stay of our foreign visitors, to whom we extend a hearty welcome, both profitable and pleasant to them. I declare the International Exhibition open."

The procession passed along the nave of the main building to the western end, then, turning, proceeded to the eastern end; meanwhile the airs of all nations were performed on the great organs in the galleries. During the passage through the main building, upon the arrival of the Emperor Don Pedro and the Empress of Brazil opposite the Brazilian pavilion, a number of ladies (natives of Brazil) standing in front saluted the Royal couple by kissing their hands to Her Imperial Majesty. The compliment was gracefully acknowledged. Crossing Belmont avenue, through the military drawn up on both sides with presented arms, the procession entered Machinery Hall, where all was stillness prior to their coming, and surrounded the great Corliss engine. The President of the United States, the Emperor of Brazil, and Mr. G. Corliss then ascended the platform of the mammoth motor. The President having taken hold of the valvelever of one engine and the Emperor of that of the other, both gave the turn simultaneously; steam was on; the great walkingbeams began to ascend and descend; the engine was in motion; eight miles of shafting and hundreds of machines of all descriptions were in operation, and the International Exhibition of 1876 was at that instant thrown open to the world. Meanwhile the gongs and steam-whistles, the firing of one hundred guns on George's Hill, and the music of the chimes of bells in the towers, had been signalising the grand finale of the ceremonial.

On the following day, the English Ambassador, Sir Edward Thornton, gave a banquet at the new St. George's Hall, in Philadelphia. It was the first occasion on which a President of the United States had accepted an invitation of this kind from a member of the Diplomatic Corps; and the Emperor of Brazil, who had intended leaving Philadelphia as soon as the opening ceremonies of the Exhibition were over, remained purposely to take a seat at Sir Edward's table.

The crowds which visited the Exhibition from all parts of the world, fully answered the hopes and expectations of the Americans. At first, the numbers were not great, chiefly owing to the terrible heat which prevailed through the summer, but at length the tide set in, and by November, it was calculated that no fewer than 8,000,000 persons had paid for admission at the doors. Here the money taken was large enough to give back to the stockholders something like 70 or 80 per cent. of the capital they risked. But in any case they recovered indirectly their investment many times As to the higher and less material advantages of the Exhibition we cannot do better than to quote the words of Mr. Walsh, the chief American Commissioner, at the final banquet. "It has placed before our own people," he said, "as a school for their instruction, a display-vast and varied beyond precedent-com

over.

prising the industries of the world, including almost every product known to science and to art. It has made the country and its institutions known to intelligent representatives of all nations. They have had access to our homes, have become familiar with our habits, have studied our systems of education, observed the administration of our laws, and will hereafter understand why the United States of America exerts so large an influence on other nations, and, consequently, the great truth that in proportion to the intelligence and freedom of a people is a loyalty to their Government. It has afforded an opportunity to show that the administration of an Exhibition on a grand scale may be liberal in its expenditure without useless extravagance; that its laws may be strictly enforced with impartiality and without harshness; that its regulations may secure the efficiency of its departments and uniformity in their action; that its whole course has been free from financial embarrassment or even a payment deferred; and that, notwithstanding every part of its machinery was in constant motion, no one of the immense throng within the limits of the Exhibition was sensible of its restraint. It has shown that the authorities of the great city in which the Exhibition has been held have been actuated by a single eye to the promotion of the public convenience. That, under their supervision, facilities of every kind have been provided, property has been protected, good order has been preserved, unusual health has prevailed, and extortion in its varied forms has been almost unknown; these, combined with the unlimited accommodations for visitors and the hospitality of its citizens, are in beautiful harmony with the purposes of the Exhibition. Nor has the State of Pennsylvania been less in sympathy. The traditions connected with its soil are its priceless heritage. The International Exhibition is to be regarded as a reverential tribute to the century which has just expired. That century has been recalled; its events have been reviewed; its fruits are gathered; its memories are hallowed. Let us enter on the new century with a renewed devotion to our country, with the highest aims for its honour, and for the purity, integrity, and welfare of its people."

One feature of the subsidiary entertainments of the great festival may deserve a brief mention here. An international regatta was announced, and urgent invitations sent to the different boat clubs in England to take part in the contest. This invitation was accepted by several crews, Cambridge University, Trinity College Dublin, and the London Rowing Club being represented, besides sundry professional competitors in the open contests. The effects of the climate, however, soon made themselves painfully obvious in the case of the English oarsmen. After winning two heats of the Amateur Fours, the Cambridge crew were beaten in the third, owing to the illness of Mr. Close, and the same mischance befell them when competing for the Undergraduates' Prize. The Dublin men, after losing their heat in the Amateur Fours, "walked over"

for the Graduates' Prize. The London crew, distinctly the favourites for the chief Amateur contest, lost the final heat by a few inches after a struggle with the Beaverwyke boat, which evoked a painful discussion afterwards, needless now to pursue. However, the Englishmen, believing that they had been unfairly treated by the umpire, declined to take any further part in the regatta. And in the professional races, the Americans were also victorious, although here again a wrangle ensued, and a "paper war" was the consequence.

