Or ®rt fUmflrtat. bbllefonte, pa. Tho Largest,Chojot null Bout Paper HUItLISHKH IN CKNTHR CO I'NT V. III.ACK ON THK Till HO \KKM. TIIK l-ROBABI.E KfITCT OF A VIOLATION or tII E IN W RITTEN I.AM OF TIIF. RRI'IIUI* Juilr* J of* Bill' k In North Ani<>ricnn Rulru. Wlu-rc tho Chief Magistrate ia vest ed, na oiira ia, with great power liable to gross abuse, if there is no law or practice which forbids him to be re elected, he can remain in office for life as easily as for a term, lie has the appointment of all officers, the making of all public contracts, and a veto upon all legislation, besides the command of the army nnd navy. By an unscrupulous use of these means he can coerce not only his horde of im mediate dependents, but he can con trol the corporations and become the ma-ter of all the rings, put the busi nesi of all classes under his feet, cor nipt the venal, frighten the timid, and cheek all ambitions hut his own. He can force the elections of every State he desires to carry bv the bayonets cf I his army. If that fails, he can order a false return, and pay for it out of the public Treasury. The people would soon perceive opposition to lie useless and accept tbe situation ; elec tions would be as mere a matter of form as they were in Borne w hen siieli Cen-uls as Nero nnd Domitian were elected regularly every year under the supervision of the pretorinn guards. If these were no more than remote possibilities prudence should guard us against them. But they are near probabilities ; the signs of the times warn us that the peril to our institu tions is imminent; the danger is al ready on the wing. It is vain to re- ! mind us that the President swears to j preserve, protect and defend the Con- i stitution and see the laws faithfully j executed. That is true; and it is also true that, if there he no perjury in the rase, the Constitution, laws and liher- ! ties of the country are safe. But the [ last twenty years have given us ample I proof that an oath is not much re straint upon a President who is incit ed by ambition, rapacity or strong party feeling to break it. It is true that this presupposes a p pie much degenerated and a mag i-trate animated mainly by the vulgar love of power for its own sake; but exactly such a conjunction of things ' lias always been feared with good reason, and hence comes tbe desire to Iut every check on that tendency to "strong government" which is now manifesting itself in many quarters. What is the remedy? How .-hall we avert the dire calamities with which we are threatened? The an swer comes from the graves of our fathers: By the frequent election of new men. Other help or hope for the -a! ation of free government there is none under heaven. If history does not teach this, we have rend it all wrong. In the repub lics of ancient ami modern times the chief magistrate was entrusted with onlv temporary power, and always went out of office at the end of a short period, fixed and prescribed by law or custom. It was tbis, indeed, which , made the substantial distinction le -tween them and the monarchies around them. An unpunished transgression of the customary limitation was uni formly followed by destruction. Every where nnd always it was tho (atal svmptom of decay—the sure forerun ner of ruin. When Cassar refused to lay down his Consulship, as his pre decessors had, at the end of a year, ' and was re-elected time after time with the acquiescence of the Seuate and the people, all that was real in Human freedom ceased to exist. Two republics in Fiance were brought to an end in the same way. Napoleon began by being Consul for a term, ' then was elected for life, and finally became Enqieror, with the jmwer of an absolute despot. The last Bona parte was President for four years, was re-elected for ten, ami ended, like his uncle, in grasping the imperial crown. "May this be wa-bed in the Lethe and forgotten ?" Khali these lessons be lost? Shall the lamp which guided our forefathers be extinguished ? Khali the broad daylight of all huinau ex jierience be closed up in a little dark lantern mnuufurtured at Milwaukee? I think this cannot be done; "the eternal verities" arc against it. The most powerful third-termer may as well trv to blow out the sun, as be would a tallow candle, with the breath of his mouth. A third term for Grant does not mean a third term only, botany num ler of terms that he chooses to de mand. The imperial method of ear rving all elections by corruption of force, or of declaring them to be car ried when they are not, is to be per manently substituted for the system of free, popular