The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-10 00:00:00

TILE WAR IN PARAGUAY.

The French Agence Haves has refused to publish the
despatches received from Paraguay through a Paraguayan
source. Don Gregorio Benites, the Charge d'Affaires for the
Republic at Paris, has sent his intelligence direct to the
Paris journals. He says that Prince Gaston d'Orleans,
commander-in-chief of the Brazilian armies in Paraguay, has
become convinced of the extreme difficulty of reducing
Lopez, who still has sufficient resources to defend himself.
The Prince has been recalled by the Brazilian Em-
peror with his force of fourteen thousand black
soldiers. This determination was expedited by
the foreign Ministers of Buenos Ayres and of Montevideo
who met at Assumption to deliberate with Councillor
Paraulios, Foreign Minister of Brazil, who has been in that
town for nearly a year directing the Provisionary Govern-
me-i of Paraguay. The Argentine and Eastern Republics
ara growing weary and apprehensive of the Brazilian
I.lliance, as they perceive that Power no longer dissimu-
lates its projects of absorbing the States of La Plata.

Imi new tneones or constitutional government, put
forward by the "'veldt Fra;zeivis, have attracted coin ider-
able attention. You will remember that this journal admits
that the Emperor must henceforth govern by the majoriV.
but- considers that in case of any difference between
the Ministers and the majority, the Ministry must be
changed—the Chamber need not be dissolved. The Debats,
which is not an advocate of an immediate dissolution,
cannot allow this to pass without protest, and
points out that with all constitutional government.;
there is always the alternative of a dissolution of Parlia-
mmt in order to test the real feeling of the country. In
a State like France, where a considerable portion of Um
Chamber consists of official candidates, the doctrine that
the Ministers must be chosen from the majority as it now
stands brings us back in reality to something like persohal
govenunent.

The Senate held to-day a public sitting. All eyes were
turtle,' towards the Government benches, where sat M.
011ivier, Count Darn, and, a little further on, M. Parieu,
the new President of the Council of State. A shell
and friendly conversation between M. 011ivier and
his predecessor, M. Duvergier, was much noticed.
In the course of the sitting M. Daru ascended the tribune,
and declared that the Cabinet was desirous of explaining'.
as soon as possible, to the Senate and the Corps I.6gislatif
the programme which they intended to follow. The
opinions of the Ministers were well known, and
it is expected that next week the Cabinet will be in a post
tion to announce a definite programme.
A circular has been issued to the prefects by the new
Minister of the Interior, and one to the Procureurs-
Generaux by the Minister of Justice, that is to say, by M.
011ivier himself. These documents are intended to mark
the line between the old and new regimes.
Yesterday morning, at the official reception of the
Minister of the Interior, M. Haussmann, whose successor
in office is not yet installed, presented the personnel
Of the Seine Administration. He presented them with
a few complimentary phrases declaring that the staff had
displayed in their arduous task a profound devotion to the
Emperor, respect for the laws, and devotion to duty. As
their chief who had for seventeen years endeavoured to set
them an example, he felt bound in honour to do so to the
end. The Minister, in reply, said that politics had
their cruel necessities, and that he never more strongly
recognised the fact than when he renounced the assist-
ance of a distinguished official for whom he had the
highest respect, whose works he admired, and whose
friendship he prized. After saying this he advanced to
Baron Haussmann, extending both hands. The
baron, after thanking him warmly for his words,
reminded him that in entering the Administration
in 1831, under an ordinance signed by M. Casimir
Fierier, he had as one of his guarantors M. Chevandier de
Valdrome, and he was thankful after thirty-eight years to
find his son acknowledging that the recommendation had
not been compromised.
The Independence Beige thinks that the dismissal of M.
