Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-12-06
FIRST EDITOR.
PHILADELPHIA.
o UR sATuRD LETTER.

Special Correspondence Of the Commercial.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. g..
The Apti-C Constituencies have gained de-
cided victory although how far it may affect the
result in the State remains 10 be seen. AT least
they are at liberty to hold the election in the
old way. That is the point Of the decision rem
dered in the Supreme Court to-day. by Chief
Justice Agnew and unanimously agreed to by
the full bench. You are aware that motion
has been argued this week for an injunction TO
restrain the Commissioners of the Contribution
al Convention from acting in the matter of .
new form of election as prescribed by the Com
vention. The proceedings have attracted the
greatest attention and the arguments upon ei-
ther side have been most elaborate. Mesera
| Buckalev and Armstrong presented powerful
case for the Reform Party and b Harris Brews-
ters speech for the applicants for the injunc.
| tion is admitted to be one Of the finest efforts
OF his career. However any ones sympathies
/ may lead him in this matter, however, he will
| find it hard to escape the conviction that Judge
| Agpew principal point that the appointment Of
| special Elect0n officers is illegal-is soundly
taken. The Judge holds that the Convention
/ had not the powers IL asserted to hold and that
/ II had no right to set aside the Philadelphia
| tion system already established by law while the
| code it had prepared was not yet law but waiting
i to be declared so. In other word, was plain
setting of the cart tetore the horse The cleo
| tion must be held according to existing laws
| not according to rules which the Convention as
sumed, without warrant, to make for the occa
| sion.
This gives the Philadelphia managers, there
| fore the right to work things" as usual. They
may be expected to do their bsst, where 30
| much in at stake, but whether with all their op
| portunlty they eau overcome the lTge majority
whict il certain to be cast In the remainder OF
| the State ia now the interesting question
| From my point OF view and information it does
/ not seem possible that they can. Civ
i ing them credit for vigor and earnestness
equivalent to a majority OF 20 900 ut seems
/ ridiculous, but anything is possible when you
/ know how'd, even that can scarcely avail
| against the county," il intelligent
/ reports are to be believed. Those reports place
i the majority outside OF Philadelphia for the New
/ Consti ution at $4,000 at least-some estimated
much higher Sill, for the moment, the victory
Il 10 with the Ring"
The news relating to the monitor Manhattan"
excited considerable comment this week. From
the mAnner in winch this news developed, the
| consignment Of the vessel to Wilmington &c., 1t
may seem somewhat out of the province of this
| letter. What news there is comes from you here
instead OF going the other way. Sh, there
| are peculiar PhiladelI hia interests
involved in the Manhattan matter portion
i of the repairs put upon tie vessel we done
/ uDueT COntIhCt Dy OuE luSChhhlcp anu an ehOtt
/ has been made to decry that work aud to lay the
i recent miahap at the door of the Messrs, Cramp
/ the contractors in question. Tue New YORK pa
perH ha already started tllis org and although
/ the facts as they are we're widely teegraphed
yesterday showing that the plates Of the Man
| haitian" are perfect and the ship throughout IL
| good sea going condtion-stllI the Tribune
| was poor spirited enough to-day to con.
to express the generous opinion
| that no good could come out of this Nazareth
| The Nation, too, takes the ground that the
| 'Manhattan" can sail nowhere but to the bot
tom, and everlastingly berates Ills for tho result
| They hate us Youth" for some reason or other
| A novelty was seen in the stTeets this week. in
/ the shape Of a number of neat little wagons
/ employed In conveying Post office carriers from
i the general office to the different points from
/ which they begin to serve their routes. This Is
| a very sensible innovation. As the case has all
/ along STOOD so much time was taken
| in getting to and from the routes that
| there has been delay in the distribution OF the
/ mail matter. The street cars have been used
| wherever possible but they have not answered
/ IN all cases, and berijes do not run as fast as
i the wagons will. The aggregate help IN day
i Of thi4 improved communication Will DC very
large, and must tell at once on the eihclenoy OF
Il the service There are twelve of these teams,
Il each accommodating seven carriers. lhey leave
i the Office on schedule time, dropping the men at
spt c, fsd places. and taking them up again ac-
coIding to a set system The wagons are = Gun
| ming little things Of the omnibus order,
| Another energetic effort WAS made this
| week to organize ways and means for raising
funds for the Centennial. II has become eVl-
dent that Philadelphia must do more than her
| pro rata share in this enterptise, have ttead-
liy held that this would bp the result, as indeed
every person must have believed who closely
| considered the matter Never heless, 80 strong
| was the desire here TO have the mpre-siOn 80
forth, that Philadelphia was no more IN the case
| than San Francisco or Nav Orleans, that there
IL ah n Al
| SPECIAL home contribution. Tne hardness OF the
| times, however, preventing help from the coun-
try at large arriving AZ speedily as desirape
| and it being necessary to move In the erection
| OF the Buildings at an early date, tins city has
been again called on, and with general hope of q
favorable result Tie Board of Finance held q
meeting OH Tuesday at which time the ''Oliizrnt
Centennial COMMITTEE" was organized. consist
ing of fifteen of our leading men, with Mr.. John
| o James, the wealthy dry goods merchant, Al
chairman II is understood that the msmbert
| OF this committee will make 1t their persona
business to solicit ample subscriptions from the
| solid people OF PkiladelphIa, aud that the city
| will turn in from this source, and including Whal
has already been passed and paid total sub
scription Of three million dollars to the Centen'
| nial.
The ups and downs Of popularity have not
| been more forcibly Illustrated IN late days than
| by the example OF Miss Anna E. Dickinson. But
| q very few seasons ago the "Qlaker Oratress
| was one of the surest cards III the lecture bdsl
| ness /; she ranked with Cough, Bsecher aud
| Philips in drawing" power, and apparently also
| in ablity to please III this city, especially, she
held her head among the very highest. Now
| however. the case is str 4ngely altered. From
being one of the first attractions she has taller
| to the point Of being no attraction at ALL Hel
cOmings and goIugs attratt no notice, and tht
admirers who formerly trooped IN hei
train now give no sign Does popularity iol
low fashion then or what ID the cause Z M'si
Dickinson is a stronger speaker now, prooaply
| than she ever was. and yet the fact Is Just AZ
I | have stated it, Can it have been the novelty o
B a woman lecturer which at tirst hoated her into
the sunshine Of public favor or must we be-
lieve that woman requires to keep her youtt
and freshness in order to be continuously sue
i cessfula That is hard upon talent Il II be 50
Q IL is to be noted, too, that Miss Dickinson II
| her early career rather disdalned womahy ~hes
h she was philosopher, and preferred Tit
world to accept her in manly sense AM
| without Difference TO sex. But now IN,
claim is that she is 20 "charmlnB
so ''tender" so 'iovable" Rather late IN th'
y day, isn't it And the. worst of II is that I'M
d frost-bitten softness d0snt lnveigle tine youht
| men bit Miss Dickinson lectured nero TN
a | week, aud must have lost considerable mole'
" by the experiment.
The feature OF the amusement week has neei
| the appearance of Miss Clara Morris at tn
J. walnut in a play eutitied the ''deneV
q Cross written by Mr.. G. F. Rowe There is
di.posItion to regard Miss Morris al the coming
. woman of our stage, Thought must be ADMITTED
t that despite her abilities, she has ye
oiven promise rather than performRuce