The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 1E68.,

FOREIGN NOTES.

AMERICA.

The New York Times says that though Mr. Reverdy
Johnson is making favourable progress towards a settle-
ment of the Alabama claims, the arrangement yet entered
into is by no means final or satisfactory. " One thing is
certain : all propositions tending to the submission of any
vital point or principle to arbitration have been rejected
by Mr. Johnson under his general instructions." This
goes to confirm the statement that the American Govern-
ment insists upon the whole matter in dispute being re-
ferred to the commission, and refuses to allow the primary
question to be settled by the King of Prussia. The "favour-
able progress" spoken of by the Now vork paper, then,
amounts to this : the American Government, having
received every concession from England, hnd having made
none in return, is waiting until the English Foreign
Office concede the last and most impoltant point of all.
The Nation goes further than this. It says that England's
liability to pay the damages must be admitted beforehand,
and all the commission will do will be to assess the
amount.
The American Ambassador at Paraguay, Mr. Wash-
burn, has written a letter defending himself from the
charge of undue interference with the Paraguayan Govern-
ment. He denounces Lopez as the common enemy of
mankind, and declares Paraguay to be outside the pale of
civilised nations. Mr. Washburn may be in the right,
but the violence of his language is not in accordance with
the dignity of his position. In charging with arrant
cowardice the man who for six years has kept at bay the
whole force of nations immensely superior in resources to
Paraguay, he falls into an evident absurdity. The New York
Nation disposes of Mr. Washburn very summarily. It says :
" Whether Mr. Washburn is an honest man, or has been
selling himself and his flag to the revolutionists ; whether
he was or was not engaged in one or more conspiracies
against the Dictator, he at least made a bad failure in
respect of that neutrality between Paraguay and her
enemies which it was a principal duty of his, as our
Minister, to maintain. Moreover, he has not succeeded,
since be became a voluminous public character, in per-
suading anybody that he is a man of sense, whatever his
character for integrity may be."

arta " eon, both eminent lawyers, and both knighted on
attaining legal promotion. Fortunately, they have dif-
ferent second names, and the Solicitor-General will no
doubt be known as Sir John Duke, while his father is
known as Sir John Taylor. It is by no means through
any desire on the part of the younger knight that he will
attain to this dignity. The Times and one or two other
papers imagined that the post of Solicitor-General was s o
tempting that it could have been refused only through the
wish to get something better. The real truth was that Mr.
Coleridge has such an enormous practice that he hesitated
about taking upon himself other duties. There are
limits to human endurance, and the fate of his brilliant
predecessor in the Solicitor• Generalship and in the repre-
sentation of Exeter—Sir William Follett—might well make

him hesitate about overstepping those limits.
By this time Lord Mayo has arrived at the scene
of his labours. It is, however, by no means certain that
he will be allowed to enter upon them. It is still an open
question whether he will not be recalled, and the matter
will have to be decided by the new Cabinet. If this step
should be taken it will be so entirely because it is thought
necessary. There is too much reason to fear that India
is not in such a satisfactory state as could be wished, and
it is therefore the more important that the Government

should feel confidence in the Viceroy.
To-day is the last day for presenting election petitions,
and as frivolous petitions are now costly and dangerous
experiments, the total number of members petitioned
against is much smaller than on previous occasions. The
petitions had to be lodged in the Court of Common Pleas,
and in order to assist petitioners a lithographed
form was prepared for them, leaving blanks for
names. A thousand pounds has to be deposited

in each case as a guarantee for the expenses in
the event of the petition not being proved. The time
judges appointed to try these cases will arrange them in
districts, and then go on circuit with all the usual cere-
monial observed when judges go to the assizes. They will
be accompanied by a portion of the Bar. Of course it is
impossible to say how long the trials will take, and
therefore to assign a date for any one case. Election

petitions being no longer tried in the House of
Commons, and railway business having been reduced

to a minimum, there is now quite a stampede among par-
liamentary counsel. Several leading ones have found
their way into the House, and others are retiring from
parliamentary practice. This kind of practice, lucrative
though. it was, was never highly esteemed by the Bar,
inasmuch as those engaged in it had to plead before
laymen, many of them very obtuse. Election work will,
of course, occupy a very different standing now that it

busy time of the year. The Rev. F. Barham Zincke has
added' another to the numerous books of travel in America.
The Rev. A. C. Smith has added another to those on the
Nile. Mr. Frederick Whymper has a volume on Alaska,
the territory in America lately ceded by Russia to the
United States. Lord De Ros has published the " Young
Officers' Companion." The author of " Brothers-in-
Law " is already engaged on her second novel.
Messrs. Chambers announce, under the title of
" Extra-ordinary," a Christmas number of their journal ;
and London Society has come out with a profusely illus-
trated number for the same season. Mr. Hitchman, of the
Manchester Courier, will, I believe, have an article on
Rossini in the next number of Belgravia. Finally, Miss
Edwards, the novelist, has denied the authorship of the
" Girl of the Period," and kindred articles in the Saturday
Review, which had been freely attributed to her.
P.S.—As I write, the eighth Parliament of Queen Vic-
toria has been opened. There was a very full attendance
of members in the House of Commons. Mr. Denison was
proposed as Speaker by Sir George Grey, and the proposal
was seconded by Mr. Walpole. Mr. Disraeli was present,
but received no mark of recognition on entering the House.
The new Ministers were of course absent.