choice. The figure of Grant standing with the seal of primacy on the mountain top and looking down on the inhabi tants of the plain below, gives a meas ure of the elevation which his syco phants flatter him with the hope of attaining. They urge the necessity of a strong government almost in tbe very words used by the adherents of C'wsar nnd the two Napoleons. Htrong government, in their sense, means weak laws and a strong ruler; in olhcr words, a substantial monarchy, powerful iu its scorn of ull legal re st ruiuts. ' HOW I.OXO WILL JI'STICK SLEEP! From tho Altoou* Hint. The ease of thnt brave, accomplish ed and greatly wronged soldier, Gen eral Fitz-Johu l'orter, still bungs fire in Congress under the miserable ex cuse that the passage of the bill long since reported and which if passed will in part make restitution for the crime perpetrated agaiust him, will provoke a political discussion. With the Chronicle-Herald the Sun repents the interrogation, "Are Democrats too cowardly to be just?" If the Demo cratic leaders have read history to any purpose they know that there is noth ing ii|M)ii which the people look with more contempt than cowardice. Even a venal parly has a better chance of running the gauntlet of public opinion than a cowardly party. The course for the Democrats to pursue is very plain. They must promptly take up the report of the committee and act on it. If the He publicans insist upon lighting the war all over —if they are determined to ransack the prisons and tear open the graves—let them do it nnd make out of it what political capital they can. If the Bepuhlieans resolve to he ghouls the Democrats needn't be fools enough to step into the pit which- their adver saries dig. There is nothing for Democrats to fenr from Fitz John Porter's case or any other reminiscence of the war so long as they keep their heads and bridle their tongues. We are not far enough removed from the war anil passions for any question connected with that unhappy period to be freely discussed iu Congrc.-s without the Be puhlieans taking advantage of the oe-! casion to "fire the northern heart." i But the northern heart cannot lie' fired by northern men alone. South- j eru men must plav into the enemy's hands and furnish him with material to he contorted and howled over. Tliey ; must do what Ben Hill did for Blaine in the famous debate which so endear- j ed Blaine to the stalwart wing of his party. It may be very cxns|N>rnting for j southern men to hear themselves re viled and branded as monsters of in- j humanity where thev have equal right to talk ; hut when Republican politi cians want nothing better than indig nant and, perha|>s, indiscreet, replies to their charges, it is then thnt silence becomes golden. Fitz John Porter's case needs votes ; more than talk. The man is the vic tim of a wrong of long standing. The j reeeiit military inquiry has removed any doubt there might have la-en of his innocence of the horrid charge ou which he was tried and hurried to conviction. The country demands j justice for him —such justice as Con gress alone cau dispense. Treatment so foal cannot remain unntnned for without disgracing the country which inflicts it. Are the Democrats too j cowardly to do justice ? OKNKKAL lIANTOCK'M CANDIDACY. From th* Washington I local A. After this year it will no longer Im possible for New York and the South to elect a President. The census of 1880 will give the Northwestern States a far greater proportion of fhe electo ral vote than they now possess. The i Democracy will therefore do wisely to ' cousider whether it can afford to , throw away any chance of electing a President. Democrats who really be lieve the success of their party to be necessary to the welfare of the country should lav aside all mere [K-rsotinl preferences and prejudices and seek the strongest possible qandidate. One candidate alone appears to combine j every element of strength, and that candidate is General Hancock. A hitter war on the financial question has been for years going on within the j party ranks. The contending factions j arc still as wide apart as the poles, and hopeless of agreeing. General Hancock has been kept by his position 1 [entirely out of this embittered contro versy. Any Demos-rat can vote for him, while votes would he lost by the ! nomination of any man who has ever taken n positive part in the financial j discussion. It is essential to success that the votes of Greenback Demo ; cruts should be secunsl without alien ating those of a different sentiment. Here is the first point of General Hancock's