The New York Herald Newspaper, January 10, 1879, Page 7

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY Y AND ANN STREET. * JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, day in the your, Ten dollars per ry cents at arate of one dellar 1 three months, Sunday ee ine! ‘ded, maphic despatches must Youk tinea. Letters and packages should be Properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be returned, stat aicatanlbas is PHILADELPHIA OFFI . 112 SOUTH SIXTH LONDON “OFFICE or re EW YORK HERALD~ SAPLES oF Subscriptions and on the same b NEW YORK AQUARIU “GLOBE THEATRE—} GRAND OPERA HO! BOWERY THEATRE—Bai PARK THEATRE—Ros: LYCEUM THEATRI BROADWAY 1HE THEATRE COMIQU SAN FRANCISCO MIN: FHOMAS’ OPERA HO} TIVOLI THEATRE—Y. EGYYTIAN HALL— TONY Pastor's TRIPLE | ies are that ihe ae in New York and its vieinily to-day will be colderand fair, possibly with occasional snow in the earlier portion. To-morrow it will be cold and fair, * Watt Srreet Yesrerpay.—The stock mar- ket was fairly active and strong, particularly for the Northwest stocks and Illinois Central. Government bonds were firm, States dull and railroads strong. Money on call @as easy at 3 a@ 31) a 21g per cent, the latter being the closing quotation. Witt. Sxow anv Ice in Texas the question arises, What has become of the sunny South? Que Aynouncement that they aro still wrap- ping cables on the Brooklyn Bridge will suggest toour taxpayers the advisability of wrapping up their pocketbooks. Watt Srreer had a genuine sensation yester- day in the amouncement that an application had been made for a receiver for the firm of William Belden & Co. Tne Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, elsewhere printed, declaring polygamy to be an offence ander the law is the death knell of the peculiar institution. Ir Wit. Strike most people who read Red Cloud's letter in another column that there isa good deal more honesty in the red man than im the average Indian agent, and perhaps white eetfler. Secretary Scuvunz does not seem to be in the least hurt by the supplemental fire of General Sheridan on the Indian question. He Weclares that all the abuses complained of by the hero of Winchester were remedied long ago. Two Saitons, the only known survivors of the wreck of the Emily B. Souder, give in an- other column a heartrending account of the calamity. Was the ship in a fit condition to go to sea? is the question the government authori- ties will have to determine: Coneress —No business was transacted in the House yesterday, the day being devoted to the obsequies of the late Mr. Hartridge, of Georgia. In the Senate several petitions in favor of the Interstate Commerce bill, were presented ; the Indian Appropriation Dill was reported, also a bill making an appropriation of u quarter of a million doliars for a national museum.in Washington. Mr. Beck spoke on his resolution, which was agreed to, in regard to the silver coin received by the Secretary of the ‘Treasury for customs duties, and its disposition, in the course of which he severely criticised Mr. Sherman. The bill to amend the patent laws was briefly considered, and g motion to adjourn until Monday was voted down. Altogether the scssion was unimportant. Tur Lrotstaturn.—Theelection of Mr. Alvord as Speaker and the reading of the usual official documents were the chief events in the Seuate aud Assembly yesterday, In returning thanks for the houor conferred upon him Mr. Alvord informed his fellow members t “the eyes of the whole country as well aa of their constituents are upon them,” which, for the sake of the couu- try, is, it is to be hoped, a mere figure of speech. Mr. Hayes was promptly on hand with his prop- osition in favor of free canals, and a large num- ber of pills on the liquor question, which, it is safe to say, will never again be heard from, were introduced by ambitious statesmen. In the Senate a bill was passed authorizing the payment to L.. heirs of the salary of the late Senator Morrissey. Tne Wratner.—The barometer fell cou- siderably during yesterday throughout “the Middle Atlantic and New England States, and a storm centre was developed over thé coast districts toward night. The depression noticed ow Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexiéo has moved southward, although the rains and snows that attend it prevaid in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The barometer is highest in the North- west und the Gulf coasts. Rain and snow have fallen in the lake regions and all the districts southward to the Gulf and east of the Missis- sippi River. In the other districts clear weather has generally prevailed, The winds have been from fresh to brisk in the lake regions, the Northwest and on the Middle Atlantic and New England coast; elsewhere they have been fresh. The fall in temperature has been decided thronghout all the districts with the exception of the Atlantic const, where it has been variable. The temperature will fall very rapidly during to-morrow in our district and the pressure will inerease.