Haussmann is quite an event for Paris. The cause of his
unpopularity was not so much on account of his work as
for the manner in which he performed it. In the sphere
of his duties he was as much a dictator as the Emperor
himself could be. It was this system of dic-
tatorship which the new Cabinet wished to destroy,
and they were the more determined to do this because
to have left him undisturbed until his works were
finished would have been sanctioning his past acts. The
affair was looked upon in this light more than as an
affront to the Emperor, who certainly wished M. Hauss-
mann to be retained. On the whole, the dismissal of the
Prefect of the Seine must be regarded as a triumph of
parliamentary power, represented by the Cabinet, over
personal power, represented by M. Haussmann.
Among the various changes that are talked of Is tie
retirement of General Le Bceuf. He is blamed for want
of judgment in issuing the orders of his department.
General Trochu is mentioned as his probable successor,
but the change is not yet certain to take place.
Troppmann's protest has been sent to the Criminal
Chamber of the Court of Cassation. It was at once
transferred to the president. The case will pro-
bably be heard on the 13th of January. The
letter which Troppmann sent to the Procureur-Gen6-
ra.l contained nothing but some references to the
missing portfolio. It is not thought likely that the autho-
rities will institute any more searches at the instigation
of the condemned criminal, who is believed to have no
motive in asking for them but to prolong his existence,
and see what chances may turn up in his favour.

IRISH rIL OSPEUITY.

Statistics furnished from different sources still
chew that though Ireland is in general prosperous, the
progress is most apparent in the North, and the decline,
when there is any, is in the South. At Belfast, for
example, the valuation of the borough has increased
from ;,C414,055 in 1860 to 1:430,559 on the Ist of the
present month. There have been 1,800 new Louses
built during the year. The population of Tipperary,
on the other hand, has declined 2,045 in ten years.
In Cork, within the limits of the Poor-law Union,
there are 0,050 holdings, of which 2,065 are at
These are all in the class of small holdings.

Mr. Cardwell's proposals for the alteration of the regu
Wiens for the volunteer force have, says the Standard,
Peet with the unanimous disapproval of the commanding
officers in regard to their most important features. Lord
Ranelagh's resolution at the meeting of Friday was carried
without a dissentient voice, though it went so far as to
express the belief that the adoption of some of these
alterations would produce the immediate decline of the
whole force, and would be the certain annihilation
of many battalions in the metropolitan district.
It is therefore sincerely to be hoped that changes.
considered by those most immediately concerned
to be so objectionable as to warrant this sweeping stricture
may not be carried out, or even embodied in tho estimates
now being framed, until ample opportunity has been given
t) the volunteers of the whole country to express their
o2inion and suggest alternative proposals. Although we
u)held Sir John Pakington in his resistance to
what we considered the rather exorbitant demands
mule on the late Government by Lord Echo,
on behalf of the force, yet we have no wish
t 3 see the struggle for life made harder for them
than it already is, or to see them handicapped so heavily
in the race for efficiency, as to make success almost impos-
sible, and to render it not worth their while to enter for
the contest. If all these suggestions were as sensible as
that which proposes to bring the volunteers into more
perfect union with the regular forces Mr. Cardwell would
have done well. As it is, the bulk of them cannot possibly
be accepted. The general wish is to make the volunteers
m )re thoroughly efficient ; not, as Mr. CardwelPs proposals
would do, to crush them off the face of the earth.
The Daily .2rezes thinks it is perhaps in some measure
owing to the constant acquaintance with danger, and the
recklessness of life, which is at once the cause and conse-
quence of peril, that we find miners so much more ready
than other labourers to resort to extreme violence in the
settlement of their trade disputes. A conference of dele-
gates of the Association of Miners has just been sitting in
the centre of the Lancashire mining district at Wigan, to
consider the means of ameliorating the condition and
raising the status of its members. It has discussed the pre-
sent system of inspecting coal mines, and expressed its
great wish to have the children of miners educated, so that
the old reproach of ignorance should be removed from the
mining population. These things are excellent in their
way. But peace and progress go together; and those
aneals to physical force, of which we are beginning to hear
a great deal too often, are more worthy of the middle
ages than of the nineteenth century. In time past
society has not done justice to the industrious
men who brave so many dangers to supply our
domestic wants, and provide the material necessary
for our great manufactures. The omission must
be repaired and the defect supplied, and whatever steps
may be found necessary must be taken to place the
mining community, to whose labours thepresent advanced
state of civilisation and of science is so much indebted, in
something like a fair position among the rest of the
working masses. But there are some reforms for which
the miners need not await the action of the Legislature,
and among these is the suppression of their tendency to
resort to violence for the redress of grievances for which
if they are real, other and milder remedies exist.
