Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 3, 1875, Page 8

B 7 i f I R e e AT e AT Rdetrid | e B s b e —— THE CHICAGO DAILY 'TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. JANUARY 3, 1875.—-SIXTEEN PAGES. TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. EATES OF STDSCEIFTION (PATABLE IN ADVANCE). Postage Frepaid ot this Office. by meil....§13.00 | Sunda: 2 G50 | Woekly Tarua of & yesr at the seize rate. To present delay end mistakes, Lo sure and give Post- Ofice addzess in fall, Includin State and Coanty. Teri:tazcesioay bomads citharby draft, expreas, Post- ., or in rogistersd lettors, at our risk. TERMS TO CITY SUPSCLIDERS. LOelly, delivered, Sunday ezcepted, 25 coats perweek eily. delivered, Suuday included, 30 coata per week Address TRE TRIBUNE COMPAXY, Corzar Madison znd Dearborn-sts., Chicago, fIL. 3.00 2.00 JRAND, OPERA-HIOUSE-Clark strest. opportie herman House. ‘s Minstrals, *‘Le etit Faust.™ FHOOLEY'S THEATRE-ILandoloh, t, Betwers Clark and LaSalls. ¢ Lost i London. vems CHICAGO MUSEUM-—XMonroe sireet, botween Daar- borz 2nd State. ** The Donbls Wodding " ACADEMY OF MUSIC—Halstod ctrect. between Mad- nd_ Moaroe, Bz e, . Engagement of Misy Clara Marris. u‘“cx'fl’l THEATRE—Madison strest, Yetwee: Fecthearis sl Wivass sd arborn and State. TLand Xa Five Salllings. SOCIETY MEETINGS. ST. GEORI‘L‘S BF‘BVOL“T ASSOCIATION.— Rezular monihly meeting vill by held o3 Monday even: =g, Jac. 4, 1875, lu-hut 167 Washingtonat. Full BEénE deiived CE, Precident. SEROuGHS, S MIRIAM CHAPTER Ko. 1, ORDER OF £ASTERN STAR.—A soctal and public instélation of officers witl be beld st Accordia 1all, Nos. 115 apd 114 East Handslph- 2e I, 5w, BRowS, See. asrt e sociabls on HANE, Fourth Chisftain. GO tasy. CHICAGO CALEDOXIAN CLUB.—The mootiag wiil bo aid 1n their BATL 167 a0d 169 Ve 1384t on Tuesday wrwning. Gt ot Thunday, the iy st 0P m BUSINESS NOTICES. BOTTLED MINERAL WATRES I'OR FAMILIES by BUCK & RAYNER, makers of the ** Jars Culogns. WE MEAN A1L ‘WE SAY.—A FULL snornl’sx‘ refanded. ratos. Che Chicano Teibune, . Supday Morning, Janvary 3, 1875. THE COURTY RING. The people of Chicago pay the great bulk of the county taxes. The formation of a cor- rupt combination in the County Board is, tuerefore, 8 menace to every man who owns rroperty in the city as well as in the suburbs. Cnlike the manicipal corporation, the county Las not yet exhausted its constitutional Emit of indebtedness, and it may borrow money whecever a controlling ring ir the Board of Commissioners enter upon s job of sufficient magnitude to warrant it. The peril of a suc- cessful combination in this Board for jobbing purposes is thus not confined to the current opportunities for stealing, but involves a pos- sible cost of many millions of dollarsto the people. The building of the Court-House, which will have to be andertaken some time within the near future, willopen up & rich mine of thieving contracts. Any ring which is now permitied to fosten itself on the county will Land down its power and iniquity in a direct line of succession. Its unity and boldness will grow with time and success. Small jobs will lead to greater ones. The forbearanca f the people will be construed es indiffer- cnce, and encourege the ring to undertske and consummato the most stupendous steals. The people of Chicago should not, therefore, permit their sttention to be diverted from the present evidences of ocorruption. They should use all their resources to break up the ring in its earlier operations. 1If there is any one who is acting under misguided puimm— £hip, no effort shonld be wanting to persuade him to desert so disreputable a combination ; for the others, every varety of threat and intimidation reserved to the people should be ‘brought to bear apon them zow. It will only bo nocessary to securs one man to give the honest members & majorityin the Board No effort ekould b spared to win over this single vote and beat the lmaves. ‘We have pointed out at length in a previous xcticlo the unmistakable evidences of such o combination for plunder; but will recapitn- late them briefly, thai every tax-payer can uvxderstend them. It was found, when the cw members of the Board went into office, that the encrmous sum of $400,000 had been czpended in support of county poor and pacpers the past yesr,—a sum suspiciously largo and greatly in excess of previous years. This circumstance led to the appointment of en Investigeting Committee,with Mr, HoLbEN as Chairmsn. Four of the members of this Comumittes (Afessrs. Horoex, Crovax, JoNes, and "Guexrmrs) went st the work honestly with the purpose of discovermg the leaks sud stopping them; the fifth member (Mc- Oarrexr) impeded the work of investigation 1s much as he conld, and opposed its results. {he Comunittee found that the looss contract system wss vesponsible ‘for most of the frsuds, with the co-operation of negligent or corrupt officials. It was sscertained that ons man (Prerorar) virtuslly hasa monopoly of ‘urrishing the most profitable supplies to the :ounty. His contracts wers taken out in the 2ames of varions clerks and drammers in his smploy. This of itself was gufficient to ac- tount for the extravagancs of outlay. But the discovories did not end here. It was found thet the Warden of the Insans Asylum and Poor-House had never Lept wny sccount of the goods received in theso two, the mot costly of the county charities, 30 that it was impossible to tell whether all the supplies paid for by the connty had been Selivered. But further search showed that Miss Rexrozp, 3lady in charge of the dry goods in the Irsane Asylum, had checked of sad kepta private memorandum of the goods which she had received. A comparison of this memorandum with the bills paid sbowed a heavy shortage in nearly every ar- ticle delivered. In thissingle line of goods it wos found that the county hed paid over £1,000 for goods that had never been delivered! As there was absolutely no check wpon the other goods, and as the Warden was confused when questioned, the inference tom the condition of things in the fry-goods department was that the same swicdle extended toall the other departments. It was slso ascertainod that various