work each is doing. If the same principle had been adopted as regards the Irish colleges, even though this examining board, called a university, had been constituted the judge of the work, the Catholics at least might have seen their way to accepting the measure. Their present opinion of the bill is briefly summed up by one Irish member of Parliament:-" Hang the degrees; it's money we need.”

It is curious that in this Free Trade country no dependence' can be placed upon individual initiative to meet the difficulty. The principle of national education at national expense is adopted in the United States much more fully than in the United Kingdom. But in America private persons endow and enrich our colleges with a liberality unknown in Europe, where everything of this sort is left to government initiative. The immense wealth possessed by English Roman Catholics, if it were on this side of the ocean, would soon be drawn upon for the foundation and endowment of institutions adequate for the Catholic youth of the two kingdoms.

M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, after cutting one costly and unprofitable canal through an Isthmus, is ambitious of making still another mark on the map of the world. He has been getting together a crowd of geographers, speculators and capitalists, called a congress, and proposes to cut a ship canal through some part of Central America to the Pacific Ocean, at a cost of $90,000,000. This worthy body, after much deliberation, decided to adopt the most impracticable route possible, that through the Isthmus of Panama, where the sum named would not suffice to provide a channel through which a canoe might float from ocean to ocean. The only decently practicable route, that through Nicaragua, would itself demand a much larger sum than has been named.

There is not, and for fifty years hence there will not be, any such traffic as would justify such an outlay. The gross earnings of the Suez Canal last year were something over one per cent. on the capital invested, but Suez is on the line of a far greater traffic than any that enters the Pacific Ocean. Our own Pacific Railway, itself a huge blunder in a financial sense, furnishes us with almost all needed access to our Pacific states, and the amount of traffic which could be diverted from that to the new course would be very small.

The new canal would be difficult of construction, for it is no small undertaking to pierce "the stony Cordilleras." It would be costly in its demand for continual repairs, as it must run through a country of violent floods and tempests, as well as frequent earthquakes, to say nothing of social insecurity and the unwholesome climate.

Senator Burnside has desired the nation to take up the proposal as a defiance of the Monroe Doctrine. And the political importance attached to the control of the Suez Canal, as illustrated by England's secret and sudden purchase of the Khedive's shares, and by the jealousies shown by France and England in this connection, seem to warrant his proposal. The French papers, indeed, insist that it is a purely economical undertaking, with no political significance; but if the grande nation had territories on this continent, they would be the first to insist on its political significance and to make it the subject of political intrigue. Since the invasion of Mexico, Americans have not been inclined to consult France as to the meaning of the Monroe doctrine.

We do not, however, favor the Burnside proposal. We think it a wiser suggestion that our government should order the Engineer Corps to make a sufficient survey of each of the proposed routes and publish the results with a careful estimate of the first cost of each, and of the annual cost of necessary repairs. Were such a report to be placed before the capitalists of Europe, we should hear no more about the Panama Canal for half a century

to come.

CONGRESS adjourned without glory. No session in its history presents a more unbroken record of mere partisanship,—of measures advocated for strictly partisan purposes, and with no real regard for the national interests and welfare. Exceptionally honest as was its personal make-up, and free from jobs as was its legislation, it is yet questionable whether a far more dishonest Congress, such as passed the Illinois Central Bill or took the bribes of the Credit Mobilier, would have done the country more harm, or would have neglected its interests more completely.

Such a Congress is a God-send to the minority who oppose its measures and obstruct its legislation. It elevates them to the dignity of representatives of the solid sense and public spirit of

the nation. And, beyond all question, Mr. Hayes and the Republican leaders are far stronger in public esteem than before this extra session began.

Of the partisan legislation contemplated, only a single point has been carried. Congress made no appropriation for the pay of the United States marshals. Public opinion would have sustained the President in refusing to yield even on this point, and in calling a further session to make the appropriations. But it more strongly approves his course in abstaining from this step, and leaving the responsibility with Congress. The Democratic majority have gained nothing by this refusal. As no Congressmen are chosen this year, the marshals have no election duties to discharge, no ballot-box stuffing and repeating to prevent. Their other duties, though required by the public service, they are left to discharge as best they may, without compensation. We have no doubt that the small sum needed for the salaries of these useful officials can be obtained from other quarters than the national Treasury, and that the next election of congressmen will see them more numerous and vigorous than ever before.

