THE DAILY RECORD-UNION;
SirrßDAT..^...-.../.*»OTE*IBEB 27. 1880.
THREE- ORIGINAL STORIES.
During the coming year, and commencing De
etmlter Ist, the Waa.LT Union will publish three
Prize Stories of California. The fir*>, the pub
lication of which trill commence in the first week
of December, trill be entitled, The Ventures and
Adventures of Charlie Gould." This is an in-
Vntelti interesting story nf *■ Stock-GantMiiig
period of California, and teas written by Edward
F. Ca/iSI, of Lot Angeles. The price the Waaai-T
' Union trill be 92 s\per annum.
THE WEEKLY UNION.
The Weeklt lvi( N for 1881 *ill be by far tie
most desirable paper published in the State. It is
now the superior at any. It is the only weekly
which goes to its reader.- twice a week ; the only
one which will give phonographic legislative re
port*; the only one to publish an origin— serial
prize romance, fouuded on modern California"
history. I' is the paper muni; weeklies of all
oth»rs for home, farm, -i. «p, office, street, market
and counting room, it is sent post paid for a year
for *2 50. ■ ■' __
NEWS OF THE MORNING.
la Xsw York yesterday Government bonds were
q iote«l at 11! J 'or «so* 1907; 101, for 6a of 1881;
112 tor 4JB* swirling, *1 SI(3J o3 ; silver bare,
111;
Stiver Is London yesterday, 51 ' d; consols, 100
7-16; 5 per cent. United State* bonds, 1041; 4s,
11C': 4ss, 1!5
■ la Sail Francisco half dollars are quoted at J dis
count to par; Hex-—) dollars, CO} buying, 91.sell
tn?.
At Liverpool —lay wheat was quoted at lCs
2.1 «10- :., tor good to choice California.
Mining stocks wen fairly active in San Francisco
yesterday morning and prices were tolerably well
sustained. In moat cases the figures show a slight
improvement over the best rates at the correspond
in*; Board on the 24th. The middle and south-end
stocks wore the mo»t popular at the nod yesterday
morning: Hale — : Norcroas advanced to i' 4 50, the
highest price this month. Alta is again creeping up.
Dcmetrio Don tuque*, 17 years old, was hanged
for murder yesterday at Phmniz, A. T.
After .i hard fight with horse thieves, the citizens
of Grant county, A. T., succeeded in seriously
won*—ling two cf the band and recovering 2*2 head
of the at den stuck.
Important disovorics if gold placer diggings are
reported from Al wka.
Five miners were caught in a show slide in Col
orado Saturday, two being killed aud a third badly
injured.
Indian Agent Berry has given bonds for his ap
pearanoc for trial at, Denver April : 7th.
A syr.llp.-i3 of 'the annual report of the Indian
Bureau is given this morning in our dispatches.
W. O. Ackerly was seriously if not fatally burned
nt San Joie yesterday mo* rain** by the explosion of a
student lamp.
The body of an unknown woman was found frozen
stiff at Chicago yesterday.
Henry Ni— — US wis killed at Cincinnati yesterday
by being caught in some shafting. ,'■'
fir at Cincinnati ; also at Tehama.
Charles Ross (colored) was murdered la >'. night at
IVirdentown, N. J.
Robert, son of President Lincoln, received the
most votes on the Electoral ticket in Illinois.
Marcus de Lafayette Hawley was executed for
murder yesterday at Sclma, Va.
The public debt this month will be decreased
about -■■ .11 10,000.
The lice suspect 'hat Mrs. Martha K. Lebback
■Those burned body was found at Jersey City Thurs
day, was murdered by her husband.
The Grand Jury at New- V. rk examined witnesses
yesterday in the matter of the M.ircy tetter.
The steamer Slmc) has been lost on Lake Huron,
ami it is feared that all on board perished.
The Secretary of the **avy has ordered t'.i . Brit
lab steamship i-andrigham out of tho navy yard
dock at Norfolk, Va. , for her commander's recent
discourteous conduct.
The, Disciples, a religions body with which Gen
eral Gartleld is associated, are about to build a
church at Washington.
Daring the week 230,000 ounces of silver have
been purchased for the Mints at New Orleans and
tan Francisco.
The Union Pacific Railroad Company have re
duced (he passage rates from Omaha to Ogden from
7. cents per mile to 0.
The royal family attended the funeral of Chief
Justice Cockburn at London yesterday.
Bismarck's ailment is now said to be rheumatism.
A great storm prevailed yesterday on the Scottish
c last, doing much da-cage.
W. A. Harvey, a prominent citizen, died suddenly
at Elko, Nev., yesterday.
Michael Kurtz was found -lead in a bam at De
troit yesterday.
L. Booth Winter cut his throat yesterday at De
troit in a fit of temporary insanity.
An unsuccessful attempt wan made Thursday
night to rob the railroad station at sail Fernando,
Los ——galea county.
A passenger train w.13 ditched near C— tents, on
the Southern Pacific, yesterday, but no one was
hart.
In the fighting at Duleigno the Teiks lost 300
killed and wounded, and the Albanians lost 400.
The trials of the indicted Land Leaguers will be
gin it Dublin December £3th.
New counterfeit $10 United States notes have
been discovered.
A million and a quarter of dollars were with
drawn from the Dank cf limjland yesterday for
shipment to New York.
Garfield's majority over all in Maine v.-a? ■l.iilli.
