Litchfield enquirer., 1872-02-22

examination. Afterwards it was found that the law cxempting witnesses from punishment has been repealed but the use of such testimony against them is forbid den. He has been again arrested.
 Missouri virtue has broken out in a new place. Besides furnishing the Con- necticut Democracy with Reform plat form it has indicted several of the mem bers of its legislature for playing ssKeno'' and Prison Warden for fogging pris- oner. Are we to expect that our Puritan ical Democracy will, if successful, deprive the Connecticut legislator of his evenings recreation at 'seuchre," and the Connecti- cut Connecticut State Prison official of the use of the sscat?' -s
 The Religious Amendment people have met with 8 rebuff from Gov. Washburn of Massachusetts. They made him Vice President, or something of the kind, whereat he comes out with card denying that he ever authorized them to use his name. It seems to us that the managers of that business would have done better to have made up distinguished list of officers from among the deceased states men of the country who cannot, for ob- vious reasons, repudiate in this unhand- some way. Messrs. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and other Revolutionary worthies would al least remain silent, if set down as favora- bleto the project, which is more than ou1 living great men seem inclined to do.
 The ibretto of Mozart's great opera ''Don Giovanni is about as contemptible in every respect as an opera ibretto can be; and that is saying much. Ought moral people to deny themselves the priv ilege of hearing music so inimitahly good on account of the accompanying words Gal ways sung in Italian) which are so deplo- rably bad? A Providence clergyman takes the affirmative, to whom the Tri- makes the following sensible reply:
 We do not incline to take despondine view of the probable moral devastation which this opera may occasion, since nine out of ten of those who. go to hear it in this country do not care penny for the hbretto, and do not understand enough of it to be much demoraized. Besides, we have always supposed that the denoue- naent conveyed fine orthodox lesson. @.
 There has never haen more monstrous fraud than that perpetrated by Erie man. agers upon the stockholders of that rail. way. The more thoroughly their proceed. ings are investigated the more atrocious are they found to be. When Gould, Fisk, ct d. got possession of the property of the company the amount of stock was only twenty-five millions. They issued fraud ulent additional stock to the amount oi sirty-one millions. Fifty millions of this is charged over to an old construction account. The earnings of the company are less than before the issue of fraudu. lent stock, and the assets of the company are actually less than when Fisk < Gould took possession. There is evidently some. thing wrong in the constitution of .ou1 monied corporations. Stockholders have too little control over Directors,
 There was some excitement in Washing. ton, last week, over MT. Summers attack on the War department for alleged mis conduct in the sale of arms during the Franco German war; but the excited de bate resulting from that attack has, as yet developed nothing very serious. The most important part of the eharge-that considerably more money had been paid to government agents than had gone into the Treasury-seems to have been disprov ed even to the satisfaction of Messrs Sumner and Schurz. As to the alleged vi olation of neutrality, it is one that Prussis has never complained of; and MT. Morton stated that when the Prussian minister asked for authority to out-bid the French agents purchasing arms in this country
 Bismark replied that he could get then cheaper by taking them from the French on the Loire-which, by the way, he did - We cannot help thinking that in this matter Messrs. Sumner and Schurz are in fuenced by desire to annoy the Admin istration rather than with a view to the public good. The only practical effect [ successful Impeachment of the Admins. stration could have would be to furnish our English opponents at the Genevs Conference evidence of an American breach of neutrality of as grave nature as the one for which we are now claiming dama. ges from them. -'4-> t
 One of the gentiemen prominent in the s'Union Reform" movement sends us an editorial of the Temperance Journal claim ing that the failure of the Conn. Temper ance Union to take ground in favor oi that movement did not have the signif canoe usually attributed to it. That there was any attempt or desire on the part oi the new party men to press vote favora' ble to their scheme, no one has affirmed Nor was there any desire or attempt or the part of those who oppose that move. ment to prescribe it's supporters. Such attempts on either side would have led to a split, and that is all there is of the in genious distinction between the '.moral' sphere of the Union, and the political sphere of the Reform party. But is there no significance in the fact that here, as
 elsewhere, the latter contains but z
 fraction of the pronounced Temperance
 men of the State3 The experience of oth
 CT States shows that those small fragment.
 or the real Temperance vote never grow te
 any size. They dwindle rather than in
 crease m number, year by year. It is. ey | luent. thNrnfr~o 4Emx .rske ssss