ONE of the last acts of Congress was to put quinine on the free list. Whether this legislation was wise or unwise, will be shown by the result. Certainly its wisdom was not brought into very clear light in Congress itself, for the measure was rushed through at the eleventh hour, without any notice given to the interest affected by it, and without much debate. It was supported by several newspapers usually regarded as supporting protection, notably The Tribune.

There is clearly room for those who sustain the protective policy in general, to give their approval to this repeal of the duty, provided it had been accompanied by a repeal of all duties on the raw material of the manufacture. The duty on quinine has been maintained for a period long enough to test our national capacity for the acclimatization of its manufacture among us. It is produced by only a few firms, and its production employs but a small number of workmen. It is still sold at a very high rate to the consumer—as the present writer knows from very recent experience and, in the case of one firm, immense sums have been gained

by its manufacture. In view of these facts, and also in view of the likelihood that the lower Mississippi valley might be once more the scene of a yellow-fever visitation, Congress might fairly claim to be seeking the greatest good of the greatest number in repealing the duty. But Congress managed to do it in such a way as to place the American producer under peculiar- disadvantages as regards his European rival. While the latter has every facility for the manufacture, while the supply of abundant, cheap and excellent bark to the English market is actually recognized as a branch of public policy, and is promoted by the use of the public money, the American manufacturer is left to pay a duty on the bark itself, as well as on the other ingredients which enter into its manufacture.

It

Thus far we have assumed that the price of quinine will be lowered by opening our markets to the foreign manufacturer. But of this we are very far from sure. Quinine is not, like iron, a substance which can be furnished us in any quantity we choose to take. is an article whose supply is limited, and is capable of but slow increase. The capacity to manufacture it is, therefore, limited also ; and anything which tends to check the activity of those establishments which are at work among us, and to increase the demand made upon the European manufacturer, will result in an advance of its price throughout the world. As Stephen Colwell said, the price of any English commodity is determined by the pressure of the demand for it; and it is to be feared that we are arranging for dear quinine, not cheap. It is almost certain that this will be the result if American firms now employed in the manufacture carry out their threat of retiring from the unfair competition now forced upon them by this one-sided legislation.

THE recurrence of the yellow-fever at Memphis disappoints all the hopes which had been formed as to the improved sanitary condition of the cities visited by it last year. The truth is, it was a grand mistake to have left the care of this matter to the people of Memphis. The city was impoverished and weakened in its energies by the misfortunes of last summer, A kind of fatalism was engendered by the very presence of the disease. Men think "the lightning never strikes twice in the same place." Those whose private resources were called upon to cleanse the foul places,

were straightened in their means by the losses of last year, and unable, as well as unwilling, to do their duty. And, above all, it is not in the grain of the Southern people to become fully awake to the reality of a distant danger. They have not the foresight, the energy, the practical sense needed in such circumstances.

What we needed—what any European government would have had—was a national commission, vested with dictatorial powers, and sent to cleanse the cities of that valley, as Gen. Butler cleaned one of them during the military occupation. Instead of this, what have we? A body of gentlemen sent to advise and assist the local authorities, with no power to say "must," no right to lay a finger of their own on any public nuisance whatever. And even this was voted with difficulty, as an invasion of State Rights forsooth, justified only by stern necessity, and not to be regarded as a precedent. We rejoice that necessity has brought home even to Southerners the absurdity of the limitation of our national authority, while we mourn the calamities which are associated with it.

We hope that the sorrows of the South will find the hearts and purses of the Northern people as open as ever to their wants. But we do think that every gift that goes southward should be accompanied by some form of protest against the outrageous treatment which our fellow-citizens of colored skin have received at their hands. We have no right to give to those who are outraging the principles of liberty and humanity, unless our gifts are accompanied by the clearest protests against their conduct. Else, every gift must have the effect of encouraging them in ill-doing, by seemto express not only our humanity, but our approval.

THE political campaign of this autumn bids fair to be one of the liveliest. All attention is turned to Ohio, as the state now vested with the prærogativum, since our own election was postponed till November. We do not think the result uncertain in either that state or our own. In both cases, the Republican selection of candidates has been a good one, and while the Democrats have done well in putting forward Mr. Barr in Pennsylvania, they have not in Ohio made a happy selection in Mr. Ewing. In New York, Governor Robinson's renomination is a foregone conclusion, but