It seems, observes the Post, that the present Liberal
Administration will meet Parliament with a programme
of good measures, a pocketful of money, end an over-
whelming majority. Against this what can the Conserva-
tives achieve ? They had last year a sort of Church cry.
This year they had none at all. They are reduced to a
condition of impotence in the Commons. In the Lords
t'rey have yet to elect, or to pretend to elect, a leader; for
we can hardly bring ourselves to doubt but that Lord
Darby is the natural leader of the Conservative Lords. The
party is really too advanced to permit of the choice of a
reactionary chief, and the liberality of Lord Derby cal
hardly stand in his way when put in juxtaposition with
the sincere Radicalism of the Commons' leader. The road
of the Opposition to office lies in outbidding the Liberal
A. lministration, and in adopting its clothes while exceed-
ing its measures. Mr. Disraeli is always ready to educate
his party and discipline them to these tactics. He requires,
therefore, a truly liberal leader for the lords, and none can
serve his purpose so well as Lord Derby, who, from his
hereditary claims, may well take the position,
while it is difficult to see how he can occupy any
other, for it is seldom permitted to public men
to desert the friends they have long worked
with and to go over to another party; nor does it consist
with self-respect to quit old colleagues and accept an infe-
rior position in opposite ranks. However the Tory party
may constitute itself, it must be admitted that its pros-
pects are at present vague and intangible, whilst those of
the Administration are solid and full of hope. Mr. Glad
stone occupies at thie. inoment a position of immense
power, and has in his hand the means of effecting great
improvements which may hand down the memory of his
Ministry to a grateful posterity if only he proves his
capacity for making the best of his unquestioned oppor-
tunity.
The Pall Mall Gazette thinks that everybody must re-
joice that a baker at Nottingham has been fined for selling
flour adulterated with alum. It was, we believe, stated
that he did not know that the flour which he bought was
adulterated; but with this we have nothing to do. Who
ever offers for sale adulterated food ought to be punished,
and the following method of discovering the presence
of alum in bread, which was published in 1762,
may be useful as a means of detecting offenders :
—" Mix chalk with aquafortis, pour them upon
water in which the suspected bread has been infused and
well soaked; if there be any aluminous acid, it will ap-
pear evidently soon after the mixture by a gypseous or
chalky concretion forming a hard mass at the bottom of
the vessel." In 1764 John Fetch, a baker in Whitecross
street, was convicted before Sir John Fielding for having
in his bakehouse a quantity of alum, which was adjudged
by the magistrate to have been lodged there
with an intent to adulterate the purity of meal,
flour and bread, contrary to the statute; upon
which he paid the penalty of £4 for that offence,
being a mitigation of the penalty of £lO forfeited by tho
Act. In 1775 another baker charged before the Lord
Mayor with a similar offence did not got off so cheaply,
and was fined the full penalty of £lO. It appears, there-
fore, that our ancestors suffered as we do from the effects
of "competition ;" and it should be our duty, by putting
the law into operation, and rigidly enforcing its pro-
visions, to promote the honesty of the retailer anti the
health of the consumer before the advent of our grand-
children

The Bishop of Exeter, "feeling much sympathy
with working men," has become a patron of the Working
Men's Institute, Catherine-street, Plymouth, of which the
Rev. T. Erskine Risk is president.

The Observer says a feeling of anxiety is at pre-
sent pervading many of the Government offices in view of
Mr. Lowe's next Budget, and the proposed reduction in
the various departments. In Somerset House and the
Custom House the feeling is generated by the belief that
Mr. Lowe contemplates extreme reduction in the Inland
Revenue and Customs duties. It is believed, also, that
changes arc contemplated in the Pa) vaster-General's
Office—changes the carrying out of which will involve the
destruction of the office.