° The weather will be very stormy in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras during tho next few days, Our special weather cable, printed elsewhere, will give an iden of the severity of the storm over the British Islands, The weather in New York und its vicinity today will be colder and fair, possibly with oecasional anow in the earlier por- tion. ‘Tomorrow it will be cold and fair, ‘elear and instructive. NEW YOKK HERALD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1879—TRIPLE SHEET. vO Ooms Governor Robinson's Message. Our Governor is a sturdy, downright officer, who knows State affairs better than almost any other citizen of the State, but whose notoriously strong .prejudices some- times interfere with the correctness of bis judgment. But “‘e’en his failings lean to virtue’s side,” his old-fashioned, homespun notions making him the vigorous champion of economy and the unsparing foe of cx- travagance and ostentation. His present Message is characteristic of the man. Heas- sails every branch of expenditure for objects which he regards as supertine, justly in- cluding the showy new Capitol, and un- justly including any provision for the higher education of the masses. Butjn a period when prodigality has so long been the ruje it is easy to pardon a leaning toward extreme economy. It is an order of ideas the very opposite of Governor Robin- son's that has made taxation so grinding and burdensome, The affairs of the Empire State are so multifarious that «a comprehen- sive survey of them necessarily makes a long document, and our Governors mike a habitual mistake in introducing national politics and other extraneous matters, A Governor who is so inclined can always find occasions for expounding his views of national affairs to'a public meeting, and they would be more widely read and make # deeper impression in this form than when introduced to overload a wearisomé Message to the Legislature. Governor Robinson might also have spared the prolixity of his remarks on the new Capitol, in which he says at greater length what he has repeatedly said before and will always say without effect. The business portions of the Message are The State finances have never.been in a more satisfactory con- dition than at present.. The State ‘thas no longer any general fund debt, any bounty debt nor any floating debt. These have all been extinguished. A small remnant of the canal debt alone remains to be provided for.” The effect of this wiping out of most of the State debts in lightening taxation is illustrated by the following figures:— ta 1 the State tax was. - $15,721 488 4,206,680 o 8 174 AL great success of the new changes in the management of the canals and prisons by putting each in charge of a single superin- teudent. ‘No reformation in State affairs,” says the Governor, ‘‘was ever more thorough and complete.” Although the Superintend- ent of Public Works was in office only eight months of the last fiscal year there has been avery large reduction of expenses as com- pared with the preceding year. ‘ho expenses of operating the canals for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1877, were $1,050,329; but for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1878, the expenses amounted to only $739,748—a decrease of $310,580 under the new system of management. The Governor adds that ‘while the ex- penses have thus been decreased more than thirty per cent the’ canals have ‘been kept in excellent dondition and have been open to navigation 237 days in 1878, against 214 in 1877 and-211 in 1876.” And these grati- fying results have been obtained in the first year of the new experiment and in spite “of the embarrassments which accompany a change of system. The new method of administering the prisons has been longer in operation. Its results are of the same general tenor, there having been a large reduction of the former excess of expenditures over receipts. There is a reasonable prospect that'the prisons of the State will become self-supporting, as the one at Sing Sing is already. The ex- cess of expenses over earnings in 1876. was $704,379 ; but in 1878 the total amount of expenditures over earnings was only $67,800, and this great reduction is re- garded as the fruit of the new system, which concentrates power and responsibil- ity in the hands of a single officer. Governor Robinson is informed that the county jails