The New York Herald Newspaper, December 30, 1876, Page 4

* $n the ratio of one delegate for every one hundred NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ALD, pw unday exelud ished! every day inthe year, ).” Ten dollars per rind less Sanday fo nix mont hie despatches rust NALD, il be properly sealed. ns will not be returned PUILAD | SIRE ui AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. | WALLAC GERMANIA THEA GRAND OPERA HOU: LYCKUM THEATRE. PARK THEATRE.—Lirtex THEATRE COMIQU OLYMPIC THEATRE, —V. TONY PASTOR'S THEA TIVOLI THEATRE.—VA EAGLE THEATRE,—V NEW YORK AQUARIT BAN FRANCISCO MID BILMORE’S GARD KELLY & Li0N's M WASHINGTON THEATE HELLER'S THEAT EGYPTIAN HALL COLUMBIA OP MTIDIGITATION. wenica’s liowe or Mystery. TO CO The regular edition of the Hexasp will be sent here- after as far West as Harrisburg and as. tar South as Washington by special newspaper train,,run by Adams Express Company, at the usual rates. From our reports this morning the:probabilities are that the weather in New Yorke to-day will be cold and parlly cloudy, possibly with snow, and fol owed toward night Ly falling temperature und clearing weather. WALL STREET YesTERDAY.—The stock market Was aul and price: 1erally indicated a lower ten- flency for the fancy shares. Gold opened and closed at 107, with sales meanwhile at 107%. Money on call loans was supplied at 7 a6 and finally at 5 per cent, Government bonds were a trifle lower, in sympathy with goid, yet active because of an In- | vestment demand. Railway mortgages were com- | paratively steady. Ir Cnantry CovenstH & multitude of sins there are hosts of earthly saints who may envy the de- faulter Swan. AISLE SEATS ARE To Be removed from Brooklyn churches, and the pewholder’s hat will cease to be & compulsory footstool. THE CHURCH oF Tr DISCIPLES is getting out of its financial troubles, but 1s still competent to preach caution to other religious societies, Srttixe Ber. nm interviewed, and he talked principally about treachery. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” ONE SWALLOW Do or make a summer, and one test does not prove a bridge wire. Professor Thurs- | ton and Engineer Hill agree on this, as our report shows. OSCHWALD AND RYAN, charged with the Brock murder, will be respited until February 9. May cause be sown for an indefinite extension of the | Tespite. Liter no longer be ashamed of her ize, for her newly discovered “ring”? would be a credit even to New York city. See “Bogus Mort- gages.” to fear that the demented man Who has been assuming the personality of the Saviour has ceased to play & comedy and enacted a tragedy. Tue Ripievrors Famcntip Cask against the city has becn dismissed, It is a pity that there is | no jaw by which the plaintit’s in such cases can be Beverely punished. Jepon Bexepict DecipED YESTERDAY that the commission of a crime against the United States does not disquelify a man trom voting for State officers, Certainly not. If it did how could any | carpe t-barger vote ¢ Tite COMMISSION ON CITY GOVERNMENT recom- mend the enactment of twelve amendments to the State constitution, and yet there are people who believe that our legislators have nothing to do but smoke cigars and draw their pay. Dramatic Conrrast.—Amy Fawsitt, the English actress, who afew wecks ago played “Life” before alarge andience in a fine theatre, has just played the gr tof dramas ina tenement house, with the grisiy master tragedian for sole spectator. Provesson CHANDLER Dogs not believe that milk- men lighten their milk with cream, so as to lessen contidence in the lactometer; but if such malicious enemies of science can be found a hundred thou- sand milk buyers will welcome them with piteners and greenba A Stave CoNVENTION.—The Kentucky democrats have determined to hold a State Convention on the Asth of January at Louisville, “for tha, purpose of ng counsel on the present critical state of pub- | aifuirs."* As the basis of representation is to be lic votes cast for Mr. Tilden in the November election the Convention will be in fact a mass meeting, Such an assemblage ea t do much good and is not likely todo mach bnt it is tobe hoped | that before the day of meeting the present critical | Btate of public affairs wil! be in a fair way of an ac- ceptatie termination. But it is singular that the Kentucky democrats did not fix their day of meet- | ing on the Sth of January, the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, rm RELIEVING THE Poor.