The New York Herald Newspaper, March 8, 1853, Page 2

/ THE BROADWAY RAILROAD CASE BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY CommITTEE. ‘Aupaxy, March 2—4 P.M. | Proportion to The following bill had pased the Benate, and | increase of taxation was 32 percent, the increase’ of population 22 per cent. The nex: five years iacrease of population was 33 taxation 89 per cent. eome dewn to the House, by which it had been re prevent injustice in the extablishinent of Railways Anda oO ths lie of the Se ip of the State jew represent im Ph nrdved y Pe do enact as follows:— ‘Seation 1. The corporation of any eity in this State, gall not construet nor authorize the censtuction of fallways through cr upon the whole or aay portion of aay public street or avenue of said city, which railwa) shall begin and end city; nor shail any sueh r. way be constructed by authority derived or to be derived from them, until a arevious act of the Legislature of this Stare sball’be passed, preseribing the terms and eondi- tions under the sity ol r and the laws of this State, wpon whieb eity railways may be constructed. ‘Section 2. If any person, company or corporation shall eemmence or continue the construction of any such rail- way without a previous complianee with the t seetion Srihis sot, it aball be the duty ofthe Attorney General to bring an action im the name of the people of this State in the ‘ation. eme Court against such person, com, or corpo- sen as the ueurpere Of © franchise, aud apely (0 e214 court or any judge thereof in vacation for an order for an cording 16 tho oeuree anf practles of sl , aceording to the course an 4 "Holning in this section contained aball be deemed to ede er impair any individual rights or remedies for ‘unauthorized construction of such raibvay. Seetion 3. Nothing in this act contained shall be eon- s@reed to apply to any railway track or tracks already evustr and in operation within the limits of said tion 4 This act shall take effect immediately. MM. FIELD'S ARGUMENT AGAINST THE PROPOSKD BILL, ‘Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee— ‘The origin of this bill is the opposition to the Broad- way Railway, which, it is said, is an unwise measure, adopted on ea Stead grounds. This involves two tiens—first, whether the reason has any founda- in fact; and, secondly, if it have, whet it be a sufficient reagon for the interference of the Legis- lature. I shall proceed to examine these questions im the reverse order, first endeavoring to show—even Wall that is sleged epee the Broadway Rail- Toad were true—t ill it would not justify the pamage of this bill. Therefore, assuming for the nt, for the sake of the argument, that the es against the railwa; it are trae—which I ‘by no means as a matter ol concede, and which T shall endeavor to show by and by are without foun- dation—I undertake to examine question ef the interference of the Legislature, first as a question of right, and then as a question of policy: Asa P= of right, then, is it certain that the Legisla- , 80 faras the city of New York is concerned, has authority to pass this bill, without the consent of fhe citizens of New York, etary obtained? In respect to the question of right, the argument is this:—The fee of the streets of New York, Broadway included, is in the corporation of the city, subject to certain trus‘s, which trustsare defined. Is it compe- tent for the Legislature to change these trusts with- aut the consent of the trustees and the beneficia- | ries—that is, without the consent of the corporati: and the citizens? I do not purpose to go mi- | Butely into the argument respecting the own- ership of the streets. I refer you to the origi- mal charter, to the subsequent charter of Mont- gomerie, and to the exposition of the law and and fact contained in the communication from Mr. Hoffman, which, I think, are sufficient to satisty any One that the fee of the streets is in the corporation. It is pated certain that all that part of Broad- ‘way which was opened under the Dutch government Beion red to the sovereign power at that time, and anal , With the government, to the English crown, | and from the State to the corporation by the act of 1793. It is equally certain that all that part of the corporation in fee under the act of 1313. And asto the intermediate portion, it seems to be satis- | factorily shown that the street was either laid ont a public land or ceded to the corporation. If the trust of the streets without the consent of those the Legislature has the right, still it ought not to | interfere, as proposed by this bill. Here let ik | the whole people of New Jersey? = y this law, and upon what | of honest men in that old State yet, and they wi It was a scandal who it is that asks for this law, and upon what grounds? They are owners of 0 |. | Tight themselves at last. y Seileal aan: rites two aldermen, sitting on the beach, indicted. | aright to dictate the use of the street. I deny that | But how long is it since a judge of the Supreme | they have any such right. I deny that they who | Court of Louisiana was accused of aa infamous | rc How long is it since the first judge of the county of Herkimer was indicted for forgery | while sitting on the bench? why youshould charge the State of Louisiana and way, and they apply on the ground that they have pen to own lots upon a street have a controlling ce in deciding how that street isto be used for the purposes of travel or traffic. The quesffon be- longs to the whole body of citizens. I do not know many persons there are who own lots on Broad: | , but it is extravagant to say that they shall regu- | ite the manner of that vast amount of travel which ily flows and reflows through it, as much as it would be for the owners of the banks of your owa Hudson to eraft, should navigate its waters. The streets belong, not to the adjacent proprietors, but to the whole pub- ment. Every law which goes upon the idea that the Jamdlord, rather than the traveller, may dictate the mse of a public street, rests upon a fallacy. The case from Long Island and Staten Island may wish to | the inhabitants of these mye arts may wish | to go down and cross over to the thete two classes of persons have an interest in get- | carried cheapest and quickest through Broadway. | choice of the mode of trayel? The form of our island Jong and narrow, and the inhabitants of its ex- tremities shall not, nor will not, be subject, in any | for the last tive years the increase of n, is less than for an: preceding. From 1825 to n the five years succeeding, the increase of population was 15 ‘per eent, the in- cent—this was upto 1340. the increase of population crease of taxation 40 The next period, to 1) was 18 per cent, and of taxation 55 the next five years what was it? population was 37 per cent, and the increase of ercent—a less ratio of increase com- population than in any other period of five years since 1825. Now, let me ask tention to the rate of taxation and expenditure else- where. The increase of taxation in New York has been from two millions, in 1845, to three millions three hundred thousand in 1852. State which is so wisely and economical! When the convention met, in 1846, to reform the constitution, the estimate of all the e: State, government was ,$650,000, and that was am told that lere is @ table of the he increase of What is it in your How is it with the Union? expenses of the general government, exclusive of public debt, from 1791 to 1850, showing that in 1845 they were twenty-one millions, and in 1850 forty-three millions. increase of our city tax with the increase of 1! and county taxes in the rest of the State, as they appear in the Red Book of 1846 and 1853, excluding t are strictly city taxes. We have for the city of New York, in the year 1845, $2,096,198; a State tax for the ret of the State, $1,125,085. the city in 1852 was $3,380,511; the State and county tax in the zest of the State $2,400,000. Now the increase of the city in population, in com- parison with the rest d the State, was as 41 to 14; the increase of taxatim in the city was 96 per cent, and in the State 113 yer cent. A friend upfor me the following com) taxation and population, which