smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1868

THE VALUE OF TIME.-When the Roman
Emperor said, 81 have lost day." he ut
tered sadder truth than If he had exclaim-
ed AZ have lost kingdom" Napoleon
said that the reason why he beat the Aus
trians was that they did not know the value
of five minutes. AT the celebrated battle of
Rivoli, the conflict seemed on the point of
being decided against him. he saw the
critical state of affairs and instantly took his
resolution. He despatched flag to the Aus
train headquarters with proposals for and
armistice The unwary Austrians fell into
the snare; for few minutes the thunders of
battle were hushed. Napoleon seized the
precious moments, and while amusing the
enemy with mock negotiations, re-arranged
his line of battle, changed his front, and in
few minutes was ready to renounce the
farce of discussion for the stern arbitrament
of arms. The splendid victory Of Rivoli
was the result The great moral victories
and defeats of the world often turn on five
minutes. Men loiter, time flies, and all the
great interests of life are speeding on with
the sure and silent tread Of destiny.
Year: 1868

ExCEss.-Bayard Taylor, in recent letter
from Germany, says: while either wine or
beer, or both, make an Indispensable part of
a German picnic, have never known an in
stance of intoxication. In the first place the
beverages are alwas pure and light in quality !;
in the second, they are not looked upon as
luxuries, and their use is not considered as a
special indulgence. Leaving the question of
example out of view-which Is the main
argument used by the advocates of temper
ance against those who use wine without
excess-I confess | see no harm In the
habitual use of light, pure vintage. Nothing
is so difficult to measure as the positive
influence of an individual upon his fellow
men, and the cases are rare where man
with conscious purpose, leads another to his
ruin. ! have been frequently assailed by
over-Zealous reformers for writing of the
use of wines without adding condemna-
tion of the habit; but have no condemna-
tion but for excess. do not consider that
the weakness of one gives me the right to
attack the temperance of ten. The most
temperate people that ever found are the
Greeks, every one Of whom-man, woman
and child-drinks wine Excess, in fact, is
a physical disease, and should be treated as
such /; where there is any tendency towards
it the only remedy is total abstinency. But
the stronger and healthier nature has always
seemed to me that which is able to control
itself. Let our education, domestic as well
as public, develop and strengthen this quail
ty, and we shall accomplish more than by
prohibitory laws. na
Year: 1868

How TO GER SLEEp. This is TO many
persons matter OF high Importance.
Nervous persons, who are troubled with
wakefulness and excitability, usually have
q strong tendency of blood on the brain,
with cold extremities. The pressure Of
the blood on the brain keeps it in a stim-
ulated or wakeful state, and the pulsations
in the head are often painful Let them
rise and chafe the body and extrsmities
with brush or towel, or rub smartly with
the hands, to promote circulation, and
withdraw the excessive amount of blood
from the brain, and they will fall asleep in
a few moments. A cold bath, or a sponge
bath, and rubbing, or good run or a
rapid walk in the open air, or a going up
and down stairs a few times just before
retiring will and in equalizing circulation
and promote sleep. These rules are sim
pie aud easy Of application in the castle
or cabin, and may minister to the comfort
of thousands who would freely expend
money for an anodyne to promote q Ma
ture's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep"
Year: 1868

A LETTER from Hong Kong says Prussia Is
negotiating for the eession of the Island of
Chusan to Germany, and thus place the in
terests of the Confederation In command Of
the great highway Of the China and Japan
trade
Year: 1868

CouRrsHrP is often made up Of the fact
that the girl calls her beau noble youth,
hero, a genius; while he calls her e
paragon of beauty and gentleness, and 50
they keep tickling each other I'll they get
married. and then GOMEZ the scoIdins.
Year: 1868

'LET Us HAVE PEACE. General Grant
is reported to have published an order
to all the military Governors, ''instructing"
them in regard to the passage of the bill
for the admission Of the Southern States. Does
that order withdraw the soldiers If not,
when will another order Withdrawing them
come. and is 1t not time II came nowp Mil
itary Governors are not wanted in the South
any longer, with or without instructions. Will
the General hurry Or is il the game that the
soldiers are to stay for the election and act in
Shepherds style, taking care that nobody hur-
rahs for the opposition candidate
Year: 1868