—The Board of Aldermen | Yesterday resolved to repeat their request to the | Board of Apportionment to appropriate one hun- Gre thousand dollars, to be included in the tax Jevy, for the immediate relief of the unemployed poor of the city. Aldermen Purroy, Gross | and iiess condemned the Mayor's resolu. | tion, offered in the latter Board a | week ago, to appropriate no money except | the Excise money to the relief of the poor and to distribute that only through existing organized charitable institutions. Both sides are probably a Uittie at fault in the matier. According to the Mayor some three hundred thousand doliars of the | Excise Fund is on hand. One hundred thousand | dollars, or even a jarger share of this money, might | well be devoted to the relief of the immediate siwien) im «the city But it fs almost mocke divide it ap for that pur} pose among organized charitable institutions, which, however worthy in their objects and em- clent in their management, are not designed for the tustant otd of those who are starving or freezing to death, The Hoard of Apportionment should draw on tre Excise Fund in preference to taxing the people for an independent appropriation, but the money should be need through sume machinery y which would reach the cases of immediate suffering and velieve them Instantly without the formalities observed by charitable institutions and their well paid oficials. | vote should be received. | not agree that this House had a right to de- | judgment on the validity of that return.” |of Mr. Does the Vice President Count the Vote? We proceed with some further precedents in the count of the electoral vote, and remark in doing so that we do not expect to inform Senator Morton's mind, for the manner in which he framed his bill for the electoral count at the last session, as well as the ability and fulness of knowledge with which f he explained and justified the provisions of his bill, show that he has closely and thor- oughly studied what the statesmen who pre- ceded him thought and did in the matter. But we doubt if others are as well informed | as Mr. Morton, and for their benefit, and for the information of the public, we have hunted up what has been said on this question in previous Congresses. When the electoral vote was counted in 1817 the vote of Indiana was objected to. On this occasion the records show that ‘‘the seals of the votes were broken by the Presi- dent of the Senate, and by him handed to the tellers, by whom they were read aloud and recorded on the journals of the Senate and of the House of Representatives by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House respectively.” The votes of all the States having been read, with the exception of those of the State of Indiana, the two houses separated to deliberate on this ques- tion. It was not pretended by the Vice President or by any one for him that he had the power to decide whether or not Indiana's January 31, 1809, Messrs. Varnum, Sea- ver, Cook, Elsley, Barker, Cutts and Green “presented petitions from various towns in | the State of Massachusetts, remonstrating | against the mode in which the late election of electors was conducted in that State. It was ordered “that the Clerk of this House do carry to the Senate the several memorials above mentioned, and desire their concur- rence in the aforesaid resolution.” Nothing further was done in this matter; but again no one set up a claim that the Vice Presi- dent had power to interfere or decide such questions. In 1821, when the vote of Missouri was announced in joint convention, it was ob- jected to by Mr. Livermore, of New Hamp- shire, and, on motion, the Senate retired. Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, thereupon moved that the vote of Missouri ought to be received, and on this debate arose in the House. ‘‘Mr. Archer, of Maryland, maintained that the question ought to be decided in joint convention and not by the separate houses. He said he could termine whether any vote should be re- ceived or rejected. What are the words of the constitution ?— ‘The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the vote shall then be counted.’ ‘Does it not follow,’ asked Mr. Archer, ‘that the votes must be counted in the presence of the two houses? For what purpose do they assemble together unless it beto determine on the legality of the votes ? If not for this purpose the joint meeting is for form and show and nothing else.’” Mr. Archer, of Maryland, said:—‘tHe was a little surprised at one ground which had | been ‘ “en on this occasion, that the House had no power to pass any judgment on any return. He had always thought that wherever was lodged the power to receive a return there also was the power to pass a It will be seen that Mr. Archer thougbt the two houses should act and vote as one body in joint convention, while Mr. Ran- dolph adhered to his opinion that the States alone could decide all matters re- garding the electoral vote. But neither these two norany one elsc pretended that the Vice President had any power or authority to decide