The New York Herald Newspaper, December 12, 1876, Page 6

NEW YORK HER NEW YORK HERALD! BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES CORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR father fd hie $$ THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year, Three cents per copy (Sun- day excluded). ‘Ten dollars per yeur, or at rate of one dollar per month for any period Jess than six months, or five dollars for six months, Sunday edition included, free of postage. All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Henan. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rare ela PHILADELPHIA OFFICE--NO,112 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—N' } FLEET STREET, ~ L'OPERA. {ADA PACK. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. NOLUME XLI LY OTHELLO, at 8 P. M. FIFTH A THE SCHOOL FOR 8¢ WALLACK's IEATRE. fHE SHAUGHRAUN, a8 P.M. PARK THEATRE. MUSETTE, at 8 P.M. Lotta. & THEATRE, UNION MISS MULTON, at 8 NEW Y AQUARIUM. Dpen daily. BROOKL SAM, at8P.M. F, THEATRE, H pHEATRE. PRESTIDIGITATEUR, at COLUMBIA VABIETY, ats. M. Matin THEATRE COMIQUE. VARIETY, at 8 P. M. PERA HOUSK atzP. M MASO JROMWELL'S ILLUST OLYMPIC THE, TARIBTY AND DRAMA, at 7:45 TONY PASTOR'S THEATER, VARIRTY, at 8 P.M. Matinee at2 P.M. AN VARIETIES, Matinee at z P.M, TRE, PA VARIETY, at 8 PM. wIVOLL TH VARIETY, at 8 P. M. if FAGLE THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P. M. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, ateP.M. KELLY 4 LKON’S MINSTRELS. PHILADELPHIA THEATRES. KIRALFY'S ALHAMBRA PALACE, AZURINE; OR, A VOYAGE TO THE EARTH, NEW NATIONAL THEATRE, LIESPIONNE FRANCAISE. TRIPLE NEW YORK, TUESDAY, otsP. M. SHEET. EMBER 12, 1876. “NOTICE TO NEWSDEALERS AND THE PUBLIC Owing to the action of a portion of the carriers, newsmen and news’ companies, who are determined that the public shall not have the Hrratv at three cents per copy ff they can provent it, we have made. arrangements to place the Huratp 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 thoir orders direct to us, at No, 2 Ann street. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day wil! be warmer and cloudy or partly cloudy, with light snow or rain, followed by clearing weather. Wau Street Yestenpay.—The stock mar- ket was excited and prices declined, although there was a slight recovery at the close. Gold opened at 107}, fell to 107 and ad- vanced to 107}, which was the last price. Government bonds continue weak, but their activity shows the presence of a fair demand. Railway mortgages were generally steady. Money on call closed at 2and3 per cent after rating at 6 and 7 per cent. Ax Important Decision was made by Justice Morgan yesterday in the suit of George W. Hollender, a barroom proprietor, against the Exgise Commissioners for grant- ing him a license to sell liquor. In dismiss- ing the case the Judge emphatically states that the Commissioners acted strictly ac- cording to law. Tae Fast Man—The whole country will tejoice to learn that the fast mail trains are o restore to the people the postal facilities which have been so severely missed during the past few months. The old system has been almost unendurable to business men and newspaper readers since they have learned with what promptitude their letters and papers could be forwarded under a live postal policy, and they have had excellent reason to complain that economy should have been sttempted in a branch of the service in which the extreme expense is 80 trifling when compared with the magni- tude of the interests which it affects. The official credit of the renewal of the enter- prise is to be divided between Postmaster General Tyner and General Superintendent Vail bat success would have been impos- sible had not leading railway managers met the department in aq friendly and liberal spirit. Tae Barto Cuance in the weather is baving a terrible effect upon the poor of the city. Even during the summer months the destitute have a battle to fight with the wolf, hunger, of which the well-to-do know little. But when the biting touch of winter strikes theirthinly clad bodies gaunt famine bas an ally which renders the struggle in- tolerable. While every metfopolis has its poor that must suffer, because they are unknown and prefer to die rather than beg, there are many who can be easily found through the means of our char- itable societies. It is their duty to send ont into the byways and carry them suc- cor. Ifmoney is needed they have but to make the fact known, and it will be forth- coming. In another column will be found an account of misery that well might startle into action even those accustomed to wretch- edness. It is better to give a few dollars to astarving man than to buy him a coffin. It posts no more and only a little trouble. Will oyr choritable societies go to the poor, and not wait to have the poor come to thom? The Presidential Complication. It was an object of deep solicitude with the founders of our government that the executive power should be peaceably trans- mitted in the frequent changes of adminis- tration incident to our political system. While intending to establish the responsi- bility of the Chief Magistrate to the people by short terms and ever-recurring elections they also sedulously guarded against civil disturbances arising out of a disputed