I will read :— CoMPARATIVE StaTEMBNT OF TAXATION AND PoruLaTON, DRAWN FROM VALE(TINE’S Manual POR 1862, aD THE LacisLat1ve Manus yor 1846 ann 1853, Let us now eompare the tive statement of | New York city{ Thr taxes of the (Tax. rest of the, Popu si eroment ¢... J Population. .19)784/725 adding to the amount raised by forther amount (37 ince been requisite to raise by tax 1558 in order to cover the excess of expenditure over 157) which it has in, thrown upon 7 Inregard to the federal government, the cemparison is with the year 1860 instead of 1852, the year 185u)being | the last year given im the Manual referred to. are independent of payments on account of the So that if the city expenditure hag increased ninety-six per cent on forty-one per cent ix population, inthe other two cases the i: expenditure has been 113 and 101 per cent on only a fourteen and an eighteen per cent of population. id, however, that the estimate of our city ex- penditure for the present year, Bt the enormous sum of $ y, which leave for this year 2 amount $405,000 are for the almshouse, over which the Common Council have no control; and and from the crown to the State, at the Revolution, | £794,000 for education, equallybeyond their control. 345, or the expenditure of the | present year, and this amount includes $615,000 for Broadway which lies above Ann street is vested in , the police. These statements are made, not for the purpose of excusing the increased expenditures of | our city, but toshow that some of the inferences | drawn from it to the disparagement of the city | # agi Cee cue that the be so, Isubmit to you Common Council of New York is repute. Is eee eee Yonica SNe | it in any worse repute than the Legisataretar New | interested; and, therefore, whether,as a matter of con- | Jersey? Are harder things said of any member of stitutional right, the Legislatare has power to pass this the Common Council than are charged against a hill. Passing from this, I now come to the partof the | high judge of Wisconsin? But is that a reason for 40 bine i387 : d ad ey etic As | apace ae Ls of New Jersey have fallen | me decisive, ani it is, “ie (Lg a 3 ave fallen | t oy caring for granted | 0) disrepute, is that good. cause for dlstranchising | There are plent Then comes $3 overnment are unfair. judges ot Wisconsin out of office? | crime and fled? it more or le: And is that any reason into which they seek to bring it here. in the Common Council men of character and honor. We have an honest and vigilant Mayor, an honest | pls before us is as good an example as can be given, | Corporation Counsel; and an honest and inflexible | still ‘The South ferry is one of the chief inlets, and, as it | Comptroller. Weare not in a state bordering on dis- | ran were, a gate of the city; people who come in there | lution. - : But, gentlemen, assuming pow that we are as bad- through Bi , d | ly governed as our oppo: . rough Breadway to the upper parts of New Ache and tbe peonls of jacent {sland; | to take care of themselves. | bedi as concealed breakwaters, which check or part the | filled up. The persons who live up town must come tide of popular excitement. If an oppressivel pasced, the liberties of the people would still be pro- | And I ask you to consider whether the present state , tected by the means by which that law would be put our own city.and cometo Albany forhelp? Wearenot in execution. The majority cannot descend to }: if no railroad is laid in it, will be in a state of infinite the details and the puerilitics of “administrative ty- | confusion. With the present amount of force, so k are competent Why should we fly from | ting: incapable of defending ourselves. We have courts Bhall the landlords who own lots on this street be | Which the gentlemen will not say are dishonest. | ranny. Nor do the people entertain that full con- | Permitted to interfere with their convenience or their | That these courts have shown no want of power or roof enough. Our Superior ommon Council beforehand | its natural powers, but it is unacquainted with the | Broadway, and 633 down. These take 527 omnibuses sciousness of its authority which would prompt it to | it during the thirteen hours? | of will to act we have it makes this a question of peculiar importance to us. | Court will enjoin the Co it 2 : 2s: | from voting, and other courta will take care of their illegal acts afterwards. Our opponents even declare | rises a large body of political powers, ited ; governments were as polely for public chal ab purpose, with ek could they not traneact such business better? Thave the private interest and estate of strictly | already shown that if the lecal governments are not speaking, have no concern; these powers are soufer- | 80 hoiiest fi thez coght to be, it isthe fault of the red for the benefit of the city asa community, and | constituency, @ matter for them to take care of. the end Cae to be attained its overument. | If you are to attempt the regulation of these local af. On looking into the charter, it be found to em- | fairs, you would have to rely on local information, brace an extensive grant of political power, legisla- | avd that information limited and partial. If we tive, executive and judicial, which, so fur as granted, | leave the matter with themselves, they act uy the represent these Cited departments of the State gov- | informatien of all. In the fourth plaee, the bill before ernment, and which are lodged with the defendants | you seeks to establish an unjust distinction between in their capacity as @ municipal corporation. * * | the city and the country. We want equal and exact * * Tn the case of the Presbyterian Charel agaices justice to all. ‘If the law is good for us, itis gosd for these defendants, it was expressly determi that | yeu aleo. Repeal the general rai'road law, with- the corporation conld not change its legislative p w- | draw tho Dem of any twenty-five persons to take ers by contract.” Therefore, the people of the city | property for thefr own use, and make them come to have but to bestir themselves, to find ample remedy, | Albany for the grant. Look at this bill—it does not The Broadway Railway will be tried upon its own | apply toa railroad which runs through the city—it merits; if the people of that city decide aguinst it, | must begin andend inthe city. Thisis the language: they can elect members of the Common Council who | “Which railway shall begin and end in such city.” will put an end to it; if they wish the management | The people of Utica have nothing to say, if twenty- changed, they will change it; if they wish the fare | five private perroms anywhere in the State choose to reduced, they will reduce it. The power to puuish | organize themselves into a railroad company, and wrong, to rectify abuse, is now in the hands of the | get the consent of their municipal body to run the courts and Boonie; and there, where the consequences | cars, even by steam, Cr ee their streets; but, if are to be felt, let the responsibility rest. My argu- | any of the citizens of Utica, having the interest of that ment, then, in the first place, is, that the Ponca city at heart, desire to form a better commanication Dill is unnecessary, because the difficalty which has | from one partof itto the other, and for that pur- arisen in New York, if difficulty there be, has arisen | pose to lay down two iron rails, and place carri in Pomernerice of the remissness of the electors, | of a certain construction in the street, something and they have it still in their pewer to rid themselves | farther than the power of the corporation must be of it. obtained. You cannot, in Buffalo, authorize the lay- In the second place, I insist that your interference | ing of a rail from Lake Erie to the outer circle of the in the local legislation of New York would be con- | city; but if persons choose to incorporate themselves trary to the spirit of our constitution. During all | to runa line from Buffalo to Black Rock, they ean run the periods of our history, the wisest maxim of our | through the whole city. Is that just—is it reasona- pelicy, and generally the tendency of our govern- | ble—is there any color for this