The Montenegrins arc to occupy Dylcigno with
40,000 men.
By .■ falling of a scaffold yesterday at tho Har
lem river railroad bridge, two men were killed and
three scriou-.ly injured.
Readers of the Rkcokd-Ukios will find the inside
pact's of to-day's issue unusually interesting.
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Mr. Clarence King makc3 a strong argu
ment on behalf of the continuation of the
national geological survey, and we hope
that Congress will be wise and liberal
enough to make the necessary appropria
tion for this purpose. Mr. King states
that half a million dollars a year will cover
all the expenses of a national survey, and
even if the cost was twice as much it ought
to be undertaken. The importance and
usefulness of these surveys cannot be ex
aggerated. From a purely material stand
point their value is incalculable. If such
surveys had been made twenty years ago
they would have saved hundreds of millions
of dollars which have been lost through
lack of the information which the work of
Mr. King and his colleagues is supplying.
Of course it is a gigantic undertaking, but
it must be remembered that \ when
once completed it will be accom
plished for all time ; that posterity will
be furnished with the fullest informa
tion in regard to the conformation and
mineral deposits of the whole of the coun
try ; and that benefits at present unper
ceived are certain to flow from the work.
It is evident from Mr. King's report, as
from the volumes already prepared, that
the Survey corps are doing their duty in
■ the most conscientious and thorough man
ner, and that their labors are destined to
be honorable to themselves and an endur
ing monument to the progressive and
liberal spirit of the United States. No
doubt President Garfield will use all his
influence in support of an undertaking the
- value of which he is so well able to ap
preciate, and a Republican Congress cannot
do better than to signalize : its return to
: power by . putting the Geological Survey
upon a permanent basis as regards the
necessary funds.
' . The Duchess of Edinburgh is the mem
ber of the royal fami'y who jia the j least
well known to the world of I fashion and
the people of —ti^laad generally. '
THE INCOMING ADMINISTRATION AND
POLITICAL REFORM.
There ia necessarily a great deal of curi
osity and even ' anxiety concerning the
nature of the '[ policy to be adopted by the
incoming I Administration, j General Gar
field • has given few or no indications of
what he purposes, nor can any definite con
clusion be drawn from his past career. He
has been a Congressman and an active
politician for twenty years. He has been
accustomed to view things from the stand
point of party exigency. He has once or
twice shown a disposition to uphold even
partisan . abuses. . Oil the i ether hand he
has displayed a mental grasp far beyond
that of the average politician. He lias
evidently endeavored to do his duty by the
whole country rather than by party alone.
And he has, by his intellectual cultivation,
his scholarly tastes, his reflective power,
and his general affinity for the more ex
alted and noble tendencies of national life,
appeared to belong naturally . to the ele
ments which are at present trying to com
bine their forces against political corrup
tion and the spoils system, and in support
of civil service reform. Nevertheless it is
necessary to remember that in his letter of
acceptance General Garfield took what ap
peared to be anything but advanced ground
on this subject. He then intimated a belief
that local appointments should be made by
and with the advice of Congressmen ; a
principle which, if literally carried out,
would be fatal to even the least measure of
reform in the civil service. Since the
election it has been apparent that an effort
is being made to carry abroad the impres
sion that the new Administration will be
either controlled by, or on the best possible
terms with, those political elements which
are regarded by all friends of reform as
most obnoxious to improvement. Day af
ter day reports and rumors have been cir
culated that this, that or the other politi
cal " boss " was to be offered a Beat in the
Cabinet ; that some notorious machine pol
tician was believed to have the ear of the
President-elect ; : that some particularly
" stalwart " elements were to be infused
into the Government; that it was to be
administered on a basis which would en
tirely satisfy the most extreme politicians :
and hints of that character. There is really
no warrant for suspicion that these intima
tions have any support in fact. They
are advanced anonymously for the
most part, and not a few of them are con
tradicted subsequently. But the import
ance of the matter is such that the friends
of reform cannot help feeling anxious as to
the intentions of General Garfield. For
this question of civil service reform is one
which cannot be thrust aside, which will
not stay suppressed, which is growing con
tinually, and which is enlisting a larger
and more determined public opinion every
year. Party managers will do their best
to evade it. The men who have been
trained under the spoils system will fail to
comprehend it. Self-seekers will endeavor
to decry it. But it will force itself upon
the attention of the country because it in
volves so many things besides the mere
consideration of how certain offices shall
be filled. A little more than a year ago a
committee of Congies", composed neces
sarily of active and experienced politi
cians, used the following language in a re
port : At the end of each four yearstbe
"pntire Federal patronage 'amounting to
" one hundred and ten thousand offices), is
" collected in one lot, and the people divide
"themselves into two parties, struggling in
"name to choose a President, but in fact
"to control the enormous patronage,
" which the President, when elected, ie
" compelled to distribute to his party be
" cause he was elected to distribute it.
"The temptation to fraud, to usurpation,
" and to corruption, thus created, is beyond
"calculation. A priz-a so great, an influ
"ence so powerful, thus centralized and
"put up at short periods, would jeopard
" the power and safety of any nation. No
"nation can withstand a strife among its
"own people, so general, so intense, and
"so demoralizing. No contrivance so
"effectual to embarrass government, to
"disturb the public peace, to destroy
" political honesty, and to endanger the
" common security, was ever before in-
vented." This is strong language, but
it is the language of men who from their
position must know the subject they are
discussing. It is, therefore, the more si,.-
nilicant that, no matter with what ulterior
motive, they should have borne this testi
mony iv regard to the spoils system, and
must be remembered that their testimony
harmonizes completely with the conclusions
reached by far more disinteresteil ob
servers.