Major-General Sir Alfred Horsford, K.C.8., has
resigned command of the 3d Infantry Brigade, at
Aldershott, his period of duty having expired ; and
the command of the brigade has been temporarily
assumed by Colonel Martin Dillon, C.lll. (2 1 Bat-
talion Rifle Brigade), Aide-de-Camr, to the Queen.
General Horsford is acknowledge,-1 -to be one of the
most able officers in the army, ant. in any future
campaign in which his services may be required he
will doubtless occupy a prominent. -_position.
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS., AT, PARKINS AND GOTTO'S.—
Portrait albums, dispatA boxes, writing case 4, dressing cases,
dressing bags, envelope cases, blotting books, inkstands, desks,
stationery cabinets, bookslides, work boxes, :tea caddies, hand
bags and reticules, card cases, purses, scent hot ',les, cigar eases,
card trays, pocket books, ornamental articles i 1 china, bronze
gilt, and elegantly mounted for mantel shelf, draw ing and library
tables; bagatelleboards, indoor croquet and - games of all
kinds ; Bibles, Prayer-books, and Church Services iL ' every type.
Thousands of the above articles, all perfectly new- and fresh.
Small artic:es carefully selected and sent post paid ,upon pre-
payment. Catalogues free.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
In the "silly season," which for newspapers
reaches its silliest about Christmas, journals find-
ing nothing else to discuss, in a dog-eat-dog style
sometimes turn upon each other. Even the Times
condescends, with a touch of the Gaily Bellowgraph,
to discuss its contemporaries ; " the Star fell with
autumn's falling leaf, and on Friday the Herald
died with the dying year. Dissimilar enough in
life, they strikingly resembled each other in the
eminently peaceful and decorous character of their
death." It goes on to show how they died, like
patriarchs, prophesying to the last, not leaving the
world because they want support, but because their
work is done. They have fought the good fight,
and have won it so completely that there is no-
thing left to fight for. The principles they started
to establish, everywhere triumphant no longer need
their support ; their end is less a death than a
translation. This is what both say, yet, strange to
state, each advocated the principles opposed to the
other. Then the Times points out how harmo-
niously this end of journalistic life accords with its
beginning, no journal being ever started with a
view to pecuniary profits. Though a private en-
terprise, its aims are always public ; perceiving
more clearly than its contemporaries the importance
of certain principles, it comes forward to support
them, but, when triumphant, no reason rem tins
for prolonging its career, be it ever so profitable.
The undisguised sneer at these " dead ducks" was,
in the highest degree, distasteful to the Standard,
a sort of Siamese twin to the Herald. The extinct
Star had no Siamese twin, being absorbed by a
wholly different paper, though advocating, in a
modified way, the same principles. Nor was it
made more agreeable by what followed. These
two papers, the 7 imes remarked, represented the
extreme sides of " party, journalism," which it calls
the most eccentric and unaccountable of civilized
institutions. A journal may give a general and cor-
dial support to a party without waiving its right to op-
, pose what it consider to be wrong ; but a " party
journal," as a matter of course, approves whatever
emanates from one set of politicians, and disap-
proves of whatever emanates from another. The
articles on any subject might be written before-
hand, for they have no reference either to the merit
or the fact, and the reader can confidently count
nn what the tone will be, as the writer supplies the
matter to order. How such articles can interest
any one surprises the Times, this mental condition
being incomprehensible to it, while compelled by
the logic of facts to believe in its existence. That
the class which supplies the readers is declining is
shown, according to the Times, by the death of the
two journals most conspicuous in pandering to it.