what votes should be received or rejected. In 1825, in the Senate, on the report of the joint committee to ‘treport a method of ex- amining the electoral vote,” several amend- ments were proposed and some discussion arose, when Mr. Tazewell went at some length into an explanation and justification of the course adopted by the committee. Ho said:—‘In some points in which the commit- | tee on the part of the Senate would have pre- ferred a different arrangement they were overruled by the committee on the part of | the other house, which had its rights as well as the Senate. The mode reported by the committee was precisely, however, the same as that adopted by the Senate and agreed on by the two houses on similar occasions, from the year’1805 to 1817 inclusive.” Still no suggestion that the Vice Presi- dent should decide disputed questions, though this would have been the shortest way out of the difficulty. In 1837 several electors in several dif- ferent States were discovered to be dis- qualified. In the Senate, on January 27, on a motion for the appointment of a joint committee to ‘report a method of examin- ing the electoral vote,” Mr. Clay, after a few remarks, offered the following amend- | ment:—‘‘And also to inquire into the ex- pediency of ascertaining whether any votes were given at the recent election contrary to the prohibition contained in the second section of the second article of the constitution. And if any such votes | were given what ought to be done with them; and whether any and what provision ought to be made for securing the | faithful observance in future of that section of the constitution.” The resolution was adopted without diseent, At this election the question of counting the votes of Michi- | gan came up and was debated at some | length; but no one seems to have thought | or suggested that the Vice President hadany | powers or rights in the matter. Up to the year 1837, therefore, it appears that, first, whenever the subject of disputed | electoral votes came up, with the exception | Randolph, Mr. Pinekney, Mr. ‘Trimble, and perhaps one or two others, no one in either house disputed the constitu- tional power of Congress to question and decide, Second—But even Messrs. Ran- | | dolph and Pinckney did not pretend that | the Vice President had any power in the | matter. They urged that it belonged to the States alone, and that whatever | return came from a State must | be accepted as final—that is to say, whatever theory may have been held as to the manner in which or the persons by | story of a terrible railway disaster in Ohio. | those of the battle field cannot take place | to be decided require the soundest legal dis- | Mississippi to the ocean and as, far south whom the electoral votes might, under the constitution, be scrutinized, it does not seem at any time up to 1837 to have ocourred to any one of either house to assert that the power rested in the Vico President, We shall endeavor to pursue the subject still further. Another Frightful Calamity. While the horrors of the Brooklyn fire are yet fresh in the public mind there comes the A large train, a blinding storm, a broken bridge, a fall of seventy-five feet, an almost inaccessible location and a fire which con- sumed every car, are conditions which com- bine to form a tragedy of appalling magni- tude and terror. The worst cannot defi- nitely be ascertained at once and the agonies of those whose lost friends are iden- tified will be outdone o hundred times by those who fear for the fate of travelling relatives. The saying that ‘misfortunes never come singly” gains new force from this sudden following of one awful calamity upon another. The cause of the disaster has not yet been ascer- tained, but it is impossible that in this case there can be repeated the mocking verdict, “Nobody to blame.” Horrors worse than’ on the rail without gross neglect or incom- petency somewhere, and “criminal” is an inadequate name to apply to whoever is re- sponsible for this sickening holocaust. David Dudley Field for Congre The democrats of the Seventh Congres- sional district will evince conspicuous wis- dom if they nominate Mr. David Dudiey Field to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Smith Ely, Jr., who is to assume the duties of Mayor on the Ist of January. It is on the cards that Mr. Field will be nominated to-day, and, as the Seventh district is strongly dem- ocratic, there can be no doubt of his elec- tion, It isa wise choice on many grounds, but: chiefly because of Mr. Field's pre-emi- nent ability as a jurist. He has no claims on those who will vote for him in a mere party view, having always heretofore acted with the republican party. He has no per- sonal predilections in favor of Mr. Tilden, having for several