and poorhouses are in a de- plorably bad condition. ‘The jails are rep- resented as nurseries of crime and the poor- houses as models of inhumanity, especially in their departments for insane paupers.” The Governor regards the New York State Inebriate Asylum as an egregious humbug, which otght to be exploded. He never bad any faith in the institution, and he says it has become practically a mere hotel for the entertainment of wealthy in- ebriates. He recommends that the Legisla- ture make no further appropriations for its support, and that the building be con- verted into an asylum for the insane. With regard to the new Capitol the Gov- ernor says that ‘‘the entire eastern, west- ern, southern and part of the northern fronts are neither enclosed nor roofed.” They have stood in this condition sor sev- eral years without much injury to the work, and he thinks they might stand for several years longer. He contends that the plan accepted for the building was ille- gul, because the law forbade the adoption of any plan which would involve an expenditure of more than four mill- jon dollars. It has already cot be- tween nine and ten millions, and the Governor thinks it will not be com- pleted short of twenty millions. He says that ‘no doubt exists in the mind of any intelligent citizen that a State Capitol far more becoming in exterior design and finish, and far superior to it in convenience, conld have been or can now be built at a cost within the limit of the four millions originally intended, and for half the money yet required to complete the present build- ing on the proposed plan.” ‘The Governor deplores the heavy weight of municipal and other local indebtedness, In consequence of the pressuro of these lofal debts the advantage of the State gov- ernment being substantially out of debt will be but slightly felt by the taxpayers. ‘The Governor is totally opposed to the as- sumption by the State of any local debts of whatsoever nature. There is nothing to be done but for the local authorities to make provision for their’ gradual extinction, and for the people to learn, in a severe school and “in a manner never to be forgotten, that debts, both public and private, are an un- mitigated evil.” We have no doubt that our uncompromising Governor is sincere in these hard, homespun notions of pecu- niary morals, The only point in which the Governor deviates by a hajr's breadth from his almost surly notions of economy is in the favor he shows to Lord Dufferin’s proposal for an international park around Niagara Falls. We know nothing which so signally illus- trates the charm and persuasiveness of Lord Dufferjn's manner as his success in prose- lytizing Governor Robinson to a project in- volving the expenditure of money for mere taste and sentiment, Orpheus never wrought a greater miracle with his lyre. The Storm in Europe—Our Prognosti- cations. Our despatches by cable from toadan: Bangor and Dundee report graphically the progress of the dévelopment over the British islands of a storm centre of un- usual violence. In parts of England they have hod heavier snowfalls than are re- membered to have occurred within twenty years. On the southeast coast they had on Wednesday a wind of a velocity of forty- | seven miles an hour. Passenger traffic was suspended on the Thames, the Channel Island steamers were stopped and all de- partures of ships on the northeast coast were delayed. Doubtless we shall hear later of many vessels beached in that district or otherwise destroyed in this great storm. Apparently the disturbance reached its height on Wednesday, the Sth. Our. pre- diction was that this storm would reach the British coast between the 7th and the 9th inst., and as.it was first heard of on the 7th, was’ at its height on the 8th, and on the 9th had clearly not yet lost its force, this may be accepted as a sufficiently clear evidence of the accuracy of our ,calcula- tions of the direction and rapidity of the movement of a great storm centre, Comptroller Olcott’s Report. Comptroller Olcott’s reportis an excellent document, clear in its figures, concise: in its statements and direct and sensible in its recommendations. It is refreshing to find a financial document so plain and un- derstandable. The trustworthiness of the Comptroller's estimates is shown by the fact that the actual surplus revenue for 18/8, allowing for eight hundred thousand dollars: used for the new-Capitol, and not included in the estimates, is a little over two million dollars, while the Comptroller, in his message a year ago, set down the excess at one million seven hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars, This is a gratifying evidence of the integ- rity and economy of the State