Naturally this raised the Standard's wrath up to
boiling point, and it overflowed, in many words, in
the next day's issue. In reply to the charge " of a
bigoted adherence to party," and the cause of is
death " as sticking too long and too narrowly to
the same old work," all can guess what the Stan-
dard's answer would be. Naturally for conduct so ab-
surd alio Times has no patience, whose principle it is
to move with the greatest number, to mark events
as they pass, and look at questions on the side they
momentarily present; but is it, asks the .standard,
a sign of improvement in public morality that
journals like the _Herald should be done to death
for a faithful adherence to its party, " while the
markers of events as they pass,' the watchers of
time, and the waiters upon change, are upon the
increase.and flourishing? . . . Itself the most
remarkable instance in the history of journalism, in
proof of the fact, that freedom from principle does
not mean superiority to party, the Times, in its
present phase of its existence, is notoriously dis-
qualified to act either as arbiter of the living or as
judge of the dead. In pursuit of its humble but
profitable ambition to mark events as they pass,'
it has marked Mr. GLADSTONE as he has passed into
power—it has marked Mr. LOWE, with a still ten-
derer and nearer concern, as he has passed into
finance. . . . Without any bigoted adherence to
the spirit of party, without any sense, as we can
readily believe, of any spirit of party at all, and
quite prepared to abandon the combination to-mor-
row, if it should fail, the Tims has displayed for
the last twelve months a zealous attachment to
the persons of the Ministry which pass s all our
experience of party newspapers, and which remains
inexplicable on any theory of journalistic morais."
Indeed, the Standard lashes itself into such a fury
as very plainly to insinuate that Mr. LOWE knows
exactly the price at which the Times values its sup-
port to the Government, as well as the cost to the pub-
lic Treasury. It proceeds to remark that he on whom
the melancholy duty devolves of writing the limes'
epitaph will not be able to say it died, " because it
stuck too long or narrowly to the same old work,
for it will not die of an over-scrupulous or rigid
adherence to the spirit of any one party." But may
it not die, we ask, if there is a particle of truth in
the insinuation of the Standard, of a too rigid and
unscrupulous adherence to its own pecuniary inte-
rest. It is the fashion to account in this way for
changes in the 1 imes, but nobody attaches the
slightest value to such assertions, for the excel-
lent reason that no person or association has the
wealth to bribe the proprietors of the Times for the
loss they might sustain in such a course would
be so enormous that, putting honesty aside, their
demand must be so heavy that it could not be met
except out of the Treasury of a first-class power.
Now and then the Pall Mall Gazette turns from its
habitual abuse of the Telegraph to come down upon
the Times, in such articles as Vicious Journalisnt ;
but when any writer is really hard up for a subject,
he searches the columns of the Telegraph, clutching
an extract from the " Literary 3ody-snatcher."
The last decidedly good thing, perhaps the best the
Telegraph ever produced, and the most ridiculed,
was on Mr. GLADSTONE'S sixtieth birthday ; but our
contemporaryin Fleet-street pursues the even tenour
of his way, still being able to announce the largest
circulation in the world.. Indeed there is truth in
the remark of the Times, that an old journal has an
immeasurable advantage over a new one, the up-
hill battle to the fresh comer being in making itself
known, and it may suit the views of the Plegraph
to have its great posters and advertisements aided
by articles about itself going the rounds of the
press. That the Herald died for want of change
we deny, and its respectable sister of Shoe-lane
could with truth have contradicted the assertion, for
no one knows better that in rigidly adhering to its
party it was swinging gracefully as well as continually
round the circle. The Herald held on to its party,
but what did its party hang on to ? Why to the
most violent, erratic, and unexpected changes, and it
is a study to observe how both the Herald and its
sister fitted into their pigeon-holes designs they
had openly proclaimed to be an abomination,
docketed " party measures" and labelled, " to be
supported." . Among the extraordinary journalistic
changes it is perhaps true that the 2 imes has been