choiee. Recognizing the just supremacy of the popular will they still judged it better that popular hopes should be sometimes disappointed than that the public tran- quillity should be put in jeopardy by the uncertain result of a Presidential election. When the majority for one candidate is large and, therefore, unquestionable, the system they established gives efficiency to the popular will. When the majority is small and doubtful, or when no candidate happens to receive a majority, they deemed it of higher consequence tu avoid turbulent controversies than to give the elec- tion to the candidate having the highest number of votes. Their theory seemed to be that when a candidate was strongly desired or was peculiarly ob- noxious, the votes of the people would clearly declaro their will; and the fact that acandidate had either a donbtful majority or none proved that the preference was not so decided as to make the wish of one set of voters paramount to the peace of the country. The whole body of citizens have an interest in peace, and when on a minority or a doubtful major- ity have an interest in the success of a can- didate the framers of the constitution wisely decided that the interest of a part should be subordinated to the interest of the whole. Our system accordingly contemplates the occasional election of a minority President. Whenever the election goes into the House of Representatives the lowest candidate in a list of three may be constitutionally elected. Had it happened in the present contest that Mr. Hayes had received one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes, Mr. Tilden one hundred and eighty-four and Mr. Cooper one yote, Mr. Cooper might have been elected by the House of Rep- resentatives in perfect conformity to the constitution. The House is not required to elect the highest candidate, but one of the highest three. It is at perfect liberty to elect the lowest of the three and bestow the office on the candidate who was the choice of the smallest number of citizens. The majority principle prevails in our system when the majority is clear and indis- putable; but rather than have the country plunged into the horrors of civil strite the framers of the constitution thought it better to have a President for whom but a small fraction of the people voted. John Quincy Adams had less than thirty per cent of the popular vote and only about thirty-two per cent of the electoral votes, and yet he was a ! constitutional President. It was easier to have it so than to go through the turmoil of a new election, when there was so little concentration of popular senti- ment. It was infinitely wiser to have it s9 than to imperil great interests by a resort to violence. Whenever it so happens that there is not strong preponderance in favor of one candidate or one party our po- litical controversies are adjourned to the next Presidential election, when popular sentiment may declare itself with more em- phasis. This, then, is the tendency of our political system to make the majority om- nipotent when the fact of a majority is not open to dispute, but to bridge over con- troversies and submit temporarily to minority rule when the public ‘will is not unmistakably declared or not clearly ascertained. This is the spirit of our system. It recognizes the rights of majorities, but guards against civil commo- tions. When public sentiment is tolerably united it is sure to prevail, but when it is divided it is better to give it time to mature and consolidate, even if the Presidency is given meanwhile to the man who has the smallest number of votes. In 1824 a minority candidate became Presi- dent; but four years later there was such a concentration in favor of General Jackson, who was defeated in 1824, although he had the highest number of electoral votes, that in 1828 he had a ma- jority of nearly five to one in the Electoral Colleges. How much better it was to await this action of the people than it would have been to disturb the peace of the country in behalf of a defeated candidate! If, as seems not unlikely, Mr. Hayes should be inaugurated as the next President, the democrats will quietly submit, as they did to the election of John Quincy Adams, and make a successful appeal to the people as they did then. They are too patriotic to put all business interests in jeopardy by revolutionary resistance. They aro too sensible to turn public opinion against them by disturbing the value of property and keeping the country in tur- moil when they may so safely trust to the fature verdict of the people. If they have not a strong case they will be crushed be- nesth the weight of public odium if they trifle with great public interests in a vain pursuit of party advantage. If they have a strong case they may safely commit it to the future decision of the people. They have everything to gain by modera- tion, wisdom, patriotism and a frank renun- ciation of selfish aims—everything to lose by madly imperilling the business interests of the country. ‘The democratic party could not survive a violent, revolutionary resist- ance to the election of Mr. Hayes if he should be declared entitled to the office. No reasonable democrat can doubt that Mr. Hayes would make a President of a very different type from General Grant. He is a conservative, law-abiding citizen, Me would