admin- istration in which the chief . financial officer plays a conspicuous part. The Comptroller renews his pressing appeal for a reduction of the school tax, and insists that the educational appropriation can be limited to two million five hundred thou- sand dollars without im pairing the efficiency of the sghoole, He again urges that the Commissioners of the United States De- posit Fund be designated county officers and the counties be held responsible for the safety of the loans made by them, pithily and bluntly remarking, ‘A repért from this department without some sug- gestions looking to the greater safety of this fund would hardly be recognized. A yet greater surprise would be to see the suggestions acted upon.” The report gives some amusing incidents to show how. the charity funds are mis- applied, and the old and admirable recommendation is renewed that the receipts of our charitable institutions be covered into the treasury of the, State and an appropriation sufficiently large be made for their maintenance. The institutions, the Comptroller hofds, should be managed by one controlling power in- stead of by local boards of trustees, The canal policy is enlarged upon with much force, and a strong case is presented to prove the great advantages that accrue to New York from cheap water transportation. One striking fact stated is that the increased tonnage of 1877 caused the loading of one thousand vessels at this port, which, at an average expenditure of two thousand dollars by each seagoing vessel while in port, realized a gain of two million dollars to New York, while the estimated gain to the whole State was twelve million dollars, The Comptroller is a firm and intelligent sup- porter of our canal system, and the portion of his report devoted to the subject of canal transportation will be read with much in- terest. Penalties of a Connecticut Canvass. They manage affairs very funnily in Con- necticut, whether in husband poisoning, wife killing, divorce proceedings or political canvassing. Marshall Jewell wants, nat- urally enough, to be United States Senator. What Connecticut man who has made one good bargain does not pine to drive an- other? What Connecticut man having once occupied a stall inthe public stables does not wish to keep his nose at the public crib? So.Marshall Jewell, no longer Post- master General, wishes to go back to Wash- ington to fille seat in the Senate. His op- ponents take a comical and peculiarly Con- necticut way of resisting his claims to the office, They fire at him small circulars, like quack medicine or wooden nut- ymeg advertisements, setting forth his iniquities. -In one of these he is accused by a New London gentleman of a lack of common civility. This party had made charges against a local ‘post- master bearing the unaristocratic name of '‘rubbs, and when he met Mr. Jewell on the sidewalk and inquired whether he had seen the charges the ex-Postmaster General replied with abominable levity, “What were they? Chicken stealing?” Another circu- lar-writing enemy alleges that Mr. Jewell while a Cabinet officer set out chimpagne for big folks at his receptions and whiskey and small drinks for the crowd, This cer- tainly is a serious count in the indictment; but it is unfortunately deficient and must be quashed, because it fails to state what were the qualities of the respective bevor-. ages. The champagne may have been very poor and the whiskey very good—which is not improbable, considering whose Cabinet Mr. Jewell was in—in which case the action of the Postmaster General would be ap. proved rather than condemned. On the whole the penalties of a political canvass in Connecticut must be regarded as somewhat, severe, Grant in Ireland. Our cable despatches to-day continne the chronicle of Grant's triumphal progress throngh Ireland. “In his reception at Bel- fast was shown, down to the very moment of his departure, an exuberant enthusiasm of welcome that is, perhaps, justly under- stood as owing some part of its warmth to a desire to protest against the Corkonian blunder, His weloome at Dublin by the Lord Mayor was another pleasant tribute of good will; while tho uneasiness of the police inspector, eager to know whether this descent of a foreign #oldier on Irish soil was not, after all, some Fenian project in disguise, was charac- teristic, laughable, and perhaps the best a policeman could do in the way of a compliment, Grant's visit to lreland is ended; and it may fairly be said of it that a public man, from a far distant country, without official character, known to the world for his military glory and for services that saved o great republic from. anarchy such as is seén in Mexico, was never more genially, warmly, earnestly