The New York Herald Newspaper, December 4, 1876, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, THE DAILY HERALD, pndlished every day in the year. Three cents per copy (Sun- day excluded). ‘en dollars per year, or at rate of one dollar per month tor any pe less than six months, or five do months, Sunday edition includ postage. All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yous | | effect, HeEnarp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHI SIXTH STI :-NO.112 SOUTH OF THE NEW YORK 3 FLEET STREET. DE L'OPERA. NAPLES OF TRADA PACE. . Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT, THEATRE. M. Edwin Booth, THEATRE, LYCEUM KING RICHARD IL. at 8 P. FIFTH AVE AS YOU LIKE 17, ats P.M RROOK THE TWO ORPHAN ALLACK'S THEATRE, fHE SHAUGHRAUN, at 8". M. HEATRE, t MUSETTE, at 8 P NEW YOKK AQUARIUM, Dpen daily. ROW! ESCAPED FROM &: t MISS MULTO. CRABBED AGE, at B THEATRE. KING LEAR, at8 P.M. Lawrence Burrett. ANIA THEATRE. at SP. M E COMIQUE, GERM DER GROSSE WUR TONY PA VARIETY, at 4 P. M. PARISIA. ARIETIES, VARIETY, at SP. M. TIVOLI THEATR VARIETY, at 8 P.M. ‘sa EAGLE THEATRE, VARIETY, at 8 P. M, SAN FR. atS P.M. KELLY & at8 P.M. co VARIETY, at PHILADELPHIA THEATRES N L THEA’ L'ESPIONNE bearers TR IPLE “SHEET. MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1876. ‘ SDEALERS AND THE PUBLIC. Owing to the action of a portion of tho carriers, newsmen and news companies, who aro determined that the public shall not have the Heraup at three cents per copy it they can prevent it, we have mado arfangements to place the Hxkap in the hands of all our readers at the reduced price, Newsboys and dealers can purchase any quantity they. may desire at No. 1,265 Broadway and No, 2 Ann street, and also from our wagons on the principal avenues. All dealers who have been threatened by the news com- panies are requested to send in their ofders direct to us, at No, 2 Ann street. From our reports this morning the probabil- ities are that the weather to-day will be cold and partly cloudy or clear. Lovist —By rejecting the votes of nine parishes it was stated last night in New Or- leans that the Louisiana Returning Board will to-day give the vote of the State to Hayes. Sourn Canorma.—The latest news from Columbia indicates that the measures taken by the republicans under Governor Chem- berlain to settle the difficulty will lead to disturbances of the public peace. If it were their intention to force a fight they could not take surer means. We ConcratvnaTE tHE Porice on their successful capture of the bank check forgers. Detective Walling’s good work will increase the confidence of the public in the foree on which we rely for protection against the depredations of the forger as well as the burglar and highwayman. SxatiNnG on the ponds of Central and Pros- pect parks is looked forward to by all the lovers of that exhilarating sport. The cold weather promises a thickening of the ice to the standard of perfect safety, and we shall soon hear the merry clatter and ring of steel over the smooth surfaces of our metropolitan skating ponds. Ovr Hesrew Fentow Citizens are con- stantly engaged in some work of mercy which is highly creditable to them. The Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, sus- tained by the members of that faith, is one of the most successful of the charitable in- stitutions of New York. We print a report in to-day’s Henstp of the annual meeting of the society having it in charge. A Discusston or tue Conprrions that led to the establishment of our Republic and the prospective progress that it must enjoy was made the foundation on which the Rev. Dr. Smith constructed a very interesting lecture last evening. The breadth of the questions involved did not prevent the lec- turer from touching on many details which he considered essential to their proper ap- preciation by his audience. Sxcretany Ropgson’s Aynvat Rerorr on the condition of the navy will prove highly interesting at a time when the war clouds are overspreading the skies of the East. Not that we have any reason to dread being involved in the Russo-Turkish quarrel, but it is always well to be prepared to defend our interests on the seas. Our present monitors are weaker and slower vessels than those of European na- vies; it is therefore desirable that we should have at least two vessels that will be a match for the English Inflexible or the Russian Peter the Great | question in the Senate. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, Senators on the Elece toral Count, We think it of interest to examine what is likely to happen when the two houses: meet in joint convention to count the electoral vote on the 14th of February. } oL It is, we believe, taken for granted | that the twenty-second joint rale is no j longer operate. This seems to us a | matter of small importance. The rule merely provided convenient details of the proceedings by which the constitutional duty of the two houses could be carried into It could confer no extra-constitu- tional powers upon either house; its authors did not, and of course would not, pretend that it provided methods in violation of or contrary to the constitution. A mere joint rule could authorize nothing of itself. It could only, like any act of Congress, enforce or carry into effect what the constitution had previously authorized and commanded. If, as is supposed, the twenty-second joint rule has fallen, and if some other form of proc- edure under the constitution is needed in its place, no doubt the common sense of the two houses will provide another. We are not at all sure that any new rule is needed. We remark, however, before passing to another and more important consideration, that at the last count, in February, 15873, a very curious colloquy took place upon this very Senator Anthony asked the Vice President :—‘I ask the Chair if the Senate by unanimous consent can dis- pense with a joint rule?” “The Vice Presi- dent replied, promptly and apparently without hesitation, in the negative :—‘‘The Senate by unanimous consent cannot dis- pense with a joint rule.” The matter seems to us of little importance, though the Vice President then, Mr. Colfax, is thought high authority on parliamentary law; and no | Republican Senator at the time disputed his dictum. 2. When the electoral votes come to be counted no doubt substantially the same method will be used as on previous occa- sions. The Vice President will open the returns and hand them to tellers appointed by both houses; these will read the formal returns, and thereupon, as is customary, questions will be asked by Senators and Representatives, intended to establish the authenticity of the returns, and the formal accuracy of their attestation. In 1873, for instance, Maine being the first State whose vote was counted, a Senator said:—“I would inquire if that certifi- cate bears the signature of the Governor 4 of Maine?” and the joint convention paused in its labors to have that point established. The scrutiny in such cases is always close, the proceeding being of the highest impor- tance and therefore solemn and formal and intended to Jeave no room for subsequent doubt or dispute. 3. It may happen at the next count, in February, as it has happened in previous cases, and notably in 1873, that the vote of some States will be objected 'to. In sucha contingency the twenty-second joint rule was a convenience,-because it laid down be- forehand the order in and method by which the two houses would consider such objec- tions. But, as we have shown before, it was a mere convenience. The rule could not confer authority or rights on either house or on the joint convention which the constitution had not before given. No one pretends that the rule violated or transcended the constitution; both parties in both houses in 1873 accepted its provts- ions without question. While, therefore, in the absence of this rule the order and meth- ods by which objections to the reception of a State’s vote may be changed, no one can doubt that the fundamental provisions which the twenty-second rule was framed practically to apply, exist now as they must have existed before the rule was framed. The twenty-second joint rule prohibits debate on any proposition which may be made, and this prohibition of course falls to the ground with the rule. But the right of making, hearing and voting on objections to the re- ception of a State’s vote must be funda- mental, because it could not be conferred by a mere rule. It must have been founded on the constitution, else Congress would have been acting in violation of the constitution, which is not to ke supposed when so many able and careful constitutional lawyers are in both houses. 4, In 1873 the votes of Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana were formally objected to on various grounds, and an examination of the proceedings shows that most of the leading republican Senators unequivocally, by their remarks and their votes, accepted the following positions as unquestionably constitutional :—First, that the electoral vote of a State is a proper subject for the scrutiny of the joint convention ; second, that it is equally within the power of the two houses, acting separately, to scrutinize it; third, that the electoral vote of a State may be thrown out, and fourth, that the ob- jection to it being sustained in one house, the exclusion follows as a matter of right. Of course all the action in 1873 was taken under the twenty-second joint sule; but we repeat again that no one has ever pre- tended, and no onecan pretend, that a mere joint rule could authorize or confer the power to exclude the vote of a State; so great an authority could be derived only from the constitution, by those who framed and acted under the rule. It-is of interest to review some of the proceedings in 1873. When one of the tellers, Mr. Beck, an- nounced the vote of Georgia, Mr. Hoar, re- publican, objected to the count of three votes cast for Mr. Greeley, on the ground that he was dead at the time, and the House independently considered and yoted on the question. When the two houses had separated Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, one