Much excitement prevailed in New orleans among
merchants and seafaring men on the recent de-
parture from that city OF the rival steamships Cres
cent City, Of the Merchants Line, and the George
Cromwell. OF the Cromwell Line to which was the
fastest vessel and 1t Is reported that upwards OF ten
thousand dollars were depending on the result as to
which steamer should reach New York first. They
both left New Orleans and the bar about the same
hour on the goth instant, and having good weather
on the passage the race may be considered as con-
elusive as to which vessel has the most speed. The
Crescent City arrived at her dock at halfpast ten
O'Clock on Friday night last, and the George Crom
mornina the latter thus losing the by eight and
a half hours.
Year: 1868

Tho Irish Church Question in tho House Of


Lords.


The Irish Church Suspensory bill is now
the all absorbing question in the Upper House
of the British Parliament. No similar excite
ment has been witnessed since the passing OF
the first Reform bill-certainly not since the
Peel grant to Maynooth College in 1s45. Tho
tory lords seem as unteachable as ever. 1t is
not impossible that the bill may be thrown out
by the Lords; but if thrown out it will only
be to come back in still more offensive form.
The Commons are in no mood to comply with
the Lords; and the time is no longer when tho
House of Lords rule England. The stub
bornness of the tory lords promises to add to
the fun inseparable from the situation; and il
the Lords reject the bill the row will be
grander than even we had anticipated.
It requires only little more antagonism
between the different estates to fling Great
Britain into the arms of fierce revolution.
Happily for the Commons, the Reform bills arc
progressing and the result is made less doubt
full. To kick against the pricks is always q
hard thing 1t is especially so at the present
moment in the case of the tory lords of Eng
land
Year: 1868

THE HE'LL GATE DISTRACTIONS River
and Harbor Appropriation bill is now fairly
under way in the House, several distinct mo-
tions to rccommit or postpone it having been
voted down by decisive majorities yesterday.
Among the important items, and probably the
most important in the bill, is an appropriation
for the removal of distractions in the channel
at Hell Gate; and it is to be hoped that the
bill, with this much needed appropriation, will
be pushed rapidly through until IL becomes a
law
Year: 1868

Loans can be had at three per cent on call
in Wall street, and there is supply of money
in excess of the demand, while the best COM
mercial paper is scarce and wanted at five to
six per cent In other words, there is Q
plethora Of unemployed money. We see a
similar state of things to that which has existed
for some time, and still exists, In England.
Money there has been 80 low as one per cent,
and now can be had at two per cent. It
is much the same In Paris. Like causes pro-
duce similar effects. Money accumulated to q
vast amount in the banks of England and
France because capitalists had become afraid
to invest In speculative enterprises after the
collapse Of several great railroad and
other schemes. Panic and excessive
timidity followed the failure of Sir
Morton Peto and others in England just
the same as they did some years
ago the failure Of Hudson, another great rail-
road king. New York, like London or Paris,
is Q great financial centre, to which money
flows, where It accumulates whenever specula-
tive enterprises receive check or people
become afraid of investing in anything that Is
not perfectly safe In the regular course of
trade.


We have had no great panic or collapse, 1t
is true; but the low rate of interest and
abundance of unemployed capital here arise
in part from a similar cause to that in
England at the period referred to. Capital
lists are timid and in state of uncertainty.
With all our vast resources waiting to be de-
veloped, and with the farest promise Of profit
able returns for capital invested In them,
there is doubt and want of confidence. This
is especially the case with regard to the South
where there is so much need of capital and
where there Is more undeveloped wealth than
in any other part of the country or the world
People do not know what absurd or ruinous mea-
sures our incapable and reckless Congress may
pass they cannot see their way clear in the
future they are like men at sea without q
rudder to guide them on their way Nothing
Is settled. The country is not restored to har-
mony and political equality; the finances are
not adjusted; taxation, the tariff and revenue
laws are not in fixed or organized condition
and are In the hands Of men who do not know
what TO do with them. Then we cannot tell
whether we are going 70 have civil law and
Year: 1868