and enthusias- tically made to feel that heroism, and, above all, heroism in the cause of liberty, has no country, but is equally at. home in any part of the world where there is peo- ple with the soul to appreciate great ser- vices and the aspiration to be fiee, An event like Grant’s welcome in Ireland does not happen in the lives of manymen. Our own welcome to Lafayette on his revisiting this couhtry might be compared to it but that we were under the obligation of a people in whose own, cause that soldier fought; and the ‘Irish welcome to Grant is therefore even more generous, for -there is not even the obligation of gratitude in it. As for the little fly spot put on this fine picture by the Corkonians, why, we suppose it may be admitted that even an Irish city can pro- duce some pitiful fellows who want to be- come distinguished for their very meanness if they have no worthier qualities. Some sharp-sighted democrats have seen’ in this visit to Ireland a strategic move on the Irish vote. It is one of the misfortunes that dog public men in acountry like ours that every act of their lives has to be judged from the standpoint of those who contemplate it jn the light of the ignoble hunt for votes. Some ground is given by what the demo- crats say to the opinion that they have stirred up the Corkonian trouble to head off this hunt. If this be true they must have been inspired undcr the influence of Grant's lucky star, for they have done him a service for which ‘he could not have counted upon ther, except under the gen- eral principle that'a great part of every dis- tinguished man’s good fortune is due to the blunders of his adversaries, A Remarkable Witness. The Cobb murder case has been produc- tive of some first class sensations, but none so remarkable as that caused by the testi- mony given yesterday by Mrs. Cobb in her own behalf. _ A general denial of the charges against her and of the genuineness of Bish- op's testimony implicating her were to be expected; but after this was given with great earnestness, and with oa minuteness of detail which would have been fatal to almost any witness, either true or false, she sustained her testimony against a long and skilfal attack of cross-examination and re- tained full possession of the field. Many a witness of whose honesty there could be no doubt, and who has told'a simple, straight- forward story, has had his testimony ruined by a system of legal badgering, while this woman, who suffers under serious sus- picions and charges, and has been directly accused of murder by a man who admits having been an accomplice, has un- doubtedly impressed the jury favorably and gained public sympathy for herself. Should she be acquitted her own testimony will have had considerable to do in bringing about the result; should she be proved guilty the dismal records of criminal juris- pradence will be enriched by a story which has no modern equal. . Who Shall Control Tammany? The struggle for the control of the Tam- many Society, initiated by the temporary injunction granted by Judge Barrett against the admission as members of a large num- ber of persons whose election is claimed to have been irregular, promises to afford food for excitement in political circles for some time tocome. A now Board of Sachems of the society will be chosen in April next, and it is an open secret that the proposed new members, if admitted, would vote to continue the majority of the Board in tho hands of Mr. Kelly and his friends. It is also very well known that the object of those applying for the injunction is to take the control of the Board of Sachems out of Mr. Kelly's hands and transfer it to the sup- porters of Mr. Tilden. The ground relied upon for a permanent injunction is that the new members whose admission is sought to be prevented were elected at a meeting of the society, notice of which was not advertised in two public newspapers in New York, in accordance with ‘the, rules and custom of the society, and that this neglect was designed and intended to keep the complaining members unadvised of suck meeting and to deprive them of their right to vote in the election. It appears that the meeting in question was advertised in some New York publication, but it is claimed that this was not a newspaper such as the rules of the society contemplate, and that the selection of such an advertising medium is of itself evidence of bad faith and intended unfairness, ; Of course a court will take into consid- eration the equity of the case in such an application, {f there has been an evident intention to deprive certain members of the society of their rights, the fact that there was a technical observamce of the rules for the purpose of carrying