of the ablest lawyers in the Senate, offered a resolution ‘that the electoral votes of Georgia cast for Horace Greeley be not counted.” On this Senators Edmunds, Chandler (now Secretary of the Interior), Morrill, of Vermont; Morton and other republicans voted yea—to exclude the votes. Mr. Conkling moved to amend the resolution by adding, ‘the functions of the joint convention being ministerial only.” One Senator, Sherman, asked him to with- draw the amendment, as “it requires us to vote ona question of great difficulty with- out debate,” and it was withdrawn. On that occasion the Vice President said :—‘‘The language of the constitution is, ‘the Presi- dent of the Senate shall, in the presence of | not please his political the Senate and House of Representatives, j Open all the certificstes, and the vote shall then be counted; and the question in dis- pute has been whether they shall be counted by the two houses, or whether they shall be counted by the presiding officer. The twenty-second joint rule, which remitted this question distinctly to the two houses of Congress, thereby expressed their opinion that the President of the Senate had simply one duty to perform—to open the certifi- cates,” The next question arose on the vote of Texas, and on the fact that the certificate of the electors was not signed by the Governor, but by the Secretary of State, Senator Trumbull moved ‘that the vote of said State cannot be counted.” His motion was lost ; but among those who voted to exclude were Senators Clayton, of Arkansas; Edmunds, Hamlin, Morton, Schurz and West. Arkansas came next. Senator Rice, of that State, objected to the vote being counted; | first, because the “official returns of electors, made according to the law of said State, show that the persons certified by the Secretary of State as elected were not elected as elec- tors for President and Vice President; second, because the returns read by the tellers are not certified according to law.” On this Senator Edmunds moved ‘that the electoral vote of Arkansas should not be counted,” and Senators Edmunds, Ferry, of Michigan (acting Vice President now); Ham- lin, Morrill, of Maine; Schurz, Trumbull and others voted yea—for the exclusion. The case of Louisiana followed. Senator Carpenter moved that the vote of Louisiana be not counted. Senator Frelinghuysen amended this soas to make it read ‘that all the objections presented having been considered, no electoral vote purport- ing to be that of the State of Loui- siana be counted.” Two seta of elec- tors had sent in their returns. Senator Trumbull offered a long preamble, reciting certain facts concerning those double re- turns. Senator West, of Louisiana, ob- jected to the reading, and Mr. Conkling supported Mr. West, both objecting on the ground that the twenty-second joint rule forbade debate and that Mr. Trumbull's pre- amble was of the nature of discussion. Mr. Trumbull thereupon offered a resolution that the votes of the electors, whom he be- lieved to be entitled, *‘be counted.” Against this and for exclusion voted Senators Anthony, Carpenter, Chandler, Clayton, Edmunds, Ferry, of Michigan ; Frelinghuy- sen, Hamlin, Howe, Logan, Morrill, of Ver- mont; Morrill, of Maine ; Morton, Sherman, West and others to the number of thirty- five. Thereupon Mr. Frelinghuysen’s mo- tion for the total exclusion of Louisiana was adopted, the same Senators just named ail voting for the exclusion. Now it'seems to us that the Senators above named, who include the flower of the repub- lican side in the present Senate, are by their own acts and votes in the Senate and by their countenance of the action of the House for exclusion, concluded from claiming that this action is u: arty im This Crisis. The moderation of the responsible demo- cratic ledfers during these weeks of excite- ment and provocation deserves public rec- ognition. The rash utterances of a few ir- responsible journalists and subalterns have met with no countenanee from-the control- ling party chiefs, and have been frowned down and suppressed before they attracted general attention. Mr. Tilden himself has been commendably, cautious and reticent. The democrats who are supposed to enjoy most of his confidence have been careful neither to make themselves nor to en- courage in others any threats of forcible re- sistance if they should be swindled out of the election by a fraudulent count. This pru- dence has been more conspicuous in Wade Hampton than in any democratic leader, because he has been placed in a more trying situation. All law-abiding citizens must re- spect his judicious conduct and award him high praise. It is fortunate for the peace of the country that his cool and clear head directed the democratic party in South Carolina during the past week. It is fortunate that a man of his self-poise, sound judgment and strength of character has so complete an ascendancy over his ardent and inflammable supporters, who might be more easily stirred up to mutiny and violence than kept within the limits of peaceful resistance. We are encouraged by