The evils of the spoils system are "for
tunately becoming apparent to the people.
It is no longer upheld aa the best possible
system, save by a few hide-bound partisans
here and there, who are as deficient in in
telligence as they are behind the age in
appreciation of the public needs. It is
very generally recognized at present that
to this system we owe nearly all the most
dangerous and discreditable of our political
phenomena ; that it adds bitterness and
unscrupulousness to our political contests ;
that it organizes corruption, venality, dis
honesty in politics that it has built up
the detestable "boss" system, by which a
"few adroit wire-pullers are enabled to con
trol the patronage and consequently the
politics of whole districts acd States, to the
entire suppression of public opinion, and
to the aggrandizement of knaves and
rogues ; that it fills our public offices with
incompetent persons ; that it prostitutes
the fiscal system of the nation into
a - mere ■ plunder-collecting machinery
for the special . benefit of , the dominant
party ; that' it teaches partisans jto
regard party as equivalent to coun
try ; that lit | has paralyzed our foreign
service by I filling our consulates and mis
sions with utterly unfit j and ■ utterly unse
lected officials ; that it has enormously in
creased the expenses of government, and
as greatly degraded the standard of com
petency in the public Eervice ; in short that
it his turned government into a. means of
enriching demagogues and rascals at the
expense of the j people, - and in doing this
has driven the best elements of society out
of politics altogether. , These ) facta the
people are beginning to understand, and
therefore when some swashbuckler partisan
undertakes to J arraign a •' party - chief
because he has .; not 7 regulated every
appointment - J ; according ■. to ; ; the old
spoils standard, there ;is not - only less
disposition to approve the indictment, but
there is a growing impatience with the im
pudence of it. No doubt there i remain
only too many of the Bourbon class who
think it treason to put any but abject par
tiaans in office, and who think ; the , unpar
donable sin consists in appointing a Demo
crat to office under a Republican Adminis
tration, or vice versa. "'.'.; So much, however,
has been gained that the facts of the spoils
system are ; now . freely listened to : and
their force admitted. It is indeed quite
impossible to deny, these facts, and there
fore the hide-bound partisan usually falls
back upon some vague generalities about
"practical politics," which it seems are
supposed to necessitate " the abandonment
of honesty, justice and common \ sense.
The need of civil service reform, however,
cannot be made so clear that it will supply
itself, until there is a more positive im
pulse given to it than has yet appeared.
President Hayes made a good beginning,
but yielded to Congressional hostility and
public indifference. . Nevertheless, he has
effected far j more than is generally ad
mitted. He has made the cause of reform
familiar to the country. He has shown
how greatly even a tentative and very par
tial application of reform principles can
benefit and elevate the civil service. ; He
has given us a contrast between the spoils
system in its most pronounced form, and
something better.
This is much to be thankful for, bat it
is of the utmost importance that the in
coming Administration should take up the
work where President Hayes has left it,
end carry it forward. That General Gar
lic-Id has the ability to comprehend the
need of political reform, and the courage
to undertake it, we cannot doubt. Nor
can he on reflection hesitate as to tho
course which is most for his own honor
and interest. It is said that he lis an
ambitious man. If that be 80, his am-
bition must lead him to desire a high
place in the esteem of bis countrymen, and
in no way can he gain this more surely
than by advancing the great cause of re
form which has hitherto been urged against
such formidable and persistent obstructions.
There are but two courses for him. On
the one hand there is reform and all that
it involves. On the other hand is the
spoils system, with its political "boss"
interpretation, and all that that implies.
General Garfield knows already to what
the advocacy of the latter leads. General
Grant gave the policy a full trial, and
when his second term expired tho Republi
can party was almost destroyed. It has,
therefore, been made apparent that the peo
ple will not tolerate the apotheosis of the
spoils system. When it is tried they vote
against the re sponsible party, and this with
out any reference to the possibility of a
change for the better. It cannot be too dis
tinctly pointed out that the administration
of President Hayes has been in every
thing worth having a much more success
ful oue than that which preceded it. Presi
dent Hayes has pursued a course which
has mado it possible to elect General
Garfield. Had the rule of the " bosses"
been permitted through this administra
tion, General Hancock would undoubt
edly have been tho President-elect.
This is the simple truth, and its
lessens are obvious. If General Garfield
desires success, and reputation, and en
during honor and fame, he must walk in
the direction indicated by his immediate
predecessor, and he must carefully eschew
all policies calculated to encourage or give
prominence to the sinister influences which
arise out of the spoils Bystem, and which
have already once threatened to bring that
system and the Republic to an end at one
and the same time. Reform is the only
possible policy for a man of Mr. Garfield's
intellectual and moral caliber. Any other,
any second course, would lower him from
the position he has already gained. There
is no going backward for such a man, and
with him forward of necessity means up
ward.
___ 9 « .
BRIBERY IN POLITICS.
A correspondent of the Nation, writing
from one of the interior counties of New
York, recounts his experience a? a " work
er" in politics during the late campaign.
He was a Republican, of liberal principles
and advanced ideas, and he says :
" I have had full faith in the
success of the Republican cause,
"believing that the majority of the
" voters, especially in the rural districts,
" when fully aroused, would vote from
" conviction with the Republican party."