articles furnished under contract cost the county, in the sggregate, double the amount for which they could bs bought in open market. The results of the investigation in general were, thot the most prominent ofSeials in the souniy were derelict in duty; that the vicious tontrsct systam, corraptly used, was costing the city perheps $100,000 a year over and thove the marktet price of tho supplies; sod that the Committee recommendoed the \brogution of this swindling system snd the. purchass of supplies in open market by a County Pn_cbmng.Agan; under the direction wnd supervision of & committes of the Board, which should be made up altsrnately of el the Commisaionsrs, three serving ot & Hme. Tho whole cass was so plain nm tho ro- gori abould kave bean spproved st once, and i its recommendations adopted. Instead of this, it encountered the persistent oppositivn of eight members of the Board,—Caexrory, Cox~ 1xY, Jomxsox, Crawrorp, HrrTING, LONER- GaX, Russery, and AMlcCasrrey. These men formed s majority of onein the Board, and voted solidly together on every propesition to defeat honesty or to protect rascality. Tkey voted to strike out taat portion of the report which exposed Prmiorat’s monopoly of the contracts. They voted to re-elect the Warden aid County Agent, who had per- mitted the controctors to put in bills for more supplies than had - been received. They voted to refain every man who had been suspected or dishomest, and to oust every man who had been faithful and honest. They then voted to postpone final action on the report and the recommendations of the Committee. There could be no stronger evidence than this solid vote that these eight men had banded together to sanc- tion and sustain the frauds which the Com- mittee had exposed. It is the bad custom in loeal politics to di- viae up into nationnlities. Following this rule, we find the County Ring to be meinly an Irish Ring, four out of the eight belong- ing to that nationelity, viz. : Cammory, Cox- 1EY, LoNEEGAN, and McCarFrry. JoENEON is s Scandinavien. HreriNc is a German, and has been called upon by the Staals-Zeitung to resign. Crawrorp and RusseLy are Ameri- cans, and are denounced asa disgraca to their nativity. Every onein the ring except the Irish members have been repudiated by the pationality they represent; now what will the Irish voters and tax-payers say to the conduct of- Alessxs. LoNcecaN, CoNLEy, CAr- roLL, and McCarrREY ? ‘This ring must be broken up. Itsexistence is aconsumt menace to tax-payers. Its power for evil.doing is almost boandless. We ro~ peat that every party end every nationality should join to put it down. If Mr. Lowen GAX, or Mr. HERTING, orany other among the eight has a jot of self-respect, he will either desert the combinetion or resign, in order that his place may be filled by some man in whom the people havo confidence. FIRES AND CHEAP INSUBANCE. We printed in our last issue 8 communica- tion upon * The Fire Question in Chicago,” the points of which have been stated maony times before, and which undoubtedly repre- sents the honest views of many people, as it 8150 reprasents the selfish and personel views of others. The general ides which forms the burden of communications of this kind is to get cheep insurance by adding to the expense of the Fire Department, saddling the ex- pense upon the general property-holders of the city, thus making the real estate pay for the insurance of heavily-stocked warehouses, Thus, for every thousand dollars saved in in. surance, a thousand dollars would be added fo the taxes of the city. The application of this policy lies in the adoption of the expen- sive reforms suggested by Gen. Smares, which would require over a million of dollars’ additional outlay, expended in the hopes of putting out, and rot in the suro prevention of, fires. Upon the surface, chesp insurance, regard- less of preventive measures, may seem to be a blessing to be sought after; but & little® ex- amination below the surface, we think, will show it to be a curso to any community. Iis first effect will be to induce heavy and over-insurance. Merchants andhonse-owners will insure up to their eyes if they can have cheap rates. Thers will bo no limit to the amount. (In Europe, a man can only insure to two-thirds of the valus of his property.) As no man cares to be cautious. especielly when he is fully insured, and does not want to be trombled with thinking sbout the danger to his property or his ueighbor's property, what will be the result of chesp and heavy insmrance? He will grow more careless than he is now. He will give little aitention to the condition gfluz roof, to his defective flues, to the accumulations of com- bustible stuff in his buildings, to the engines in his basement. Ho will build without ref- erence to the safety of his own property or his neighbor's, as he will have no responsi- bility in the premises, and can suffer no loss. The law cannot make him responsible for demage to his neighbor, as the French law does. He can go to sleep ot night in a se- rene frume of mind. If his property burms up, let it burn. He is fully insured, and more too. He has norisks to run. Fe can make money by being burnt out. The insurance companies have all the risks, Every old barn and shanty in the city can find a company ready to tako the risk of its burning up, and when old stables, pine hops, and chenties can find insurance, they are pretty sure to burn up befara the policies ex- pire, and not only burn themselves up, but voluable property adjacent. Both our large fires originated in shanties, worthless of themselves but fully insured. The great fires of 1871 &nd 1874 wers due primarily to chesp insurance, because chesp insur- once had made people perfectly trockless with regard o the condifion of property. It would be absurd to cheapen insurance st the expenge of the general tax-payers by increas- ing the Firo Department enormously, which alrondy exceeds the capacity of tho water- supply. This expensive reform is not advocated witk any refersnce tof prevent- ing fires, but only to extingnishing them after they have commenced, although, with the same conditions that attended the groat fire of 1871, all