never think of employing the army to control elections or interfere with State legislatures. He is a. law- yer by profession and would never over- ride the law by miiitary force. He is committed to specie payments, commit- ted to civil service reform, is liberal in his sentiments toward the South, and has an undisguised detestation of the rascally methods ot the carpet-bag régime. No rea- sonable man can doubt that an exchange of Grant for Hayes would be a great roliof to the country, and especially to the South. But if the democrats should resort to violence in resisting the election of Hayes they may create a situa- tion which would retain Grant in power and lead to the substitution of military force for the supremacy of law. It is worth while to get quietly rid of President | Grant, even by the sacrifice of imme- diate party interests. There is every reason for expecting that Mr. Hayes would be a conservative, law-respecting as well as hon- est President, and attempts to keep him out or to depose him by revolutionary methods | would be a fatal political blunder on the part of the democratic party. In all human probability Mr, Hayes will be our next President, and if the democratic party is patriotic and magnanimous enough to accept this result when it finds that appeals to Congress and public opinion can- | nont prevent it, there is no reason for fearing that he will not treat it with fairness and justice. We have no doubt that the South would be as well governed under him as under Mr. Tilden. We have no doubt that he would take the advice of the best class of Southerners in his treatment of that sec- tion. We believe that his policy would be in all respects considerate and concil- iatory if the democratic patty gives him fair treatment after his inaugura- tion, All his sympathies are with the lib- cral element of the republican party. With one branch of Congress opposed to him in politics he would be bound over to good behavior, even if fairness was not the lead- ing trait of his character. It would be mad- ness for the democratic party to resort to violence against such a man and thereby run the risk of keeping the government in the hands of Grant. If Mr. Hayes is declared President he will be free from all the political entanglements of the present administration, in which he has had no part. The Chandlers and Camerons and schemers will have no hold on him; he will be no party to the in- veterate quarrel between Mr. Conkling and | Mr. Blaine ; he will come into office with the most perfect freedom in the choice of his confidential advisers. He is not the kind of man to ignore the high character and great abilities of Mr. Conkling. He is more likely to be guided by Mr. Conkling’s judg- ment than by that of violent partisans like Mr. Morton and Mr. Blaine. If he should give Mr. Conkling one of the chief places in his Cabinet the citizens of New York, at least, would have great confidence in his administration at the outset. Mr. Conkling is a comparatively young man and has probably a great politi- cal future. He will regulate his present public course, not by the transient pas- sions of the hour, but by the judgment which will be formed of it in a calmer period, when this spasmodic excite- ment shall have subsided. We are confi- dent that his action will be so wise and just and conciliatory during these passing troubles that the whole country will desire to see him occupy a high rank among the advisers of Mr. Hayes if Mr. Hayes should be the next President. f The Bopes,oP- Agamemn Homer was about as distantim time from the heroes whose exploits he has chronicled in the Iliad as we are from the days of Marl- borough and Prince Eugene, Turénne, Montecucnuili and Sobieski. He was quite as near to Agamemnon as we are to Louis XIV. of France. In fact, he was too near to the King of Mento dare to touch with a free hand those dreadful family histories which required seven hundred years more of the softening effect of tradition to fit them tothe uses of Aischylus and Euripides on the tragic stage. x Yet it has beém doubted whether the great event that the first of poets so sin- cerely chronicled ever occurred, or whether his heroes were other than mythical fancies with personal names, It is hardly a con- ceivable case that any sane person should now doubt that Louis XIV. was a real sovereign of a great country, and the French King did not make so great an im- pression upon the world of his time as the son of Atreus did upon the smaller world of heroic Greece. It is doubt- ful, even, whether the art of printing has increased the vividness with which the memory of famous men is passed on from generation to generation. Printing cer- tainly gives ampler scope to our view; it gives us the past in greater detail; it is like a photograph of a street scene in which all the small detail comes out as clearly as the greater facts. The commander of the forces is there, and so is the pedler of peanuts at the corner. But tradition is like the historical painter who concen- trated his skill on the attitudes and faces of the essential figures—gives us the hero glo- rifled, perhaps, and leaves out the unessen- tial nobodies, For this reason tradition, perhaps, transmitted from bard to bard the well studied traits of the great figures with a livelier fidelity than written