years been the leading counsel of parties whom the Governor de- sired tocrush. Mr. Field’s term of service will be too short to enable him to establish new party relations on which he can set any value, and he is too far advanced in life to exchange the réleof a jurist for that of a politician. He can have no other motive as a member of Congress than a wish to serve his country faithfully in a crisis which calls for the highest abilities. As Mr. Field has not sought this nomination and has made no pledges to secure it he will be quite free to act on his sense of justice, and his assistance will be invaluable in guiding the House to correct conclusions on the points of law and of constitutional interpretation likely to arise in connection with the critical dispute which absorbs pub- lic attention. There is no man in either house who equals or approaches him in al ity as a lawyer, and, as some of the questions | crimination, the accession of a new member so thoroughly equipped will be an impor- tant addition to the House of Representa- tives, Mr. Conkling a Member of the Committee on the Counting of the Elecioral Votes. When Mr. Ferry, the President pro tem. of the Senate, selected the members to serve on the committee for devising a plan for counting the electoral votes, it was felt that he had given it too strong a party tinge by appointing two such vehement partisans as Senator Morton and Senator Logan. It might have been expedient to put one such member on the committee to protect the interests of the republican party, but its average composition should be such as to warrant an expectation of judicial fair- ness, This committee of the Senate is to act in concert with a similar committee of the House. It is to be hoped that the two committees will succeed in de- vising a plan for the counting to which both houses will consent, and the chance of such agreement seems to be greatly improved by the substitution of Senator Conkling for Senator Logan as a member of the Senate branch of the committee. Mr. Logan, who is in Illinois looking after his chances for a re-election, has resigned his place on the committee, and Mr. Ferry | has done the wisest thing possible in select- | ing Mr. Conkling to act in his place. This appointment strengthens the committee in point of ability and will greatly strengthen it in public confidence. We are encouraged to hope that a fair and just method of count- ing will be agreed on, and that Congress and the country will acquiesce in a result which accords with the real facts, which- ever party may gain or lose by an honest | count. Our anticipations of stormy weather along | the coast and over the Middle and Eastern States were fully borne out by yesterday's | heavy snowfall and gale. Two storm areas | combined to render coast navigation ex- tremely dangerous. One of these moved | into the Atlantic off the coast of Georgia and the other developed in the Southwest and West and struck the Alleghany range on the Tennessee State line and then followed the axis of the mountain chain north- eastward toward New York, Early yester- | day the snow area extended from the as Vicksburg, while rain prevailed over the Eastern Gulf and South Atlan- tic States. As the evening advanced the storm centre moved almost directly over | Philadelphia, and passed between New York city and the Delaware River toward New England. The velocity of the wind at twenty minutes past five P. M. was forty- j small excuse. eight miles an hour from the northeast, but at eight P. M, it blew at thirty-eight miles per hour from the south, thus showing that the centre of the depression was westward of this city. The pressure, 29.98 inches, was, with. one exception, the lowest re- corded this year. The snow area now ex- tends from Nashville, Tenn., to Lake Superior, and northeastward to Nova Scotia. Rain will prevail on the easterly margin of the depression and snow on the northerly and westerly. The temperature throughout the country is very low, but we experienced a slight rise during the passage of the storm centre, because we were on its eastern or warmest side. It is probable that very bad weather will be ex- perienced during the next two days along the coast toward Cape Race. From thence the storm will be felt across the Atlantic to the northern part of the British islands and the Norway coast. The storm zone for the Atlantic during the coming week will therefore be between latitudes 30 and 60 degrees north. The weather in New York to-day will be cold and partly cloudy, possi- bly with snow, and followed toward night by falling temperature and clearing weather. Texation of Bank Capital. An extract from the forthcoming report of the Department of Taxes and Assessments, published elsewhere, will command