the enginesGen. Smiren could brirg here from the whole United States would be of no avail. With cheep in. surence ard a oostly Fire Department, and with everybody loaded down with insarance, people would grow still more careless, and fires would necessarily increase. With a ro- lisble insurance at o fair rate, covering but a portion of the property, people would be com- pelled to ba careful, to build with reference to safety, and to protect thomselves by every possible menns. - Prevention is the great remedy for fire, and we do not seo how cheap ijusurancs and an expensive Fire Department are going to secure it. - On the other hand, it is plain enongh that cheap insurance means ‘heavy insnranco, and that in turn means care- lessness, moral recklessness, and incendiar. ism, ending in o rebumnt city. Whatever tends to impair carefulness, and mske it to the interost cf property-owners to have their property burnt, is s public curse, as it in- creases the peril of the whole city. The telegraph bringa the news of the sud. @en decth of Capt. E. B, Warp, ons of the great iron-men of the country. He died sud- denly of apoplexy, at Detroit. Capt. Warp was born in Canada in 1811, and made his money in the marine business, out of which he grodoally emerged, extending his capital in other diractions. He was immensely weaalthy, owning real cs- tats valued =t $2,000,000, while some £8,000,000 more were invested in rolling-mill and other anterprises. Tho political economy of Capt. E. B. Waa» wax of the maet ar- trovagant character. He believed in irom, and especially in the protection thereof. Had he been allowed his own way he would have put up the duty to 500 per cent on jron. He was also desperately opposed to sny financial scheme which did not look t» inflation. Had he been intrusted with the Government ho would have inflated everything. There would have been more shinplaster money floating xound the country than eons of time would have sufficed to destroy. But as a business-man he sdcceeded in amassing great wealth, the possession of which may have clonded his judgment upon the important questions which he regarded in so strange a light. OUR COWRTY GOVERNMENT. K Inhmtely coanected with any reform in our system of taxation in this ity is o deliv- erance from the township organization.' This county is in 2 peculiar condition so far as its government is . concerned. Prior {01870, Cook County had adopted the township or- ganization. The old Constitution had a gen- eral law for the government of counties under township organization, and a gen- eral law for the government of all other counties. The Constitution of 1870 provides for the government of these same two closses of counties, and contains pro- visions authorizing any county, by pop- ular vote, to change from one class to the other. That Constitution, however, also provides that ‘“tho county %fairs of Cook County shall be managed by a Board of Commissioners of fifteen persons.” This is inconsistent with the government provided for the two classes of counties. In the coun- ties having township organization, the gov- ernment is lodged in a Board of Supervisors; in tho other counties the government is lodged in 2 Board of three County Commis- sioners, and the Sheriff is ex-officio collector of taxes, Now to which of these classes of counties does Cook County belong? Thus far, we have gone on under tho assump- tion that we are still under township or- ganization, except that, instead of a Board of Supervisors, wo Love & Board of fifteen Commissioners. If we assume that to be true, and by popular vote shall de- cide to abolish township orgnnization, where dowe gothen? The Constitution provides that, in case of such a vote, ‘‘township or~ ganization shall cease in said county ; and all laws in force inrelation to counties not hav- ing township organization shall immediately take effect and be in force in such county.” Now what becomes of Cook County in such a case? Do we exchange the Board of fifteen Commissioners for & Boaxd of thres Commis- sioners? In giving up one form of govern- ment do wemnot take the other provided by the Constitation? The Constitution recog- nizes but two classes of counties, and the governments in each class must be uniform. Now, is it not altogether a mistake to as- sume that we are under township organiza- tion at all? Did not the Constitution of 1870 erect Cook County into a special class, whol- ly distinct and separate from those under and those not under township organization? ‘Was not every other form of government for this county abolished, and the complete management and government of the affairs of this county placed in the hands of a Board unknown to the previous lsws, and unknown to the governments provided for oll the other counties‘of the State? It strikes us that this is the only rational view to take of the queston. We are by ths Censtitution taken out of the township- orgonization system, and Wwe are not placed in the system provided for the other counties, but we are given a peculiar and dis- tinct County Government, which is of itself inharmonious with either of the other forms, and to which the laws intended for them are, and must be, inspplicable. On this subject, we think Mr. J. P. Roor, late County Attor- noy, clearly and :enrately defined the politi- cal position of (L.: ¢ ty. If this view be the correet one, and Uook County has a form of government peculiar to itself, then the Legislature is fully aunthorized to legislate for our deliverancs from the horde of office-holders who still cling to the public treasiry under the pretense that township organization is in full force in this county. The Legislature has authority to enact a codo of laws appropriste to our peculiar form of government, just as it hes to enact general lawa for those counties under township or- ganization, and for those not under township organization. Such legislation would be a wise and mercifal dispensation to this county, and especially to this city, and would disem- barrass all our local legislation of the many complications by which it is surrounded. COLLECTION OF CITY TAXES, 'The carefally-prepared judgment renderod by Judge