Close Presidential Elections

[From the Bosten Traveller.] Should the successful candidate owe his triumph to his having received the favorsof a email State or Wo, he wonld not stand alone in the list of our consulary, for more than one man has been made the President of the United States by a meager majority - cast either in the Electoral Ooilege, or at the polli, or at both places. Our first contested Presidential election, in 1790-97, was decided so closely that the change of two electoral votes would have placed Thomas Jefferson, instead of John Adams, at the head of the natioD, as Washington's immediate successor. Mr. Adams had 71 votes, and Mr. Jefferson 68. One of Mr. Adams' votes carne from Virginia, and another from North Carolina; and had those two votes been given for Mr. Jefferson, he would havehad 70 votes, í.nd Mr. Adams 69 - and the Virginian would have been elected by one majority. One of the electoral votes for Mr. Adams, chosen in Maryland, was obtained by only f our majority; and, had it been socured for Mr. Jefferson, he would have had 69 votes, and Mr. Adams 70- and the latter would have been elected by one majority. There were 138 electoral votes at that time, or about 47 less than one-half the present number; so that, should the successful candidate on the 7th of November, 1876, receive eight majority in the Electoral College, he would be elected about as well as John Adams was elected, 80 yeara since. Considering who and what John Adams was, eight majority wouid be nothing to be ashamed of on the part of either of our candidates- and nothing to be oroud of, it must be added. Mr. Jefferson defeated President Adams in 1800-01, when he had 73 electoral votes, and the President 65, or a majority of eight, equal to about 20 majority in 1876-77. In 181213, a change of 20 votes in the colleges would have prevented the re-election of President Madison, who received 128 electoral votes, while De Witt Clinton got 89. In 1836 37, Mr. Van Buren would have failed of an election had there been a change in 23 electoral votes, as he had but 22 over the number sary to a ciioice- and Pennsylvania, having 30 such votes, gave him but a small popular majority. A change of 3,000 in that State's popular vote wonld have defeated him in the colleges, by sending 30 Whig eleotors to the Penusylvania college. As it was, Col. Johnson, the Democratie candidate for the Vice Presidency, was defeatel in the colleges, because Virginia would not support him, her 23 votes being given for William Smith, of Alabama. Col. Johnson was chosen by the Senate, the only instauce of the kind known in our history. Great as were the popular majority and the electoral majority given for Gen. Harrison in 1840-ál, he would have been defeated in the colleges had it been possible to change some eight or nine thousand votes in the four States of New York, Peunsylvania, Maine and New Jersey. Thoso States cast 88 electoral votes, which, added to the 60 such votes that Mr. Van Buren received, would have given him just the number necessary to a choice; and yet there would have been a popular majority of more than 100,000 againat him. The four States named gave a popular vote of almost 900,000, though their united majorities for Gen. Harrison did not much exceed 16,000- New York giving him rather more than 13,000, New Jersey about 2,300, Maine 410, and Pennsylvania 343. It was very close work, and there would have been great trouble had the Democratie vote been so increased as to defeat Gen. Harrison in the colleges, after the people had so deoidedly indicated their pref'e)-ence for him at the polls. Some men feared that there would be a pronunciamiento. At the election of 1844-45, Mr. Polk was chosen to the Presidency through theaidof the New York electora, who were 36 in number; and as Mr. Polk had 170 votes, and the number necessary to a choice was 138 - the whole number of electora being 275- he would have had 134 votes had New York decided against him. Mr. Clay had 105 votes; and, had he received New York's vote, he would have been chosen by 141 votes, or by a majority of only7?ue votes. The Democratie popular majority in New York was small - about 5,000, we think; so that a small chauge there would have substituted Mr. Clay for Mr. Polk as President, and thus have e' anged the whole current of our political history for the last thirty-two years. The Whigs attributed their defeat in the Empire State, first, to the action of the Liberal party in running Mr. Birney for ihe Presidency; and, secondly, to Democratie fraudulent voting in New York city. It is probable that they were light, and that the two things weie more than they conld stand; hut it never required much to kill the Whigs as politicians, for they were always on the verge of committing suicide. Honor Ainoiig Thieves. A stage-coach was robbed of $64,000 in gold, in 1870, by flve men, who buried the plunder, agreeing to return and get it after the search was over. Thev were so closely watched, ho wever, that they dared not go near the place; and, lately, four of them met in San Francisco. They were penniless, and in order to get the money with which to ranke the journey to Idaho, they made George K. Bailey a partner, he furnishing the needed cash. On arriving at the place where they had buried the gold, they saw that it was gone. The fifth robber had been there before them. They went back to San Francisco, obtained a heavy bar of bogus gold, told Bailey that it was the remainder of the plunder, and gave it to him in consideration of $1.000 in money. As he was crossing to Oakland in a ferryboat, with the bar in a bag, three men seized it and threw it overboard, haviug been hired to do bo by tile robbers as a means of hiding the trick. The three men were arrested, and the story is here given as sworn to in court. The Yeugeauce oí' a Fiy. A poor man died a few years ago in the hospital at Paris from a oarbuncle produced by tho poisonou3 punchare of a fly. Deceased inforined some friends that,one night a largo green fly kept him awake with its buzzing; to punish itho plucked off three of its legs and set it free. Four days afterwards he feil asleep after his breakfast and was awakened by a sting on his cheek; he ra's.-d his hand to the spot and picked on' the insect that had been sucking his flesh, and fouud it to be the very fly that had been ïautüated. This time he crushed it past surgery, but forgot hia wouncl till mortiiicatiou set in and resulted in death.