history can reach. It is supposable that Homer knew Agamemnon as vividly as this generation knows Napoleon Bonaparte. It has been a piece of critical folly, thero- fore, to doubt at any time the broad facts of Homer's chronicle; but this is a folly of which the world has seen the last now that the patient delver Who uncovered the Per- gamus of Priam has actually brought to the sunlight the very bones of the commander of the expedition against Troy. Dr. Schlie- mann’s discoveries have in them all the satis- faction of naked seglity. ‘They are historical autopsics, as convincing on the points they touch as post-mortem examinations are medically. We give to-day some further particulars of his most interesting explora- tions at Mycenz. Mr. Rosent M. T. Hontan, of Virginia, one of the most distinguished and expe- rienced statesmén of the country, explains, in a letter to the Heraup printed in another column, his views of the right of Congress to inquire into and ascertain the validity of the electoral votes. ‘Tne Stzamen Buistou passed through a terrible experience in the Sound yesterday. It recalls the disaster of the Metis two years ago, but happily not with a terrible loss of life. It is creditable to the officers of the Bristol that the boat did not founder. Good ALD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 Louisiana from # Demeeratic Stand- point. The report of the distinguished democrats who visited New Orleans for the purpose of witnessing the proceedings of the Louisiana Returning Board is published in the Hznatp to-day. As a matter of course it takes issue with the republican statement which was submitted to Congress by the President a few days ago. It declares the action of the Returning Board in proclaiming the election of the Hayes electors to be “arbitrary, unfair and without warraht of law,” and adopts as applicable to this , canvass the language used by George F. Hoar, William A. Wheeler and William P. Frye in a report made to the House of Rep- resentatives in regard to the canvass of 1872--‘the so-called canvass, made by the Returning Board in the interest of Kellogg seems to us to have no validity and is entitled to no respect whatever.” In several instances the report turns against the republicans their own condemna- tion of the Louisiana Returning Board’s past iniquities; but, however telling such hits may be in a con- troversy, they have no bearing on the pres- ent case. The democratic statesmen who make the report possess sufficient intelli- gence to know that the only benefit they can render their party is by making out so strong a case against the legality of the Re- turning Board’s action as to influence the judgment of fair-minded republicans in Congress, or, failing this, to strengthen the democratic cause among the people in the future. The review of the Louisiana State laws relating to elections is full and able, and in this the only hope of the democracy lies. The past record of the Returning Board is important only inasmuch as it disposes fair- ‘minded republicans to look scrutinizingly into its present acts. We have no doubt the legal powers os well as the action of the Board will be fully discussed and examined by Congress, and as whatever result may be there reached will be final it is to be hoped that it will be acquiesced in by the democ- racy even if it should sustain the decision which gives the electoral vote of the State of Louisiana to their opponents. When both sidés have been fairly heard neither can consistently object to the verdict. The report closes with am appeal to sentiment—we are un- willing to say passion—which might as well, and probably better, have been omitted. The law, interpreted by men who respect theirown honor and their oath of office, must, after all, decide the case; and as it will be the duty of all good citizens to respect that decision it is as well that all passion should be omitted from the argu- ment on both sides. Art Collections. In the world of art the collector is a power, because in addition to the sympathy he must possess with what is beautiful and excellent in art workmanship he is supposed to possess special knowledge as well as great wealth. It is not enough that he is an ea or sympathizer with art; he should learned in the branches of workmanship he protects, in order that his work shall be truly efficient and his teaching authoritative. Wealth alone may enable a man to acquire ownership of art works by artists with great names, but culture is needed to confer au- thority, to influence or guide public taste. We have in America a goodly number of wealthy gentlemen who aspire to rank as art collec- tors, but their fame too frequently rests on the possession of a few master- pieces which are lost amid a mass of worthless paintings which are grandilo- quently termed a collection. Now nothing would be more distasteful to a true connois- seur than the presence in his house of an art work which possessed no special merit, It would be to him a source of constant an- noyance and humiliation which he would remove from sight at the earliest opportu- nity. As arule our American collections show a complete absence of this artistic feeling, which is no doubt due to the fact that collections are made, in very many cases, because it is fashionable to have pic- tures rather than