supreme availability. Then, the very composition of the Democracy—consisting as it does so ; largely of men lately in insurrection — requires that it should have for its standard-bearer a Union soldier. The chief reliance of the Bepuhlieans is in appeals to the smouldering passions of the great rebellion. The fires of civil strife nre not extinct; and fatal is ever the day when the Democracy forgets their presence. His war rec ord is the second great point of Gene ral Hancock's availability. Yet it would not he difficult to find a more or less obscure candidate who has been neutral in the still in tense money conflict, and who fought for the Union. These, though essen tials, are only negative ones. Gene ral Hancock has, besides these, posi tive merits of a surpassing kind. He is the most eminent of all those soldier ly figures which now stand forth in the ranks of the Constitutional De mocracy. He has proved that he possesses the ideas and habit of mind of the statesman. His official writings embody the soundest conceptions of law, and show an intimate knowledge of the principles which form the basis of the civil linerticsof our race. Thus General Huucock possesses in an eminent degree the qualities which will excite the enthusiasm so desirable in u political campaign. Splendid us a soldier; wise as a civilian ; his can didacy would bring out upon the stump a host of men who have uever before taken an active part in our politics. He has 110 following among politicians, having maintained during all the time his name has been before the country as a candidate the digni fied silence and abstention from in trigue and personal effort which are most befitting the character which would adorn such an exalted posi tion. Having never been a politician, General Huucock is surrounded by none of those political workers who naturally gather around men who Weotne prominent in political life. The strength which the movement for his nomination exhibits throughout tho country is therefore a spontaneous strength, which does not come frog) organization and effort, hut which springs directly from the popular heart. It is this kind of strength that is irresistible. Have the Democracy the wisdom to see it and to seize their golden opportunity ? THK I'OETM AMI THE lIIKUN. WHAT MISS SANBORN CHOSE Foil TUB SfttJFxT OF lint VF.STFKDAV MORNING** TALK TO I.ADIF.S. Front lit# New York World. Having found the parlor of Dr. Crosby's Church too small for the , many ladies who attend her Thursday j morning talks, Miss Kate Sanborn | yesterday spoke from the little plat-1 form at the end of the chapel or lec- ; ture-room belonging to the same • church. Here, shut off from the J sound of horse-ears and elevated j trains, which on the occasion of her first lectin* last week proved im|ierti nently disagreeable, everybody who j had the good fortune to Iw present thoroughly enjoyed herself (for Miss' Kan horn's large audience contained only two males}. Miss Sanborn, who is promptness itself, entered the lec- : ture-room a moment or two before 11 o'clock and depositing on the desk he fore her a large pile of manuscript, f fraukly told her hearers that the sub ject she had chosen to talk to them about had run away with her. "It is j so voluminous," said she, with a de spairing sigh, "that, try as I will, prune as I can, worry as I do, ! cannot get ! it into shape for a lecture. This. ' ladies (desperately), is not a lecture. It's a ramble —let's call it n flight. 'Birds as Sung hv l'oets.' That is the title I have given to it. It's a good subject. I know it is. I'm in love with it. But the difficulty is in par ing it down into a round little lecture of an hour's duration. It is a difficul tv which, as I said liefore, i have not surmounted. My sister savs it i too 'birdy.' Mv f-ar is that it will la burdensome. Forgive me. I>et usj fly into the clouds at once. "Oo a train one sunnv morning in June I saw a little bird llv by my win dow anil on and up into tiie illimitable blue. My first thought was of this airy freedom and graceful flight n contrasted with the crannied ear and I snorting engine pulling along its load 1 of human luggage amid the heat and dust. I sighed for wings, and then eaine the thought, 'As you cannot , very well lie a bird' —which was quite true —'why not look up the many ! beautiful jhings that poets have said , about them ? There you will find all that you feel hut have not tMPuhility : to express.' This has been my task. Buskin will rertainly commend me for it if nobody else does, for lie grurn- { hies that 'no English gentleman in re