out such a design successfully while their spirit was vio- lated will not induce the court to sanction the wrong. At the same time it séems to be undisputed that“ the members applying for’ the injunction have conspired to prevent the election of any new members of the society by blackballing indiscriminately all who are proposed by the side to which they are ‘ing a decision in the ‘Thompson ease. politically opposed. Aa the society is char- tered for benevolent purposes, and as the admission of members increases its fande, is it fair to the society that its doors should be closed against all new comers Ly a face tion inspired by political motives alone? These are questions which will, no doubt, claim the attention of the Court in the pres- ent proceedings. Meanwhile it is rumored that there will be an attempt on the part of Mr. Kelly and’ his friends, should the in- junction argument be protracted until April, to prevent, by a couuter order, any election of a new Board of Sachems pend- The real object of tho struggle is the possession of the hall of the ‘'ammany Society, which fheans the power to decide what General Committee shall be the regular Tammany democratic committee. . If the Tilden party should obtain control of the Board of Sachems. there would be a reorganization of the General, Committee, regular or irregu- lar, and the ‘filden side hope to be able in that case to admit to the hall their own friends. and to. exclude the supporters of Mr. Kelly. There is, however,.a doubt as to their power to make such a reorganiza- tion, even should they actually have a majority of the next Boar] of Sachems, as the present Board has taken time by the ‘forelock by granting a regular lease of the hall to the Democratic General Committee as now, constituted, and that committee will hold power until after the next general election. Hunter's Confession. The confession of Hunter, who will be hanged this morning for the murder of Armstrong, that he committed the terrible crime for which the law has decreed that he shall die, will not surprise Any one. From the very beginning the belief in his guilt was all but universal ; but if a doubtlingered in the mind of any one he has aweptit, as he stands under the shadow of the gallows, en- tirely away. He admits all—that he hired the poor wretch Graham to kill his unfortunate victim, and, when Graham’s courage failed him, that he struck the blow. If any man deserved to die he does. There seems to be only one redeeming fea- ture in his character—his love for his wife and family. Avaricious, cold blooded, re- morseless, the only wonder is that ‘hehas not committed half a dozen marders instead of one. Indeed, he declares that one of his chief causes of regret in the whole matter is that he did not kill Graham, and that he would have done so if he had been released on bail immediately after his arrest. From the very beginning he seems to have had the utmost confidence in his dequit- .tel ‘To his lawyers he - protested his innocence in the most solemn manner, and there can be no doubt that he in that way injured his own case and lessened his chances of escape. It is ex- ceedingly fortunate for society that Hunter is tobe removed from its membership. ‘The | world is ali the better for such a monster being out of it, ‘Education for the People. | * A year's reflection has failed to convince ‘ Governor Robinson that if it is wise to edu- cate the people at the cost of the State at all it is wise to give them as good an educa- tion as possible. Twelve months ago the Governor expressed his disapprobation of imparting enough knowledge to the chil-: dren of a trick driver to instil into their minds the idea that truck driving is not the best usg to which a mon can be put. He is still in favor of keeping the humbler classes in their own sphere and at their old em- ployments, by denying to their ‘children a training that will fit them forand make them ambitious to obtain higher pursuits. He wants all the high schools and free colleges of the State abandoned. To be sure, he bases his opposition to these institutions ‘ on the ground that they mainly benefit those who can afford to pay for their chil- dren's collegiate education, But this is a mere assertion. A bright scholar in the common schools has the power to push himself forward to the High School and the Free College, however poor his parents may be, and the statistics of the New York Col- lége show that for the commercial course especially, which is the most generally use- ful, the classes are mainly composed of workingmen’s children, Tho main opposi- tion to the higher education comes from the belief that 2 common school education is all that the State ought to supply, and is