The session has been a very conservative one. The majority have attempted very little political or financial legislation, and when they did attempt any the minority usually managed to obstruct, delay and defeat it. The only political bill that slipped through was on the last night of the session, returned with the President's veto. The tone of the session has been quiet; the appropriations nearly approximate to the estimates of the departments; no attempt has been made to reorganize the army, or to remodel the navy. Two months were wasted on the new rules, which have failed to give satisfaction. The Congress has not been an industrious one. Absenteeism has been conspicuous -- more so than in any late Congress. This has been a drawback to the democrats. Their majority was so small that a few vacant seats placed them in the power of their opponents.This was true in the extra session, and has been true of this. The Election Committee have been struggling over the WASHBURNE-DONNELLY matter , and their work has been a failure. The Ways and Means Committee were in a wrangle over the tariff and at odds with their party in the House. They have failed to do anything, as perhaps was the Speaker's intention. At all events the democrats in the House are decidedly out with the Speaker and his committees. Mr. RANDALL takes too much of the responsibility of legislation upon himself, and consequently his somewhat dictatorial interference is resented. If the new House should have a Democratic majority Mr. RANDALL could not be reelected, except by a very general change of the personnel of the democratic side. The Appropriations Committee have had an easier time than usual.They have not tried many innovations; their great fight against the Post Office department on the Star service was a Waterloo defeat. The only time that committee has been defeated when they were a unit, as in this case. The Commerce Committee washed out the Speaker and his opposition to the river and harbor bill. The most noticeable debate was on the bill to distribute the Geneva award, and was signalized by Mr. BLAINE's crushing defeat of the "great lawyers of the Senate." Private business has been woefully obstructed and neglected, and on the whole the sins of omission are greater than those of commission. The most that can be said is that the session has passed the appropriations and done very little else.