THE SOUTHERN PRESS ON THE PREsr-
DKNcY-All the conservative press in the
Because they see and feel the movement of opin-
ion there, and know who can carry that section
against Grant. This is fact the Convention
should remember
Year: 1868

the old constitutional government restored, or
to sink either under military despotism or .
Congressional oligarchy. In fact, we do not
know from day to day what strange things
Congress may do or what the future may bring
forth. There may be some other and lesser
causes operating to induce this plethora Of
capital and low rate of interest-as the current
of trade and money at this particular season
Of the year and largo disbursements from the
Treasury; but the main cause is that which ws
have stated. If the country were restored,
the finances placed on solid basis, the tariff,
tax and revenue laws generally were well or
ganized and established, and the Presidential
election settled in manner to secure tho
supremacy of constitutional government over
the whole country there would be such wide
field and demand for money that we should ne
longer see interest at the low rate of thres
per cent.
Year: 1868

lesson. A little wisdom in council might
have averted all the trouble Of the sixteenth
century, and Luther, the hereto, might have
been remembered as Luther the saint II does
seem, however, as if the Papacy were proof
against all teaching, against all experience


1t is once more in the course of its history in
antagonism with the tendencies of the times


II wisdom Is wanting in its councils, il the
lessons and experience of the past are all to
go for naught, its future is not doubtful. 1t
may behold its fate In those beauteous but
powerless mythologies which connect the Iv-
ing present with the memory Of dead and
buried past. We can have no more Charles
the Fifths or Philip the Seconds. Another
Luther is not impossible. By the way, 1t
would be interesting to have message from
those defunct worthless. Why don't the spirit
ualists get their shadows under some table
Year: 1868

Tho Tax and Tariff Bills Before Consross.


The House Of Representatives acted
promptly on the Tax bill reported by Mr.
Schenck, and then from the Committee of the
Whole and it now waits the final action Of the
Senate. 1t is thought there will be no change
in the tax on spirits, which is fixed by the
House at fifty cents gallon and probably
there will be little if any change made in the
tax on tobacco in its various FORMS There may
be- however, some modification in the details
of the bill. The tax on the business of bank
ing and bankers remains as it is, though no
business is better able to bear taxation, and
none has greater privileges and profits. The
banking interest was powerful In resisting tax
alton, and succeeded in defeating all PROPOSE
tions to increase the tax or add new taxes
The tariff men are intensely active in urging
Congress to take up the tariff question again
this session. although it has been postponed
till next December. Considering the activity
and influence of these men, it is not unlikely
that they may succeed in getting reconsider
alton of this matter, and that bill may be re-
ported covering some articles in the schedule
This sort of piecemeal legislation is the way
ofdoing business with Congress, and the lobby
knows how to confuse and work upon that
body for the benefit of class and individual in
terests. We despair of ever seeing any broad
and comprehensive system Of legislation on the
tariff, taxation or the finances while this Con-
gress is in existence.
Year: 1868

THB SOUTH IN THE DEMOCRATIC CoNvEN-
TIoN.-All the Southern States will be repre-
sented in the Fourth of July Convention. The
Tammany sachems affect to be very well
pleased to meet their old friends and fellow
democrats from the land Of chivalry, but they
are nevertheless throwing out mysterious
hints as to the proper course to be pursued by
the Southern delegations in the Convention.
They have no objection to let the South in.
but they consider it advisable that tho dele
gates from States not represented In Congress
should refrain from voting for candidates or
taking part in the debate. This is all nom
sense. The South is far more deeply interested
than the North in the rescue of the govern
ment from the hands of the Jacobin faction.
and will be more likely to vote for the strongest
candidate without regard to bygone prejudices.
The Southern delegations should insist upoa
their right to vote or should remain out of tho
Convention altogether.
Year: 1868