discrimination? I ment has been to ntralization—the reverse of | submit there is not. And even if you strike that centralization; to disperse as much as possible power | provision from the bill, there would still exist a dis- and all the elements of corruption and misgov- | crimination between the city and county, which ernment. In this State that tendency became | ought not to exist. In the country the railway can strongest at the last revision of our censtitation. At| pass along or across a highway. They can do that time three great measures were adopted, Led more; they can take away your laud—can run their for their object decentralization, so far as is consi line throug! your homesteads, through your gar- ent with the general government of the whole. The | den, within afoot of your door. Why give sucha first was to take from the government and senate the | power in the country, and take from’ the peoia of oe of appointing to offices, aud transferring it to The city their power of self-government? Why pre- local constituencies; the next to require, as far as} vent the laying of a railroad in the public streets, poms general laws for incorporation, so as to ena- | for public purposes, to carry public carriages? le people at their homes to incorporate themselves; | Why annul the power of the city government to deal and the last, authorizing the Legislature to confer on | with this subject? No, gentiemen; the principle of the Board of Supervisors further powers of local le- | this bill is altogether wrong. It originates in a par- gislation and administration. This idea of local le- | ticular eccasion—it is legislating for special cases, Cees is the great idea of our politica] system; it | which, of all kinds of legislation, is the worst. It is is the foundation of our greatness and security; it | brought forward for iasuilicient cause--proceeds has grown with us; it shows itself in our complex | upon wrong grounds—reverses the whole policy of system of federal, State, county, city, and town au- | the government, and is utterly useless, tending to thorities: and when it dies government will die with | continue the worst evils which exist, by offering of our whole scheme of goverament is | from without that relief which can only be perma- ‘loca! governments for wisdom, cen- | nent when it comes trom within. enticmen, I ots for strength.” You may trace | have thus far argued. and on the supposition that this principle to the earliest colonial settlements, and | the Broadway railroad is an unwise measure, aud the sceds of government there established have | ado) ted on improper grounds; and I think I have spread through the whole country. To show you | shcwn that the Legislature ought not to interfere, how this principle is regarded by intellizent ‘ob- | even on that supposition. I will now proceed, with servers from abroad, I have brought into the com- a that the Broadway railroad is mittce roo volume cf de Toequeville, and will read | ‘§ supposed; but that, on the con- s | trary, wise measure, adopted oa proper six:—'I have already obsery- rounds. I then, in the first place, that the sovereiguty of the peo | Broadway railroad was not an unwise measure, but le political system of the Anglo- | it was an eminently wire one. I shall afterwards page of this book will afford new | consider the terms on which it was granted. A rail- doctrine, In the nations by | road, such as is proposed, is needed. It will relieve which the sovereignty of the people is recognized | the street. 1t will be a most convenient mode of pass- every individual sses an eqnil share of power, | ing {rem one partof the city to the other. 1t will not ici; in the goverumeat of the State. | interfere with the ordinary travel, aud will promote idual is, therefore, supposed to be as well | the settlement ot the upper part of the city. All virtuous, and as strung as auy of his | these positions I shall endeavor to maintain. We He obeys the government, not be- | have the statistics of travel on Broadway, curefally cause he is inferior to the authorities which condact | taken at two different periods—August aud October it, or that he is less capable than his neighbor of gov- | of last year. I will ask your attention to these tables, | erning himself, but because he acknowledges! the | and to the results which they give. They show the of an aseociation with his fellow men, and be- | number of omnibuses, the number of other vehicles, he knows that no snch association can exist | and the number of passengers in the omnibuses, jyass- without a regulating force. If he be a subject in all | ingthe Museum and Caual street—two different points that concerns the mutual relations of ns, he is | on Broadway—for every hour during thirteen guess free, and jonsible to God alone for ull that con- | from seven’ in the morning to eight o’clock in the cerns himself. Hence arises the maxim, that every | evening. It thus appears that 6,373 omnibuses pass one is the best and the sole judge of his own private | the Museum during the thirteen hours, and 9,412 interest, and that society has no right to control a | other vehicles, making a total of 15,415 vehicles in man’s actions, unless they ere prejudicial tothe com- | thirteen hours, giving an average of 1,216 an hour. mon weal, or wuless the common weal demands his | During the hour of fleaviest travel, there are 1,440, co-operation. This doctrine is universally admitted | or from 20 to 24a minute. If we suppose each om- in the United States. I shall hereafter examine the | nibus to have only two horses, and half the other ve- general uence which it exercices on the ordinary | hicles the same, we have during the day 26,909 actions of life; 1am now speaking of the nature of | borses, or 2,069 an hour, and during the hour of municipal bodies. The township, taken asa whole, | heaviest travel 2,424, or 34 to 40 a minute. During the and in relation to the government of the country, | day, therefore, there are 15,515 vehicles and 26,909 may be looked upon as an individual to whom the | bcrses, and during the heaviest hour 1,440 vehicles | theory I independe ave just alluded to is applied. Municipal , and 2,424 horses, being 24 vehiclesand 40 horses every. e is, therefore, a natural consequence of minute. Do you necd more evidence to show that the principle of the sovereignty of the pee le in the | Broadway is overcrowded? You are told that the ics recognize | carriage-way of the street only averages forty feet. | Itis something more, however. From Canal street | on page 252:—“T have already | to Bleecker street the width is forty-five feet ; but | United States; all the American repubi He again peinted out the distinction which is to be made be- | taking either of these averages, you need no other ‘be x J tween a centralized government aud a ce.tralized | statement to show you the condition of this tho- Herkimer with being unable to govern | administration. The former exists in America, but | roughiare. Those of us who live in New York need gentlemen, leave us to ourselves. | the latter is nearly unknown there. If the direc’ ately made will do more to correct | power of the Aterican communities had both tiese | know that Broadway is so jammed, particularly be- abuses than any legislation you could adopt if you were to sit here till July. New York has not come gay what clase of steamers, what kindof smaller | to such misgovernment that we cannot live without | of commanding—if, after having eta special acts of legisiation. Though I do not seck to hide my shame at the exposures made, I will lift up | details of pub Tic, whose convenience alone is to be consulted, | my voice in defence of the character of my owa | the great interests of the country, it would peuetrate | that the condition of Broadway whose voice alone is to be heard, in their manage- | City. I will not admit that it deserves the discredit | into the privacy of individual interest, i There are stili | scon be banished from the New ag | no more thau the evidence of our seuses. We all instruments of goverument at its disposal, and united | low the Museum, that it is unsafe to drive a private the habit of executing its own commands to