the United States Circuit Court in the case of a negro, Edward Kenney, and his wife, Mary Hall, a white woman-convicted under the law of March 14, 1878, prohibiting the intermarriage of races, and confined in the penitentiary -it was refused by Justice Hughes on the ground that the United States courts have no jurisdiction over questions of marriage, on which each State has sovereign and complete authority to make laws for its own citiThe laws of Virginia make miscegenation a penal offense, and prohibit citizens from going outside the State for the purpose of contracting an unlawful marriage. The defendant was married to the white woman in the District of Columbia, and they returned and cohabited in Virginia. zens. The United States grand jury, under the instructions of Judge Rives, brought a bill of indictment against nine county court judges for violating the civil rights act in habitually refraining from placing colored citizens on the jury lists. In answer to a petition from colored citizens requesting that colored men be selected for jurymen in cases where negroes were accused of crime, Judge Christian of the Hustings Court declared that he was enjoined by the law to select only such as he considered "well qualified to serve as jurors," and that to place colored men on juries on the ground of their race would be a violation of the fourteenth amendment. WEST VIRGINIA. The composition of the Legislature of 1878-'79 according to parties was as follows: Senate-Democrats 21, Republicans 2, National 1; House-Democrats 40, Republicans 8, National 17. The Governor is H. M. Matthews, whose four years' term expires March 4, 1881. The names of the other State officers are as follows: Secretary of State, Sobieski Brady; Superintendent of Public Schools, W. K. Pendleton; Auditor, Joseph S. Miller; Treasurer, Thomas West; AttorneyGeneral, Robert White. The election for the Legislature and all the State officers occurs October 12, 1880. The Legislature assembled January 8th. George H. Moffett was elected President of the House, and D. D. Johnson President of the Senate. The session was marked by the passage of a large number of acts, some of them very important in their scope and bearings. An act was passed making it a misdemeanor for a lawyer to receive moneys in trust for a client and fail to account for them within six months without good and sufficient reason. An accused lawyer may testify in his own behalf; on conviction he is to pay a fine and to be disbarred. Another act permits the Supreme Court to reopen in the regular term cases decided in the special term for the correction of clerical errors. A law for the protection of farmers against spurious and adulterated fertilizers enables them to have samples analyzed free of charge by the Professor of Chemistry in the State University at Morgantown. An act prohibits members of the county court, overseers of the poor, district-school officers, or any member of any other county or district boards, or any county or district officer, from being pecuniarily interested in any contract or service, in the award or letting of which he, as such member or officer, has any control. An act imposes a penalty upon persons who W transact the business of insurance without authority. An act of 1875, providing for the inspection of tobacco, was repealed. An act was passed prescribing regulations for the transportation of petroleum or other oils and liquids by railroad companies or transportation companies, or through pipes of iron or other material constructed for that purpose. A usury bill, being a reenactment of the old Virginia interest law, fixing the rate at 6 per cent. per annum, and making a lender at usurious interest forfeit the entire interest, but not the principal of the debt, after much discussion, was defeated. A bill was passed for the regulation of coalmines and protection of persons employed in them. A bill provided for the use of convict-labor on works of public improvement, including railroads. A laborer's lien act was passed, giving mechanics and laborers a lien upon property for work performed in its construction or improvement. Every workman or laborer doing work for an incorporated company is given a prior lien for the amount of his wages on all the per sonal and real property of the company. A resolution was adopted instructing the members of Congress to advocate the passage of the Texas Pacific Railroad subsidy bill. Earnest efforts were subsequently made to have it reconsidered, as several members who had voted in the affirmative desired to change their votes. The extension of the normal schools by the preceding Legislature led to a reaction in the public mind, which manifested inself in a large reduction in the appropriations for these institutions. They were considered to have proved relatively of more advantage to the localities in which they were established than to the general common-school system of the State. By an amendment in the school laws, the selection of teachers is conferred upon the district boards of education, instead of being intrusted to the trustees of the sub-districts as formerly. The salary of the county superintendent is reduced to a mere nominal sum. The classification of teachers is altered, making three instead of five grades. Graduates of the normal schools may be required to undergo an examination. A school-book bill provides that the retail prices of school-books, not to exceed the present wholesale rates, shall be printed on the covers of the books and posted on the walls of the school-rooms, and requires the