Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-05-16

press may be seen standing guard at
the Lhiskin mansion, on L. street,
from morning till night, in the vain
endeavor of entrapplng some of its
inmates, from the Minister himself to
his colore1 butler, to say something
that can be turned into an interview.
Last week Baron Lhiskin sold a large
quantity of his paintings, statuary,
and other articles at auction, pre-
paratory to leaving for New York,
which will be his official headquarters
after the first of June next, as he will
have a better opportunity of watch
ing Russian Preparations in the Gin
bria line from that city than from
here.
Up at the State Department every :
body is very tacitum on this subject /;
and when / asked Assistant Secretary
Seward what action would be taken
regarding these Russian cruisers in
our waters in the event of the break
ing out of hostilities, he blandly re-
piled that Bret Harte had been APP
pointed Consul at Crefeldt, Prussia.
That is the sort of information you
get out of diplomats! Poor Bret
Hartei He had set his ''hole hart
on the China Mission, with its thir-
teen thousand dollars salary, and
then they stow him away in an OBJ
scIre manufacturing town in Rhenish
Prussia, at twelve hundred q year
where there is not q heather Chinee
or q Euchs deck within a thousand
miles. Such is fame.
In Congress, the bill which pro-
vides for the repeal of the Bankrupt
Act is still hanging fire in the Senate
Judiciary Committee, alth ough there
can be little doubt that it will ulti-
mately pass. The bill for the reor,
g~anization and remamping of the form
of government tor the District o.
| Columbia is also under consideration
by the Senate District Committee, il
having been promptly passed by the
House. Several measures providing
for the retrenchment of the army ano
a more economical management o.
the Government Departments gener'
ally, are also pending, meeting with
strong opposition from the Republi'
can side of the House. As Congress
will doubtless adjourn next month,
it will require hard work and severa.
night sessions to get through in time.
The latest contribution to the silver
controversy is a pamphlet from Mr.
Henri Cernuschi on the "'Bland BILL
as he calls the Silver Bill as passed
sits grounds, it's alleged dishonesty,
its imperfections and its future
Somebody has taken pains to pay fol
the free circulation of this brochure
among Senators and Members, evi,
IDENTIFY. 1t is sufficiently well-writter
to be interesting but is in places toe
dithgra nbic for argument. The
author has adopted the exploded
western story about the secret pas
sage of the coinage act of 1873, bu'
has slightly improved upon it by
saying ''that it is even alleged not tc
have been regularly Voted"
A letter has been received nj tht
Dead Letter Office here, returned
from Japan, with its envelope pro
fusely decorated with post office ant
carrier stamps, and with nine slips o
rice paper attached to it, on which
the unsuccessful carriers and persons
to whose houses the letter has beer
sent, have written brief statements o
what they know or don't know abou
Mr.. X. Omuja, the person to whom
the letter is addressed. The Japa
nese carriers showed considerable
p~ersistency in their search for Mr.
Omuja, but were entirely surpassed
by seventeen German carriers, whC
endeavored in succession, with com
mendable perseverance, to deliver
letter addressed "Santa Claus, OF
the Hartz Mountains, Germany
The joke did not pierce the German
official head, and the letter was re
turned to this country with the names
of the ser enteen unsuccessful CARR
ers posted conspicuously on the bacl
of the envelope. The Germans Dc
not seem to recognize Santa Claus
Another letter sent to him at Berlin
was also treated seriously, and re
turned to the Dead Letter Office
peppered all over with stamps, print
ed statements and written sentence!
in which the postmasters and carrier.
have given vent to their feelings
The fame of the same individual doe.
not even seem to have reached som,
portions of the United States. A
letter addressed to "'Sauntie Clause
North Platte, Neb.," was strangely
enough unclaimed. 1t was ~thereupor
duly advertised; but no response be.
ing received, it came here and nov
makes up the trio of curious Christ
mas dead letters.
Yesterday, Joseph Hallermeier, az
Austrian about 80 years old, as brown
as a nut, poorly clad and travel-stain.
ed, walked into Treasurer Gilfllian's
office. He was from Pulaski county.
Mo-, about 80 miles below st. Louis.
and has walked all the way to Wash
ington. He had in his hand an en-.
velope containing fragments of mas.