the most immoveable on what in America is called
"the main question," while presenting, like the
chameleon, many passing hues. The reason why
such journals as the Star and Herald have died ap-
pears to U 3 to be obvious. The reduction of many of
the Metropolitan daily papers to a penny, instead
of cheapening the cost of establishing and main-
taining a morning paper, has enormously in-
creased it. Without a large measure of public
support no such journal can exist, and the support
while sectional must be little less than national
in its magnitude if the journal is to become a re-
munerative property. People talk wildly of a daily
circulation of 100,000 copies without a conception
entering their minds Of what the handlir.g of
100,000 Telegraphs or Standards means. It requires
even in the mechanical business a very strong force
to get through such work in the early hours (f tl.e
morning, and without a still stronger editorial and
reporting staff, as well as. the ability to collect and
give the news, the 100,000 copies would not be re-
/faired by the public. Therefore the two must be
conjoined, first in giving satisfaction to the enor-
mous number of readers required to create the de-
mand, then in having the means for supplying that
demand. Hence the necessity for the amalgama-
tion of the same party morning journals ;benc.,,
too, the almost impossibility for fresh competitors
to enter this field ; and it is all the more deceptive
that it looks so easy, the penny journals being
bought to wrap up buns, or picked up by the dozen

Mr. -Bout%Vell's Monthly Statement gives the total
debt of the United States on the Ist inst., less money and
bonds in the Treasury, as $2,448,746,953, being a decrease
during December of $4,812,781. The total decrease since
March 1 is $76,716,306, the Bonds purchased amount to
$87,454,277. The coin in the Treasury is $109,159,475;
the currency $12,773,91;3; showing au increase of three
millions in gold, and half a million in paper. The sales
during January of gold are to be reduced to $4,000,000,
and the purchase of 5-20's is limited to $6,000,000.
Admiral Porter's evidence to the Spechil Com-
mittee on the causes of the decay in American shipping is of
much interest, and more especially so to the shipbuilders on
the Tyne and the Clyde, for he advises the purchase of
some 25 steamers for registration on the American list to
be at once used in establishing ocean lines. With such a
nucleus and the proteeLion accorded by subsidies and
drawbacks, the Admiral thinks that in two or three years
the American carrying trade would revive. With this
exception he opposes the free regi-eration of foreign-built
ships as destructive of the mechanical and building interests
of America, granting it only,as a n imtne,Jiate requisition for a
number of vessels could not be met iu the U. S. Hence the
necessity for buying some 25 foreign steamers, while he
would so aid the establishment of the lines that they could
be kept up from American yards. The value to Goverument,
on the outbreak of a war, of having at command 40 such
vessels as are now plying between America and Europe
cannot be over-estimated. The Admiral said that the
Union would have saved at least $40,000,000 could such
a fleet have been turned into a blockading force, indeed 30
suchvessels would be of more service in case of war than the
combined navy as at present constituted. Though this
arty appear exaggerated, we doubt if it be an exaggeration.
No storm appears to check au Atlantic mail steamer, no sea
to injure her. When chimneys are tumbling down and roofs
flying about on shore them magnificent vessels continue
on their course, the wind howling, the sea raging, it is true,
but harmlessly to them. Take !L ma n- of-war 01 the contrary,
and we find the Monarch lying at Spithead awaiting fine
weather precisely the period it took a Cenarder to go from
Liverpool to New York. By the time the powerful war ship
reaches her destination that Cunarder will have got back
to Liverpool, and returned again from Liverpool to New
York. The fact is that the proprietors of such vessels
know exactly what they require, and insist on the steamers
built for them being Li every way up to that mark, while
the Navy authorities scarcely know whether they want an
iron or a wooden vessel, screw or paddle, broadside or
turret, and cud perhaps in having one side plated, the other
not, and a ram at the stern. Admiral Porter's high ap-
preciation of these wail steamers is no more than just.

