he will have so much to impart from the stores of his rich and varied experience. He will spend a year or two in foreign travel, and then make’ his home in Washington, where he will have opportunities for all the social intercourse he desires with the most distinguished people of the country. After so early a re- tirement-from a life full ofactivity and vicis- situdes President Grant could not be con- tent in a small town, as he has never culti- vated the pursuits which furnish pleasant occupation in seclusion. He prefers Wash- ington to New York, both for economy and because he has lived long enough in Wahington to acquire a fixed local attachment. Considering how dependent ho will be on sochl life he has made a wise choice, and he is likely to be more sought and visited than any ex- President has been before him. The whole country will be glad to note the lightness of spirits which he seoms to feel at the pros- pect of putting off the harness he has so long ‘worn. His pleasant domestic ties and the freedom of a wide social intercourse will probably make his years of retirement the happiest of his life, crowned, as they will be, with falness of public honors and acon- sciousness of great services. In this new interview the President ex- presses himself with perfect frankness on several topics of current interest, such as the prospects of political parties, the Indian war, his reasons for removing Mr. Jewell; on all of which he is as naive and artless as if he had no thought which he could wish to con- ceal. We need not summarize this attrac- tive interview, since nobody will pass it unread. President Civil Service Reform the Issue. There is one hopeful sign for reform about the speeches of such men as ex-Senator Schurz and ex-Governor Cox in the West. Mr. Schurz takes Governor Hayes at his word about civil service reform and urges citizens to support him on the distinct ground of his promises in this matter. Mr. Cox takes the same ground, and both make this the prominent issue in the campaign. That is right. The country needs nothing so much asa thorough reform of the civil service. This will carry with it most other reforms, Make skill and capacity the tests, give permanence to those officials who possess them, and not only will the public service be carried on more economically and with greater ability, but the President, his Cabinet and members of the two houses will no longer have most of their time taken up with applica- tions for office, and will have strength and leisure to consider the great interests of the public. Both parties promise reform of the civil service. We hope the speakers of both sides will take up the question, and give it the prominence which it deserves before the people. A genuine and immediate reform of the civil service will settle the Southern troubles without the need of legislation or interference of any kind. It will give us capable and honest men in the custom houses, dgpartments, and all other branches of the public service ; will offer proper re- wards in permanence of tenure and promo- tion for merit, and thus seoure to the gov- ernment as able service as merchants and manufacturers get by the samo means. It will break up the political machines and rings, because the clerks and other servants of the government will no longer busy them- selves in politics. But to get this reform the people must de- mand it ; and those who address them must make it, what it enght to be, the prominent issne in the canvass; so that whoever is chosen President may be able to face the opponents of this reform with s conscious- ness that he has the people at his back. The Weather. Everybody interested. in the rifle matches at Creedmoor will naturally wish for fine, or at least dry, weather to-day. After the rainfall of yesterday, which has been so beneficial to the country, we may look for cooler and clearing weather for some days, The storm centre, which has bean traversing the middle belt of States. has crossed the Alieghanies in Pennsylvania and moved southeastward to the Atlantio coast—a most unusual course. Asmall area of high barometer, extending to the east- ward, gave us easterly winds, which have shifted to northerly and northwesterly as the storm centre moved into the Atlantic Ocean. Strong winds will probably prevail over level stretches of country, and, as the Creed- moor range is situated on a plain, the marks- manship of the riflemen may be consider ably disturbed by the breezes to-day. Me- teorologists will watch with interest the influence of the Gulf Stream, with its superstratum of moist, heated air, on the movement of the storm centre. It is probable that its course will be changed to northeasterly again when it extends fairly over the great ocean current. This would cause the winds to blow strongly from the westward over New York and bring a cool spell, with coast rains, In the Gulf of Mexico there are strong indi- cations of a disturbance off the Mexican and Texas coasts. Heavy rains havo ocourred at several points in the Eastern Gulf States, The weather in New York to-day will be partly cloudy and cooler. Our Great Rifle Matehes. A series of rifle matches will commence to-day at Creedmoor which eclipse in intcrest any