THE COLORADO ADMISSION BILL IN THE
SKNATE.-The bill to admit Colorado into the
Union was called up and discussed in the
Senate yesterday. the question being upon an
amendment proposed by the Committee on
Territories to the effect that State Legisla-
ture and the usual State officers shall be
elected within sixty days after the passage of
the act and that the Legislature shall meet
and the officers shall be installed within
thirty days after the election. But
the amendment further provides that
after all this shall have been done and the Ter
ritory shall have become State to all intents
and purposes, the Legislature must ratify tho
amendment known a. the fourteenth article, or
the act shall be null and void, and the State Of
Colorado shall be thrust back into her terrific
rial condition for the crime of anti radicalism,
much as the lately restored Southern States
were thrust back for the crime Of rebellion.
Year: 1868

name of the whole country and OF the world,
of civilized men, to refuse this petition. III
these squatters have a just claim-and In the
case of one of them at least this claim Is de-
nied-let them be paid in money for their lana
at a fair nay, at a generous valuation; but let
Congress absolutely refuse to acknowledge their
right to settle upon the land itself, and SO de-
feat the object for which the Valley was ceded
to the State. That object was one OF the
largest and noblest that any State any where
or Mt any time in the worlds history, has pro-
posed to itself with a view to the health ana
enjoyment of its people; and the fact that the
General Government gave the land Tor such n
nurpose. and that the State accepted 1t, showed
a high state of civilization. Barbarian or halt-
civilized States do not so respect great natural
wonders nor propose to devote them to the
enioyment of the world. 1t will be day OF
long regret and modification when this
noble purpose shall be frustrated and
the high ideal of State shall be sacrificed to
the mercenary grasping of squatters. If Cali
fonians do not see their own interests more
clearly, and if they will not respect the rights
of the whole country, it is the bounden duty
of Congress to protect us in the possession OF
this most splendid of Natures gifts to the
American people, and not to suffer this dis
credit to be put upon us in the eyes OF the
Year: 1868

A Congressional Committee has now under
consideration a bill Of great Importance, which
concerns not only the State of California but
the whole of the United States; and not only
our own country, but, we may well say, the
whole civilized world. 1t is a bill giving the
authority of Congress to two men 10 take the
hirst steps in making the most magnificent val
ley in the world mere private possession;
and if it shall pass it will not be long before
some of the most interesting features of the
famous -Scmite--neXt to Niagara, the great


est wonder of America-will have disappeared
before the AK and saw of these specializing
squatters. The facts are simply these: A few
years ago Congress passed an act giving to the
State of California, in trust, the Valley of the
Yosemite, TO keep it for ever as a great pub
lie pleasure ground; to permit no settle
ments in it, to prevent the destruc-
ton of its scanty timber, and to preserve it, as
far as possible in its natural state, for the de-
light of visitors from every country and for
the study of scientific men. California ac-
cepted the trust on these conditions, and ap-
pointed Commission consisting of such men
as Frederick Law Olmsted who at that time
lived in San Francisco, and had passed an en-
tire year with his family in the Yosemite,
Professor Whitney, the geOlOgist, and few
other well known citizens, to lay out roads,
build bridges, and, while doing what might be
necessary TO make the Valley accessible, to
keep its beauty unimpaired, and prevent its
suffering any injury 1t was almost too much
to hope that a scheme at once so simple and
so grand as this could be carried out without
interference from mercenary people. and, &C.
cordingly, IL was not long before two squatters
put in q claim for some six hundred ont of the
eleven hundred acres contained in the Val
ley. They did not ask for an equiva-
lent in money; they wanted the right
to settle on the land and occupy it,
and they pressed their claim so vigorously
that the Legislature of California naturally
tender toward squatters, granted it at last,
in defiance of the acknowledged right of
Congress to refuse its consent to such a
breach of treaty. Gov. Haight vetoed the
BILL when it came before him for signature,
on the simple ground that the State had
accepted the Valley in trust, on certain
clearly defined and MISUNDERSTOOD conditions,
which she had no right either to forget or to
violate. But the Legislature easily passed the
bill over the Governors veto; and the two
squatters, secure of victory, appealed to
Congress to ratify what the Legislature had
granted. Nor was this all. Confident in their
ability to persuade Congress to stutify ITSELF


they have not waited for its permission, but
have put up saw-mlls and gone to work to
cut down trees in the Valley-where, owing
to their being so few, every tree is precious
and are making haste to plant themselves
beyond the peradventure of q removal.