the right | earriage, and unsafe to cross, except in running. The ished the ze- | condition of this throughiure is such that it cannot nds tothe | be endured longer. I think there is not a man here ot those opposed to the railroad, who will not say lerable. Whea itis now, and consider, further- orld. Batin the | more, what it must syon become at the rapid rate United Staies, the majority which so frequently dis- | the city is growing, you willsay that some change ia the tastes and the propensities of a despot, is | public conveyance is indispensable. The city is in- stitute of the more periect instruments of ty- ing at the rate of probably sixty thousand a * + * * * ‘The townships, municipal | year. About ten thousand persons occupy a sirect and counties, may, therefore, be looked upon | from river to river. We have, then, six strects a year neral principles of government, it di usiness—and if, having regulated eedom would | you consider wi: lawwere down. The great artery of the city is Broadway. of things can possibly last. In a few years Broadway, crowding the street, how many persons are taken over During the hour of high- interfere in these matters. It knows the extent of | est travel 2,508 persons are taken past the Museum up increased resources which the art of goverument | —271 up and 256 down. It is one of the inconve- might furnish. This point deserves attention, for if | niences cf the omnibus system, that while the loaded | particular, to those who hold land on intermediate | themselves confident of succossathome. They come | a democratic republic similar to that of the United | vehicles are moving in one direction, the eompara- streets. They may have as much voice in settling | here and say, ‘‘We are certain we shall succeed; | States were ever founded inacountry where the _ tivel empty ones must come down in the other, to the matters of public conveyances through those streets as other citizens, but they shall not have a | more. | answer, we have others in reserve; we have a suit Our Second avenue, just opened and regulated, for | Teady for the federal courts; we can keep you off for ears, and we have no doubt we shall succeed at * If this be so, what need is there of your inter- | now exists in the absolute monarchies of Europe, For violated rights our courts attord an | or, indeed, than any which could be found on this le remedy, and in matters within the discretion | side of the confines of Asia.” e Common Council the people of New York | have the remedy in their own hands. Gentlemen, Trath obliges | and decentralize, and give to the local communiti just as much power as cy can wellexercise. This | Such is fhe condition of Broadway at present. | ich we must adhere under | What, then, shall be doue? Why, make use of that which the city has paid from two hundred to two | = and : thousand geal ae pea | ground for a portion its length. I am told that the lote were aasessed five or ten dollars for the | of this road, and that the city paid at the | of t rate of one or two hundred; yet, according to the doctrines of these gentlemen, ‘the owners of the lots | Where is the source of all this trouble? hall dictate to the city government how the avenue | me to say it is with those men who come here now shall be paved and how it shall be used. Can any- | t0 ask your ai thing be more unjust? The people of the city of New York have the control over Broadway, and if it be for the public convenience that a railroad should , or vote. If you were to ask one of them to take of- fice ag an alderman be would a aaregt insulted. | ‘ight to nt it—that is for the pubit: How can you expect the affairs o! e cit: = ig Gon ioe Fs Ditbate sutho- | rly ean gede if men of property, sandlog, and isting in that great and beautiful country, for | make use of that invention as well as the country. habita, will not take oflice themselves, nor help other honest and capable men to ret it? I ven- | gone the opposite of decentralization. Everything is be laid there, the adjoining proprietors have no Rs to decit Gentlemen, how many owners of estate do you suppose there are in the eity of | New York? 1am informed bya person who ought to know that there are from twenty to twenty-five | ture to say, that if you were to dissolve the Common 4. How many inhabitant are there? About | Council to-morrow, and order a new election next \ ( y week, not one out of two of the men who come here | of centralization that ever existed, and the despot- | cars nct cxceeding forty-five feet in length, with the ‘thouran: six hundred thousand. So that there is one landlord | to twenty-four tenants. Which shall govern, the landlords or the tenanta? | gure we are that we shall triumph in the courts.” And they add, “If the suits already begun will not | and the effects of a centralized administration had | Broadway can now move up only 2,403 persons in , but who, at the time of elections, and when the primary meetings assemble, stay at home, too busy, too indolent, or too proud to attend part from it under any exigency or clamor. This | the car moving on it. It appears to me that the | to ask for this bill would and not one of them woul p Shall this twenty-five thousand dictate what kind of | Common Council. And, if they think such an office Timary meeting, | : . take office in the new | Not only is decentralization the spirit of the conati- | who bas made an affidavit—which 1 have laid before power of a single individual had previously subsisted, | supply their places. The whole omnibus force on sunk deep into the habits and the lawsof the people, | an hour.’ In teu years the number of persons who | 1 do not hesitate to assert that in that countrya more | will want to go up Broadway will be ten or fifteen inenfferable despotism would prevail than any which | thousand, How will Late be taken? Will some | gentleman tell me how? I submit that it is not pos- | sible with the present mode of conveyance to accom- | modate the travel, present and future, on Broadway. No man who knows anything of our tendencies but | No mode can be devised by human ingenuity to make must come to the same conclusion. We must go on | the crmmibuses efficient tor this travel. They have | done their utmost—their day is past. 1s the greut principle to w! all circumstances, and never suffer ourselves to de- | great invention of modern science—the iron rail, and petere, eae extent, operates in England, but | thing is perfectly simple. It Gr a result to to a less extent here. In France, the contrary | which we must inevitably come. It is impossible to principle prevails, and most of the troubles ex- | avoid it. There is no reason why cities should not the last fifty years may be traced to it. They have | The city is the place of all others where we should | have this improvement, so far as capacity and ease made to centralize in the capital. The prevailing | of motion ave concerned. The Broadway railroad, system of administration is the most perfect machine | as authorized by the Common Council, may have ism under which they now suffer is the fruit of it. | horses attached. Mr. Edwin Smith, the engimeer, tution, but the practice of the Legislature under it, | you—states that within these limits “cars can be 80 public conveyance the six hundred thousand are to | beneath them, how do theythink to get other proper | What have you done? You have passed as many | Constructed as to carry forty passengers inside, and use? This, I presume, cannot be maintained in reason . But,gentlemen, ought the Legislature of | is plain. The resolution of the Common Couneil, re- | tions; and when you now grant a private charter, | cars can be drawn by two horses. k ee Erte mens Eaten Sones the Broadway Railroad, is a mere license— | it is common to decmare in the preamble that the ob- | wy calculation a car of leas capacity—eay sufficient to a license revokable at the will of the Common Coun- | ject could not be attained under any general law. | carry sixty passengers—and suow you the reault. if | You have pasred an act vesting certain legislative ‘¢ has been considerable discussion before the | powers in the Boards of Supervisors, giving them the | seven cars up will take