the bear- ing of the democratic leaders, and especially of General Hampton, who has been most severely tried, to believe that, let this Presidential election go as it may, there will be no revolutionary resistance. The demo- cratic party will present a noble spectacle of patriotism and fortitude, if, smarting under a deep sense of wrong, it reposes in the justice of the people as a sure source of re- dress in future elections. This confidence in a revising public opin- ion will not be disappointed if the demo- crats shall be really cheated out of the elec- tion. If the republican party should triumph by fraud it will thenceforth stand on the declivity toward swift ruin. The next elections will take from the republicans nearly all the States which they have lately carried. The democrats, who have carried ®only four Northern States this year, would be success ful in them all next autumn, and a rebuke can beas effectually administered through the State elections as through elections for Congress orthe Presidency. If the demo- erats shonld carry the greater part of the States next year the Legislatures then chosen would destroy the republican majority in the Senate. Mr. Hayes would have both honses of Congress against him during the last half of his term. If elected by fraud he will be at the mercy of his political op- ponents, who will be supported by so strong a body of public opinion that the Presi- dency will be a shirt of Nessus. The democratic party would come into power. under better auspices four years hence than at present. Before that period shall have elapsed the troublesome cur- reney question will be settled—a question with which the democratic party is incompe- tent to deal on account of the irrepressible conflict in its own ranks. If Mr. Tilden should be declared elected now he would be crippled by the republican Senate, and be unable to carry out any policy which did aholal opponents. He ! would be nominally responsible for things over which he had no control, and the democratic party would steadily decline under a helpless administration. But if the democrats are cheated out of the Presidency they will be strengthened in every subse- quent election, will speedily acquire a ma- | jority in the Senate, and will control every department of the federal government, and have free swing on their accession to power four years hence, Meanwhile the Southern ! States will regain control of their local affiirs, which are more important to them than federal politics. Governor Hayes’ Projected Southern Policy. While the country is looking forward with ill-concealed fear and loudly ex- pressed anxiety to the complications which must and the national dangers which may arise when the electoral votes come before Congress for counting, anything which gives a glimpse into the possible future beyond these will be grasped at with avidity. The despatch from Cincinnati which we publish elsewhere presents ino form, vouched for as authentic, the policy which Governor Hayes, should he become President, will observe to the South. As the administration republicans, shirking all the other issues, made their campaign upon the Southern question alone; as the result of the election still depends upon the electoral votes of three Southern States; as the process of counting the popular vote in these States has fixed the gaze of the entire nation upon these unfortunate Com- monwealths with an intensity unequalled since they went into rebellion, the utterance of Governor Hayes on the Southern problem and how he would solve it will command and receive the widest attention. How this utterance comes to be made public is explained in the despatch itself. It will be observed that Governor Hayes assumed from the start that he had been fairly elected President, and hence spoke with the weight of the office, as it were, upon him. We may, therefore, Jay aside the disputed question, and take up the matter on its merits. With one sweep he condemns the policy of President Grant and his administration to the South, and with it the loathsome parasitic growth which has strangled the States where it was allowed to creep around and enfold the government. He condemns at one stroke the nefarious work of the carpet-baggers in the South and their backers in Washington. No such startling pronouncement as this has been made before in our politics against the immediate work of his party by a man who believes himself elected. President by its votes. He doubtless strikes a note in harmony with all the honest men of the republican party, North and South, but hoe discredits and condemns the men who have been and are still most strenuously working to secure his inauguration. Since Sextus V. arose from his simulated decrepitude of mind and body to declare to the College of Cardinals who had elected him that ‘Rome had found a master, not a slave,” we have had nothing in history which will compare with this declaration. But what does Governor Hayes propose to do? Firstly, he indicates that he wiil take the advice of the best Southern -whites— such men as