The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-21

the corners of the room. Settees and
sofas, handsomely carved, stood on
either side; nor were chairs, footstools,
and other smaller pieces of furniture
wanting. The sleeping-room, or what
appeared such, on the opposite side Of
the vestibule was even still more luru-
riantly furnished. There was q grand state
bedstead, with its appropriate bed, pillows,
counterpane, and, above ALL finely-woven
curtains, apparently Of lacel There was .
dressing table with it's mirror, and many
nlcknacks, jars and BEETLES for powders and
perfumes, with cups and boxes for trinkets
Ihls table was supported by pretty little
| caryatides. On the right was an elegantly
carved chimney-piece, and on the hearth were
laid logs OF wood, ready to kindle Here and
there wreaths of icy flowers hung in festoons.
Conceive the delight of the Empress and her
court at the magical beauty of their toy. There
was no happier man that day at st. Peters
ourg than the successful architect, the
noble Alexis Tatischchew. And still the en-
chantment increased At her arrival the EN-
press had been received with salute. At her
departure another salute was fred, with still
greater effect. In the first instance ball of
hard tow had been well rammed into the can
mons; but the imperial lady now desired that
iron balls should be tried. The experiment
was made, and the artillery of the Magic
Palace was actually fred with a charge Of
powder of quarter of a pound, and with
iron balls. The salute was entirely successful
the balls piercing O strong plank two inches
thick, at distance of sixty PAGES; and the
carnons remained uninjured
An evening visit followed. BY night the
enchantment appeared still greater All the
windows were Illuminated with colored trans
parencies, and nothing could exceed the
beautiful effects of the light which filed not
only the windows, but the transparent walls
of the building itself, with delicate, pearly
glow, even more beautiful than the opal tint
by day. The pyramids were also illuminated
with revolving transparencies at the
oval windows. The elephant was now
seen spouting stream of burning naphtha,
a tire-like spray, high in the air,
while a man concealed within the hol-
low body of the creature, by blowing pipes
succeeded in initiating the roar natural to the
animal. Within the palace the icy candles,
smeared with naphtha, we're lighted, without
melting, and the icy logs in the fireplace were
kindled in the same way.
A beautifulmoonligh view, on still another
occasion, was most charming, from the
crystalline character of the palace, and its
garden rejecting a thousand silvery rays.
Then again, fresh falls of snow gave a new
charm to the spectacle, as every architectural
ornament, every twig and leaf, was daintily
marked by the soft feathery flakes, of white
even more pure than that of the ice on which
they fell.
Through the long winter of st. Petersburg,
from January to the equinoctial DAYS of
March, that icy wonder stood on the banks of
the Neva. Before April it had vanished, and
disappeared again in the bosom of the stream
from whence it arose.
We are not told at what cost to the treasury
this dream of courtier became reality
or evanescent glory, once a stream,
And soon, to glide into stream again."
The coolest day of that winter at st. Peters
burg was February 3, when the thermometer
stood 30 deg. Il. below Zero The same win
ter was very severe throughout Europe. AT
London the mercury fell to 8 deg. below
zero.
| TRIAL BY JURY, BY W. t. DAVIS
1t is common learning to every student of
the law that the right of trial by jury was
guaranteed by the great title.deed of English
liberty, and that by the Constitution of the
| United States and the Constitutions of many,
if not ALL of the individual States, it is Sc
cured to all persons charged with crime, and
to very large class of civil causes But the
origin and nature of the institution, with its
practical working as an instrument in the ad-
uipistration of justice, are not generally
known or thought of among the intelligent
and respectable class of citizens who are
oftenest called upon to sit in the capacity of
jurors. The feeling that it is one of the
most effective safeguards against aggressions
of centralized power, together with rich ex-
perience OF its salutary influence in time of
local or national political excitement, has
brought both Briton and American to cling
to it with uncommon tenacity. The English
man and American have thus learned to re-
gard it as thing too sacred to be tampered
| with and hence to VIaw
gestion for its modification with the keenest
jealousy.
If we regard the trial by jury merely as
political institution, it undoubtedly deserves
the encomium of De Tocqueville, who, speak.
ing of it in that character, says:-''He who
Furnishes infractions of the law is the real
master of society. Now the institution OF
the jury raises the people itself, or al
least class of citizens, to the bench OF
judicial authority. The institution of the
jury consequently invests the people, ol
at least that class of citizens, with
the direction of society. - The
system of the jury as it is understood in
America appears to me to be as direct and
extreme consequence Of the sovereignty OF
the people as universal suffrage. These insti
tutions are two instruments of equal power
which contribute to the supremacy of the
majority"
We repeat that this high praise of trial by
jury as political safeguard is just, for there
has never been invented ano ther such pro-
lection of the life and property of the citizen
against the servile judge of tyrannical gov
ernment. II disposes of the cause of the pa
triot by the sympathetic judgment of twelve
of his peers. They know the wants, the de.
sires, and the hopes of the masses; they par
take of them, and guard it as you will, in the
end they will reflect the popular feeling