Believing this he went to the polls early
and stayed all day, -peddling tickets, talk
ing to voters, and watching ."the progress
"of the voters and this methods of the
"workers and poll-drivers." And what
he discovered was that " upwards of twenty
" per cent, of the voters were openly for
" sale. ' I learn that more than sixty were
" bought by the Republican 'workers' at
" prices varying from $2 to $5 each. How
"many the Democratic workers secured
" by the same means I do not know, but
" probably nearly an equal number. . I
" have since learned that the towns in our
" county each require on an average at
" least $250 for the sola purpose of buying
" votes on election day, and that this is
" the usual sum expended in this manner."
The discovery of these fasts set this Re
publican on the track of further infor
mation, and his researches were rewarded.
He say 3 : " I am informed that it cost our
" candidate for Congress in a district natu
" rally (!) Republican, and who was elected
" by a large majority, not less than $25,000
" to pay his election expenses within the
" past sixty days. I find that it would be
" folly for anyone to aspire to office in this
" county or neighborhood who was not
" wealthy and willing to pay liberally for
" the honor that wealth is almost the sole
" requisite in a candidate for any office of
" importance. Finally, : I find > that this
" state of things is by no means excep
tional, but that it is precisely the same
" in the adjacent counties and ' Congres
" sional districts." Is the experience of
this young : politician local and peculiar ?
Is it paralleled in other and even in moat
parts of the country 1 ' And if it ia, what
conclusions J are to bs derived from such
evidences of the prevalence of .venality in
politics, not only among office-holders and
seekers, but among the masses— the sov
ereign people, above whose ' standard of
morality neither parties . nor governments
can be expected to rise ?;; In the firat place
it must be realized that there always has
been and always will Jbe a" certain ' amount
of 'i public venality. This is as natural as
immorality of any other kind, and to sup
pose ' that any ■ form ■of -..' government
can be J free from it is to suppose
that y under some V forms 7 of govern
ment human nature ceases to be -human
nature. - Ignorance is a prolific mother
of political venality, moreover. The man
/who • does ; not understand why he haa a
vote, or what the franchise implies, or how
he may endanger hia own interests by ne
glecting his political duties, is ripe for a
bid of money for his vote. There can be no
patriotism without intelligence. Institu
tions cannot be loved before they are com
prehended. Of course there will always
be some men dishonest enough to sell their
votes with their eyes open, but they are
sure to constitute a email minority. But
another incentive to venality is the op
eration of a pervading corruption which
renders a single vote, or even mauy votes,
useless and worthless. The man . who
knows how little public opinion is con
sulted under the present political methods ;
how easily a few astute politicians contrive
to manage and control the votes of wards,
and consequently of cities, and so of
States ; must sometimes feel that contest
against so thoroughly organized a system
of political usurpation is quite idle, and
that the only sensible course is to swim
with the stream and make the most of
such opportunities as present themselves.
The . ''boss" system inevitably - tends
to cultivate venality, for it implants
despair of better thing 3in the minds of
those who often possess a feeble moral
balance. The tendency to do as others
do is always very strong. The
men who can refrain from wrong-doing
when they see all or most of their neigh
bors indulging in similar escapades, are
very few. The majority are content to be
no better then their fellows. Example is
powerful, also, and the examples which
politics afford are seldom of a kind to dis
courage venality. The masses see dema
gogism successful. They see men of edu
cation and capacity stooping to lie and cog
and pander and debase themselves in a score
of ways for the sake of office. They say to
themselves that these men are their superi
ors in point of intelligence, and if such
men sell themselves, why should not the
humble voter make market of his vote.
The standard of morals in politics is of
course neither higher nor lower than that
which obtains out of politics. It reflects
the spirit of the age. The amount of
venality to be found in the United States
to-day is undoubtedly a very fair gauge of
the morality of the American people gen
erally. We do not believe that it is really
so bad as might seem from the evidence
adduced, but we are very certain that some
of the most influential causes of political im
morality depend upon the spoils system,
and can be removed by abolishing that.
GERMANY AND THE JEWS.
The movement against the Jews in Ger
many is perhaps the most extraordinary
phenomenon of modern times. It is equally
! difficult to account rationally for its genesis
or its purpose. The offense of the Ger
man Jews, so far as can be gathered from
the literature of the contest, consists iv
their success. They have, by tho exercise
of superior capacity, acquired wealth, po
sition, intellectual influence. They have
been able financiers, far-seeing merchants,
vigorous journalists, enterprising project
ors. They have won success in overy avo
cation, and it is apparently aa unavoid
able conclusion that their success has
brought upon them the envy and hatred of
certain classes in Germany. It is the more
difficult for Americans to understand the
attack upon them because in this country
we have long since learned to estimate
men by their capacities, without reference
to their origin or race. It is impossible to
discover any reasonable ground for the
German hostility to the Jews. It is
not asserted that they are not good citi
zens. It is not pretended that they are
not moral and law-abiding members of
the community. Yet notwithstanding the
entire absence of any plausible ground of
objection, we find the crusade against them
being pushed even to prescriptive legisla
tion, and what is most astonishing, we
find the Government supporting the move
ment. That Prince Bismarck favors it
can no longer be doubted, but what he ex
pects to gain by it is a mystery. If the
Jews are subjected to civil disabilities
such as the English Parliament removed
from them some forty years ago, the pre
sumption is that they will refuse to reside
longer in a country which persecutes and
degrades them. Their exodus would no
doubt entail some suffering or at least
serious inconvenience and loss upon them,
but what would it do for the German Empire?