Warracs, of the County Court, in August last, upon the application for judg- ment of sale for city taxes, leaves no question of the insufficiency of the law known =as Senate Bill 300 for the purposes for which it was intended. Tho Court wss reluctantly compelled to decide that the inconsistencies between the General Revonus law and Bill 800 were g0 irreconcilable that no judgment against delinquentswho filed objoctions could be rendered. In thia decision of the Court there was a general acquicscence of legal opinion. The trouble with Bill 300 is, that, while providing special machinery for the as- sesamentand collection of city taxes, it through- out provides aleo that that machinery shall be operated under the Gensral Revenno law of the State. The General Rovenuelaw provides the machinery for the assessment and collec- tion of State and county taxes, and the law is adapted to the operation of that machinery. The moment the proceedings under tho city system are transfarred to the county officers then Bill 300 breaks down, and the general law is wholly inconsistent with what had taken placo befors. Judgment was refused in August last only in those cases where objec- tions had been made, and the loss of revenue was comporatively small, but the public was rdvised that all that wes necessary to avoid payment of city taxes was to file an objec- tion. So, this year, all that is roquired to de- foat the whole levy is to make logal objec- tion to & judgment on the tax-warrant. The time has coms when the City of Chica- go shounld have some permanent law on the subject of the collection of taxes. It is uso- less to waste more time and lose mors revenuo by patching: Bill 800. It is hardly worth whilo to attempt a substitute for that bill, and to have another special law. It is best to confoss the failure of the act and to settle down to the fact of having but one system and one sot of machinery for the nssessment ond collection of taxes of all kinds in the City of Chicago. Indeed, Biil 300 contains o provision authorizing the City Council st eay time to discard its use and employ the gea- erel Stato law for the assessment and colleo- tion of city toxes. Under ths general law of the Btats, provision is made for the assessment and collection of Stats, county, and alt other tazes, Excspt for Bl 800, the tazes of the City of Chicago would be levied and collected under that law. All the officers ‘needed for this purposo are provided by law. Instead of having a duplicate system 2s now, weshould have but one tax-collector, whoso businessit would beto collect 2l taxes of what- over kind levied for whatever purpose in this city and county. The objections to this con- solidation of the tax-collection business are of two kinds,—one founded upon general prin- ciples of public credit, and the other spocial] founded in opposition to the reduction of public expenditures and the pmcucnl aboli- tion of numerous offices. It was objected to having city taxes lovied under the State assessment, becnuse, when the Constitution wzs adopted, in 1870, and for some years thereafter, assossments for State purposes were made at a rate varying {from one-fourth to one-third of the actual value. Thus, while the taxable property in Chicago was put down at three hundred millions for city purposes, it was put down at sums varying from eighty-five to ninety millions for State purposes; and while a levy of fifteen mills would produce four millions and a half of revenuo on the city assessment, it would require o tax of five per cent on the State assessment to produce the szme amount of revenue. This, it was argued, would have a bad effect upon the credit of the city,—that to levy 8 5 per cent tax could never be esplained to tho outside world, The policy of increesing the State nssessment was objected to becauso of the ailroad-aid grab-law, under which Chicago would be annually taxed to pay offe-third of the interest and part of the principal of the debt of other citics and counties. Whatever forco these objections may then have had hassincodeperted. The tax-grabbing law ahd tax have been annulled, and the State assessment for Cook County, which in 1872 was only 94,000,000, has been sdvanced in 1874 to $811,000,000. The assessments mads for city purposes range from three hundred to threo hundred and twelve millions of dollars. So it will b: seen that the sentimental objecticn as to the rate per cent of taxes has boen removed The two assessments are now so nearly equal that the objection loses its main force. The other class of objection is one which will bo more strenuously made. The city has a tax department which costs for salariessan everage of $30,000 & yeer; it has also a Col- lector’s office, which costs in round numbers for salaries $50,000, making an aggregate of $80,000 a yeer. To have the city taxes levied under the State assessment, as are the county taxes, and have thom collected by the State machinery, as ore the county taxes, would sbolish the offices of City Tax Com- missioner and City Collector, and remove from office all their two-score employes. It would reduce the salaried officers of ' tha city, and save, as we have said, $80,000 now paid for that purpose ; and the bummer class look with extreme disfavor on such reforms. . The whole business of collecting taxes in Cook County would be committed to one gen- eralofficer, and, instead of havingtwo complete and expensive corps of officers, the work could be done with one, That was the origi- nal contemplation of tho Constitution, And would have been carried out had it not been for the objectionswe bave staled. The prop- osition to reduce publio expenditures by the discontinuanco of offices which now cost 280,000 for salaries annually will meet with strenuous opposition from those who assume that offices are created for the officers, and not for the publicconvenienco. To propose to sbolish-an office, and to dismiss thirty to forty officers, on the ground of their being 1o longer necessary to the public service, is, we know, at this dny, political heresy. But thero is no avoiding it. Our city law for the collection of taxesis o dead failure. Under it taxation is rendered’s