the 2,503 passengers now New York to interfere in the matter between the cor- poration of New York and the owners of property on Broadway, i ry by this bill? Why Ms they interfere? e only ground alleged is that the | ould | cil. men to take it? The course for these gentlemen to take | general laws as you could with respect to corpora- | forty on the top, without risk orinconvenieace, which * 1 will take for | you will take cars carrying sixty passengers, forty- Common Council is so corrupt as no longer to be a | courts whether the grant of the railway be in form | power to divide towns, and to erect new towas. | taken by the omnibuses, and fourteen dowa will take safe depository of the power to regulate the strecta. | ‘This argument proves too much. If the Common a6 well as in fact, a mere revocable license; it was Council of the cityof New York be not a safe de- | maintained, on the otherside, that it is a contract. pository of power, then, instead of limiting our | But I will now show that, whether it bein forma | late the whole mater for themselves. By tue operations to bills respecting railroads, you ought to | contract or not, the Common Council can revoke it | general railroad law of 1850, you authorize the take from it all power. There are other interests of | whenever the immense importance over which the corporate autho- | rities are still to retain control. Why do yon not take these away? This is not proposed. But, gen- flemen, what are the facts? Far be it from me to te any misconduct proved, or charged, on evi- agaist the public authorities of New York. I have read with pain and mortification the ex- made by the Grand sary and I can only at when the time comes for trial the charges be disproved. I feel as every citizen ought to | , that if the individuals indicted are guilty of the | i orimes char; them, they deserve severest | Peninhmen and hope and believe they will re- ceive it. That is all I can say. But because the | an, page 534) : Grand Jury haa charged npon certain individuals of the corporation corrupt misconduct, do you infer that we have fallen into total misgoverament?. What is this presentment, and what are the facta? Two of ‘the Aldermen are indicted for bribery, and the Grand Jury state that immense sums have been paid for procuring certain railread inta. What railroad eel The Grand Jury could not inquire farther, certain persons [eft the city who were sub- peeaned to attend before them. Whiat persons left the It has been stated, aa the result of a conversa- tion with the foreman of the Grand Jury, and I be- | Keve truly stated, that there was not a particle of | evidence before them in respect to the Broadway | Railroad. If there is anybody here who knows any: | please, and, if the rails be | formation of railroad corporations anywhere in the what- | State, and the construction of railways in the streets | and twenty-seven ompibues, we put on the street ever agreement the corporat the scope of their le; may revoke at pleasure, because their legislative au- thority is always paramount to their engagements. There are several cases on this point; one is the Bric Church case. There the corporation made a cove- | their road across, along, or upon any stream of water, | with 122 horses. The saving, then, during the nant with the church that it should have a certain : ece of ground, and permission to use it as acemetery. | or canal, which the route of ite road shall intersect | 6,068 velicles. But it may be said that the car is | or touch; but the ea reey shall restore tle stream | larger then the omnibus, and that this, therefore, is f lative or political p , they | Any number of persons, not less than twenty-tive, | horses take an o1 ‘he corporation afterwards passed an ordinance pro- hibiting interments, and the question was whether the ordinance revoked the covenant. Chief Justice Say- age delivered judgment in the case. He said, (5 Cow- “ The defendants are @ corporation, and in that capacity are authorized by their charter, | shall not be deemed to anthorize the constr and convey rea! | any railroad not already located in, upon, duals. They are i | impaired ita nvefulness,” with 9 proviso ‘that this | cars end their borses, with Wat occupied by Ul and by law, to purchase and hold estate, in the same manner as in considered a person in Jaw, within the scope of the’ 8, and are subject to the same liabili- ties, and entitled to the same remedies for the violation of contracts, as natural L clothed, as well by their c' statutes of the State, with legislative power: the capacity of a local legisi: charged with the care of the public public health within their own taining their rights and liabi or as an individaal, we must not consider their legis- had no power, asa party, | Poration of such city, } shall be jaid in the streets or not; and, s harter as by subsequent | | Now, they ask you to jar er- | repe ities aaa corporation, | of thems lative character. thing to the contrary, | should like to have him state it. The Eighth Avenne Railroad is par- ticularly mentioned in the prosentment, and that is saved by this bill. The last section | declared that “nothing in this act contained shall be considered to apply to any railroad track or | —_ ge ‘tee = g a eee | curred, that of Britton against the Corporation. limits of city. at sort of legislation | againtt corruption i hin of We sre told that | streets, and the Common Council afterwards rescind- taxation has increase all proportion to the | ed it. lation and needa of the city. And so it las. | delivering the oj is New York the only place where it lus so in- | tion had the rig! i ereased; and has the increase latterly been greater | rights and privileges thus granted, (the charter and | grants in New York, Brooklyn, Syracnse, Utica, and , abou than in any time preceding’ I have before ime the | statutes,) are altogether distinct and different from these with which the defendants are invested, under } charter, as a municipal body. The latter class pagemment of the affairs of these cities; Ifthe local you bave a distance of more 469 ioet frum toe ler's late re very valnable doen- | Sorat Dons whloh I'yil fead que or two passages. 4h¢ ch should. control or embar- | rass their legislative powersand daties. Theirenact- | sinieter influences which would otherwise he dix | will unt feel ‘i Therefore, the rails are not an mente, in their legislative capacity, are to have the same effect upon their individual acts as upon those | raona, or the public at large, and no Another stronger case has since oc A | would be the condition of things at Albany if the | Biow contract had been made with him for cleaning the | people of all those places had to come here to get ficient to make a contract w! of any other pel He sued for damages. Chief Justice Nelson, pinion of the court, that the corpora- nt to revoke the contract, says, “The We have maintained that it is, inform | Among your gencral laws is an act on the | the $22 who go down. ‘The arrangement of these very subj to which this bill relates, and | grantees is to have @ depot at the foot of Broadway, by ‘that you leave it to the localities to regu- | tu keep their cars during the hours of slack travel, 59 that they can have a eullicient number there to bring passengers up, without sendiog down empty cais, ere is relief for Broadway. 