Certainly, we do not think we make too
large claim when We ask of Congress. in the
Year: 1868

The act relative to capital punishment re-
Gently passed by the British Parliament pro-
vides that all executions for crime shall be
secret, and shall be carried out within the walls
of the prison in which the criminal is confined
at the time of execution, in the presence of
the Sheriff, the Surgeon, aud Jury. This is
a long step toward the ultimate abolition of
the death penalty. For the objects of capital
punishment can only be to protect society by
the removal of the offender and to make an
example of the criminal that shall be terror
to all evil doors. The former end is attained by
imprisonment for life. The latter is not attained
by a secret execution. For an execution is an
example only to those to whom it is shown,
either directly or through the statements OF
others. To carry it out secretly is an adms-
sion that public executions do not have a
reformatory, but brutalizing effect. Secret
executions can only have the same effect In a
milder degree. We are glad that the great
criminals of England can no longer derive the
criminals secret pleasure from the notorety of
their crimes and the publicity of and interest
felt in their execution. But we rejoice still
more that another step toward the abolition OF
the Death Penalty has been achieved.
Year: 1868

edly. Then Mr.. and Mrs. H. took poison and
expired, whereCpon the cOnsiderate o., seeing
that his unreasonable return had pro-
duced such fatal consequences, partook himself
of the fatal cup and died Also Everything
was thus comfortably settled; indictments for
bigamy were prevented; actions for damages
were allayed, and there was no reason under
the sun why the three should not have been
buried in one tomb.


Here, then, are sufficient materials for five
act tragedy. and, indeed, we have great num-
Der of tragedies, good and bad, founded-upon
this very circumstance of No. refusing to re-
main dead after having been duly mourned.
If men and women in real life were at all like
men and women in heroical literature, we
could see tine prOpriety of a general suicide OF
all the parties to the unfortunate vicissitude OF
blameless bigamy. 1t might befall any puta-
tive widow OF widOwer of a nuptial disposition
in these days of much travel and many rail-
ways and immense facilities for going to the
uttermost parts of the earth. 1t is only the
coming back that makes the matter awkward;
and it is the duty as a Christian and gentle
man for the successor of the late Potts to
evacuate when it is discovered that the late
Potts is still early enough for all practical pur-
poses. If Potts pleases to be magnanlmous,
and to go away like lamb on discovering the
real state of affairs, even then all will be
serene but the violent severing of these mar
riage double-knots by the rash means adopted
in the case under consideration does not
morally help matters at all, even if help were
needed of that description where there has
been no real guilt The parties are buried,
but the scandal remains most unmlstakaby
above ground. The best thing to do after the
fatal discovery is to obtain about five dollars
worth of advice from the cleveTest attorney In
the neighborhood. OF course, it is easier for the
returned wanderer to howl at the top OF his
voice:


And she was married married to another NINA


And did 'sCape from want, and war, aud famine,


To perish by the fasehOOd OF woman y


OF course it is easier to go off at once to the
chemist for a shilling's worth of his strongest
mortal-coil- -shuffler. The easiest course, how
ever is not always the wisest.


We have not made these desultory remarks
without serious purpose. The facility with
which suicide is resorted to in France, and the
logged pertinacity of Englishmen in taking
the leap in the dark, have not yet been suffi-
cienty initiated to establish in America q
national Characteristic At best, except in we'll
marked cases of dementia, it is cowardly
refuge, and is quite as likely to awaken the
contempt of the observer as his pity. Natu-
rally, however, it is one of the most contagious
of follies, and whoever, when confronted by
cruel fortune, seriously contemplates deed as
contrary to the law of his existence, should re-
member that, in ending his own life, he may
be assuming the responsibility of many self
murders yet to come-an endless, CHASTITY train
Year: 1868

THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE, published this morn
Jug, contains complete summary of Home
and Foreign news, and full reports of the Po-
litical movements of the week During the
Campaign it will be especially thorough in
everything relating to the political questions OF
the day, but its agricultural and other depart
ments will not fail to receive their usual at
fnnfinn
Year: 1868

For Senator Sherman's Twenty ty-MiliOn bill,
which passed the Senate last week, the House
Committee on Banking will probably report as
substitute Mr.. Hoopers bill providing for a
gradual reduction of the currency