from any real sympathy with art. In a collection worthy of unre- stricted praise no poor or questionable work would be admitted ; but we cannot hope to see many such collections organized while our collectors depend in great part on the assistance and advice of dealers in making their selections. The picture dealer is es- sentially a tradesman, however much he may try to hide the fact under an assumed interest in art, and what he seeks to do is to sell his wares at the highest profit to himself. As a result a good part of his operations consists in selling great names to people who do not know enough to judge correctly for themselves. Thus works by Géréme, Fortuny or Meyer von Bremen have for the picture dealer an arbitrary value quite independent of the actual quality of the picture which is to be sold. Indeed, so well has this come to be recognized that there exists in all the great European studios something in the nature of a manufacturing department, in which the smallest possible quantity of work is spread over the largest possible amount of canvas for issue to the trade, and we regret to say that most of those hasty and ill-digested pictures are disposed of in the American market at prices that must fairly astonish the in- genuous dealers who introduce them. The cure for this evil lies in the cultivation of a sounder and more exact judgment among the class which at present patronizes art, so that people will no longer be tempted to buy art works merely on the reputation ot their authors, but will seo to it that what they purchase will not only be the work of good artists, but the good work of good artists, which is the essential point. We have fortunately outgrown toa certain extent the idea that a valuable picture must necessarily be a large one, and that to get the worth of one’s money it is necessary to receive so many square yards of canvas. The sums paid to Meissonier for pictures only a few inches square would make the purchasers of art by the yard hold their breath; but any sound judge would decide’ that the investment in those small gems is tho safest and best, whether from an art or a business seamanship saved her passengers and cargo, | standpoint, ‘This is a satisfactory prog- 9, 1876.—TRIPLE SHEET. ress, and there is reason to believe that we will not stop here. More care in selecting pictures of the ‘highest order will probably be shown by our best art col- lectors, and we hope that collections will be formed in New York in which every picture will be a gem of art. Such a collection would prove invaluable in developing a sound and intelligent art taste among our citizens, Shall There Be Skating in the Parks? When summer ends and autumn falls into the sere and yellow leaf; when races are pver and the polo ponies go to their stables and coaching is postponcd, then new outdoor sports come in with the winter. Snow brings the silver tintinnabulation of the sleigh bells, and as the spirits of the ther- mometer fall the spirits of the skating brotherhood rise. ‘he ball is up!” is always a welcome announcement to the friends of this beautiful and invigorating exercise. New York, however, differs from most other cities in this respect; she has no fresh water rivers on which a smooth surface of ice may be formed, and her ska- ters must depend upon the lakes in the parks. Unfortunately: Central Park is not in a good financial condition this year, and no provision has been made for keeping the lakes in good order for skaters. ‘Chis is a serious matter, and steps of some kind should be taken at once to accommodate the thousands of ladies and gentlemen to whom skating is one of the most pleasing of win- ter amusements, The suggestion of a correspondent, whose letter is elsewhere published, that in this dilemma all the skaters of New York city should subscribe what they cau respectively afford to a general fund, for the employment of men to keep the skating ponds in order, seems to us excellent. It 1s a question which they must decide; for if the Park Com- mission has not money sufficient to execute the purposes for which the Park was created then the public must provide for its own interests. If the skaters of New York have enterprise enough to create a fund we are willing to take charge of it for the pres- ent, and to turn it over to any responsible committee, orto the Park Commissioners, if that body, as we have little doubt it will, consents to supervise its distribution. One thing is certain—skating this winter should not be prevented by any bad condition of the Park lakes. Dress in Schools. Woman's passion for fine attire has troubled the world for a great while, and it is not strange, perhaps, that it should now give rise to a grievance in our public schools. All the poets and half the philos- ophers are agreed that one of woman's great duties isto be beautiful, and if nature has not been kindly in this respect no doubt the individual woman is simply loyal to this duty in her endeavors to supplement with the . embellishments of the toilet the few charms that niggardly nature did pot deny her. Therefore it is evident that that instinct of the sex which the satirists and moralists scorn as vanity may serve a wise purpose in the social economy. But itis evident that there are appropriate occasions for the play of this instinct, and occasions