1a place of five hundced - of cities, with the consent of the city autuorities, | sixty-one cars. Two horses take a car, and two ibus. The 527 omnibuases, there may incorporate themeelves; and the act, among | foee, require 1,054 horses to draw them, whereas the other things, provides that every corporation | 61 cars only take 122 horses. Therefore, you sub- formed under the act, shall have power ‘‘te construct | stitute for 527 omnibuses, with 1,054 horses, 61 cars, water course, street, highway, plank road, turmpike, | thirteen hours of travel, will be 12,116 hor-es, and or water course, street, highway, plank road and | no Jair calculation. So it is; but let us compare their | turnpike thus intersected or touched, to its former | capacity. I have made acareful calculation, and tuia state, orto such state as not unnecessarily to have | is the result: Compuring the space taken “4 henlag he & Bi: on of | ombibures, the aimount of »puce saved in Broadway, across | in an hour, is 40,602 square feet, or mora thin 100 square feet ng the thirteen hours. This present relief adway. But go on to the future. A cal on, made i the sa, | willehow you that the same amount of sp: t | taken by the omnibuses and horses will s carry the curs we propore, with three times Ler of passengers. Iti d, howeve any street in any city, without the assent of the cor- You affirm by tlils law two things—firs ‘, the right of the city corporations to determine the interference of the Le. they ask you to take t ok, and 3 willintertere with the ordinary travel of 80 far as this law is applicable to ci! Let un see. In the first plice, the iron 1, for the cities are not capable of | ral wili not, because the resolution res it to be es, In the third place, gentlemen, f say | laid de with the paveimeut, and with a groove that interference on your part, @% propoved by tila | pt exceeding en inch yi width; conseqoently, no bill, is inexpedient, because, until you passa new | wheel or foot can get into tue groove, and, geo general law, you transfer to Albany all the local and | even with the pavement, a carriage passing the rails persed through several counties. This bill appliesas | impediment, and, if there be avy impediment, well to Buffalo, to Albany, to Syracure, to Utiva, to | it must arise ont of the cars, ‘It has been Brooklyn, as it’ does to New York. Pass it, aad you | said—und will be repented bere—that the cars stop all railroad enterprives in those cities. Waat | will make a continuous line of wall from one eat of vay to the other. Facts aud figures are a saf- erto that, Sixty-one cars an hour would their railroad grants passed? As it is, you have tone a minute, and the average velocity business enough to do. [4 not general Jezisiation | we suppose to be six miles an hour. Whatis the re- quite as mnch as yon can attend to? Would you sult? ‘There are 5,280 feet in a mile, and therefore like to be troubled with applications for railroad the cars, if they move with equable speed, will be 628 feet apart from the centre of the train to Albany? Even if you would, could you judge ag | cectre. Taking the measure of 45 feet to be the wisely about them as those who have the local ma- | length of the train, deducting that from 62s, and The next consideration, of very weight ang. 4 mn who has the intereot et 1 New York at heart, is the facility which the Broegwag railroad will give to the settlement of the up; of the eity. ‘The form of ovr island is such that, the business be- ing done in the lower part of the city, competition is created between the upper parts of the island and the adjacent towns and villages. ‘Traffic is chiefly car- ried on in the small triangle at the lower end of the island. The business being there, the object of every business man is to have it as accessible—as near to his place of business—as he can. If you do not give hin access to the upper portion of the city as easy as itis to Brooklyn, Jersey City, Williamsburg, or Staten Island, he will go to one of these places in preference. Therefore, it is of great importance to New York to Keep these people on the island. Already Brooklyn has more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, many of whom are ina it degree supported by the business of New York. So with Williamsburg, and so with Jersey City. If we could have kept on the island all the people whose place of business is here, we should have increased our populace by more than a hundred thousand. It is, therefore, a great question for New York so to arrange the ave- Dues and modes of transport on our own island as to prevent people from going to the adjacent towns; and there is no mode of doing this except by having _ Tailroads along the island. The = proposed by ny clients is to have a trunk line of railroad along the reat central ridge of the island, and to intersect it y means of transverse lines of omnibuses every four or five streets, from river to river. The consequence of this would be that every person on the sett pars of the island would be within two or three blocks of @ public conveyance. Therefore, the establishment of some such system was of the greatest importance to the growth of the city, to the increase of taxable property, and consequently to the lessening of taxes. ie Broadway railway may be postponed, obstacles intervene; we may have a great deal of difficulty in carrying the measure into effect; but I think it re- wires no prophet to foresee that, sooner or later, there will be a railroad on Broadway, as on every other avenue of our city. Delegations of gentlemen may come to Albany this year, and, if they succeed, may come again next year, and the year after; but, sooner or later, we must have a railroad in Broad- way, because it is alaw of ourcondition. Every year you postpone it retards our prosperity; but come it will, aud come it must. The form of our island is pe- culiar—its advantages such as_no where else can be found, I think, on the face of the globe. No capital | approaches it in the natural superiority of its situa- tion. The place of all others most like it is Constan- tinople, with the Golden Horn on one side, and the | Sea of Marmora on the other; but yet its commercial advantages of position are mot equal to those of New York. Here is a narrow island, encompassed with tide water deep enough to bear the largest ships at | any of its banks. Nature herself has pointed out | | ifthe aseumption had been well founded, it would what you are to do to make the most of your advan- tages. You are to have means of communication from river to river, and between the upper aad lower | parts ef the island, as ample, as easy, and as rapid as possible. Having gone through t part of my argument, and shown, as I think, that a railroad in Broadway is a wise measure, I proceed to the next questiqn, which is, whether this particular grant or license was a proper one to be made. I will not stop to dwell on the inconsistencies of the gentlemen who oppose the railway, and who came here clumorous for this bill. ‘They tell you that a railroad in Broad- | way is utterly impracticable; “that the cars would forma a line of wall which nobody could get through; | would stop the passage of all carriages—a railway could net exist; itis an absurdity; you cannot crowd { into that street any more persons, any more vehicles.” | | In the same breath they commence enlarging upon the enormous profits of ‘this road; they tell you “it is worth ten millionsof dollars; there would be thirt; millions of people travelling on it in the year; it | would be an enormous fortune to any persons having it.” Does it not occur to these gentlemen that the road can be profitable only because of its being a reat convenience? I want no better argument in favor of the enormous benefit it will be to the peo- ple of New York, than what these gentlemen, say | as to its profits. This is not the only inconsistency. The positions of the gentlemen on the other sice, are these: the Common Council is as bad as can be, be- | cause they did not give the road to us, and the road is as bad as it can be—so bad that no Common Coun- cil ought to give it to anybody. Now, gentlemen, I proceed to show that this grant was made to my clients in good faith, and in the pro- per exercise of the discretion of the Common Coun- cil—that is to say, that with all the offers before them, no prudent Common Council, desiring the road to Le made, anxious for it, in earnest about it, would have given it to the other applicants in preference to my clients. In the first place, every one of these ap- plications for the grant was from some opponent of | the road from the start. Itisa eagoe fact, that | there is not a single application which does not con- | tuin upon it the name of a person who appearea be- tore the Common Council, in utter, open, continuous | hostility to any voad at all. Therefore it is’ that we | say that not one of these applications was in good | faith. I donot mean by this, that the applicants | would not keep their engagements. Of course