general attention. It assails the injudicious policy of overtaxing the stock of banking and manufacturing corporations, and shows, succinctly and forcibly, that such a policy must be fatal to the prosperity of a com- mercial city like New York andxin the end destructive of the interests of the owners of its real estate. The Commissioners repeat their former strictures on the inefficient and | injurious character of the laws taxing per- sonal property in this State, and give their official approval to the outline of a plan for the reconstruction of our tax system, pre- pared by one of their number, whose long experience and close study of the subject, aided by a clear and cultivated intellect, peculiarly qualify him for the task and give | much value to his recommendations. The owners of real estate are accustomed to ask why their particular kind of property should be burdened with taxation and the owners of bank stock, manufacturing stock and the like be suffered to escape? ‘Lhis sounds like justice, but its error becomes apparent on examination. No other tax can be distributed so thor- oughly or so equally as one on real estate. The owner of the land pays the tax, but he collects the tenant's portion of it in increased rent, or gets it back from the purchaser of the produce he raises. The tenant, if in trade, charges his proportion back on his customers in the article he sells, and so on through the list. If all the States were under a uniform system of assessment and taxation it might not matter how much we taxed .corporate capital, since it could not anywhere escape the burden. But the sys- tem of taxation differs in the several States. In a commercial community like New York we must be careful to attract banking and manufacturing capital, and must avoid driving it away from us by unwise tax laws to States where it can escape such burdens. The Tax Commissioners insist that, while real estate in New York has gained a temporary advantage by the heavily increased assessment of bank stock in this city, it will in the end be the loser by the withdrawal of banking capital and the con- sequent crippling of business. Their posi- tion seems based on common sense. It we increase bank capital ina city we increase the facilities for doing business on a large scale, liberal rents for real estate, or purchase it, erect fine buildings and enhance the value of property in the vicinity. The relief from the burden of taxation that should be sought by real estate owners is that afforded by the enlargement of the basis of taxation through the increased value of real estate and the extension of the area of that increase by means of such improvements as follow public enterprise and private investments. Such investments will not be made on any ex- tended scale where corporate capital is crippled and driven away by excessive taxa- tion. We commend the Tax Commissioners’ report to the consideration of taxpayers, Palwocrystic, There never was a more certain truth uttered by any great observer of the actions and motives of men than the well known expression that words were invented to conceal thought; but never until now did we hear of o single word being in- vented to disguise a fnilure. Had Cap- tain Nares, commander of the late Arctic expedition, returned to England and sim- ply reported that he had failed to ac- complish the object of his mission he would have received respect and sympathy; but when he resorts to Greek in order to obtain an imposing cover for his want of suc- cess he seems to go a great way for a This late British Arctic ex- pedition was fitted out at an immense cost. The British people were heartily in favor of it, and the hopes of centuries were to be re- alized through British valor. The motive was rather one of sentiment and national pride than of public utility. Science had really the first claim in interest, We never believed, nor is any one likely to believe, that Arctic exploration can yield any immediate practical profit to the commerce of the world; but there are certain objects outside of mere business undertakings that always have excited, and always will excite, the attention of man- kind. Among these may be ranked the seem- ingly useless efforts of the man who ascends Mont Blanc, the student of nature who penetrates with his microscope its most hid- den recesses, and the hardy adventurer who believes in getting to the North Pole, Yet had not such sentiments animated men where would have been the steam en- gine, the telegraph, the printing press, all of which, now so useful to the commercial interests of the world, were at first scarcely more than toys. The magnetic needle wasn plaything for children, the idle and the curious, until men grew bold and wise enough to plunge out into the great