Never since the Moors wore driven out of
Spain has a more suicidal policy been pro
posed, if we except the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. Spain and France paid
dearly for their folly and fanaticism
in those cases. Is Germany
emulous of a like experience ? The
fact that this social war has broken
out in a nation renowned for its liberalism
in matters of philosophy and theology, and
that it has received the support of the
i class of educators, adds to the singularity
and paradoxial character of the situation.
What has moved grave and I learned Ger
man Professors and Presidents to join so
■■-■-.-■.
irrational and bigoted a raid against one
of the most useful and respectable elements
of the nation? The explanations which
have been put forward do not explain. It
is said that the Jews are becoming too in
fluential, too wealthy, too absolute in mat
ters of finance. \ But surely these are not
reasons at all. They are merely silly and
vulgar and contemptible prejudices, of a
kind which we should not be surprised to
encounter in a mob of ignorant and stupid
peasants, but quite out of place in cul
tivated minds. ■ .-•■-'
The Jews may. bo' driven out of Ger
many, and if they go they will take with
them a very large proportion of the wealth
and the intellect and the enterprise of the
country. But it seems to us that the
grounds upon . which they are; being ar
raigned are in no way restricted to any
race. : Bismarck appears .to be envious of
Jewish wealth and capacity. If this is so,
however, he would be equally envious of
the wealth and capacity of those who
should take the place jof the Jews. ' The
German people must be very , simple to
suppose that the intolerance of superior
powers which Bismarck is here exhibiting,
can be confined to the Jews. > It is an in
tolerance which he is; quite Jas likely ;to
display against his own fellow-countrymen
should : occasion occur. '- ' Acd this assault
upon the opportunities and liberties of a
race ]is a bad omen ; for •' Germany, viewed
from any standpoint. . It -.. is . ". . worse
than if it were a religious warfare, y It is a
war by Absolutism upon popular expan
sion. - The Jews have dared to prosper un
. der the iron hand of Bismarck. They have
i prospered so greatly that he cannot con
j trol the finances of the empire without their
assistance. He wishes to be supreme, and
therefore he proposes to rid himself of these
obnoxious people ; and the credulous Ger
mans have suffered • themselves to be de
luded into playing his game, not thinking
that j they are helping to establish a pre
cedent which will be turned against them
the next time. Where is the boasted Teu
tonic instinct for freedom, when such dis
graceful movements as tliis are possible in
Germany ? Is it to this . pitiful and
wretched conclusion that the much
vaunted educational system of Germany
I has brought her foremost j thinkers and
scholars, her statesmen and her governors?
There is not another civilized country in
the world in which such a spectacle would
he possible to-day. Not even in Russia
would it be tolerated. But enlightened
Germany, Philosophic Germany, Germany
of the Cultur-Kampf, Germany of the
model educational system, appears to
have - flung aside reason and dig
nity and sense of justice, in order to in
dulge in an outbreak of bigotry which is
tho more absurd when' we reflect that
scarcely one of the foremost reviler3 of
the Jews have any title to th.; name of
Christian. Taking it altogether it is
certainly a most wonderful freak of
national folly, and it can scarcely have
other than mischievous results for the
German Empire, whatever end it brings to
the Jews.
A HERETIC PUNISHED.
It seems that, the enemies of Professor
Robertson Smith in the Free Church of
Scotland have at last hunted down their
quarry. When he was arraigned in the
Ecclesiastical Court a year a^o, in connec
tion with his article on the Bible in the
"Encyclopedia Britannica," he succeeded
in baffling his persecutors. Subsequently
another volume of the Encyclopedia was
issued, containing an article by Professor
Smith on the Hebrew language and litera
ture, and this afforded the basis for a sec
ond attack upon him. A Commission was
accordingly appointed to examine this
article, and it has made a repor^ finding
him guilty "of irreverence in his treat
" ment of the Scriptures; of speaking of
"them in such a manner a3 to give the
" impression that God is not the author of
"them, that their narrative portion is not
"authentic, and that their prophetic por
" tions were untrue." The special and
particular offenses of the Professor are
pointed out in the report. He has had
the audacity to characterize Ezra and
Nehemiah as being singularly destitute
"of literary merit ; " he alleges that two
chapters of Isaiah " seem to have been
"first published as literary '.sides ; "
he speaks of the Song of Solomon as a
"lyric drama, "and of the story of Jonah as
"a parable." Of course the Commission
did not bring forward any evidence that'
Professor Smith's characterizations were
erroneous. That was impossible. They
could not compete with him in learning,
but they could distance him altogether in
bigotry and blind superstition. So they
agreed that his conclusions, based upon
learned research in the origin of the so
called sacred writings, were heretical, and
notwithstanding an eloquent and masterly
defense by the" Professor himself, the Assem
bly suspended him from his Professorship
for six months. This is a triumph of
organized imbecility over superior intelli
gence, and that is the light in which it will
be regarded. Professor Smith has been
punished for discovering and declaring the
truth, and for nothing else. The General
Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland
has shown itself to be no whit more ad
vanced than Was the Papal Government
which condemned Galileo. Evidently if
the Assembly had the power it woukl fol
low the example of the Papacy and impose
silence upon Professor Smith, and would
condemn the " Eucyclopedia Britannica" to
be confiscated a.id destroyed because it
contains his heretical exposure of the true
character of •.the canonical books. Such
manifestations of bigotry, intolerance and
stupidity are among tlio most powerful
agencies which are operating to destroy
human regard for ecclesiastical systems.