good enough for the people of a democratic country. It is to be hoped that the Legisla- ture will on this point fail to agree with the Executive. Charter Tinkering for New York, Governor Robinson does not neglect in his Message to refer to the chronic legisla. tion for the city of New York which affects every State Legislature, and which, he truthfully says, is more abundant than wise and more artfal than honest, The Governor believes that a néw charter is needed for the city, which shall establish a local Legisla- ‘ture and leave our people to govern them- selves, as the people of other localities are permitted to do.. This charter, he insists, ought to be so drawn that its provisions, clearly and plainly expressed, can be un- derstood by every intelligent person with- out the aid of the courts, and then the local Legislature created by it should proceed to make desirable reforms and to give the people an honest government at a reasona- ble cost, Ali this is excellent in theory; but the ides of benefiting the citizens ot New York by leaving them at the mercy of a “local Legislature,” which means, of course, a Common Council, is grotesque, No intelligent man in the city does not know ‘that such a government would be a compound of ignorance and Cor- ruption, The problem, How to give New York a thoroughly good and efficient gov- ernment, is a difficalt one to solve. ‘There fre many who believe it may be done by placing in the hands of a Mayor, elected every second year, the full and absolute power of the appointment and removal of all subordinate city officers, and holding him responsible for their official honesty, fidelity and capacity, The success of the system of a single-headed authority over, the canals and State prisons is cited as an example in favor of such a plan of govern- ment. Certainly the ‘local Legislature” =: a policy has been tried before, and the raseality to which it le@ was’ the cause of ‘the creation of commissions and of the transfer of the power of appro- priation and taxation to a board whose constitutional authority is now called in question before the courts. The hope of the people of New York is in the character and capacity of their chief magistrate. - A strong, uble, fearless and honest Mayor will find a way to. give us a good city govern- ment, even with the present defective char- ter, We have little faith in the Governor's plan, and still less in the Legislature's honesty. We shall probably have in this, as in past sessions, a number of charter tinkering bills, all of which will contain a personal or political objeet concealed in what the Governor calls *‘a skilfdl arrange- ment of crafty phrases,” and all of which will, it is to be hoped, meet a barrier in the Executive chambet. ? . PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The icythermal lino scems to bea Temper, reyes strip: Voice of the solid South :—‘Found, your Northern weather.” ‘The Rome Sentinel congratulates itself because win- ter comes but once a year. John McCullough, the actor, is said to\love his gun. He must be a shooting star. There was no marked change in the condition of Mr. Justice Hunt yesterday. Mr, Paist is to run for Sheriff of Philadelphia, Paist is not a diamond in the rough, . George William Ourtis would make a beau ideal Minister; but isn’t Germany too cold? ; Said an angry man yesterday when speaking of ® rascal:—Why, he is eighteen carats fine.” Columbus Delano, ex-Secretary of the Interior, is lying dangerously ill at Mount Vernon, Ohio. If America is to erect a monument to Major André why doesn’t England erect one to Benedict Arnold ? A Western editor says that the Henan is noted for. its paragraphs, He must have been aces, | the “Ship News.” According to the San Franeinco Stock Exchange Kear- ney has cooled down. He recently called the devil “@ real bad man.” Sir Edward Thornton, the British Minister, and Lady Thornton arrived at the Clarendon Hotel from ‘Washington yestefday morning and left by the even- ing train for Montreala An Englishman who has been travelling in ‘apie praises, in an English periodical, the Northern fruits that come into New York, but says those of the tropics are yellow—yellow—yellow, and suggest fever. Commodore John Guest, commandant of the’ Portsmouth Navy Yard, lies thers dangerously ill with gastric fever, combined with an affection of the heart. But slight hopes are entertained of his re- covery. Man is truly @ creature of contradictions. ‘The young gentleman who on his sumnier evening walk whisked his girl past an ice cream saloon finds it'to cost wgreat deal to go sleighing and stop for hot Scotches. Ecening Telegram : bly Chamber is so constructed that the members can- notbe heard. What a pity the architect. did not ren- der it more difficujt than it is baal members to be ‘geen!’ * ‘The cold weather has frozen up all the oysters and oyster sloops, so that if there is no oyster in church fair stows just now there is for the first time s rea- sonable excuse for the failure of the oyster to attend . the fair, ‘The Emperor of Austria, at his summer retreat b¢ Iechl, is an inveterate emoker, and has on the writ- ing table of his bedroom s number of long, coarse Virginia cigars, The Emperor is tall and spare, with close-cropped sandy” hair, just "turning fron’ gray? regulation military whiskers and mustache; small, rostleas gray eyes; blunt features and heavy lips, and he wears the Nght blue uniform of ® general, He speaks six languages. * London World:—The Oratorians have always been Cardinal Manning’s ideal priests; whiskey and water and cigars and little card parties might mar the sacerdotal susterity of others of his clergy and vex his soul; but the sons of St. Philip Neri were above criticism even in the severe eyes of the most apostolical cardinal of modern times. The loss of one of his favorites wil¥ probably be the greatest grief of his rule as Arch- bishop. This one thing is certain, I think—that no hypocritical priest exists in England; the discipline is too hard and Witter to bear except for conscience sake, Nevertheless, the recanting: priest requires all his courage, for he accepts @ social ostracism (from the Catholic world) which has no parallel.” And apropos of the Mr. Law, whose defection has caused so much talk, the World says that doubts abous celibacy are always at the root of - difficulty, and Mr. Law has taken a wife. GENERAL GRANT AND THE IRISH, STATEMENT OF ‘“‘IRISH BRIGADE” CORRECTED, (BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.) Wasnincton, Jan, 9, 1879, The assertion in the Henatp this morning by the correspondent signing himself “Irish Brigade,” that General Grant refused to follow the precedent set by all his predecossors in awarding the diplomas to the graduates of Georgetown College, is ume true. By weference to the Hxnap of Friday, July 2 1969, it, will be seen that President - Grant attended the fifty-second annual commences ment of that institution, having been welcomed to the platform by the College president, Rev. Bernard A. MpGuire, 8. J., and conducted to front seat while the band played “Hail to the Chief,” and the audience rose to their feet to do him honor, At the proper time President Grant handed the graduates and honor men their degrees and prizes, j had been done by every President: before him, from Washington to Andrew Johnson, BIGGINS YS. GENERAL GRANT. '—“It is said that the new Assem- TRIAL BEFORE THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THR ‘DISTRICT—PREPOSTEROUS CHARACTER OF THR EVIDENCE, (BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.) Wasutxetox, Jan. 9, 1879. ‘The suit of Biggins against ex-President Grant came to trial in the Circuit Court here to-day before Judge Cartter. The plaintiff was put upon the stend, and upon his crose-examination told a rambling, incohe+ rent story about General Grant wishing to pay him ’ $17,000, which was hardly more logical than the al- leged attempt of General Grant to pass himacif in through the keyhole of plaintiffs bed chamber, The preposterous character of the euit waa at several stages so evident that Judge Cartter is paid to have been on the point once or twice of suspending the proceedings and throwing the case out of the court, So far the prosecution has failed utterly to #how Gens eral Grant's responsibility for the plaintiff's confine- ment i the {naane asylum. Amiong the spectators > inside the bar was Ulysses Grant, Jr., who came over from New York to watch the athena of the trial, MR. M MICHAELS | “MEMORY. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 9, 1879. A meeting of journalists to take action on the death of tite late ‘Morton McMichael was held this morning at the Mayor's office, and was attended by itatives of nearly all the papers in tho citys Wilitem ¥.. McKean, of the ‘ jided, and lonel Rdward McPherson, ot the Brees noted ae eens: Kalo, Femarks were made b; A. K McClure, of the Dr. Morwitz, of the Democrat; Francia Wells, of the Bulletin; Ay’ W. Secs a ot the Press; Joel Cook and William Y. the Ledger, aud John W. Forney, eee PROPOSED SUBMARINE OABLE. Orrawa, Out., Sam. 9, 1879, It in understood that the Nova Scotia members in Parliamént will ask the government to ley a subma rine cablt from Berry Head, N, §8., to Sable Inland, & distance of eighty miles, It is claimed thet thie island lies in the centre of the eran dae caver el pony yt ch A lg te the advent of storms from the Atlantic, ;