Turely, voluntery, there being no power to cxforce'tho collection: e must therefors cheose between a total loss of city revenue and. the transfer of the whole busi- ness of assessment ond collection to the machinery furnished by the State, tnd under which the State and county taxes are mow collected. We submit this matter to tho consideration of the people of this city, whose texes are ennually increased to make good the deficiencies in the revenus caused by the wholesalo evesions of taxation by those who take advantage of the mpexiochous and wesnknesses of existing laws. . “E W Rank injustice has been done the Father of his Coantry by making an idol of him. A systematic course of deification has sup- pressed every humen trait in his character. He—or rathor the populer idea of him— stands on his pedestal, a gigantic, magnifi- cent, portentous prig. Friends from whom he ought to have been saved have made him the calmest, and coldest, and least lovable hero of tho Rovolution. The Republic has been ungrateful. Wo have ignored tho man Wasn- mvotoy, and made unto ourselves various graven, sculptaved, painted, and printed images, which, thongh labeled with his name, ‘bear no likeness to the original. If the tradilional WasmmvaToN be takon as the {rus one, his volley of oaths at Lz on the battle-field of Monmouth is the one touch of naturo that lets him claim some kin- ship with the world. The New American Cyclopedia makes an unfortunato attempt to deprive him of this bit of humanity. It actually asserts that hesaid to Lee: *‘Idesiro to know, sir, what is the reason whence arises this disordor and confusion?” Breathes thers a prig with mind so deed who never hath said some pompous phrase like this when a simple question would have dome twico s well? The recording angel whose tears blotted out Uncle Toby's oath ought to shed another if unkind criticism erases Wammva- ToN's ** damned poltroon ™ from his book. ‘Woroe it not for this and for a recent fortu- nate discovery, G. W. would b as far from us as Hawrnonye's Snow Imago was from her ' —or its—pleymates. blessed discovery, in an old house at Alexan- dris, of & batch of bills against President Geonge WasumyeTon for porter, for rum, for pipes, and for playing-cards | The mansagers of Washingtonion Homes may be aghast, but tho world will emile. WaSITNGTON With a pipe, WasamveroN with a gloss of steaming toddy, WasEmvoroN playing the right-bow- er or tho ace of hearts—such Ipictures help to give us the man without his clothes, those spotless, precise, unwrinkled clothes, which he wore indifferently, unless sculptura and painting have belied him, whether Lo was crosging the Delaware, or stroling through Valley Forga, or riding dauntleasly in front of vory black British cannon and very red British infantry, or balancing him. self with impnssive face on a charger,~a stono or bronzs horseis alweysa * charger,”— supporting itaclf .with heaven-sent dexterity on ons foat, its tail, end a providential stump, It might be dangerous, however, to carry this disrobing process too far. Who shall say how much of onr idol would bo lost if the figure wexd deprivedof the oocked hat, thepowdersd Tho recent fact is the' wig, the long bluo cont, the polished sword, the light small-clothes, the white silk stock- ings, and tho buckled shoes? When it was | proposed to-incnse Daxien WessTER in a bronze toga for the delectation of the classic- | ally-inclined Hub, Hawrmorse gravely sng- gested that, if s flowing robe were necessary for artistic purposes, the one worn by tho dead statesman for half his life should be used. A hero in his night-gown would certeinly have been an unique monument; but Boston rejected the idea as an irreverent insult. If it took a HawrHORNE to imeogine ‘WeBSTER in such a plight, can the aversge American ever realizo WasmxeToy in his nightshirt? It wero more possiblp to think Carcyrz’s wild dream of a naked Duko addressing a naked House of Lords to be a fact than to divorce tho man .of un- paralleled paternal powers from his clothes. They are part of him, one and inseparable. Wo think of WasemGroN the surveyor as plunging into the forest with bandbox and ruffles. WasnmNGroN the aide-decamp ap- pears, on the fatal day of Br2ppock’s defeat, in & combined halo of gun-powder and wig- powder. WasmmeToN the General and ‘WasmrvoroN the President are both stately, magnificent, icy. . Yet we know now that the General swore roundly at Lrr, end that the President laid in a stock of pipes, porter, rum, and cards. Here we get something human. With these helps to our imegination, we can even fancy the great and-awful Geonce as Haking a mistake. ‘We may see him with our mind’s eye, slightly overcomo by the fumes of ths pipe or the porter, actually trumping his partner’s ace, and Leing soundly rated therefor by the ex- Widow Conrrs, the partner aforesaid. It would be pleasant, too, to think of Grorcr as mollifying Mantaa by humming the merry ditty of old Bishop Strx: Then doth sho trcal to mo tho bowl, R e T ook my part In this joliy good alo and old.” Even the mnhsllowed imngination of to- day cannot go farther than this, We dare not say that our idol made a mistake insthe game of life. It was an sge when forms and furbelows were substantinl helps, and the soldier-statesman used both with eminent success, Butho was a men for o’ that and o that. CAN QUR GREAT CITIES QOVERNW THEN- SELVES P City-government and Ring-government have become synonymous in tho ninety-ninth year of our existence as a nation. New York has its Ring, more subtle but not less dangerous than tho dynasty of Swresy and TwEED. Corruption is making headway in Boston, dospite the sanctifying influences of Faneail Hall, Puritan blood, and Bunker-Hill Monu- ment,” Brooklyn, Philadelphia, ara other ways of spelling fraud and robbery. Cincin- nati hos its corrupt Ring, which steal every- thing on which they can ley their hands. New Orleans is honey-combed with corrup- tion. §t. Louis, Beltimoro, and San Francis- co suffer terribly from the depredations of plundering Rings and rascally Common Coun- cils. The press of Detroit, Cleveland, Pitts-- burg, Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, Al- bany, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Washington, and