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM.
The New York Tribune criticises the
electoral system on the strength of the In-
Diana blunder which is supposed to have
j taken one electoral vote from Garfield and
transferred it to Hancock. It saya " while
"we still have the electoral system it
" will be well to bear this incident in mind
" to point a moral of absolute accuracy in
"future campaigns." The moral which
this incident points is - that the present
electoral system ought to be abolished.
That is the only rational conclusion to be
reached, and that conclusion had been
| adopted by nearly all thinking men long
before the late election. All experienco
ha 3 shown the present system to be
clumsy, inefficient, and dangerous. It is
a' circuitous mode of doing that which
can be much mora certainly and safely
effected without any such cumbrous ma
chinery. It . was an experiment at the
first, and it has never been a satisfactory
experiment. . It subjects the election
of Presidents to chance and accident
of the most trivial and preposterous kind.
It might at any time enable a careless or
corrupt clerk somewhere to reverse the
will of the people. It might in fact under
given circumstances plunge the country
into civil war. It has no compensations,
moreover. All its characteristics are ob
jectionable, and it is time the country
i* .--■■- <i-- y -:. - .■. _ ■■■._■ _ .... y t
made up its mind to be imperiled no
longer by an arrangement which was never
intended to apply to the conditions which
have arisen since ; the Constitution was
drafted, and which becomes more untrust-
worthy every time it is used. The sensible,
the statesmanlike thing to do, is to get rid
of : it I altogether, . and hereafter vote for
President and Vice-President directly, and
let tbe actual majorities decide the event,
z> «
THE FUTURE OF SWITZERLAND.
g The Fortnightly Heview has an article by
Fritz -.Cunliffe-0 wen on J the v future ;of
Switzerland, , which •- is more than usually
suggestive and interesting. It is concerned
with the question whether the independ
ence of Switzerland is likely to be main
tained in the future, and it shows that this
is extremely doubtful. J Surrounded by four
powerful nations,* Germany, France, Paly
and • Austria, Switzerland , has hitherto
owed the preservation of her independence
to the fears and jealousies of ' her great
I neighbors. J~ But there are indications that
\ in the near future it may become more to -.-.
their interest to divide her territory among
them than ' to* unite in guaranteeing her
neutrality, and - her own sordidncss seems
to be helping on some such catastrophe.
Several times in the past she has sold the
right of : crossing her territory to; foreign
armies, and even to rival foreign armies at
the same time. At present she is building
two great railroad systems which are
to facilitate communication with her
neighbors, and for the construction of these
lines, that is, for the St. Gothard tunnel
and for the Mount Cents tunnel, she has
sought subsidies from Italy aud
France. Of • course in so .doing . she
has paved the way for future claims and
complications of the most serious kind.
Mure than this, Fiance has for ten years
been extending the fortifications of her
frontier against German aggression, and
in doing so she has obviously prepared to
carry the war into her enemy's territory
by invading South Germany through'
Switzerland.' Germany of course will not
sit quiet and allow such arrangements to
be completed, and the result must be dan
gerous if not fatal to Saiss independence.
The Cantons, however, pear to have lost
their patriotic instincts of late years, and
to be absorbed in money-getting. They
are also playing with fire by allowing So
cialists, Nihilists, Communists and all
kinds of revolutionary cattle, not only to
harbor at Geneva, but to publish the most
incendiary journals there. This license
may not always be submitted to patiently
by the Governments whose heads are
threatened with assassination from Swiss
territory, and on the whole the little re
public appears to be drifting towards very
serious perils, which its people do not
realize.
TREATY RUMORS.
It is curicus that while the first reports
about the new Chinese treaty were partic
ularly precise and full, .-.3 time passes the
attainable information in regard to it be
comes more and more slender and uncer
tain. The State Department has received
intelligence, it is now stated, that two
Chinese treaties have been negotiated; one
purely commercial, and the other dealing
with the question of immigration only. As
to what the purport of the latter may be,
nothing appears to be known certainly, but
it is vaguely intimated that it relegates
the whole matter to Congress. This is
equivalent to saying that we are to make
our own regulations in regard to Chinese
immigration, but it does not seem proba
ble that such a latitude would be accorded
by the Chinese Government without mak
ing some reservation in the interest and for
the protection of its subjects. The whole
subject-matter ot the treaty is, however,
thus far in doubt, and apparently it will be
necessary to await its arrival by mail be
fore the actual work of the Commission
can be comprehended.
A COMBINATION BLOCKED.
_ . Evarts appears to have got the bet
ter of the cab!,* companies. The latter
have apparently been thinking of a com
bination for the purpose of raising the
price of .dispatches, but the . astute Secre
tary points out that their concessions con
tain express provisions prohibiting sub
combination for such purposes, and there
fore the scheme will have to be relinquished
on the threshold.
CHURCH AND STAGE.
From Bloody and Sankey to Sheridan, the
Actor— Some Cogitations and Some
Criticisms.
' ■ ', — ■ — ***
San Francisco, November 24, ISSO.