The death of a great millionaire, Mr. Alexander Stewart, furnished the press with an ample subject for narrative and reflection. Mr. Stewart was indeed a remarkable man, apart from his great wealth. He was brought up among the Quakers, and it was from them he learnt the great lessons of truthfulness and honesty in business to which, in his own opinion, his subsequent rise to fortune must be ascribed.

He was scrupu

Mr. Stewart's career was a consistent one. lously honest himself, and, as far as he could, he always exacted honesty from others. We find him towards the close of his long career still moving on the same trade pivot, but with an immensely widened orbit. The great commercial panic of 1873 did not find Mr. Stewart unprepared. As he owed no money to others, had no doubtful debts due to him, and had an unlimited stock of money to lay out, a crisis could have no terrors for him. It was simply a grand opportunity for taking fair advantage of the necessities of his less prudent neighbours. The sharper the strain, and the greater the number of those who gave way under it, the more resistless was the power of ready money, and the better was Mr. Stewart placed for investing his capital. His pious cheerfulness in such circumstances as we have described, though still admirable, is less strange than it seems to have appeared to those who did not know how amply his confidence, even humanly speaking, could be justified. But an account of what Mr. Stewart did with his money when he had got it is even more interesting than a knowledge of the innocent wisdom of the arts by which he acquired it. Mr. Stewart, in addition to his enormous wealth, had some of the tastes and habits which make enormous wealth delightful to its owner. He was always, we are told, a liberal man. His acts of public and private generosity were such as none but a great capitalist could have performed, and there are not many great capitalists of whom we have heard their like recorded. During the Irish Famine, when his means must have been, comparatively speaking, small, he chartered a ship with provisions for the relief of the starving peasantry, and brought back 300 families to America on the return voyage. He subscribed 100,000 dols. after the great fire in Chicago, and sent an abundant supply of provisions besides. He acted similarly towards France. He spent between six and eight millions of dollars in erecting model lodging-houses for strangers in New

return to specie payments," wrote the American correspondent of the Times, 66 or continue to live on an inflated currency, is not so much an issue between the two parties as between the Eastern States, which are decidedly for "hard money," and the Western States, where there is a considerable faction in favour of "soft money." In Indiana and Illinois particularly an opinion prevailed in both political parties that the more money there is printed the more business there is created. The panacea for all the financial ills that the body politic is heir to is-keep the printing press going. The Western candidates for the House of Representatives of both parties are obliged to cajole this notion; the Eastern candidates, on the contrary, find it to their interest to extol the hard money policy and denounce "inflation" as a pernicious financial vagary. The inflationists have, it is true, a candidate for the Presidency, who is an estimable and venerable retired merchant of New York, but it is hardly probable that he will have many ballots. Another issue is the tariff, which amounts to a prohibition, and is, therefore, an unnecessary evil; but here, again, the fight, if there were any fight, would be confined to the Congressional districts, since Congress has entire jurisdiction over that question as it has over that of finance, and here, again, the West and the East are at issue, the latter supporting the present system and the former opposing it; or, to speak more accurately, the Western farmers tamely succumb to the Eastern manufacturers. The politicians of both sections and both parties bow to the same small but potent class. Such is the present aspect and prospect of that most important issue-the tariff."

At last the two Conventions met, and the names of Hayes and Tilden were proclaimed as the party representatives. The November elections took place, and resulted in a Democratic triumph far greater than had been expected. The numbers of the popular vote are given in table on the following page.

The returns of the three Southern States, were, however, disputed. This difficulty was destined to make the elections of 1876 as memorable as befitted the Centennial year. The "Electors," thus chosen on November 7 by the popular vote, were pledged to support the candidates of their respective parties in the formal balloting of the following month. According to the text of the Constitution, the chosen electors "shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and VicePresident, one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate." Now, on the side of Mr. Tilden were 184 electors, whose

return was not challenged, and but one vote more was needed to obtain for him the absolute majority; while Mr. Hayes, in order to win, was bound to gain to his side all three of the disputed Southern States. Naturally the utmost intensity of feeling prevailed when the undecided nature of the result was known, and after the telegrams sent to Europe, announcing Mr. Tilden's election had been dispatched. But nothing could have been more exemplary than the conduct of governors and governed during the crisis, the citizens of the United States showing themselves orderly and law-abiding under the strongest temptations to factious

On December 5, General Grant delivered his final message to Congress, important and interesting not only as a statement of the political condition of the country at the end of the year, but also as containing a dignified vindication of his past career. "From the age of seventeen," said the President, "I had never even witnessed the excitement attending a Presidential campaign but twice antecedent to my own candidacy, and at but one of them was I eligible as a voter. In such circumstances, it is but reasonable to suppose that errors of judgment must have occurred. Even had they not, differences of opinion between the Executive, bound by an oath to the strict performance of his duties, and writers and debaters must have arisen. It is not necessarily evidence of blunder on the part of the Executive because there are these differences of views. Mistakes have been made as all can see, and I admit; but it seems to me oftener in the selections made of the assistants appointed to aid in carrying out the various duties of administering the Government, in nearly every case