New-York tribune., 1874-07-03

terday upon calling at the War Department
to find that the Appropriation bill ne helped
perfect had not only stopped work on this
class of claims, but had caused the appropri-
alton from which they were to Do paid to be
covered into the Treasury. Possibly he
builded better than he knew.
The Postmaster G Generalship still goes beg
| ging. rumor was current i'll Washington
yesterday that e1-Gov. Shepherd had been
offered the place, and it is singular com
ment upon the practices of the present Ad-
ministration that, notwithstanding the fact
| that he had been censured by an lnvestlga-
ting committee and legislated out OF office, and
that the Senate had refused to confirm his
appointment upon the District Commission,
the report that the President had offered to
appoint him to place In the Cabinet found
many believers. Latest advices are TO the
effect that the appointment has been offered
to a gentleman whose name is kept secret till
| it shall be known whether or not he will
accept. Possibly Mr.. Thomas Murphy. Who
knowsi
An unfavorable sky prevented observations
on the comet in this vicinity last night, at
the hour named by our correspondent III yes
terday's TRIBUNE Stitt Bit though many of our
readeErss- were doubtless thus disappointed in
| verifying for themselves the correctness OF
the predictions, they will doubtless be inter
ested to learn by another letter from the same
source which we publish this morning, that
the calculation was, in all probability, fully
within the mark. The prediction was that the
A.. xo.I1 1oaf ,irhf of
past nine o'clock, would be five degrees IN
length; that is. about as long as the space
between the pointers" On "Wednesday night
it had already extended to four and half
degrees, and had grown with the marvellous
rapidity Of million miles in five days. Ims
rate of growth insures a magnificent display
and adds materially to the chances that the
earth will pass through some portion OF the
comets tail.
Statisticians have decided, we believe, that
a sentence to the Penitentiary for life substan-
italy means, under the easy conditions attach
ing to pardons in most of the States an aver
age Imprisonment of from four to six years.
If it were not for this imbecility of pardonlng'
the community would have reason to regard
the sentence in the case of the drunken muir
derer Gill as the best which could possibly be
attained. The fact that the jury could
not agree that man who went out,
bought a pistol, loaded it, returned after
an absence of some little time and shot
the man with whom he had been previously
quarreling and whom he had struck, really
did the act with premeditation, is an evidence
of two popular weaknesses which beset the
Jury system when applied to murder
cases. First, you cannot convince the
average juryman that drunken criminal
is as guilty as any other kind OF
criminal. Second, you cannot get the
average juryman to render verdict
in accordance with what he honestly believes,
when the result of that verdict is to be the
hanging of a fellOw-creature. Out of the first
of these errors the public may yet be edu'
Gated by persistent discussion of the subject
IN all its bearings The second, If 1T be an
error, is too deeply grounded in human
nature to be eradicated.
The new Secretary of the Treasury has be-
gun his work in business-like way; and is
not likely to be swerved from it by the de-
vices of any foreign or domestic Syndicate.
The exact facts as to the oher and
withdrawal of large bid for the
new Fives, with which Wall Street was yes
terday agitated, are as follows THE Secre-
tary sent q circular to all the prominent
bankers of the country, inviting them to sub
nit bids for the new five per cent bonds
In the meantime he received a number of un-
invited bids, and among them one from
Messrs Won Hoffman g. Co., which
was not however, the highest OF
those received. The Secretary declined
to accept any, until all had an opportunity to
make their offers. In the meantime, Won
Hoffman g. Co. withdrew their bid,-in the
interest, as is believed, of another house,
whose bid the Secretary was strongly urged to
accept at once. There has never been better
opportunity for placing these bonds, and the
country will be unanimous in wishing success
to the Secretary's wise step.
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A FAILURE AND An OPPORTUNITY.
The Democrats of New Hampshire and Con-