publishers to deal with the school authorities in the sale of their books. A proposal for a constitutional amendment reforming the judiciary system was adopted. The amendment is to be submitted to the vote of the people in 1880. Its object is to transfer the functions of the county courts to the circuit courts. The number of the latter is to be increased. The jurisdiction of the county court, which will consist of three commissioners, is to be confined to police and fiscal matters. The amendment proposes also to increase the judicial functions of justices, revoking the right of a defendant in a case involving more than twenty dollars to remove it on his simple motion to the county court. The ability of justices to hear jury cases is extended. Their jurisdiction is extended to cases involving not above three hundred dollars. The amendment provides for the establishment of courts of limited jurisdiction in any incorporated town. The number of the circuits is to be increased from nine, each with one judge, to thirteen, with fourteen judges. The committees of inquiry into the freightrates of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made their reports to the Senate and House on January 15th. The reports accused the company of making unjust and unauthorized discriminations in its freight schedule in favor of through traffic and against way traffic. In view of the fact that the road had made material reductions in its charges for transportation within the State since the appointment of the committees of investigation, no action was taken on the reports by the Legislature. Johnson N. Camden was summoned before the bar of the Senate to answer charges of contempt in refusing to declare to the Committee on Railroad Freights the amount of the rebates allowed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to the Camden Consolidated Oil Company in the transportation of oil. Projects of laws regulating the freight-rates on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were introduced by the committee and others, and discussed with much heat. By a joint resolution a new joint committee of five was appointed to confer with the managers of the road and ascertain what reductions of freight-charges should be carried out, and whether the company conformed to the provisions of its charter and the laws, and to report any contravention of the same to the At torney-General, who should institute proceedings against the railroad to compel the forfeit ure of its charter, by means of a writ of quo warranto or otherwise. The following account of the present condition of the State was communicated by Governor Matthews to a newspaper reporter: way, The present population of the State is estimated at 500,000, a gain of about 60,000 since 1870, chiefly a natural increase, there having been very little immigra tion. The salt-works interest in the Kanawha Valley, which has been much depressed, is now picking up rapidly. The oil industry is not making much headand the business has lost its speculative character. The glass-works at Wheeling are prosperous, and new discoveries of valuable iron deposits are reported on New River, on the line between Virginia and West Virginia. The coal-fields are being worked to a much greater extent than formerly since the opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and West Virginia has more coal, and a much greater variety, too, in proportion to territorial extent, than any State in the Union. The State government is economically administered. The cost of feeding penitentiary eenvicts is only 64 cents per day, and the entire cost of food, clothing, guards, and salaries of officials is only 25 cents per day for each convict; while the cost of maintaining each inmate of the Insane Asylum, including all expenses, is only $2.33 per week. Governor Matthews says there is no State debt, and the people are willing to settle with Virginia by allowing West Virginia to be charged with all public improvements within her borders, and with her proportion of the current expenses of the State government since 1824, and to be credited with all taxes paid into the State Treasury by the counties of which she is composed since that date. Upon that basis, Governor Matthews says, it has been estimated that Virginia would be indebted to the new State about $500,000. The public schools are in good condition and improving, and the rate of State taxation is 20 cents on the $100 for State purposes, and 10 cents for the school fund. There are only 17,000 colored people in the State, not enough to form an important element of its population. The railroad facilities are being so extended as to promise a speedy development of the natural resources of the State, which, though little exploited, are counted not inferior to those of scarcely any State in the Union. The Weston and Clarksburg Railroad has been completed. The Bellaire and Southwestern has also completed its track. The Pittsburgh Southern Railroad is being carried through the central part of the State. A company has been formed for the construction of a narrow-gauge road between Wheeling and Parkersburg, traversing one of the finest iron-ore fields on the continent. A band of law-defying characters in Wetzel County, called the Red Men, who had terrorized the community for years by their arbitrary and violent deeds, taking vengeance upon all who refused to submit to their rule, and not shrinking from the most desperate and bloody acts, were proceeded against by the authorities. Seven of them, named John Ullom, George Ullom, Amos Hemeleck, John