The most active business which the United States Navy has had for years was caused by the Isthmus troubles. Our treaty with New Granada guarantees free and uninterrupted passage across the Isthmus. To secure this a force of 500 men and four ships was placed at Aspinwall after the insurgents had burned the city. They thence proceeded to Panama, which they succeeded in restoring to order. Not an easy thing to do, with the natives sympathizing generally with the rebels, and very suspicious of the “Gringoes,” as they call us, and with the French determined to have the credit of whatever restoration could be made. * * * * * M. de Lesseps is firmly convinced of the advantages to America of the Panama Canal, prophesying in a recent letter that it will reanimate our merchant marine, will greatly enlarge our internal business, and make us, in short, commercial kings. It can hardly be doubted that were any one of the great schemes for interoceanic communication in operation, our whole system of exchange would be modified and our business multiplied. The chief question seems to be now, is the Panama Canal, Mr. Eads’s Tehuantepec Ship Railway, or the Nicaragua Canal likely to be the best for the United States? * * * * * The recent conviction of two “saints” charged with polygamy is having a wholesome effect. The law which makes such a decision possible in Utah is the Edmunds bill, by which a man believing it right to have more than one living or undivorced wife at a time maybe challenged as a juryman. Under this law it is extremely difficult for a Mormon brought to trial to escape sentence, and the sentence is such that the fear of it will more than probably take a great deal of charm out of the doctrine of “spiritual wives.” * * * * * The biographical department of the scrap-book compiler has had great opportunities to grow rich in anecdotes of General Grant this past month. His prolonged illness and the wonderfully sustained interest and sympathy of the public have led to many letters and stories getting into print which otherwise might never have been known. All of this matter but shows more and more clearly how just is our love and reverence for “our hero.” * * * * * For the benefit of the international copyright there were held in New York recently, on two afternoons, Authors’ Readings. A notable galaxy of literary characters gathered on the stage. Among them were George William Curtis, Professor Charles Carroll, Julian Hawthorne, Will Carleton, W. D. Howells, the Rev. Robert Collyer, Prof. H. H. Boyesen, Bishop Potter, Mark Twain, Edward Eggleston, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. The audience which greeted the readers was large and appreciative. * * * * *