Mr. Lamar and Wade Hampton-— upon the remedies best calculated to tran- quillize and build up the South. He will in proof of this take a Southern democrat like Mr. Lamar into his Cabinet. He means to have the federal offices in the South filled by South- ern men; he means to treat the Southern whites as if they were human beings. On the other hand he will see to it that the negroes have the fullest justice and fair play, and to this end he intends making the white men of the South responsible for their care. By putting the onus of caring for the negro on the educated whites of the South he takes the means which have suggested themselves as the most natu- ral to every fair-minded man who has any knowledge of the condition of Southern society. This is a brief sketch of what must prove a herculean task, if it is to be done within the lines of the party which conducted the campaign on the basis of the “bloody shirt,” and the count- ing of the votes by the returning boards. It contains some elements which will test even the credulous, and will sorely try the fidelity of thousands of republicans, but it is sound in every phase. To hear such a declaration from the candidate whom General Grant has said with a ring of conscious physical power “he would see inaugurated” cannot fail at this conjuncture to prove gratifying even to those who believe.Mr. Tilden was elected and who look with well founded distrust upon the continuance in power of a corrupted party which they are convinced has been rejected by the nation. It will please thecountry, but what will “Grant and the administration” say? Tur Return or THE GovenNMENT APPRO- priation for the Centennial Exhibition out of the amount earned by the managers of the great show from admissions and other resources isa very interesting question to the stockholders. According to the latest returns it appears that if the large sum advanced by the government is not paid back into the United States Treasury the private investors will receive ninety per cent of their money. As the government represents the whole people, and as the coun- try at large has derived considerable benefits from the display of its resources, it would be perhaps unfair to throw all the losses on the plucky individuals whose subscriptions to the Exhibition stock made the enterprise a grand success, Ir Is Evinent that the sternest measures must be adopted toward the desperadoes who so boldly defy the law as the gang that overpowered, the revenue officers on Satur- day night and carried off the confiscated whiskey. When such a daring outrage is possible it is time for the strong hand of justice to interfere and show these rascals that such acts cannot be perpetrated with impunity. We hope that the lost trail will be recovered soon and that the offenders will meet their deserts. ‘MBER 4, 1876.—TRIPLE SHEET. . The New Speaker. The democrats of the House have made a strong selection of a presiding officer dur- ing what is likely to be a turbulent session. Mr. Randall is the keenest and most vigor- ous parliamentarian in the House since Mr. Blaine lett it, He is well versed in the rules, has a quick perception of their ap- Plication in a sudden emergency, is a man of indomitable courage, energy and perse- verance, and, what is not less important, he has the firm physical health on which all- night sessions and protracted excitement have little effect. Beyond any other mem- ber of the House he is endowed with the quality which in a racehorse we call “bottom.” It is to be hoped that occa- sions will not arise for testing his endur- ance; but if they do arise Mr. Kandall will be found equal to the emergency. In the most critical conjuncture of the session— the meeting of the two houses to count the electoral votes—the handling of the dem- ocratic forces may require consummate skill. It is by mere parliamentary courtesy, not by legal right, that the President of the Senate has heretofore been permitted to preside over both houses. when so assembled. The constitution says that he shall open the cer- tificates; it does not say that he shall pre- side. Each house may if it chooses maia- tain its own separate organization in that joint meeting. The House of Representa- tives will undoubtedly do so in case of a difference or conflict. But if the Speaker of the House should exercise his functions as presiding officer in the presence of the Senate he might need ali his dexterity. It is to be hoped that the electoral votes will be counted in the ordinary quiet and cour- teous way; butshould it prove otherwise Mr. Randall has the vigor, decision and parliamentary knowledge requisite for such @ conjuncture. Mr. Randall can be better spared from the floor of the House than he could have been last winter. The promotion of Mr Blaine and Mr, Dawes to the Senate and the ab- sence of General Butler from this Congress leave no very formidable leaders on the re- publican side. The committees will remain substantially as they were at the last session, the new Speaker making appointments only to fill vacancies. Mr. Randall's own place