The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-30
TIMELY TOPICS.

The compulsory school law in New
York, which promised SO much at the
time of its enactment, has already become
a dead letter. Out of the $4,000 children
which were known in January to be tru-
ants, only 3G5 have. been compelled to
attend school, and their attendance for
six months has cost the city $4,000. 1t
It takes time to learn, but sooner or later
people must learn that there are social
wrongs which Indirectly affect the state
that laws alone cannot control.
GALIGN1tNI states that the soundinrs
forrthc submarine tunnel between Eng
land and France arc being carried on
actively. They are ut this moment di-
rectcd to the part of the straits near the
English coast, ut a few miles from shore.
Each evening the vessel which carries the
commission returns to Dover, Calais or
Boulogne, and work is recommended the
next day. The engineers charged with
that important labor, NM. Larousse and
Lavale, are perfectly satisfied with the
results obtained and so far nothing has
occurred to destroy their provisions rela-
tive to the depth.
DR.. FRANCIS WHARTON, in an article
in .Lippincotts Magazine, discusses the
relations of spiritualism and jurispru-
dencc. "What attitude," he asks, "is
jurisprudence to assume toward person
who, charged with an invasion of the
laws of the land, sets up defense that
he was acting under the constraint of a
superior spiritual power? What attitude
is Jurisprudence to assume toward those
who exercise such power for an illegal
end| DIR. Wharton has no doubt that
mediums are responsible for acts done
while proiessedly entranced, ands for the
acts of persons whom they may get un-
der their control
AN appeal is now before the New York
supreme court, involving the question of
the right to assess churches for street i'm
provcments. Three churches of New
York city unite in cndeavoring to escape
3 the payment of certain assessments for
{ paying streets. 1t was decided ut special
term of$tlie court that under an act
thirty-fvc years old, which has been once
repealed-the repeating act being after
ward itself repealed-the churches were
exempt from assessment, rs they were
free from city tax. The prominence
given to this case may stimulate the gen
eral discussion, which has not been in
frequent of late years, concerning the
exemption of church property from tax
alton.
TURKEY is afraid that Russia will
take Constantinoplc and kick the
Crescent out of Europe. Russia is afraid
Prussia will take Finland and Poland
Austria is afraid Germany will take Aus
tria. Germany is afraid France will
take Alsacc-Lorrainc, and France is
afraid that Germany will take the
province of Champagne, as Won A1oltkes
soldiers got such first-class taste Of it's
sparkling wine during the 1870 campaign.
England is afraid her scattered provinces
will take themselves and leave her only
nutshell to crack in her own little isle.
Spain is afraid the United States will
take Cuba.
THE last on dit from Paris is that the
Empress Eugene lately requested Pres;
sfdcnt MacMahon to permit her to visit
Paris for twenty-four hours in the most
private manner, and that the result was
prompt refusal. The French Govern
ment permits the Bourbon Princes to
reside in Paris; has placed the Due
-dAumale Zone of them) in ,command of
one of the eighteen Rgrand divisions of
the French army; permits the Prince
Napoleon (Jerome) to reside in Paris
but, in the most peremptorY manner,
forbids the Prince Imperial, pcnnilcss,
young gentleman nineteen year old, and
his mother, widow with narrow means,
to set foot on French soil The only
plain reference fer this is that President
MacMahon and his responsible advisors
have no fear of the Bourbon or the
Orleans pretensons and pretenders, bu
are infinitely afraid of young Napoleon
and his brother.
THE floods which desolated Toulouse
and itsS neighborhood last spring, after
the melting of the winter SHOWS, have
been cqualed, if not surpassed by those
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