they would, so fur as they were legally bound to do s0; but they did not apply for the grant hoping to make | the road and wishing it to be built. In their hands | it would be subjected to all sorts of delays and em- barrassments, it not defeated; and it would certain); be defeated, if any legal reason could be found for ii It is undeniable, that there was an understanding among several of them that the project was to be killed by an injunction, collusively procured. Their conduct here is proof enough of their intentions, if there were no other. Why do they come here? Is it to get the rond themselves? Do they want you to | pass a law to compel the Common Council to give the grant over again? No. They want you to pasa a law prohibiting any railroad on Broadway, without the consent of the landlords. And are these the hands into which you would have committed the construc- tion of this great work, if you really wished it made? Now, gentlemen, as to the terms: I will suppose now that all these gentlemen were equally desirous to have the road buiit—that they were all in good faith, as applicants for the grant. What terms should the Common Council have taken? The terms we offered, or the terms they offered? Now, I ask your attention to this for a few moments, because it isa | point on which the opponents of the road have been most carnest and most sanguine. There were six offers made on the other side. The best of the offers was one to give the city a hundred thousand dollars a year, for ten years, and to take passengers at three cents fare. The other was to have our names strick- en out of the resolution, and theirs inserted, with three cents fare. These offers I will compare with ours. First, as to the offer of a hundred thousand dollars a year to the city government, and three cents fare: That offer did not propose to submit to the terms imposed by our grant. One of these terms is, that we clean the s'reet and off all the dirt every morning, before nine o'clock in winter and eight o'clock in summer; another is, that we have an attendant at all the crossings in the crowded parts of the city, to help passengers in and out of the cars. ccording to an affidavit of the present Superintendent of Streets, a compliance with these two conditions will cost my clients $141,705 a year. They are allowed to charge only five cents fare for taking passengers from one part of the city to any other part on such combined system of railroad and omnibus routes as might be ‘adopted. Now, my clients were required before they received the grant from the Common Council, to buy out six lines of omnibuses, at an expense of four hundred ond fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of stables, which will cost fifty thousand dollars more. (Counsel read the affidavits of Messrs. Sharp & O’Sul- livan as to this point, and continued.) Now, let us see how the matter stands, Mr. Davies we will sup- pose to be the applicant for this grant, at a hundred thousand dollars a year to the city, and three cents fare. If he had obtained the graut he would have paid a hundred thousand a year, which, at the end of ten years, would, with interest at seven per cent, have eiuounted to $1,315,000. And that isjall he would have paid. My clients pay $141,708 a year for com- plying with these terms and conditions, which would mike in ten years a sum of $1,863,400. They pay, therefore, $548,400 more in ten years than Mr. Davies would have paid, saying nothing about the omni- buses. If you add to this the expense of the omni- buses, for which they give half a million of dollars, that would amount, in ten years, with interest, to eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And all they get for that sum is the omnibuses and horaes. What are they worth to them? The principal valae of an omnibus line in New York is its running in Broedway; take the lime out of Broadway, and it falls in your hands. Our opnenee admit that three cents fare on the line of railroad alone is reasonable. ‘This makes my clients run the croas lines of omni- buses for two cents. They are compelled virtually to do this. The + xezolution, as originally arene by the committee of the Aldermen, provided that the gran- tees should be compelled to establish the transverse line of ommibuses, at a charge for the whole Coa i ance by rail and omnibus of five cents. But thi clauee was stricken out of the resolution, because the | Mayor having the power of licensing, it was sup- pored that this would be an eneroachment on his nower. But what did the Common Council do? Whey required my chents first to buy the omnibuses, and thus give a pledge of half a. million of dollars that they would make these lines, as otherwise these omnibures and horses would be lal valueless, Adding $960,000 to the $548,000, would make, in the ten years, $1,398,400 to be paid by my clients, | nwre than Mr. Davies would have paid under the terms proposed by him. But he said he would carry for three cent:—my client for five. Llow was this? He was to charge three cents on the line of railroad. He was not to do anything more than that—to charge three cents fare, and have no omnibuses. My clients have the omnibuses, and must ran them. hat is the consequence? Mr. Davies makes a caleulation that thirty millions of people will travel in the rail- roud in one year, That is an exaggerated esti- mute; but taking that statement as correct, we will euppore haif of them to live off from the line of Broadway, and to take an ompibua one way or the other, Suppose they do so ander Mr. Davies’ offer, what will be the con ence? They pay three | i | | | j | | | | y least ive cents, for no detached omni be supported at less thanthat. Then people who go on the railroad would have to eight cents under that offer, while Shay mond re to pay five under my clients’; and if you suppose that pe k two lines of counibosea, they woul ve to thirteen cents. Su @ passenger, at the foot oi Twenty-third stree! Pradson river, de- sires to go to the foot of Grand street, East river, he ‘would have to pay five cents omnibus fare to Broad- way, three cents on the railroad to Grand street, and then five cents more in the omnibus to the East river—that is, it would cost him thirteen cents to cross the city in that way. Now, my elients are obliged to tuke passengers all that ce for only five cents. You see that the benefit to the travelling public, on Mr. Davies’ calculation, would be a hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars a year more under my clients’ grant than under that which Mr. Davies’ sought. But what is the benefit to the city com- comparing the benefit of their plan and Mr. Davies’ pe ? He takes a passenger up and down Broadway;. e carries nobody except onthe line of Broadway; does nothing for the ee'tlement of the upper wards, except so far as to take Dameligney from and to chance omnibus lines; whereas, the system of my clients peoples the upper wards rapidly, and increasea- the taxable property immensely. It seems to ma impossible to be doubted that a prudent % desirous to promote the settlement of the city, the increase of its wealth, and the augmentatien of ite pores would consider it better for the city to make his grant to my clients than give it to Mr. Davies. ‘Then there is the other offer, which I shall consider. That is, the offer to be substituted for my clients in the resolution with the three cente fare. But they did not offer to be substituted for my clients in the omnibus contract. They ask to be in the resolution—that is all; which resolution, they say, would not bind them to take these transverse omni- buses, for which my clients gave the pledge ef half a million of dollars, aud were required to give it before the committee of the Common Couneil would give the grant, and they so stated in their ropord to the Board of Aldermen on the subject. The advantage to- the city of scorpnne my clients’ offers, in preference to this is, that this plan would have given the city just what ours gives, but it would not have given the travelling 1 Pablo the advantage ef connected transverse omnibuses, and of using them all—rail- road and omnibuses—forpfive cents; it would have sub- teen