The world this week is given over to
gravy, and the ghosts of turkeys that are
to be eaten stalk along the mental horizon.
The whole seven days sniff of dinner and
suggest menu from early morn till dewy
eve. The human mind is preoccupied
with the supreme moment of Thanksgiv
ing Day, and invitations to giblets and
cranberry sauce fly about as thick as verses
on Valentine's Day. In ail these United
States is there one man who holds by the
customs of his fathers and fasts and prays
long-visaged and smileless on the great
Thursday of November? Nay; rather
does every eye bulge out in fatness and
every voice ring with a jollity born of
slutting and mince pie. At a
MOODY ASD SAJSKBY
Meeting the other night a hardy indi
viduall think he was a minister —
gesting a day of fasting and prayer in aid
of the cause, but Mr. Moody, who is stent
and hearty, as if having eatcnThauks^n ing
dinner everyday in the year, hardly favored
the idea, and asked how many people
would fast and pray were a day appointed.
A" very humble old woman, having passed
her three scoreand-ten years, has recently i
died in our neighborhood. Her name
would bo of benefit to no one, as it is and
always has been shrouded in obscurity.
Like the most of us, she w : as jaat no one in
particular, yet I envied her the peace of
her death more than if she had been First
Lady of us all. To the question if she waa
not afraid to die, she replied, "Why, no,
dear ; why should Ibe afraid ? I hope it
may come to-day rather than to-morrow.
I have lived out my days and my sorrows
are all behind me. I have raised my chil
dren, I have tried to do all the" good I
coald, I have been a Christian woman an 1
I am so sure of my future that I feel God
and heaven just ahead. Afraid to die !
Oh, no, my dear." Very much impressed
and : affected by her calm certainty, and
longing myself for that frame of mind, I
went to hear Mr. Moody, hoping that he
might convert me to it. I think under
any circumstances I should be ashamed to
focus a thousand eyes upon me by shout
ing or going to a mourner's seat or rising to
speak, but if to be converted was to believe
the beautiful things and the strange
unlikely thingß that . seem doubtful
to me | now, then I wished to be
converted. I felt myself speculating
as to my right and left hand — was this
woman a Christian Bor | that man ? A
pretty young girl with sparkling eyes sat
Justin front of me, .and in a clear melo
dious voice she joined in all the hymns.
My impulse, in my yearning, troubled
longing, was to touch her on the shoulder
and whisper, "Pretty young creature, do
you believe these wondrous tales V" In the
crowd I saw ,an ; acquaintance. How
strange now it seemed that in all our con
versations we had never touched upon this
vital point. If I could have reached her
I * should have peered hopefully into her
eyes ■as if to find assurance and asked
anxiously, "Do yon believe it i" -,
■77 JoSE BY OWE .""■.'■
The ministers of different churches came
into the pulpit till ,it j was crowded. J I
should much have liked to sweep aside
the vail that hung between us. to
see for myself if they. believed it all,
or jif V' not - quite all, J then !; how
much? Could boldness -to confront
them have been given me, I should have
assaulted them passionately with words, I
am afraid. " John Hemphill, do you be
lieve in the mysteries of atonsment ? *' Asa
Kike, first lawyer and then preacher, do ,
I &XC2X f-4,T- itTSfV, j ■ TTw ii njT^^ ir n^TT**Miinf
j you believe in your inmost soul that Jesus,
I born of woman, is the son of God T, S. K.
Noble, st.md and tell just how sure you
are that every word, ot the Bible ia true.
John Reid, of Victoria, and you, Mr. Har
ford, and yon, Edward F. Walker, and
yon, the j Rev. ; Mr. , Gibson, and you, air,
and yon, and you, and the tall one over
yonder; tenth-men, as you- stand in tho
presence of your God, tell me, J beseech
of : you, do you firmly believe there is a
God, a Christ, a heaven, a future at all,
and how can a woman believe when she
would, and can't?" Then Mr. Sankey
sang, and it was hymn-singing, indeed..
Over all the vast congregation a hush,
impressive in itself, descended, and we
all . seemed to soar with the lifted
ice, Some lay these men are to
stay here' all winter, and ptrhaps if they
do I may find myself outol doubt. In the
meantime I see with worldly eyea, and Mr.
Moody stems not very eloquent, not so
Very magnetic, but given to bid grammar
and" ani'edotes. His co- laborer, Mr. Sankey,
looks clean and sleek, -nd carries about
hir.i a cultivated air. They have both my
beat wiahes and my co-operation as far as
the latter lies i:. me. A minister said a day
or two ago, "Oh! yon church- members
who go to theaters !"■ and there was a
WORLD OS i:i'i:r!iM
And horror in his tone. To me the evening
at the theater ia like the intense, vivid,
earnest, absorbed reading cf a book, in
which the mind is so lost that the charac
ters live, breathe and speak as real en
and women, with impassioned v. iva 1
with word-like gesture, with chang
ing 7 countenance and quivering lips.
Sometimes when I read at home
the people seem to step from between
book-covers, and perform for me a <icene
from the romance of history, or the men,
women and children who live in the pages
of story and novel conjure themselves in
the firelight, and with rapt ear, I hear
their dialogue, and with wide ey«s see. I
have lately been absorbed in a book which,
for the sake of ray girl friends woo ' don't
know what to read," I name — it is "St.