THE PRESENT CONGRESS AND •771A7'

Present Members.
MAINE.
1. John Lynch John Lynch
2. Samuel P. Morrill Sidney Perham
3. James G. Blaine James G. Blaine
4. John A. Peters John A. Peters
5. Eugene Hale Frederick A. Pike

Districts.

ELECT.

Elected.

VERMONT.
1. Charles W. Willard Frederick E. Woodbridge
2. Luke P. Poland Luke P. Poland
3. Worthington C. Smith Worthington C. Smith

51ASSACHUSETTS.
1. James Buffiuton Thomas D. Elliot
2. Oakes Ames Oakes Ames
3. Ginery Twitchell Ginery Twitchell
4. Samuel Hooper Samuel Hooper
5. Benjamin F. Butler Benjamin F. Butler
6. Nathaniel F. Banks Nathaniel P. Banks
7. George S. Boutwell George S. Boutwell
8. George F. Hoar John P. Baldwin
9. William D. Washburn William 9. Washburn
10. Henry L. Dawes Henry L. Dawes

RHODE ISLAND.
1. Thomas A. Jenckes Thomas A. Jenckes
2. Nathan F. Dixon Nathan F. Dixon
NEW YORK.
1. *Henry A. Reeves - *Stephen Taber
2. *John G. Schumaker *Dernas Barnes
3. *Henry W. Slocum *Wm. E. Robinson
4. *John Fox .. . John Fox
5. *John Morrissey John Morrissey
6. *Samuel S. Cox Thomas E. Stewart
7. *Harvey C. Calkins John Chanler
8. * James Brooks James Brook
9. *Fernando Wood Fernando Wood
10. *Clarkson N. Potter Wm. H. Robertson •
11. *George W. Greene Charles H. Van Wyck
12. John H. Ketchum..., John H. Ketchum
13. *John A. Griswold Thomas Cornell
11. *Stephen L. Mayhem John V. L. Pruyn
15. Adolphus Tanner John A. Griswold
16. Orange Ferriss .. Orange Ferriss
17. William A. Wheeler Calvin T. Ilurlburd
18. Stephen Sanford .... James 31. Marvin
19. Charles S. Knapp William C. Fields
20. Addison IL Lakin Addison 11. Lathe
21. Alexander .1-1. Bailey Alexander H. Bailey
22. John C. Churchill John C. Churchill
23. Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy
24. George W. Cowles Theo. M. Pomeroy
25. William 11, Kelsey William H. Kelsey
26. George W. Hotchkiss -William S. Lincoln
27. Hamilton Ward Hamilton Ward
28. Ncah Davis, jun. Lewis Selye
29. John Fisher Burt Vau Horn .
30. David S. Bennett James M. Humphrey
31. Porter Sheldon Henry Van Aeruata

• • ' NEW J E RSEY.
1. William Moore William Moore
2. James F. Unsling *Charles Haight
3. *John T. Bird *Charles Sitgreaves
4. *Philip Rifferty John Hill
5. *Orestes Cleveland George A. Halsey

This theme, given by the New York Times, has
been taken up for discussion by the American press.
What that paper urges is, that when given—which
was in Washington's time—the $25,000 had as
much purchasing power as four times that sum
now has, therefore, to put the President of to-day on
a level with the President of last century in the
matter of pay, the amount should be quadrupled.
In the matter of work and responsibility his duties
are now four times as onerous, so that the growth
of the nation has been heaping on him extra work,
and the diminution in the value of money clipping
his pay, thus burning his candle at both ends. Some
oppose. on the old grounds of Republican simplicity,
the sum pail being considered amply sufficient to
furnish the means for decent living. Others argue
that GRANT allowed himself to be put in nomination,
knowing he was to get, if successful, $25,000 a
year ; therefore he cannot complain of the amount
nor propose an increase. It is true that the sum is
under £4,000 a year, but the salary of a Cabinet
Minister is not £1,250, and all these offices are
striven for by the best men in the country, although
no one for an instant supposes that these gentle-
men make anything beyond salary out of the offices;
therefore good men can be got for the power and
distinction independent of the pay, and if so, why
should the ration, overburdened with debt, pay
more ? In one place it is asserted that the argu-
ments which hold good for the President hold for
all officials, and therefore all would have to be
quadrupled ; in another, that this should have
been done before the election was determined, but
not after its being so proposed, showing a party,
not a national move, for there was no desire to in-
crease Mr. Johnson's salary, nor would there have
been had Mr. Seymour succeeded. Indeed, the
World urges that being made for a President-elect
it is a virtual though not a literal violation of the
Constitution. It is a pity if this be so that the
suggestion did not come before the election, for
there is certainly greater weight in the fact that
the value of money has so materially declined
while the duties of the office have increased that a
generous nation is bound to make good the
deficiency than in any objection. If a Pre-
sident declines to entertain visitors of dis-
tiuctiOn at Washington • the nation that gives
him nothing to entertain them with, could not ob-
ject: It `might appear very mean when distin-
guished Americans met with much hospitality iu
the highest official quarters abroad, if distinguished
foreigners should meet no such return in Washing-
ton ; but however disgusted Americans would cer-
tainly be if they observed anything approaching
this, if they do not supply the means they have no
right to find fault. Indeed we are fully persuaded
that the sooner diplomatic and consular pay is in-
creased, as well as that of the President and Cabi-
net _MiListers, the better for the nation. The
whole subject requires revision, and ought to be
discussed with the •Civil Service Bill of Mr. Jenckes,
which, we are happy to say, is among the great
and coming questions of the day....