cents fare. My clients give the travelling pub- lic this advantage, and the city the additional advan- tage of increasing the settlement of the w wards. I have thus, gentlemer, gone over the duier. ent parts of this case. I have endeavored to show, and I trust I have shown, that the assumptionon which this Dill was introduced has no foundation in fact, That, however, is the least im eae ee of the case here, for I hold it to be incontestible t, jected half of them to the Pare t of eight or thir- not justify this bill; and I insist that it is an unwise and unnecessary interference with local affairs, and that you cannot pass it without a departure fronmy your settled and ancient policy. Our Bermuda Correspondence. Hawitron, Beruupa, Feb. 18, 1853. Movements of the British Government. Vice-Admiral Sir George F. Seymour, the Naval Commander-in-chief, arrived here on Wednesday last, from Jamaica, in the steam frigate Highflyer, Capt. Heathcote. The Cumberland (flag ship) had left Jamaica for Havana, and is expected here im about a fortnight. H. M. surveying vessel Scorpion | isexpected here from St. Thomas, en route for England. I am glad tobe able to announce that the Highflyer brings us information of the entire disappearance of fever from the ships of the West | India squadron; which is described as having | been of a type very severe, and setting at defiance the best efforts of the ablest medical men. The arrival of the ee contradieta the report that reached you from Cuba,that she had been blow up at Jamaica, with the loss of 400 lives. She ig a splendid frigate rigged vessel, with a roneliee and ‘3 this ing has but lately arrived on the station, her first visit to Bermuda. The Heron family, which have been lately per- forming, and have met with a good deal of success here, left in the Petrel, on w tour through the West India Islands, x. Spirit Banking—Letter of Ira B. Eddy. The Chicago Democrat publishes the follo strange communication from Mr. Eddy, giving wl he calls “ a short history of the Bank of Chicago.’? There appears to be some little ‘‘ method in bis mad- ness.” Mr. E. writes :— A few weeks before the bank opened, Seth Paine met me, and out of curiosity, I sounded him to find out wherein he was insane, as people said he was. L found him a maniac onl: ayn banking as I was up- on spiritualism. I invited him to attend our circles, which he did, probably supposing it the best way ta get my assistance. I scon obtained him as a me- ium. He then offered me the presidency of his bank, if I would take twenty thousand dollars stock, and give my notes. I refused to give my notes, but in due time accepted the office, when I could use the bank to my own purposes; and soon called around me my own true friends, dismissing all of Pane’s friends, except John $. Holmes, and he did not he ee mE CEE a young = yet. 4 in inking I despif, and do des] it as de; the whole man. With Seth Paine and his Christine banker, we soon showed this community the rotten- ness of all the banks of this city. The bend stock banks were so only as far as they were based upon bankrupt stocks, “But Imean that the general prin- ciple of banking is rotten to the core. We soon re- duced our circulation down toa very low amount. I then took the stand, the time having arrived, assisted. by a handful of women and their husbands, as door- keepers, to give the inhabitants of this cit; itive roof of the actual truth of spiritual manife le in a manner they could not say it was all humbug, but verily and cad Simon Pure. For three dayute succession we gathered together the seekers after signs, many of them armed with dirks and other weapons, and we lashed them up to the utmost fury by a few truths now aud then, and when the police, armed by the law, could or did do nothing with the vast multitude, we, with a few women, my wife among the rest, held the whole mob spell-bound for the three whole days. Nota hairof our heads was harmed, nor did we suffer one dollar’s damage to our bank or property. I then changed my plans, r ‘thig community, who are so eager for money, our bank and out at the back door, notes held by the poor laboring man and all women, and giving all others exchanges onour Soteal pia; cipals, for near two days. When the bank Piped oo formed its spiritual mission, we suffered the ta close its doors. This bank was conducted by me wholly for this end. I believe that I have ever been known to this people as an honest man, only a little deluded by spiritualism, but I just “aint.” I now say, that every honest man, and all, shall receive the utmost farthing for our bills of the Bank of Chicago. We are also fighting for woman’s rights, and could not have lashed up this community as we have done, withont the assistance of women in our bank, and standing nobly as they did at our counter. God bless them, and give them their rights very soon. T advixe honest men not to part with our bills ex- cept to give them out to the women, for we shall soon pay for all sueh in full. I desire all be men to reflect upon what I say, and learn some truths—sad only for the real crazy men engaged im this strife against spiritualism, and for a few paltry dollars. The war has been carried on by those only who are bereft of all reason, and they have also learnt that banking can be and is carried on without any security save generous confidence. We have se done it, and others are so doing it in your city. The bubble must burst, and then you will see who is crazy in sustaining rotten banks and rotten bankers. Tea B. Eppy. Court of Gencral Sessions. COMMENCEMENT OF THE MARCH TRRM—THB CALENDAR. Before Judge Beebe and Aldermen Pearsall and Cornet. Mancn 7.——The calendar for the present term does not prerent any very grievous new eases for disposal. Thera are ten prisoners remaining for trial, and one for sentence, from last term. Of these, one is Patriok Fitzgerald, for the murder of his wife, whose ease has been transmitted for trial to the Court of bed and Terminer, and two. women indicted for manslauhtger or infanticide. The new cases are fifty-two in number, the offences being—Attempt to kill, 1; trempt to commit rape, 2; robbery, 5; burglary, 12;’ embezzlement, 1; false pro- tences, $. grand larceny, 36; ineiting to a felony, 1; gam- Dling, 1. Total ax above, 52, THR GRAND JURY. The following gentlemen were sworn on the Grand Jury —James B. Nicholson, foreman; John Bolus, Chi Ht Colliday, Patrick Dolan, Ieaac Edwards, Jonathan Fleet, Ruseell E. Glover, Jnmea Gallagher, Charles Gi non, John J. Hollister, John G. Kipp, Anthony MoCrodia, Kdward EH. lume, James Smith, George Soarff, Stephem Van Nostrand, Cliarles G. Waterbury, and ‘Fernando JUDGE'S CHARGE—INVESTIGATION INTO THE OHARGES AGAINTT Fre. Judge Becbe, in briefly charging the Grand Jury, allu- ded to the proceedings had before the last one. They had, he said, suggested that the kecorder, in his capacity as @ magistrate, should himself, with the District Attorney, pursue the Investigation which they had commenced, and this the Recorder had consented to do; consequently there was no action called for on their part. If, however, the Recorder neglected, or refused to follow up the in- quiry, it would still be competent to them to proceed with tr. Hin Hovor also explained the various degrees of crime they would be called upon to inquire into; and with reference to the present calendar, congratulated;them om the diminution of personal violenag, which it exhibited, ané the small number of crimer*of the graver kind. With the ordinary admonitions required to be given by atatute, ns to lotteries, election, and usury laws, they were dismissed to their duties. ‘THE CAPR OF THE WITNESS BYRNE. Aldermen Bri-ley and Doherty, who were on the bench on the former occasion, were In atiendance to pro- ceed with the care of Mr. Byrne, who, it will be recollect- €d, refured {o anawer certain questions before the last Grand Jury. By arranger:ent between the Court and the District Aitorney, the matter was further postponed an- til next Saturday—argument day. ‘and the court adjowrne The Petit Jury were diseharg sents 9m tag Wunk ling of sallsond, 90d Am cmaBihA © $4 till bo-morrey (Trendry) morning.