other qities of tho sacond class, are contina- olly £lled with exposures and denunciations of Ring raseality in tho conduct of their mu- nicipal affairs. Chicago has at least two Rings (ome of them called the County Board,) and might, perhaps, on o pirch, produce three or four,— Rings within Rings. A glance over the coun- try shows that our municipal institutions reom on the verge of breaking down. Year by ydar, the viras spreads and deepons. Year by reas, the government of our great cities grows weaker in protecting and stxonger in stealing. In the District of Columbia, the municipal system has thoroughly failed. Ono expedient after another has been {ried; end hes been perforce abandoned. A makeshift in the shape of a Boerd of three Regentsnow has control of the District, and Congress is petitioned to assume the municipal debt of en unlmown numnber of millions of dollers, bat believed to excosd thirty! It is an un- flattering commentery on our boasted free . government, that where it flowers most fally and bears its ripest fruit, it fails 1o control the berbarism that bids law de- fiance. Every largo city in Christendom has within it a district in which the law can only be enforced temporarily, and by a police force of o ypagnitude which cannot be per- manently maintsined. This union of inef- ficiency and corruption is s most serious state of things. If our municipal institutions have failed to stand the sirain of a singlo century ; if they are nlready in such a tot- tering, roiten state, what will they be twenty, fifty, or 100 yonrs henco? Beveral remedics for the evila that proy upon us have been suggested. One school of theorists wonld have a great city elect, by universal sufirage, a Mayor, who should serve but o year ; should appoint ‘all his subordi- nates, 05 the President appoints his Cabinet ; and should have powers limited only by the charter under which he acts. In this case, thé City Council—the body “set apart for ¢ gtratagems and spoils "—would be happily legislated out of office. The great power and the equally great responsibility of tho Mayor- alty would make it a prize worth striving for, and would insurs the election to it of honest and capsble men. So, at least, the theory rons. Another idea is to treat a municipal corporation like any other financial corporation. Men should be given votes in proporiion to the taxes they pay,— regarded, in short, as tho stockholdera of the concern. The advocates of this idea claim that its adoption would allow the persons who contribute the money to direct ‘ils expendi- tare, and would prevent the ignorant, com- munistie, criminal, end reckless classes of the community from domineering over tho intelligent, and houest, and thrifty. The main objection to this scheme is thet it wonld disfranchise a number. of persons, who would then, like the unenfranchised classes in England, take an active part in rioting on election day, snd wuse blud- geons instead of bellots to promote the suc- cess of their favorite candidates. To meet this drawback, a third schemo has been urged. It is the introduction of a graded sufirage with 8 property qualification, after the Prussian plan. This plan is substantially a3 follows: Each electoral district returns three members to -the Prussian Landstag (Parliament). The districts are so marked out that each pays about the same smount of taxes. ‘The voters in cach are divided into threa classes. The firat consists of the men, rockoned from tho thoaviost tax-payer downwards, who between them pay one-third of the taxes, The second is formed of tho mmaller tax-payers, rackoned downwards in order from tho Isst man of tho first, who together contribute onother third of the aggregats fax. The third olass comprises cll the other men in the district. Each class returns one Represonta- tive, Iften menora hundred men paid ane. third of the taxes of the whole district, they would form the first class alone, and could send anybody they chose to the Landsiag. 1 This plan gives every one a vots, but so arranges matters that the property which far- i nishes all the means of ranning the Govern- | ment chooses two Representatives from each district sbsolutely; and hes something to say in the choice of the third. If our municipalities were remodeled efter this pattern, the wards would be divided according to the tax-books, ard each would return three or more Aldermen. Other re- formers, again, urge that the only way to purify power is to purify its source, the peo- plo. They see in compulsory education the slow but sure cure of the evil, provided that that education includes some elementary train- ing in political economy, hygiene, moraldon- esty, non-partisan politics, etc., and is rein- forced by the education of the body, which depends upon thorough drainage, rigid super- vision'of necessary nuisances, etc. These are some of the theories that have been suggested. The objects which must be attained by any successful reform may be briefly enumerated as the abolition of the system of government by irresponsible Coin- missions or Boards; fixing rigid responsibili- ty upon all oficials ; giving proper weight to tax-peyers os against tax-eaters; preventing undue accumulation of debt, bonded or float- ing; and securing honesty and efficiency, if such s thing be possible. Who ecan devise a plan thatwill accomplish these things, and can then persuade some State to anthorize it in its Constitation, and some city to try it? If such a man lives, he can have fame for the asking. CHUECE ARD STATE IN GREAT BRITAIN. “I\relve months 530, 5aid Prof. FAwerTT, in' a recent speech to his constituents at Hacknoy, England,—* twelve months ago the disestablishmerft of the English Church was spoken of as the distant dream of 8 few, gn- thusiastio fanatics, but now even moderato ipoliticians speak of it as a change certain to come, and the only question is, by whom and in what form it shall be dope.” This lan- guage is perhaps too strong. The Cambridge politico-economist is. sometimes as blind mentally as he always is physically. His wish fathers his belief. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm is tempered with shrewdness, and his words always have weight. The sentence we have Quoted probably foreshadows the programme with which the Liberals will carry the next general election ind retake the high seats in the Parliamen- tary synagogue which they lost lest year. Indeed, Mr. Josepn CHAMBERLATY, 'one of the most prominent of the extreme Liberals,has already declared, in a long article in the Fors- nightly Revicw, that both disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England must be accepted as definite portions of the Liberal creed before that party can regain power. The drift of recent legislation is all that way. GrapeToxz, who entered politics as a Tory, and published a long-forgotten book the closest union of the two, and in review- ing which Macavray colled him * the rising hopo of the stern and unbending Tories,” has nlready, as chief of the Liberal party, disestublished and partly disendowed the Trish Episcopal Church, and cannot hereafter consistently object to the spplication of the same policy to the English Episcopal Church. Jrxgws, of Ginz's Baby fame, attacked him vigorously for his course in this matter, but JENKINS is 08 conservative in religion ns he is radical in polities, and no other Liberal of Any prominence echoed his remonstrance. One of the strongest signs of the times is that Disrarzy, when he took office, found the tide g0 strong that ho was forced to float with it Porliament busied itself with matters ec- clesiastical during the whole of last session. It abolished the sbuse of patronage in the Scotch Chyreh, and threw o bushel of apples of discord into the Englich Church by pass- ing the bill for the regulation of public wor- ship, The numerical majority of English- men and Scotchmen txo now, at lenst, willing o see the two State Churches disestablished and to have their surplus revenues used for purposes of public education. It is within the bounds of possibility that the Conserva- tives mey bo forced to retain their power by severing the tie between Church and State. Enough of them prefer their seatsin o Na- tional Parliament to their pews in a Church endowed by the nation to enablo Disrarry, with the help he would be sure to gain from the other side of the House, to cmrry any such mensure. It was, doubtless, in view of this posssibility that Prof. Fawcerr said that “The only question is, by whom and in what form it [disestablishment] shall be done.” THE TEOUBLES OF LO. As if it were not enough for the whites and blacks of the Southern States to keep the country in o turmoil, now the Indians of the Indian Territory, the civilized Los, are at it, and are calling out lustily for United States troops. The samo benign influences which politics exert in Vicksburg and New Orleans scem to be operating in Choutesan and Vinita, and tho White Longue and the blacks are re- produced in the Pins and the Cherokees. The Pins are on the war-path, and the Chero- Lees ore flying for protection, singing,ont lustily es they run for the interposition of the General Government. It comes at a very bad time, for»Sheridan, who has. had so much success 85 A peacemaker among tho Indians, is now wanted at New Orloans asa peacemaker among the whito patriots of that city. The origin of the trouble in the Indian Tervitory is the old, old story. “The civilized sons of the forest have got ideas of sover- eignty end State craft into their brains, and 88 the first step have divided themselves into fections,—tho one party being in favor of Territorial Government, the other beirg op- posed To seitlo the difliculty, they have followed in tho footsteps'of their white breth- Ten, and commenced to murder and masseere. 1f this is to be the effect of tho example of the chivalry and gilt-edged Democracy of Louisians, whera is the thing going to stop? Now that the whites, and blacks, and Indians havo commenced settling their political grievauces with pistol, gun, and blunderbuss, how long will it be before the Chinese, and Alaskans, and New Mexicans, and Digger In- dians will imitate this new departuro in poli- tica? Thers is one sad disappointment in this out- breskin the Iudian Territory. Theso ars not the wild Indians of the Plains end the mountains, whoss untamed natures lend them to deods of violencs and blood, and who live, like the béasts, by proying upon the weaker, bnt they are the civilized In- dians, the * good Indians,” the sample In- dians. Thoy have been reclaimed from their brotal and ignorant condition, have been filled full of piety, and have boen sont to the achools ; bave bean preached to and prayed for ; have been held np &s bright and shining lights to their wilder brethren ; have had all their natdral ** cussedaces ” taken out of them ; have becn ochipped off, smoothed, on Church and State, in wkich ho advocated’ rubbed down, and polished, and hava been presented to the world as first. closs samples of what can be accomplshed by civilization, religion, and law with red- skins, and as convineing proofs that an Tndj. an who goes to school, ettends divine ser- vices, wears a plug-hat, chews tobacee, and drinks whisky, is better then an Indian who shoots buffalos, scalps white men, and venra nothing to speak of. It is hard that these copper-colored testimonials to the valuo of Irdian missions efforts should bresk out in such a desperate and uproarious mauner, and show that, after all, they cre no laottes than white men in Louisiana or cclored men in Mississippi. © For the sake of exam. ple, if for no other reason, something shoxld be done &t once to stop this business, either by penning them np end letting them fight it ont, like the Kilkenny cats, or by seading a detachment of the Sioux or Pi Ttes to wij ont the whole of them. The wild Tadien question is suificiently distressing without having o tame Indisn war sprung upoa us, which will open the Territory to the whole herd of Indian agents and speculators. After making short and sharp work with these Indian politicians, the Goverzment can resumo its wnrk of reconstruction in Louisiana. In an editorial recently printed ir Tm Temoxe, touching upon the scope and re-, sults achieved by the