when it should shine by its absence. One of the places where women, ‘especially in the rudi- mentary state of girlhood, should not endeavor to crush one another by the splendid paraphernalia of the wardrobe is in the educational institution, where they might be supposed to feel an equality of helplessness in the terrible presence of the rule of three. In these establishments, if anywhere, that great common law of the uncomely—‘‘handsome is that handsome does”—should be recognized, and the girl who can most readily apply the rule to the false syntax be placed far above the one whose ears are loaded with diamonds or whose empty little head is bound with Brussels lace. Our correspondent who in another column calls for a rule that shall enforce upon scholars a ‘‘decont plainness of dress” is therefore right; but the necessity of such a rule implies a want of taste and judgment in those who are at the head of the schools. That is where the remedy should be ap- plied. Vanity in a school begins with the teacher. The Weather. The snow has come at last in sufficient quantity to resist the melting effects of ter- restrial heat and the action of the wind, and now covers a large area of the country. During the earlier snowfalls of the season in this region the flakes dissolved as they fell, but now that the winter has fairly set in we may look for the deep drifts along the country roadsides, the snow heaps on the gutter lines of the streets, the panting steam sweeper on the avenues and the double teams dragging heavily laden cars ‘up and down the city thoroughfares. With the aren of low pressure now advancing eastward over the lower lake region a gen- eral snowfall has taken place and continues eastward of the Mississippi and northward of Tennessee, Even Knoxville, in that State, has a heavy fall yesterday, meas- uring when melted over a quarter of an inch of water. In the West the temperature has risen considerably, but along the At- lantic const continues low, and at some points in New England is below zero in the morning. The winds have, however, abated in violence, and the cold is not as severely felt as during Saturday and Sunday. In New York to-day it will be warmer and cloudy or partly cloudy, with light snow or rain, followed by clearing weather. Tue Hovsr or Rerresexratives has de- cided to send a committee to New York and another to Jersey City to investigate the conduct of the late election. The denizens of these two cities will naturally wonder what will be investigated. As the major- ities in both cities are of the same political complexion as the House itself it seems as if the only action possible to the committees will bo to exhibit a fatherly interest in the methods by which a number of good demo- crats were enabled to participate in the national loaves and fishes. Or, it is barely possible that the House is not above learn- ing from the Senate, and that the action of the last named body toward certain South- ern States has reminded the Representatives that the whitewash brush is not necessarily a Senatorial monepoly, Why Not Adjourn? The first week of the Congressional ses- sion has, on the whole, been ereditable to both houses and both parties. In the Sen- ate democrats have joined with republicans in settling the dispute about the twenty- second joint rule by declaring it abrogated; in the House Mr, McCrary (republican) has offered, and the Judiciary Committee (dem- ocratic) will favorably report, a resolution for a committee of five members to co-oper- ate with a Senate committee, if such shall be appointed, to devise a new rule of pro- ceedings for the Presidential difficulty. The House has passed one of the Appropria- tion bills, and both houses have appointed committees to examine election matters in the Southern States. It is a satisfactory week's work, and we trust next week will make as good a showing. But as some time will be required for the Southern commit- tees to make their reports, and as meantime there will not be much actual work for Con- gross to do, we hope the houses will adjourn next Friday, not to meet again until the new year, Several reasons concur to make this course advisable. The Appropriations Committee is behind with fits work and needs to sit until New Year's without interruption ta complete its labors in readiness for the action of Congress. The Southern commit- tees, as we have said, will need some time to gather materials and complete their re- ports. No profitable discussion of the Presi- dential dispute can take place until they re- port. It would be an advantage to members and Senators to have the opportunity to talk with their constituents and come back im- pressed with the public opinion of their lo« calities upon recent important events. Fi- nally, there is a good deal of irritation be- tween the two parties, which, with a lack of actual and practical work to do, would probably break out in exciting and injurious debates, For these reasons we shall be glad to see Congress adjourn for the holidays next Friday. The members can be more usefully employed in the vacation by talking with their constituents than by talking at each other in the Capitol. Jupcz Bonp has discharged ‘the South Carolina Board of Canvassers, on the ground that the State court had no jurisdiction over them. But from what source does h¢ derive his jurisdiction to make the dis. char ge? PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Speaker Randall is not wealthy. Bret Harte likes to write about snow, Mr. Alexander H. Bullock, of Massachusetts, is af the Fitth Avenue Hotel, = Baron de Heyking, Centennial Commissioner for Russia, is at the Albemarle Hotel. A magnifiecat fan is of Brassels point da Duchess¢ lace and mother-of-pearl, with gold monogram, Buflalo Ezpress:—** ‘If tore isa skin game going on,' says S.J. 7., ‘count mein, Tmfact, count mein any: way.?”