Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-11-20
FIRST EDITION.
Washington Topics.
THE REaULT HANGING LIKE MAHoME%'s ooF-
FIN-wHAr WILL CONGRESS Do-PRosPEoTs
FOR THE FASHIONABLE SEASON.

THE REHULT 6AhGlNd GihE mhhOnh~ Q Co1-
FIN-wHAr WILL CONGRESS Do-PRosPEoTs
FOR THE FASHIONABLE SEASON.
Correspondence of the Commercial.
WASHINGTON, D. O., Nov. 1S.-The pres
ent political crisis reminds us somewhat of |
the fable about the grave of the prophet
Mahomed, at Mecca. The casket containing |
his body was said to be suspended in the
air, by the hand of Allah, thus preserving
it from the contaminations of earth. The
secret Of the suspended casket consist
ed simply in the ingenious arrangement OF
two magnets between which the casket,
which was made of iron, was so nicely bal
anced that for centuries it hung there, the
object of the worship of thousands of faith
full Israelites who made pilgrimage thlther
for the purpose of seeing what they consld-
cred to be the eighth wonder of the world.
The past two weeks have really seemed like
two centuries, not only at the National Cap
ital but throughout the Union. Like Ma
homed's casket
THE RESULT OF THE ELECTION
has been lowering in state of uncertainty,
between the hopes and doubts of both par
ties At times the burden has seemingly
inclined toward one side or the other, thus
promising to put an end to all suspense,
but in the next moment the opposing mag
net has gained force, and the result has be-
come as doubtful as ever. Truly, this ls
state of " betweenness," as some one OF our
friends was pleased to remark when COM
menting on the situation. What makes the
undertainty still harder to bear is the fact
that nobody knows when it will end. SO
long as the opposing powers are of equal
| force, it is not likely that the dispute over
the coveted treasure will come to an end,
unless indeed, to use vulgar expression,
somebody sits down hard 'on the casket,-
hard enough to tip the balance one way or
| the other. Let not the weight OF success
crush the party upon which it falls
TIE GENERAL DEPRESSION
| of business which has been the natural re-
| suit of the state of affairs succeeding the
| election, has not seemingly affected this
city. This may be due, in part to the an
| nual influx of winter visitors, which usually
begins two or three weeks previous to the
| meeting of Congress and which has just
set in. AS might be expected, the immi-
| grafton will, this year, take unwonted di-
| mensions, the habitues of Washington, du-
| ring the session of Congress being, this
| year, increased by two classes of travellers !;
those who come once in four years, and
those who come but once in hundred
years. Inc lOfAubf VI buebo clhbnbB 6NbFy-
| BODY knows; they are the chronic office
I seekers Ur Blie '-oppusT6I0ii party ''=-as they
would say in England-who flock here after
| each Presidential election in hope of "get-
ting something" And, alas how many of
those weak mortals will have W 30 hSre
again, penniless, spiritless, and officeless,
after hanging around for a winter. Cor as
long as their means will permit them) at
the Washington Hotels, treating members of
Congress to drinks and Senators to wine
| suppers, in consideration of
GOLDEN PROMISES
of some lucrative employment : promise 8
which our Representatives Sin Congress
| assembled" know 80 we'll how to make and
| forget. By the latter class Of visitors do
not refer to those ''Centennials" who, clad
in linen busters and paper collars, used to
make a practice of invading boarding
| houses in battallions of ten and twenty ;
staying twenty-four hours and then depart
ing, leaving behind them the utter blank
ness and devastation which we used to
imagine could be caused by nothing loss
than conhagration or an avalanche. No,
this race has vanished, with the exception
of few struggling specimens who look
lank and hungry enough to inspire us with
the hope that the race may die out before
the next Centennial. The element 1 here
speak of is the solid Centennial visitor who
comes with his family to take up his resi-
dence here for the winter,-comes to spend
his money and see the sights,-and those
are neither few nor far between, here.
THR PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN CONGRESS
during the coming session, can scarcely yet
be foreshadowed they will depend to a
very great extent, upon the result of the
election in the Southern States. When
this becomes definitely known, and not un-
til then, will it be possible to prophesy, with
an approach to certainty, what will be done
and what will be omitted by our legislators
And in society the question is what will
not be done during the coming season !?
The centennial tea-parties and Martha
Washington fairs" Of last winter will be out
of Uogue they will be supplanted by mas
| querades, champagne suppers, and other
exercises Of more expensive and "jolly,"
and probably less healthy character.
| The inclemency of the weather has for
several days prevented our streets from
looking as gay as otherwise they could Our
indian summer is past and we are now hav-
ing the
MISTY, CHILLY, DIsAGREEALE WEATHER,
which usually precedes a cold snap" Our
streets generally are in a fair condition,
however, and if it was not for the horrible
condition of Pennsylvania. Avenue, the,pave-
ment of which is now being relaid, we
would have nothing to remind us of the
winters two or three years ago when it was
a common occurrence for belated wander
ers to come home ahoe-less; for Washing
ton mud is like everything else that is bad
about Washington-it sticks
W.B.
| A Narrow Escape