as Chairman of the Committee on Ap- propriations will be filled by Mr. Holman, whose name stands second on that com- ‘mittee, and the new Speaker will have no important new appointments to make. Tho House being already organized Mr. Randall is relieved from the most trying duty which ordinamly falls on a new Speaker. An Opportunity for Secretary Morrill. Now that Congress is about to meet the public mind will be, we trust, directed to some other subjects besides the Presidential election. With the President's Message we shall have the reports of the heads of depart- | ments, and we wait with some curiosity and also a certain anxiety for the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to see what, if anything, he has to suggest towards a re- sumption of specie payments. Mr. Bristow had very little to say on this subject in for- mer reports. He was concerned mainly with the whiskey tax and other details of that kind. We hope for better things from Mr. Morrill, who, we believe, really knows something about finance, and who ought to see that Congress and the oountry have a right to require from the head of the Treas- ury suggestions towards a fixed financial policy. Mr. Chase, Mr. Fessenden and some others of Mr. Morrill’s predecessors thought it their duty to present to Congress a definite policy on the finances, and we be- lieve they were right. In his speech in Wall street before the election Mr. Morvill asserted very confi- dently that we could resume at the time fixed by the Resumption act. It is now time for him to show to Congress and the public the way to do it, and we have a right to hold him responsible, under the circum- stances, for a Treasury policy. It is of course possible to resume by buying and hoarding gold, but we trust the Secretary will not recommend a measure so clumsy, so costly and so necessarily disturbing to exchanges and to commerce as this. We should like to see him adopt the sound view that the greenbacks are not really currency, but debt, that they were originally issued as debt, and that provision should be made to fand them as part of the debt. If he would take that view of them his course would be plain, and he or his successor could really re- sume by 1879 ; for on that view what is needed is authority from Congress to issue a four per cent bond in which greenbacks could be redeemed on voluntary presentation, not to be reissued, ofcourse. The times are auspi- cious for such a policy as this ; the present Resumption act in the main answers well to such a course, for its provisions in relation to the increase of national bank circulation are such as would prevent stringency from any possible withdrawal and funding of greenbacks. We believe if at the last session the Secretary had been authorized to redeem greenbacks on presentation ina four percent bond he would by this time have been able to fund and extinguish no less than fifty or sixty millions of them, and that their disappearance would not have been felt by the public or by trade. It the Secretary would present to Congress such a policy as this, and do it not timidly but with positiveness, we believe he would find himself supported by the country at large and by the best and most influential men of both parties in Congress. Both parties are committed to resumption gow; and neither can afford to abandon its pledges, if only the head of the Treasury does his duty by presenting and urging a definite and practical policy, not injurious to the country, such as that we have pointed out above. For the last three or four ses- sions Congress has muddled the question, mainly, as we believe, because the Secretary of the Treasury refused to take the initia- tive by recommendations of his own. Tur Crsnota Coriectron,—New York has certainly a right to be proud of the liberality of her citizens exhibited by securing the collection of antiquities found at Kurium by General Cesnola for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thanks to the generosity of a number of ladies and gentlemen inter- ested in art forty thousand dollars have already been secured, and there is no doubt rine L, Wolfe heads the s the princely donation oft¢2 thousand dol- lars. ‘The collection sftred for the Metro- ‘politan Museum co! of some six thou. sand pieces of sc¥Pture, gold, precious stones, bronzes, ters and Greek vases. The gold ornamoéts alone are sstiznated to be worth, by weght, the sum paid for the whole collectén. The authorities of the British Musfam were negotiating for the purchase ofthe collection when our coun- trymen s¥pped in and secured the prize, which wil be a magnificent addition to the Cypriotd Collection already in the Metro- politan Museum. Let There Be No Trickery- The democrats will only injure their party if they should undertake to offset frauds committed against them in Louisiana by sharp practice and legal chieanery in other States. This is no time for pettifogging ex- pedients. An expected dishonest juggle by one party canngt excuse a juggle by the other. ‘The demodgats will gain nothing by disputing the right Mf