cent times has ever thought of birds | except as flying targets or flavorous dishes.'" Having made Aristophanes, Chaucer, and Boccaccio responsible for utterances concerning the winged sub ject shp had chosen, Miss Sanborn said : "The first English song about birds that I have found is on the owl and the nightingale, as to which had the finer Voice, and bear the date 1278. This is important, as it is about Eng lish bird jNictrv that I am chiefly go ing to talk. Which two birds do you suppose are the most famous in Eng lish verse? Does anybody know?" Miss Sanborn paused for reply. "Come" she continued, as nolnidy answered, "as this cannot he u lecture let us make it conversational.' Still uone of the ladies spoke, though all of them looked interested enough to do so had thev dared. Miss Kauborn laughed. "Well, pardon me," she said, "I can not help taking a delicious and mali cious delight in proviog my superior knowledge on this subject, since I have been two whole years digging at it. The birds to which I refer are the nightingale nnd the lark. There Are, indeed, few poems of any length in either of the languages of Europe iu which allusion to one or other of these birds has not place. The noblest poets have been boon companions of these birds, beneath skies saluted by the lark, among grovoi haunted by the nightingale. These little creatures sang with Homer and Sappho among the isles of Greece, for Virgil and Horace on the plains of Italy; they cheered Dante in his lifelong wander ing exile and l'etrareh in his solitary hermitage." Miss Sanborn then read many extracts from poems of all agea devoted to nightingales. As she is a good reader, and had in the main se lected poems which might reasonably he supposed to be familiar, the quota- lions were enjovuble. The. HUIIIC was done for the lark, James Hogg's poem ln-ginning "Bird of the Wilderness" being read in whole, anil eliciting much applause from the audience. "The Robin Redbreast," continued Miss Sanborn, turning to that inore familiar bird, "bun often IK-CII desig nated by the jwets an tbo 'friend of man.' It ban been ntipponed to take i puinn in covering dead people witb j luon.n und leaven. Wordsworth uoticen thin tradition, und in Merrick we find : ! "'Sweet Aumrj IliM h n j>ring's Soil and mul-liku uiurmurings Stent—and thun sltKqiing—thither fl.-w A Kobin Hedhrimnt, who at view Nut seeing her at all to stir, Brought leaven and lIIOCH to cover her. But while he peeking there did joy About the ure.'i of either eye The lid begun t" let out day. At which jioor Kobin flew nway, And seeing her not dead but all disleaved I li-chirped for joy to tiud himself deceived.' "Thin little bird, according to the populur legend, wan comminnioned by I the Deity to carry a drop of water to the sou In of uubnptized infantn in bell, j ami itu breast wan singed in piercing ; the flumes." Mi* Sanborn then read Whitticr'n verses on "The Kobin," i founded on thin legend, thun which no i poem of the morning called forth \ heartier applause from the audience of ladies. "Jlut," she continued, "a whole flock of birds, little and big, , with guy feathers and dull, with sweet 1 otcs and harsh, are singing around I and pleading to be given places in tbis ! aviary which I have invited you to ! inspect. Ix-t us look at these birds as j they fly by. First come those noted j in mythology as .Juno's peacock, Miu- | erva's owl, Jupiter's eagle ; then the single birds made famous by a poem, ! as Auacreon's dove or Lesbia's spar row, 'The Jackdaw of Kheims,' or Cdia Thaxter's 'Sandpiper,' Willis's belfry pigeon, Bryant's bobolink, or Foe's grim bird on the bust of Pallas. j Don't be nervous; I'm not -so raven distracted as to attempt that ! Then too, there are birds honored by the ; poet which are held ill sjiecial revcr- j enee. as the petrels, named from the Disciple Peter, because they seem to : walk on the water —although, by the J way, Peter didn't .