George and St. Michael, "written byGeorgo
Macdonald. There is jus* come among us
a man of modesty, and an actor of great
ability. He is one W. 11 Sheridan, who
came without blare of trumpet, toot of
horn or twang of his own fiddle-string. He
was content fairly to essay a trial and stand
or tail by it. I think very lew of those
regular "'first-nighters" had an idea they
should do more than yawn through the
evening and glean enough for a critique,
but from the moment Louis XL, whose
lifo was or** ? Bcarl of wolf, came
on the stage the audience brightened. I
think the most of us had been looking till
that moment at a wonderful hat which I
meet, always the same wearer, everywhere
the last fortnight. It is seal-brown in
color, scoop shape, and of an enormous
bigness. It has a tremendous satin bow on
the left side, and all over it feathers dangle
and bow. By peering through a tunnel of
seal-brown beaver rim you discover a lit
tle bit of a white face and a pair of eyes.
Nothing short of a Louis XI. could have
called us from that hat lam sure. I love
a man that
FILL** THK STA-—.
Whoever saw other players than Booth
when the blua fire of his eyes lit up every
visipn ! The rest seemed to circle about
him, to come as he willed and go as he
bade, and ho was the play. We hung
upon his glance, his voice, the Bash of bis
finger, and what a wonder it was Keen
edged as 'i knife to be bo rapt. And when
Barry Sullivan was Richard 111. di any
one ever care whether there were a Rich
mond or no ? This man Sheridan almost
absorbs his listener thus, and comes within
one shade of excellence of having the stage
t^i himself. I gloried in him for hia mod
esty and his ambition, while I trembled
with excitement at the power of his per
sonatiom I imagine it is well worth tho
disomfort of being ■ thorough musical
critic to be able fully to appreciate an i x
quisite harmony, and one can. afford to be
worn and weary of poor play just to feel
tiie sweet throb and thrill which a king
among actors excites, though it runs
through the veins but once a year. In
his scene with the assassin who war,
hid among the bed curtains, Sheridan
waa a great actor. He shook as
if with natural fear, bis gasp was
such as I have heard the dying give, his
voice was changed a-< he begged for mercy,
as distress will change a voice. His death
scene was a marvel. He dropped into a
moment of aiumber, as 1 have seen people
sleep out of sheer weakness ; his lace
seemed to turn livid before my eye.-, and
when he died his eyes v. ere
STARING WIDE,
And a horrible look of death wavered
about his face, and finally settled upon it,
fixed, cold and ghastly. Women forgot
themselves and applauded in wonder, and
when you see women all over the house ap
plauding be sure something unusual is
happening. They don't do it often, Surely
a theatrical revival is upon us. We flock
to the legitimate and to the blood and
thunder, where we bave given the cold
shoulder to the spiced dialogue, the sug
gestive situations and the magnificent toi
lets, which were the strong cards of the
society drama. It must be something be
side our own tender morals which has
given u.i the impulse toward something
better, and why not lay the credit where it
belongs, and acknowledge i: is Mr. Sheri
dan who compels us and not we OUr»
who aro virtuous enough to bid Mr. Sheri.
dan among us? Rath Heath.
SAN FRANCISCO IT EMS.
[trim -an Francisco exchanges it Kovember 2<lth.]
-Tho steamer Colima, from Panama,
brought 41 cabin passengers and 36 in. the
steerage.
From November Ist to the 25th, both
dates inclusive, 45 wheat vessels were
cleared from San Francisco.
Interest in the Haskell manslaughter
case seems to augment as the trial wears
on, for the Court-room is crowded daily.
The merchandise extorts of the week
were valued at $1,406,509, and increase of
$570,970 from tbose of the previous week.
Six coast steamers arrived at this port
yesterday with full cargoes of produce.
One of them brought 750 toiu of British
Colombia coal.
The real estate lax collection*! up to this
morning amounted to (233,425, and at.
noon $i'S,COO had been paid in, making a.
total of $258, 125.
Dr. James P. Whitney, one of the best
known physicians of the city, died yester
day afternoon at his residence, No. ICO7
Sutter street, of paralysis.
George A. Fisher, a native of New York,
aged 30 years, a waiter at kin's saloon,
"No. 446 California street, dropped dead at
the northwest corner of Pine andSanaome '
streets about 9 o'clock thia morning. He
ieave3 a family at No. 335 Geary street.
The crush to hear Moody and Sankey
last night was, if possible, greater than on
the 7 opening nights, and whether - the
maeses came from cariosity, or with a de
sire to be converted, it is certain that pub
lic interest in their ministrations is not in
the least on the wane. :
IS is expected that the third section of
1,000 feet of the now sea-wall will be fin
ished next month. Work on the sea-wall
will [.robably cease after the completion of
section four, owing to the legislative enact
ment prohibiting trie Harbor Commia
sioners '.rem anticipating their appropria
tions more than one year. •
*SiS&* '...-TT. — - *.* — " ~- ■;
Liebig Co.'s Coca Beef Tonic.
"It ha» more' than realized my expecta
tions," a>;a • ProfMio* DUNCAN: CAMP-
BtiLfj, M. D., . 1.1.1).. President X .yal
(Vdetje PoyaicUm* and Surgeons: Member
General Cow dl University .of Edinburgh,
etc. Invaluable for debility, -weak'; lungs,
blliotunesa, dyapepria and female complaint*.
Beware of ebe ip, worthies.-, imitations under
our and niiniUr names. J Ask. {-,*; Coca. Beef
Tu:iic,
i