New-York tribune., 1874-12-10

the indictment is full OF promise Tor tho
future.
The Arkansas delegation that hoped to en-
brOil in their State affairs their Republican
friends at Washington find them sadly indif-
ferent. A caucus only reveals this state OF
feeling more plainly. Not even the report OF
the majority of the Investigating Committee,
with Judge Poland at its head, will arouse to
action. The House regards Government IN
reference in Southern States as an unprOit-
able line of business.
discussion of the affairs of the District
| was the most interesting feature in the pro-
ceedngs of Congress yesterday. The accounts
of Shepherd, Harrington g. Co. present such
a muddle that there is some excuse for the
statement of the District debt at $14,000,0OO or
$160J0,0O0 in the message of the President,
though careful reading of TRIBUNE files
would have long since shown him that 1t D
nearer $2OOO0,OOO or $22,0O0,O00.
Prof Weir's lecture on the art of archl-
lecture discusses subject in which all nave
an interest, though few have made it study.
| The discourse puts in strong light the TACT
| that the chief element in this art is correct
| proportion where this is wanting in struc-
ture all decorative additions and devices IN
| crease instead of concealing its ugliness.
| This rule is a severe criticism If applied to
some of our most prominent buildings.
That there is good reason to hope for the
improvement of the Freedman may be judged
from the constitution of new society Of COL
Tbo.v In
that they have been for years the dupes OF
unprincipled and designing men. They pro-
pose to sustain for Office only such candidates
as are thoroughly identified with Southern In
terests and anxious to preserve peace between
the races. The object of tho society Is to dis
entangle its members from their old political
associations. This way there is light In view.
Every householder knows to bis cost, that
coal is dear, but just why its price is so high
is not so generally known. The coal dealer
can only say that he cannot afford to sell it
cheaply, which is true. A letter from Potts
vile, on our seventh page, throws light on
this dark subject. Unhappily it is easier to
explain how the prices have been forced up
by the monopoly of combination, than to
indicate any hopes of bringing them down
again. Cheap coal would unlock the wheels
of industry far sooner than the cheapest OF
currency, and give work in factories to thou
sands who must depend on charity this Winter.
Mr. Francis D. M0ultOn had no character to
lose and the character of Miss Edna Dean
Proctor was entirely beyond his reach. The
conclusion of the libel suit cannot therefore
be said to amount to much. We congratulate
Miss Proctor very heartily on her legal vim
dication, but it was in no wise necessary
The chief feeling of the public in tho matter
will be, that dirty fellow like Moulton can,
in spite of the most earnest protests and
warnings, and the fullest explanation of the
real facts, drag the good fame of a pure
woman into his foul stories; and escape, after
subjecting her to inexpressible agony, by the
mere payment of some legal costs.
The death of Ezra Cornell will end the last
echo of the malicious gossip concerning his
management of the lands belonging to the
University named after him, and will revive
the gratitude with which the public have
always regarded his princely gift in aid of
high and comprehensive education. He would
found Universitywhere any one could learn
anything-that was his benefcent ambition,
and in endeavoring to attain it he has left an
name in the history of his State.
Aside from his munifcent gifts to the Uni
versity, aggregating about three-quarters of
million dollars, he has been a most useful
citizen, identified with the advancement OF
practical telegraphy, and with much of our
other industrial progress.
The cable dispatches concerning the obser-
vations on the transit of Venus thus far come
from the more central stations. The record
will be most serviceable for measurements by
photography and by instruments that determine
the nearest approach of the planet to the
center of the sun. The opportunities have
been largely utilized in this way, no less than
hundred photographs having been taken
at a single station. Astronomers will
be, however, more anxious to learn the
results at extreme northern and southern
stations, especially the latter, as the observa-
tions to be made there should serve their
purposes better, and the methods of using
them are regarded as more trustworthy. than
those taken near the central path of the
transit.
WHICH SHALL LIVEf
In times like these, two classes of men are
likelv IN wayer in their alIepiance tn narty-