ocean in search of new tracks for commerce. Franklin was regarded os an enthusiast a kite. Watts was an idle boy when he watched the steam lifting the lid of his mother's teakettle. These, to .be sure, are not arguments in favor of keeping up our in- terest in the North Pole, but they are in- Manufacturers grow up and they pay | NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DEUKMBER 30, 1878. structive examples of an undying human curiosity which never rests until the goal is reached and mankind applauds. Immortal will be the name of the man who first reaches the North Pole, be the achievement useful or not. In point of fact, however, no discovery can be useless. Captain Nares sailed with the intention of planting the British flag at the North Pole. He was sent for that purpose, and none other, in particular. He had good ships, fitted out at great cost, with all the ap- pliances that science could suggest, and they were thoroughly manned. He comes home, invents a fanciful name, and finds fault with his predecessors, who hap- pened to be Americans. After all what does it amount to except excuses? What more did he do in the way of actual accomplishment than the miserably equipped expeditions of Kane, Hayes and Hall? Althougk he got farther north he did not do as much real work of exploration as either of them. He had, moreover, the advantage of their experience, and should, we opine, have imitated their courtesy. Besides, in reply to the stric- tures upon the work of his American predecessors, might not the question be raised whether something of the old-time jealousy of the British naval officer toward civilians is not at the bottom of it—whether, in short, men with royal commissions of manhood are not a trifle sensitive about some other people not so fortunate in that particular beating them by taking short cuts from the red tape highway. The Prospect of an Honest Count. A noteworthy Washington despatch in the Sun yesterday strongly corroborates the in- telligence which we received six or eight days ago from our own sources of intelli- gence. Our information was confidential and we were only permitted to shadow forth its substance, without liberty to state details. The correspondent of the Sun obtained greater liberty from his informants, and we are glad to find our private advices publicly confirmed from a source. which we have many reasons for deeming trustworthy. We knew that trusted republican Senators were only waiting fora proper time to act, and the intelligent despatch of the Sun par- tially relieves us from the pledge of secrecy respecting names and details by which our own correspondents consented to be bound. According to the information of the Sun, Mr. Blaine, as well as Mr. Conkling, stands ready to nabjure party in the interest of justice, and neither of them will be a particeps criminis to the counting in of Mr. Hayes if it shall appear, on o candid review of the evidence, that he was not fairly elected. This not only accords with our own information, but with the intrinsic probabilities of the situation. Mr. Conkling and Mr. Blaine are both comparatively young men, and if the repub- lican party has any future either of them may reasonably hope to be the recipient of its highest honors. In point of ability they are head and shoulders above the other re- publican leaders. If there is a future for anybody in that perty there is a future for them. Differing as they do in irtellectual structure and equi;ment, and being personal enemies, although they belong to the same party, they have, nevertheless, a common interest in preventing the destruction of the political organization on which they must alike rely for future advancement, Neither of them can afford to have Mr. Hayes counted in against a general public belief that he was not elected. They know that the inevitable consequence would be an overwhelming defeat of the republican party in the next Presidential election, which would be fatal to the hopes of the ablest men in that organization. If Mr. Hayes has been truly elected they will of course stand by their party and insist on his induction into office. But if, as seems not improbable, when the committees sent to the South make their reports it shall be evident that Mr. Tilden was fuirly chosen, no republican, except its small hand-to-mouth spoils politicians, who do not look an inch before their noses, can afford to be accomplices in an attempt to in- stall Mr. Hayes by manifest fraud. The wise and sagacious republican leaders will consider what the country will think of such a manceuvre three years hence, when ‘‘the sober second thought of the peo- ple, which is generally wise and always effi- cient,” will come into full play. No long- sighted republican desires the inauguration of Mr. Hayes at the expense of destruction to his party and ruin to the hopes of leaders abler than Mr. Hayes, who might wish to succeed him. If Mr. Hayes is unfairly counted in a republican success in 1880 will be past praying for. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Gough 1s sick. Prussians do not care for ventilation. Danbury Bailey 1s lecturing in New York State, The latest sony 13 “Two Tramps that Beat as Ona” Some one ‘3 that Renan @ witness, not a prophet, Jacksonville, Fla, makes 15,000 pounds of marma- lado a week, Mr. Motley is traveiling in Italy with his daughter and her husband, Sir Vernon Harcourt, The Mobilo Register says that If the people of the North cower before Grant and Hayes everything is lost, Goneral Hancock is charged with having tried to in- duce the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to give hima public reception. The Charleston Journal! of Commerce enys:—'We are the most patientand oppressed people in tho civilized world, Relieve us from this interference.” Less than 100 years ago Washington, writing an or. der for some London goods, made one item for tivo pounds of “sugar candy." In those days a young lady did itin her coupé on Broadway and feod her puppy with cremms, The Paragraphers’ Association not having a witty enovgh neme for what tt means, and the youngsters having refused to adopt our suggestion of the Society of the Punjab, It 1s proposed to call it “Jesters Lam,” and “Miserable Slingers,” and one rascal insists on “The Bull-dozere." Brooklyn Argus:—"The young wifo leaned hor head upon her busband’s shoulder, and, assailing bim with the sweet sorcery of her eyes, gently murmured:— “Angustas, darling, how dull earth would be it lite had no sentimentin ik” “Ah, then, you have not forgotten, Evangeline, how you used to hang your | bustle oatof the window for mo.” when he said he would bottle lightning from | Norwich Bulletin:—“Why ts it that when a woman slips on the sidewalk she says nothing, but walks on with tne graceful movement of het lovely sex, while mao al turns round and looks at the piace and pre- tends to smik goes off swearing inaadibly with that peculiar abihty attributed only to Barbary pirates and theological students? Send stamp for answer." TELEGRAPHIC NEWS From All Parts of the World. DISCUSSING THE EASTERN QUESTION The Porte Will Not Consent to Bul- garian Occupation. PROLONGATION OF THE ARMISTICE. Austria’s Attitude—Will She Oc- cupy Bosnia? THE FRENCH BUDGET VOTED. [BY CABLE TO THE HERALD.) Loxpox, Dec. 30, 1876, Tho principal ttem of news from the East this morn- ing comes from Berlin, and is very significant, It is recognized bere that occupation of Bulgaria in some form ts demanded by Russia as a sine qua non, and that if the Porte will not yield this point Russia will fight. Whether Russia is prepared to open hostilities tm. mediately or will prolong the negotiations with a view to gain time to complete ber preparations, remains yet 1o be seen; but itis admitted on all sides that the question of occupation is the one which is to dectae whether we shall bave peace or war. The Porte may offer all the ‘guarantees’ in the world, but Europe has long ago learned what little reliance can be placed on Turkish promises ot reform. THE PURTE WILL NOT HKAR OF OCCUPATION. A Berlin correspondent telegraphs as follows:— “It is affirmed here that the Porte has declared its securities to the Powers, but it unwaveringly refuses to sanction the occupation of its provinces by any troops whatever. It has even refused its conscnt to occupation by English troops, upon which point the Turkish Ministry were confidently approached, but by which Power it is not known.’? THR ARMISTICE PROLONGED. It is very probable that hostilities will not eom- mence till the spring, for Russia evidently does not wish to risk a winter campaign in Balkaus. In any case she wants to gain time and therefore the armistice ts prolonged. A special correspondent at Vienna reports that in Thursday’s sitting of the Con- ference at Constantinople it was agreed that the armis- tice should be prolonged until tho 1st of March. PROLONGED ONLY 4 MONTH. Acorrespondent at Paris says the news received ‘there from Constantinople is that it has been decided to prolong the armistice only one month, DISCUSSING THE PROPOSITIONS, — A Vienna despatch reporting the proceedings of the Conference at its sitting on Thursday, says that after the prolongation of the armistice was agreed upon several points of the propositions made by the Eu- ropean Powers came under discussion. Various amend ments and objections made by the Turkish plenipo- tentaries wero taken up by the European representa- tives for reference to their governments, A HOPEFUL VIEW. The correspondent