Litchfield enquirer., 1881-06-16

There were fine speeches by Senator Haw- , ley, Gen. Sherman, and others. Mark Twain" offered some useful advice to persons in the service closing with the following hit at the ''retiring" Senators from New York:
 I believe I have nothing further to add but thls: The West Pointers said private should preserve respectful attitude toward his SUI periors, and should seldom or never proceed 80 far as 10 offer suggestions to his general in the field. If the battle is not being conducted to suit him'it it is better for him to resign By the etiquette of war; it is pcr::;te;s 10 none below the rank of newspaper correspondent to dictate tOthc general in the field
 Ex-Atty Devens was chosen president of the society for the next year The Bummers had their meeting and the guests dispersed at a late honr.
 General Ticket.
 The final postponement of the '.scrtttp de Hste" or general ticket plan, as an American would call it-is looked upon as serious check to Gambetta. This general ticket vo- ting was expected te bring not only larg- CT, but more compact Republican majority into the Chamber of Deputies. Tue present plan elects deputies precisely as we elect mem- bers of the House, by districts. What Gam betta insists upon in the ''scrutin de hste'' is an arrangement like that is vogue here years ago when members of Congress were voted for upon the state ticket One strong objec. tion to the district plan in France is that it encourages men of wealth and local influence to come forward and, by the use of money and influence, to compass an election. This is a class of representatives of whom Gambetta does not approve They are not susceptible to official influence. They form independent cliques, and are not in fact true representa- up, of their own motion, to take seats in the national councils. They are much too con- servatve, also, for Gambetta, having but lit- tie sympathy with the democratic spirit which pervades the French people.
 In one aspect, however, the adoption of the scrutin de lste would seem dangerous to French liberty. The centralized power at Paris would then be able to exercise con- trolling influence in the selection of deputies It would tend to further standardization of power in q country where power is too much centralized already Gambetta's later course his admirable self control and his sound views of the true policy to be pursued by Re- publican France. have made him friends wherever republican ideas prevail. Still, it would seem that any further concentration of power in the hands of one man is not to be desired. France wants no more First Con. suls, but the development of an intelligent public opinion.
 The sensation at Albany last week. was the declaration by a Mr. Bradley, of the House, that Senator Sessions had paid him $2OO0 to vote for MT. Depew, now Platt's chief opponent for the long term. The mon- ey was deposited by Bradley in the speakers hands and an investigating committee has been appoineed Sessions is notorious lob byist, and Bradley is person who is not con- sidered unapproachable. Of course Sessions denies ever having paid the money, and claims that the whole story is plot of the Conklng men to throw discredit on Depew It is impossible to decide what is the truth of the matter, bu. the whole affair shows how corrupt the whole business of politics has be- come. There should be no such Senator's elected as Sessions, and no such Assembly, men as Bradley. The ''mactine" wants tools, not men, and is fairly responsible for the character of the men it selects. Perhaps the best thing the present New York legislature can do is to adjourn without doing anything. Then if the people will see that they are no longer misrepresented. another legislature might be very different body of men, There might possibly be majority of Democrats chosen, though we doubt.
 In the raw youth of our nation America be- came somewhat noted abroad for grandio- quent discourse. Our Fourth of July oratlons and the style of public speaking founded on the Fourth of July oration led to our being considerably laughed at by subjects of the ssef- fetemenarchies" of Europe. American patri. otism seemed windy, explosive matter of which we gradually got ashamed Then came the Great Rebellion and the patriotism which had begun to be thought a sham proved a reality. Happily the old fashioned windy. explosive style of patriotic expression has not revived among us. We trust it never will Really great events really great men, need no rhetorical padding to seem great. The clear, simple, concise narrative of the trials and sacrifices of our colonialand revolutionary history is the rhetorical garb thats suits them best
 The old Fourth of July style clearly sur wives in the reports of our Board of Edpca- tion, if the extract regarding the Groton Gen. tennial, recently sent out to the teachers of our schools, is a fair sample of their work. The addresses so largely copied, especially that of Mir. Bacon. were by no means without merit io their proper place. but Fourth of July eloQuence served up cold in public document, strikes us as calculated to depress rather than ekals tee patriotism of American children.
 
 ''1f n doctor has the luck to find out a new malady," said Oliver Wendell Homes to other day, "it is tied to his name like tin kettle to dogs tail, and he goes claiterug down