the Electoral College in Oregon or Vermont\to fill vacancies, or by other attempts to strpin.the law against intentions of the voters. Nor will fair-m) tenance the rejection ofthe Nebraska or Colorade for some sight or informality There was ar sight in Nebrass the Governor neglected to isA® ® seasonable call fe meeting of 4° Legislature to co the electorr Votes, as required by \ the amendd constitution of the State. ‘This inavertence was pointed out to him and he at once issued a call, but too late, it is feared, for all the members ‘ta assemdle next Wednesday. Yet a quorum can easily meet, and that, would suffice. But it is given out in some quarters that the demécratic members will prevent a quorum by staying away. We do not credit the rumor. Such a desperate and dishonest device would react against the democratic party, and it would be a vain trick, as well asa dishonest one. The body would only have to remain in continuous session until republicans enough had come in to make a quorum ; for, in accordance with custom and precedents, it would continue to be Wednesday up to the hour of adjournment, When Congress holds an all-night session the business which is done on the next morning or the next day is entered on the journals without change of date. The legis lative day extends to an adjournment, even if it should include not merely two, but three or four calendar days. No legislative body ever changes the date of its journal when the clock strikes midnight and a new calendar day begins. If it assembled ona Wednesday it continues té be Wednesday in legislative contemplation so long as the House remains in continuous session with- out anadjournment. The samerule applies toa court of justice when its sitting rves into the next day, and would equally appty to an Electoral College. It is said that.the votes of Colorado are to be disputed on the ground that she has not been fully admitted asa State. We hope no such point will be seriously raised ; for we are convinced that there is nothing in it, and we detest all at tempts to control the result by dishonorable Mmancuvres. If the democrats are cheated in Louisiang let them make & manly contest on thal ground. They will lose the respect of the country if they attempt to overreach the republicans of Nebraska, Colorado o1 Oregon because they haye been themselveg overreached in Louisiana. They shoul¢ scorn to take unfair advantage, even if: i¢ were in their power, of any State that is une doubtedly republican ; but simply insist om the right of the democratic States to have their votes honestly counted. If the demo. crats are to have the support of the country in this crisis they must make no false issues, but strenuously maintain their cause on the solid ground of right and justice. The Mystery of the Ring, It is not without reason that New York takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the career of William M. Tweed and his asso- ciates. Fastidious persons there be who are for letting Tweed rot by degrees, without further troubling public attention, in Lud- low Street Jail or any of the other prisons to which his many crimes against the public welfare may consign him; but they have neither reason nor justice on their side. New York has been robbed of millions of dollars by a combination of bold and more or less able scoundrels, and in spite of all the exposures and prosecutions there is an abiding convic- tion that the truth has never been half told. In the public mind the story of gigantic thefta is like one of those old fairy tales in which certain physical effects were produced, ta the wonderment of mortals, while the ma- chinery that wrought them was worked by un- canny creatures of the unseen world. The visible Ring grew to power and amassed wealth, sucking it like spiders from the municipal treasury ; the city groaned under the infliction, and finally, in a fit of just rage, smashed the bloated spiders’ nest and seni them scurrying in all directions. Se the spider, Slippery Dick, got away with his plunder; the mysterious spider, Peter B., melted out of pub lic view ; the little black creeping things that the big spiders ‘‘let in” with them ran this way and that. Ina day the cobweb that hung on the great Ring over the keyhole to the city treasury was swept away, without leaving a trace, and the Ring itself broken. A few of the lesser spiders were cornered before they could run, but of them all only the great fat spider with the tiger stripes, who is now in a comfortable cranny in Ludlow Street Jail, refused to run. Since then they have been trying to make him dis. gorge, but with poor success. ‘He has lost a hundred pouhds in weight,” sayt one who knew what he looked like when his proboscis was sucking the city’s gold. ‘He is only worth a mill. ion now,” says a gentleman who professes to know, “and he was once worth from fifteen to thirty millions.” Here has been a double falling off, one visible to the naked. eye and the other to be taken for granted by ordinary people, as the weight of the planets is taken by the unlearned from the lina at