Steward, John Hostaller, Eloy Butcher, and John Lough, were arrested in the beginning of June. The organization originated in an act of Lynch jus tice perpetrated in 1870 on John Jennings, who had collected a band of desperate characters similar to that which the Red Men subsequently became. The lynchers who shot Jennings had stained their faces with red earth; hence the name. The prisoners were arrested on the charges of riot and house-breaking. Threats were uttered against any justice of the peace who would issue warrants for the arrest of the Red Men. About fifty of the band were still at large. They were all of the class of farmers and fairly educated. The organization extended into Marion County. A similar company of conspirators had formed also in Monongalia. The ringleaders of this gang were also arrested and brought to trial on the charge of conspiring against the liberty, property, and lives of citizens. The acts of these lawless bands were all prompted by some motive of supposed justice; thus they had lynched several persons on an accusation of adultery, and had driven two men off a farm on account of an alleged faulty title; they had also frightened a justice of the peace, one of whose decisions displeased them, out of the State. An interesting decision was rendered by the Court of Appeals on the construction of the statutes relating to the separate estate of married women. The case was William Radford and Henry Light, appellants, against Martha A. and James Carwile, appellees. The appellant Radford had purchased of one Johnson a piece of land and sold it to the appellees, the deed being made out directly to Martha A. Carwile by Johnson to save the expense of a double transfer, and the appellees executing their joint and several bond to Radford for an unpaid balance. The lower Court held that the bond was no charge upon the separate estate, created by the deed, of the appellee Martha. The Court of Appeals sustained the decision, ruling that the separate personal estate of a married woman, including rents and prodace of real estate, is liable for debts incurred during coverture, but that the common-law doctrine regarding the realty of married women, which exempts it from all liabilities incarred by debts or contracts made during coverture, is still in force. The case of the United States against James M. Mason, in chancery, involving the privilege of operating a ferry across the Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry, was decided by Judge J. J. Jackson of the United States District Court. The defendant claimed that the United States could not acquire a ferry because that species of property was not conducive to any of the objects for which the General Government was created. The Court ruled on this point as fol-, lows: This proposition, if sound, virtually denies to the United States the power to furnish itself with means of transportation of any character whatever. They could not purchase and hold steamboats, railroads, wagons, or any other means of transportation. . . . It is a right incident to and inherent in all governments to purchase and hold what property they think is necessary for the due exercise of all powers belonging to them. No restriction is imposed upon the Govern The decision of the Court was delivered in the following terms: The right of the United States in the ferry franchise purchased from Fairfax became forfeited by operation of law, and therefore she had no such right that she could sell or transfer; it also appears that the State had no power to establish a ferry for the defendant across the river Shenandoah, to and from the lands of the United States, and therefore, so far as the defendant Mason or his agents, or those claiming under him, attempt to operate a ferry from the 68-acre tract of land on the east side of said river, purchased by the States on the west side of said river, at Harper's Ferry, United States from Fairfax, to the lands of the United and to which the vendee of Neer & Co. hold an equitable title by purchase from the United States, the said Mason, his agents, or those claiming under him, are perpetually enjoined and inhibited from so doing until the assent of the United States is first obtained. But the defendant Mason is not inhibited or restrained from operating a ferry over the Shenandoah River, to and from any lands he may own, which ferry right he claims title to under the laws of this State. In the case of Thomas Strander, plaintiff in error, against the State, the plaintiff, who had been convicted of murder in the Ohio County Circuit Court in 1874, and whose conviction had been confirmed by the Court of Appeals, was brought before the United States Circuit Court. The plaintiff appealed the case to the United States Court on the ground of the unconstitutionality of the jury law of West Virginia, under which the jury was impaneled which convicted him, as no colored person is eligible as a grand or petit juror in the State, in accordance with the following provision: "All white male persons who are twenty-one years of age and not over sixty, and who are citizens of this State, shall be liable to serve as jurors." WHITTINGHAM, WILLIAM ROLLINSON, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, born in New York, December 2, 1805, died at Orange, New Jersey, October 17th. At the early age of twenty he graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York. In 1827 he was ordained a priest, and four years thereafter took charge of his first important parish, St. Luke's in New York. In 1835, after a trip to Europe