It is with no small measure of regret we learn that
the Cunard and Inman Companies will no longer Lrh,g the
American malls to England, as they have declined the re-
duced terms offered by the U. S. Government. Hitherto, as
their representatives state, they have carries the home-
ward mails for 20 cents per ounce—a rate the Washington
Government proposes to lower to one-fourth ; a remune-
ration insufficient to induce these companies to sail from
America upon fixed days, and to incur the port and other
charges on entering the harbour at Queenstown to dsliver
the mails. The following telegram was received in London
last Saturday : —" The Cunard and Inman steamers having
refused to carry the mails at the reduced rates, the Pest-
office authorities have contracted with the Oelrich's
steamers for one year to carry the Saturday mails. They
will commence on the Ist of January, 1870. It is reported
that the Wednesday mails will be carried by the Williams
and Guion steamers." The Wednesday mails from Ame-
rica have hitherto been carried by the Cunarders, and the
Saturday mails by the. Inman fleet, the reverse of this
being the case from Liverpool. As far as we can recol-
lect, with one exception at least for three years, the mail
news of this paper has been for the Saturday week preceding
its issue, with occasional news up to the Tuesday, and
even Wednesday, of the week previous to its issue ; and
we hope that this regularity may not be interrupted.
In the House of Representatives Mr. Jones, of
Kontueky, elicited an opinion unfavourable to the late Mr.
Peabody, held by a section of the members. While pro-
nouncing a eulogy on the character of the philanthropist
he moved a resolution, which was eventually adopted,
in the following form :—Resolved, " That the President of
the United States be authorized to make such preparations
for the reception of the body of our distinguished philan-
thropist, George Peabody, as is merited by his glorious
deeds, and in a manner commensurate with the justice,
magnanimity, and dignity of a groat people." Mr. Schenck
observed that Congress bad already done enough. Un-
gracious as it might be, be would say that he would rather
divide a little of that respect and attention by sending ships
to meet the body of some humble individual, poor it
might be, who, in proportion to his means abroad, while
the struggle was going on for the life of this nation, gave
his time, his energy, his hopes, and endeavours, along with
his sympathies, to the Union. Many members clapped
their hands on this. The fact is that Mr. Peabody's phi-
lanthropy was too broad, as philanthropy is apt to be, for
violent partisanship. There was a time when the honours
paid to him in America would not have been accorded, for
he could scarcely be said to be sound on the main question,
and would very strenuously have opposed General Butler's
proposition that at least six of the rebel chiefs ought to
have been hung, which Horace Greeley calls the "policy
of vengeance," in his reply acknowledging it to be still
the more popular, though tepidly losing its adherents.
In the Executive Session of the Senate, on the
21st Dec., a leading member said it was humiliating to
the dignity of the Chamber, as well as detrimental to its
business and its secrecy, that all which transpired in
Executive session should be paraded to the world by a
set of newspaper scril-blers. He thought a speedy stop
ought to be put to the publication of secret sessions. Of
course not one of that dignified body would disclose the
proceedings, and a severe, unrelenting investigation
should be instituted till the guilty party was detected
and punished. This brought the solemn conclave to
the consideration of the means through which the guilty
party had hitherto worked. One sugg.sted that he
was concealed beneath the large register in front of
the clerk's desk whore the grating enabled him to hear
what was going on. Another, however, held the op-
posite opinion, believing the reporter to be on the sky-
light looking down upon the Senators, many of whom felt
sure that the leak was from that source. It was suggested
that a committee should watch those points during secret
sessions, and the proposal even went so far as to require
the Vice-President to mount to the skylight there to keep
guard during these periods. No conclusion was reached
except the determination to do something, but what, has
not yet been decided. The most amusing pat tof the story
is that no sooner bad their secret session closed than its
proceedings were being telegraphed to New York for
publication in the morning paprf.i. It is ridiculous fur
Senators to suppose there is any escape. for the first who
left the Chamber woul.l be collared, "interviewed," and
effectually pumped by the nearest reporter.
One of the reports circulating in Washington about
the secret executive sessions had reference to a difference
bAtvecn the President and the Chamber regarding the
appointment of the new District Judges. The Judiciary
Committee asked the President to furnish copies of the
recommendations whereon be had made the appointments,
which he declined to do. The Committee brought the
matter before the Senate asking it to call for these papers.
A hot discussion arose, which ended in the President being
asked to furnish these letters if it did not interfere with
public business. The President only sent two, but before
the evening closed the proceedings of the secret session
were flashed to all parts of the Union. In truth, it is a
farce for the Senate to close its doors and discuss matters