contest of their kind that has ever been waged between the marksmen of any country or countries, Although we are regarded in Europe as a people pre-emi- nently skilful in the use of the rifle, and in short range shooting we do excel, itisa fact that until the establishment of the Creedmoor range we possessed very few riflemen capable of making a bull’s-eye at one thousand yards, or even at a much shorter distance. Certainly, we could not readily muster a reliable team of eight to compete with European riflemen for the champion- ship of the world. However, by constant practice in fair and foul weather and being filled with an enthusiastic love of the sport, which made up for many disadvantages, our men have so far improved as to be ina position to issue a challenge which has been eagerly responded to by men of the highest skill and long experience as riflemen from four different nations. This, with our victories of 1874 and 1875, attests the legitimacy of our claim to fill the position of challengers. As such our riflemen stake their hard won laurels in contests which have attracted to the field the most accomplished riflemen of the Old World. The courage of our repre- sentative marksmen is therefore worthy of the highest admiration, for they meet before the butts antagonists worthy of their great est skill. The rifle tournament commencing to-day is so admirably arranged by the managers that there is scarcely any possibility of a hitch. With such highly disciplined teams we look forward. confidently to a splendid struggle for victory—one of those contesta in which the defeated can and will cover themselves with glory, and in which, by reason of the harmony existing between the competitors, as was said by a celebrated English statesman devoted to play, “the greatest pleasure next to that of winning is that of losing.” So speed you to the lists, gentlemen, and do your devoirs. May vic- tory hover in doubt above your heads until the last shot is fired and then crown the winners with the glory their deeds deservel Oratory vs. Journalism. The day for speeches has gone by. Wel ster, Clay, Calhoun, with all their eloquence, could not move this generation as they did their own age. The reason is that the press has superseded the forum. When the country was small and newspapers were few voters were obliged to depend upon publia speakers for their political ideas. Masa meetings were then serious matters and had direct effect upon the canvass. Now they are mere celebrations, in which parties utter their enthusiasm. The last of the great debates was probably when Lincoln met Douglas on the stump in Illinois and argued the questions of the day in the im. mediate presence of the people. But speeches are not now made to be heard, but to be read. The great orator who speaks in a hall cares far less for his three or four thousand auditors than for his hundred thousand readers. Another reason why oratory is becoming every year less effec: tive in moving the people is that it is pre: ceded by the press. Mr. Bristow made a good speech the other day in New England, but his argument had all appeared before in the republican journals. Mr. Durand spoke at Hartford, but his ideas had pre. viously been expressed in the democratic newspapers. ‘The true field for political oratory, so far as it is to have a direct effect, is in the State Legislatures or on the floor of Congress. There personal magnetism often has an electrical influence. This was signally shown in the last session of the House, when Mr. Blaine’s eloquence baffled his opponents and Mr. Knott was defeated by Mr. Hale, notwithstanding the demooratie majority. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Kelly does not like Carlyle. Hayes nover saw the ‘Black Crook¥® The German enjoys his vacation tours slowly. Conkling, when a child, refused to make mud ples The English do not colonize; they onty “go abroad.” Sir Alexander T. Galt, of Montreal, is at the Gilsoy House. Senator Lewis V. Bogy, of Missouri, is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Senator Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, is at the New York Hotel, The Saturday Review thi who really deceives himself. Count JAtta, Secretary of the Italian Legation at ‘Washington, 1s at the Albemarle Hotel. ‘The French conservative only protects and tolerates religion; he does nothing to advance it, Postmaster Genoral James N. Tyner arrived at the Fitth Avenue Hotol yesterday from Washington. Diaracli was once a protectionist and advocated the idea of taking out of one pocket to pat into the other. Tinsmith3 are making canteens for republican pro, eessions; while the democrats carry the bottle honestly 4m the left bund. Sheboygan, Wis., has a limburger cheeso factory, and it 18 so loud that it smothers tho cheers of a domo cratic procession. Passaic City, N. J., has an organized police torce of a chief, a sergeant and a private, They expect to dis. cover Charley Ross, Mr. Nicholas Shishkin, the Russian Mibister, arrived from Washington yesterday morning at the Clarendon Hotel Last evening he entertained a select party of Russian gentlomen at a dinner im honor of the “‘Namesday”’ of the Emperor Alexander, 6 that the best actor ts he