? . From Punch:—“The Khedive’s Ministor of Finance was reported to have died of over drinking. He was ia fact suffering from an overdose of sack.”” Mr. Ruskin bas noticed that perfection in certain decorative arrangements of color and texture goes along with cannibalism and polyandry, Mr. Sala started a fow daysagé for Russia. It ts probable, however, that the ultimate destination efhis present journalistio trip will be Constantinople, Governor Hayes says thut the duty of the Governor of Oregon in regard to the federal election is simply ministerial, and that ho has no discretion about emleet. ing the electors, The Earl of Dunraven and Mr. Albert Bierstadt, the artist, who have been moose hunting in Nova Scotia fcr several weeks past, returned to tho city yesterday and are at the Brevoort House. Virginia City, Nev., is being paved with waste quartz, which, being gradually crushed, releases gold and silver valued at $9to the ton; and one street is estimated to contain $133,000 in metal, ‘ Bret Harte has arranged to visit Europe, and may be expected in England in the courre of a few weeks. He will not remain tn London inthe first mstance, bat Proceeds direct to Switzerland and afterward toGere + many. The most practical idea against intemperance has been staried at Nottingham, where the magistrates havo determined to ascertain from drunkards brought before thom the name of the pablican who last sup- plied them with liquor, From Punch:—Betting Man, to his partner:—‘Look ‘ere, Joo! I Year you’ve been gamblin’ on the Stock xchange! Now, @ man must draw the line some. where; and if that kind of thing goes on, you and me will ‘ave to part company! ” The death is annouuced of the Greek monk, Nieo lara, who followed Canaris throngh ali the eampaigns of the Greek war of independence, It was he whe blew up the Turkish admiral’s vessol in the Straits of Scio, Alter tho war he retired again to his convent, Evening Telegram:—‘It ia worthy of remark that a the recent tales from South Carolina come ftom coum ties that border upon the Savannah River, and Georg. jans are mixed up in the transactions. The institution of jury trial for criminals seems to be extinct in thas part of the country.” From Fun:—Vicar’s Daughter—‘William Noakes, does your mother ever comb your hair?’ William— ‘No, miss, nur oj doan’ want ’er to, noither!’ Vicars Dauyhter—‘Why, you horrid boy?’ William—Whoy? ‘Cos father ’e stop out too late at the “Three a” Vothermnoight, an’ ’c’s abed neaow with the combin? Yisn got!?? § Narcisse Virgile Diaz, the celebrated French vetater, has just died at Mentone at tho age of seventy. He on a wedding tour in Italy when he was o@rtaken by death, having been married a sccond time only fifteen days before, Diaz was a brilliant disciple of Theodore Rousseau and Millet, and made his appearance at the time of the Restoration, His paintings nearly all rep. resented love scenes, ‘ From Gibraltar we havo a report of a very interest. ing match botweon cighteon inen of the marine artil- Jery with a Gatling gun anda similar numberof men from the rifle brigade with rifles. They tormed at 800 yards from the targets, representing a section of men, and then advancing 300 yards opened fire. The result was greatly in favor of tho riflemen, who fired 328 rounds, making 184 hits, while the Gatling gun, which jammed the vise, fired 307 rounds tor only sixty-ning hits, M. Vivier, the Frenchman who has made it the business of his lite to worry, the custom house inspecs tors of all European countries, bas returned to France, His wont formerly was to pack a bugo trunk full of trouser strape, such as are worn with saitors, asing hydraulic pressure if it were necessary to cram five bushels into @ threo bushel space; then to lure the inspector to open it as & suspicious package, when naturally tho contents were oversot, and the whole force of tho custom house was occupied for hours in patting thom back. A powerful Jack-in-the-box was another device of his that was very suceessfal, Seeno—Senator Biank's rooms in Washington, Pen son@—A number of republicans, among them Cx-Ab torney General Williams. Enter Smith, who remarks, “Well, so Secretary Fish has resigned. That’r the nows Just now.”’ Mr. Williams, after a pause:—"That Feminds me of the remark of a young fellow 1 knew (m Oregon, Bill Wintersmith, Bill was raised in Salem, but moved off a hundred miles or so down the road, married and settled down, Alter a year or two he thought he'd ride up to ulem to sce how things looked, and as he got wear the town an old maa met him on horseback, and says he, ‘‘Ain’t you Bull Winteremith?? Tava my name,” says Bul “Well,” saya tho old man, ‘Bill, your father’s dead. "*, Bill looked at him with contempt, and says ho, “L don’t care a damn—I don’s live at home”