taken for his health, he was chosen Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the General Theological Seminary. He was during this period quite active as a writer and editor of various publications. He edited the "Family Visitor" and "Children's Magazine," monthlies, "The Churchman," a weekly Church paper, "The Parish Library," Palmer's "Treatise on the Church," a translation of the Commentary of Vincent of Lérins, and Ratramn on the Lord's Supper. When a student he assisted Dr. Turner in the translation of "Jahn's Introduction." He was associated with Drs. Schroeder, Turner, and Eastburn in the authorship of "Essays and Dissertations in Biblical Literature." In 1840, after a sharp contest among the friends of several candidates, he was elected Bishop of Maryland, and consecrated at St. Paul's Church, in Baltimore, September 17th. Through the efforts of Bishop Whittingham several educational and charitable institutions were founded in the diocese, such as St. James College, Hagerstown; the Church Home and Infirmary, Baltimore; an order of deaconesses; and the Sisterhood of St. John, in Washington. In 1869 the Diocese of Easton was divided from that of Maryland. In 1870 the Rev. Dr. William Pinkney was appointed to relieve Bishop Whittingham of a part of his labors. Dr. Whittingham was a representative of the American Church at the Lambeth Conference in Great Britain, and also in 1872 at the meeting of Old Catholics at Bonn, Germany. He engaged in several controversies with the clergy on points of church government; among which were his presentatation in 1876 for not bringing to trial the rector of Mount Calvary for reading prayers for the dead, and the earlier contest with the Rev. Dr. Trapnell of St. Andrews concerning the prior right of the Bishop to celebrate communion at confirmations. He was a pronounced High Churchman, but came to modify his ritualistic views somewhat in his later life. He took an interest in the Old Catholic movement, and gave a glowing account of its objects in his report of the Bonn Conference. During the war he adhered strongly to the cause of the Union, and rebuked his clergy for omitting the prayer for the President. Bishop Whittingham was an invalid for many years before his death. His last official act was performed November 7, 1878. At the time of his consecration he was the youngest bishop in the United States, and at the time of his death he was the senior bishop but one, having been thirty-nine years in the episcopal office. WISCONSIN. The Legislature met at Madison January 8th, and adjourned March 5th. Coming together directly after the new Revised Statutes went into effect, there was a disposition to avoid changes in the general body of the statute law. Besides the election of a United States Senator and the levying of the State tax, there was little important business to attend to. Lieutenant-Governor James M. Bingham presided over the Senate the greater part of the time. Assemblyman Kelley was the Speaker of the House. About 400 bills were introduced in the Assembly, and about 200 in the Senate; and 256 of the whole number became laws. A law was enacted providing that tramps should be either sentenced to six months' hard labor in the county jail where arrested, or be put in close confinement on bread and water for thirty days, in the discretion of the judge; or, in case of refusal to work, to be sent to State Prison for a term not exceeding two years. The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional those portions of the assessment law which regulated the reassessment of property after litigation. This decision was confirmatory of one rendered by the lower Court. On February 4th Chief Justice Ryan delivered the decision to the Judiciary Committee of the Legislature, who immediately framed a new assessment law in conformity with the doctrine laid down by the Court, but not otherwise changing the general features of the law, which was passed without difficulty. Provision was made for regulating and to a certain degree restricting the adulteration of food, drugs, etc. A Board of Emigration was estab lished, to consist of five persons, of whom the Governor and Secretary of State are ex officio members. Most of the acts are local in their character, and a large majority of these relate to the logging interests. Seymour and Ahuapee were incorporated as cities, and two new counties were erected, viz., Price and Marinette. The charters of some fifteen or twenty cities were amended. In the city charters of Fond du Lac, Oconomowoc, and Seymour, a departure from all previous legislation of doubtful constitutionality was injected, viz., the limitation of the right to hold office to freeholders. An important local measure was passed, to the effect that at municipal elections in Milwaukee. electors shall be registered as at general elections. Prominent Milwaukee lawyers regard this law as likewise unconstitutional. The appropriations made amounted in all to $299,177, a saving of about $40,000 over those of 1878. The chief items were: State Hospital for the Insane, $80,747, including $22,100 for improvements; Northern Hospital for the Insane, $71,457; Industrial School for Boys, $52,000; Deaf and Dumb Institution, $30,000; Institution for the Education of the Blind, $18,500. The receipts into the State Treasury during the fiscal year ending September 30, 1879, from all sources, were $1,812,682.80; the balance on hand September 30, 1878, $403,288.29; making the total receipts $2,215,971.09. The disbursements during the same period for all purposes were $1,627,146.49; leaving a balance, September 30, 1879, of $588,824.60. The receipts into the general fund during the fiscal year were $1,249,888.02; balance from previous year, $79,055.98; total, $1,328,394. Of this sum there was derived from direct State tax, $682,388.99; railroad companies, license-taxes, $395,886.46; insurance companies, fees and license-taxes, $45,772.76; miscellaneous sources, $125,289.81. The disbursements from this fund were as fol. lows: have been for several years past as follows: 1872, $1,076,442.96; 1873, $1,191,966.01; 1874, $1,038,703.34; 1875, $1,260,168.39; 1876, $1,137,788.65; 1877, $1,204,900.40; 1878, $1,047,796.23; 1879, $1,055,112.51. The aggregate indebtedness of the State remained as at the close of the last fiscal year, and consists of War bonds outstanding... Total......... $11,000 2,241,000 57 $2,252,057 The indebtedness of the counties, cities, towns, villages, and school districts in the State amounts to $10,115,898, according to the returns made to the Secretary of State. More than usual efforts were made to secure accuracy in these returns. The total public indebtedness of the people of Wisconsin is therefore $12,367,955, or at the rate of about $8.50 per capita of estimated population, and 34 per cent. of the assessed valuation. The value of all property in the State subject to taxation, as returned by the assessors for the past two years, is as follows: PROPERTY. Personal property. City and village lots. Other real estate... Totals... $455,840,582 32 $406,308,185 00 This shows an apparent decrease in valuation of $49,037,397.32, but is an indication of the zeal with which communities seek to avoid the payment of their just proportion of the public expenditures. The total taxes levied in the State for the year 1878 amounted to $7,969,859, which is $61,769 less than for the previous year, and was at the rate of $1.93 on each $100 of the State assessment for that year. The purposes for which these taxes were levied, and the respective amounts and rates, are as follows: These figures represent only the direct taxes levied upon property. Quite large amounts were collected by the State, and cities, villages, and towns, in addition, by way of licenses and otherwise. The total State tax, direct and indirect, is represented by the payments into the general fund, and these amounted to $1,120,837.81 in the fiscal year ending September 30, 1878 and to $1,249,338.02 in the fiscal year ending September 30, 1879. The State tax for 1879 was $455,871.89, which is $226,517.10 less than was apportioned for collection in 1878, and more than 23 per cent. less than the least tax in many preceding years. The Secretary of State estimated that the VOL. XIX.-54 A expenditures for the calendar year 1880 would be $968,305.54, and the receipts under existing laws as follows: Taxes, $207,855.54; railway companies, $395,000; insurance companies, $45,000; miscellaneous sources, $29,600; total, $677,455.54. According to this estimate, a tax levy of $290,850 would be ample for all purposes. The total amount of money expended for the support of the common schools during the year was $2,152,783.15, 74 per cent. of which was for teachers' wages. The number of pupils in attendance was 293,286; of teachers, 9,875; of schoolhouses, 5,626. The estimated value of the schoolhouses is $4,319,445.81; of sites, $788,520.95; of apparatus, $157,012.30; making an aggregate investment for common-school purposes of $5,214,979.06. The total number of children over four and under twenty years of age is reported at 484,353. The expenditures for the four normal schools were $72,708.07, of which $57,498.40 were paid to instructors. The attendance during the year aggregated 1,803 pupils. The catalogue of the State University shows 481 different students in attendance during the year. The Board of Regents report $70,558.18 paid out during the year for current expenses, of which $40,206.77 were received by instructors. The whole number of boys in attendance at the Industrial School for Boys, in Waukesha, during the fiscal year, was 435, and the average attendance 425. The number admitted was 125, as against 151 in the last year, and the number discharged 113. The current expenses were $42,866.72, or at the rate of $100.86 per inmate, as against $114.52 in 1878. The amount paid for salaries and wages was $13,810.36, and for subsistence $11,097.41. The sum of $13,800 has been paid toward the erection of new buildings. An epidemic of typhomalarial fever broke out in the institution in the summer, which elicited much discussion; the total number of cases was 30, of which 6 terminated fatally. The number of convicts confined in the State Prison, September 30, 1879, was 309, 37 less than at the same date in 1878. The average number in confinement was 328, 9 less than the average for the preceding year. There were only 130 commitments during the year, as against 213 for the year ending September 30, 1878. It does not follow, however, that there has been a decrease in crime, as, under the change in the law relating to larceny, many are now sentenced to county jails who were formerly sent to State Prison. Of the 130 convicts committed during the year, only 20 had theretofore been in prison, and 17 were without the rudiments of an education. The total cost to feed, warm, clothe, guard, instruct, and discharge the prisoners was $40,270.08, or $2.36 each per week. The principal items of disbursements were: for salaries and wages, $15,535.75, and for subsistence, $14,367.02. The total receipts from all sources were $46, |