-com to walk the water —and also railed Mother < arey's chickens a o you remember," said the lec turer in closing her chat, "those poems of Luugfi llow, Hulleck and Mr*. Sig ournev ou the blue bird, or Ixiwell's lines: " *TI' Mtt MM shifting Itia light |oil of Fti'lu |*l to |r*t llr>D( lb* < h*e|e fetir*. "Bryant, too, was a genuine lover of nature and a keen olwerver of her forms, but he was more remarkable for accuracy than for insight. His perception was les- sympathetic than clear. Just compare l/well's poems, 'The Bolsdiuk' — *• r.n r.f (he Drunk with fh* Juj "with Bryant's 'Robert o' Lincoln.' Bryant describes the bird, bis plum age, bis habits, his domestic and Inune life, giving a charming imitation of his note and a pretty picture of bis existence. Isiwell attempts nothing of tbis kind, but makes one feel the thrilling glee, the heedlessness and overflowing joy of the little songster." Having tinished her talk Miss San born invited Miss Thompson to read Bryant's "Robert o' Lincoln" with which request the young ladv com plied, nnd, reading exceedingly well, was compelled by the enthusiastic au dience to read something more. Next Thursday morning Miss Sanborn's Iceture will he devoted to "Dora d'ls tria; Her Life and Writings." llow Bismarck Brinks llrandy. From Ih* iVitlati'l Argm. A prominent officer, who returned from Europe recently, tells of an eve ning he spent with Rismarck as fol lows : "I thought that I had seen hard drinkers, hut I found during this evening with Bismarck that the drinkiug men I had met were mere tipplers in comparison with this great mau. Bismarck had invited no guest for that evening save myself. After a few moments spent in pleasant chat, Bismarck railed the servant and or dered him to bring in brandy and glasses. The glasses were of the smallest size, the same size as the glass we call a pony. 1 saw there was no sugar or water brought, and when Bismarck poured two glasses full of the brandy, I saw it was white, so I concluded it was a milder drink than the French cognac and thought if he could drink it clear I would not lie outdone. I took a sip of it, and never in my life did I experience such a sensation. It was the most fiery stuff I ever tasted. I gasped and strangled a little, hut seeing Bismarck toss his off as so much water, I made as little fuss as possible. By slow, careful sips I managed to drink the glassful, but declined-to take any more. Well, I stayed during the evening, probably until 12 or 1 o'clock. Bismarck con tinued tossing off the brandy, one glass after another, and when I left not a drop remained in the pint bottle, which had been brought in full ut the beginning of the evening. His capac ity for drinking must be something wonderful, for with the exception of his face getting very red, no one would have suspected that lie Imd been drink ing at all. His conversation was clear und his manner us quiet as at the be ginning of the evening. j THK ARTIFICIALS. Frin lII* IMiit:wlfl|ihia Tiruca Mac fear's diamonds failed and now Mammy's are said to he successful.! They do not claim to be imitations of the diamond, hut the real diamond itself. They scratch sapphires, und • when properly set on fire while rest ing on a slip of platina they go off in a whiff of blaze and smoke,'just as. do ! the diamonds from Brazil or South Africa. The canny Scot claims to have done in his laboratory exactly what nature has done in hers. Hi- I processes ure different and he produces smooth diamonds instead of the rough ones which are usually found in the mines, llununy's diamonds will hear cutting, after the manner of'diamonds of the old-fashioned sort, aud for alii practical purposes it would seem that they answer as well as far as they go. Many people suppose that, now that, we are to have artificial diamonds, we | will have them as big as turkey eggs , and as cheap as buttons. These peo ple juui|> too hastily ut this conclusion. Possibly diamonds may one of these days hi- made as large as great pieces of chalk and equally chimp. When this eoiucs to pass the duz/.ling gems will he so common that the public generally will have to wear blue spec tacles for the protection of eyesight. As yet I'rofes-or Hannav's diamonds are of infinitesimal size. If the prin ciples on which he makes them are correct, he w ill eventually make larger stones. Meantime scientific men un divided in opinion. An eminent Ital ian chemist, who professes to know all about diamonds, says that Hannav's gems will provens delusive as Mac- Tear's. It i- probable that if artificial dia monds shall be successfully made Jo-s -will IK- ratlu-r of commercial value than as ornamental gem-. The makers will have much to contend with. The laboratory of science is vastly differ ent from that of nature. We mav take a natural product apart and dis cover each ouc of its several < b-mc-nts with exactness, lsth a.