remarks that this seems hopeful enough. The long extension of the armistico itself seems to indicate that there is good grouud for assum- ing that the negotiations promise to take a satisfactory turn; while the fact that the Conference has begun to discuss separate points seems to show that the difficulty about the acceptance by Turkey of the proposals in principle has been surmounted somehow by mutual concession. TheTurks appear to have given up the idea Of setting up thetr new constitution against the proposals of the European Powers; while the Powers, on their part, have been satisfied with the tacit accept- ance implied by the Turks commencing the discussion of single points, RUMOKED JOINT ACTION OF THR POWERS. + Adespatch from Vienna has just reached here re porting that the European Plenipotontiaries transmit- ted notes identical in terms to the Porte on Thursday, and that these may be followed by a separate ultima- tum from Russia if the Porte rejects the proposcls of the Powers. THR AUSTRIAN CABINET COUXCIL, The New Free Press of Vienna partially confirms the report of the results of Thursday’s Cabinet Council there, which was telegraphed yesterday. It says both the Austrian and Hungarian Ministers of Finance declared that there was no necessity for any military demonstration, such a8 armament or mobilization, until some real interest of the monarchy was endan- gored, and that they had no funds for such demonstra- tion, WILL AUSTRIA OCCUPY BOSNIA? ABerlin correspondent states positively that the Council at Vienna deliberated apon the eventuality of Austrian occupation of Bosnia. DISCUSSING RVENTUALITIEG. A later despatch from Vienna says the Austro-Hun- garian Cabinet council on Thuraday was, doubtless, unanimously opposed to tho expenditure of a farthing for the purpose of mere demonstration. It is also certain that the council came to the determination that Austria’s tnterests have not yet been touched. Aus- tria might not be obliged to move a single man oveo if Russia enters Bulgaria; bat, if the outbreak of war should lead to the renewal of the Bosnian and Herzegovinan insurrection on a large scale, such a state of anarchy close to the Austrian frontier might, in consequence of the smallness of the Turkish force, render it necessary for Austria to take matters {nto her own hands. It was, doubtless, to discuss tho possibility of the occupation of Bosnia that Thursday's Counci! was summoned. This is contirmed by the Dresence of the commandants of Dalmatia and Croatia, ANOTHER VERSION, Another special from Vienna reports that the Coun- ell decided that Russian occupation of Servia or Belgrade could be considered sufficient reason for mobilization, Sach occupation, however, was deemed improbable A despatch from Belgrade says the retention of the Ristics Ministry is considered a warlike sign. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION INTERRUPTED, A despatch from St. Petersburg says all the tele- graph lines to Constantinople have been Interrupted since Thursday morning. No indication is given as to the cause of the interruption. GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS REPORTED DYING, Reports are circulating in Pesth and Vienna that the Grand Duke Nicholas is dying. THE FRENCH BUDGET aporrED. The Senate yesterday unanimously and without dis- cussion adopted the budget as it was voted on Thurs- day by the Deputies. It is gdmitted on all sides tnat Thursday’s vote in the Chamber of Deputies caused o echism in the republican majority, the moderates hay. ing definitely separated from the extremists, THK CUBAN LOAN 13 8Palx, A Madrid despatch announces that the Senate has | approved the bill concerning guaranteos for the Cuban loan. THR WEATHER DULL. The weather yesterday dull, MEXICO, | HOW LERDO ESCAPED—THE EX-PRESIDENT oY HIS WAY TO CALIFORNIA. Sax Fraxcisco, Cal., Dec. 29, 1876. A letter dated December 10 received by a prominent business firm in shis city, having extensive Mexican connections, from ® correspondent at Topic, in the State of Jalisco, Moxico, says a report had been re- | ceived there that @x-D’resident Lerdo, on leaving the city of Mexico, fled to Toluca ani thence to Siguan- tanejo, @ seaport in the State of Guerrero, on the Pacific coast, and thero ombarked in a coasting vessel for San Francisco, I was accompaaied by members of his Cabinet. POSITION OF THR CONTENDING FACTIONS— PXACTIONS OF REVURLTAS AT MATAMOROS-- PROTESTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS AND NEG- LECT OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, VILLE, Texas, Dec. 20, 1876. | A courter arrived yesterday with news trom the in- terior of Mexico. | General Dias was occupying Querctaro, Iglesias nay willingness to make concessions and offer ample. ’ t iad