Athenmum, n genern reference was made to the Dime Course of lectures outlined by the management for the new year. Since that time, the management bas issued a prospectus, giving the details, ‘which are of more than ordinary interest, and will appeal not only to those who are cvailing themselves of the advantages of this excol- lent. institation, but to the genersl pub. lic. The programme has been meads up with rnferanca to subjects relating to the preservation of health exd tho improvement of mental and physical habits, ‘which will be treated in a familiar anc popu- - lar manner by the lesding physicians of thie city, The lecturers secured are Drs. H. A. Jomxsox, Epuoxp Axprews, R. N. Fostree, A E. Syarrn, Mary H. TroumrsoN, who will speak on the habits of school-girls, T. D. Frrem, J. 8. Jewens, F. C. Horz, Hesry AL Lnuy, R. Lopray, J. H. HorusTse, and N. S. Davis. The lectures will be given every Thursday afternoon, commencing Jan. 7, at .the hall of the Atheneum, No. 114 Madison street. A comwso of lectures delivered by such eminent physi- cians s theso upon subjects of which they have made special study, and ir which they have had great experience, cannot bul result in great practical good and in adding much useful knowledge to the public infor. mation on topics of vital importance. They pertain to the general welfare of the pullic, abd the public will doubtless show it appro- cigtion of the plans of the managerient by the most liberal patronage. * A Newark (N. J.) paper given tho origin of the term ‘forsign™ to everything connected with that State somowhst as follows: Wher Josren BoNaPARTE left Spain somewhat hur. riedly, he desired, though sn alien, to own real estate, and sppealed to tho Legisjatures of many States for n special act onabling him tc do so. After trying Pennsylvania, New Yook, and other States, be auccecded in New Jersex, and, having secured an act of the Legislatare, built the' finest residence in America at Dorden- town. He was liberal with his mouey, 2nd be camo of no little service fn building up the town. Philadelphis, observing his wealsh, and regrotting her inability to share it, talked sc s grapes by calling Joskrr Boxararte King ¥ Jetsoy, and that State s !nmgn coualry gor- erned by a despot. EARLY ENGLISH EJEIOBY: AX INTRODUCIION TO THE STUDY OF EABLY Fixiou Hovrony, By Jomw Pyx YeaTMa, of Linco u's Ina Lll]\llr!. Barrister at Law, Author of “ The Histor; of the Gommon Law of Great Dntata and Gal,” ete: ste; 13mo., pp. 32 London: Lougmanr, "Greel It iain a condition of numb amazem:nt that we conclude the perusal of this very exiraor. dinary volume. Its suchor is a man of cndocbts ed learning, and of uncommonly deop rasearck inthe departments of early English lawazd English history; but. if he be not stark mad in theory, then all tke other writers' who havo ate tempted to delineate the life and careor of Ea- gland prior to the ecleventh centary must be rated a8 lunatics or liars. Mr. Yeatman@~cs not hesitate to declare them such in goo: 3 terms,—making a single exception in fa: the Rev. William Whitaker, an able, tho: eminent, historian of the past centary. Mr. Yeatmen is 8 monomaniac on the stbjeet of the Saxons. In his study into the origin of the English law, bolhas concoived a s:rics of startling hypotheses which totally anaihil:te the Ianguage, tbe literature, the name,—nav, almesy the life,—of this peoplo in England. e broads 1y aasorts that, for many centuries previius ta tho Christian ers, the Dritons, the dominant in tho British Isle, ranked with the most cul'isated nations of tha earth, inall thoarts of civill Hea thinks it pot improbabls that their may havo been traced back to the s Japhet, and that their country was sa im- portant eettloment in tho age of Noah kme self! Men'slives wers not limited to four- Bcore years in those days. Cmsar's aceonut of Lis victories in Britain, and of tho condition of tha inhabitants at the time of the invasion, Mr, Yoatman regards asa tisue of falsehoods, in~ vented to concesl that Generzl's mortifieat oo ab finding his career of military triumph unexzect edly stayed in an obscare and dimiputive coune try, Britain finally becsme a conquest of the Romenarms ; but the Imperial Government wis engrafted upon the institutions of the people without displacing their systems of religion and of jurisprudence. During the soveral centaries that Rome maintained an army in Britain, hor relation toward that country was rather that of & protector than of & conqueror, and Romant and Britains intermingled upon torms of peifect equality. When the standard of Rome was withdrawz from Dritain, in the fifth eentury, the ountry was spesdily overrun by barba:ians, wbo re- duced it to a deplorable atate of degradation, but did not succeed in exterminating the Britos8 or their civic institutions. The division of the island into counties, the trial by jury, the com. sh not men law, and tho mercantile guilds, survived through the 450 years of the so-called Saxon dominion, and were adoptod by the Normen rulers when they camo into their inberitance. For the story that William tho Firat conquered England i alzo a myzh, in onr author's opinin. Whilo the Ieland wae suffering the horrors of spoliation by saccoseive savago hordes, tho fower of the people fled to Wales and Brittany, aod simply returned to take possession of what w2 their own, when William of Normandy becamé, through his Danish aacastors, ths rightfal belr to the Kingdom. The Saxons wers & small tribe, runk in tht groesest barbarism, who settled in bat three fit- tle connties in England. Their lsnguage wed never the specch of the English peoplo,—8 Latin dialect being the common vernacalar throughout the country during the dark ages of Its Listorye The Saxon Chroniclo and Asser’s Life of with all other specimens of Saxon literatare no¥ extant, aro mimply forgeries. The Baxons no written langusge, and consequently no liters= ture; and, except o fow barbarous expressiond that wore incarporated into the English, every traco of their tongue is lost. *“That wre wibberish velopt Baxon,” in the language of I Yeatman, “{s treatsd »xmmuu; 1 an orlginal leagoage,~un honar to which is has equal