* to character aud proportions. Then we may take the various substances in a- correct proportion a- we can weigh and meas ure them, ami try to put them togeth er to counterfeit nature. The result is generally to tench us that nature's chemistry i* a different affair from our-, and that there arc occult proces ses which we have not mastered and whose secrets we are not yet able to fathom. It ha- |cen thus in the man ufacture of artificial stone. Knowing the component parts of stone, it seem cd easy to take certain rocks apart and put them together again. Within the last quarter century many fortutn-s have IK-CII s|K-nt in unsuccessful at tempts to imitate nature in tlii- re spect. Most of the results were like Colonel Seller's eye-water. Tliey were all that could In- desired except in the lack of one ingredient. Some of the counterfeit stone would crumble to pieces in a few weeks. Some was gtxul enough on the outside, hut inside like mi much brown sugar. Some, which managed to hold together toler ably well, broke out in a sorry-looking effioresceuee which spoiled its beauty. It is not to IK- denied tbat various respectable varieties of concrete have been produced, some of which answer weir for building purjmses. But renl rock has not yet Ir-cii made, and pres nt indications are that it will not be for a while. While we confess the incompleteness of many of the attempted imitations of nature's work, we must admit that in some departments of this class of in vention ingenuity lias been crowned with triumph. Bald heads are orna mented with flowing lock* which not only simulate nature, hut sometimes laugh nature to scorn. Toothless gums are furnished with nerveless (Kircelaiiis which neither ache nor decay, nud which can lie sent to the factory for painless repair, when repair is needed. Hie world would be in darkness nt the going down of the sun hut for the success of tha makers of artificial light. For generations the sperm whale helped us out of our darkness. When he liegan to fail us, we found relief in the generous adipose of the unctuous hog. When we grew tired of turning swine into oil, carburetted hydrogen eainc into fashion despite the protests of even the scientific. When gas companies taxed us too heavily, we blazed defiance at them with oil pumped from the bow les of the earth. Now electricity threatens to sweep gas, aud all the family of illuminating oils, out of sight. Possi bly some future inventor of artificial substitutes for sunlight may knock electricity, just as electricity threatens to knock its predecessors. The progress of ingenuity in prepar ing artificials knows no bounds. Glass eyes are sold by the thousand. They wink and stare almost as nicely as the eyes tbey intimate. Almost everybody is getting to wear ceramic teeth. A poor fellow who Inst his nose is getting a new one built-up out of his thumb aud finder. Millions of good people wear wigs, and a California actress has a thirtv-five-hundred-dollur wood n leg, which runs, jumps, skips and dance* MO that nobody can distinguish it from the natural one. We welcome the Heotch professor* and all other in genious inventors to the largest vic tory in the (liumond business. I'ossi lilv we may yet have deoplc would mean anarchy. We s*v nothing letter than a stormy future before that unhappy country. The abdication of Alexander, which i* not unlikely to occur at any time, w ill not bring peace ami order. It is not agniusl him. but the system, that re bellion is waged. Any other head of the same system would be quite as of fensive. lie Turned the Table*. FMa I>*rrt k tw>d4 in Ntn I rentier** Peat. There is nothing like presence of mind, after all. One dark, rainy night la-t week old I)r. llotts, who lives out on Van Ness avenue, was trudging homeward when he discover ed that he was Wing dogged by a burly ruffian, evidently intent on rob- Wry. They were in a lonely part of the town, aud the mau was just at his heels when the Doctor, buttoning up his coat to his chin, suddeulv turned back and said to hi* pursuer: "I'lease, sir, give roe a dime to buy ! something to eat. I don't want to get whisky, indeed I don't; haven,t had anything to cat for two days." " Great Scott! " exclaimed the foot pad. repocketitig his slungshot with profound disgust, " to thiuk here I've bceu piping off a d n paii|ier for over a mile." And ho walked off cursing the infernal luck to blazes. GBRSUL GRANT has an exalted I opinion of Florida's capabilities, ami : says the country is capable of supply | ing all the orauges, lemons, pineapple* and other semi-tropical fruits used iu the United States, the one hundred millions dollars of sugar now imported, materials for rope, bagging, coarse malting, etc.; any quantity of good pine, spruce and live oak timber, rice, etc. He thinksaihe State affords the best opening in the world for roung men of small means aud great indu*- | try. ' A WISE MAN is known by the silence 1 he keeps.