The New York Herald Newspaper, May 1, 1867, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT PROPRIETOR. AMES GORDON BENNETT, JR, MANAGER. BROADW AY AND ANN (STREET. Ne. 121 “AMUSEMENTS Us AFTERNOON AND EVENING, BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway, near Broome street, —Tux SHAMNOCK GERMAN STADT THEATRE, 45 and 47 Bowery.— Tux Muucuant oF VENICE. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—A Nosue Revexas; ox, Nigut axp Moasinc—Tax O'F Lauentys. —Mr. axp Mrs. Howarp IRVING HALL, Irving pia 4 Ts In CosTuME. Pave's GRanp Farewett Con STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street and Fourth ave- nue—Mx. F. SCHLOTTER's LECTURE AND CONCERT. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 586 Broadway, opposite the Metropolitan Hotel—In ruxin Eraiorian ENTaRTAIN- MENTS, SINGING, Dancing axD BuRLesques.—Tue BLACK Coox—Tux Firma Soups. KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 729 Broadway, oppo sitethe New York Hotel.—Iv taste Songs, Dances, Ecorx- rricitixs, BURLESQUE, Ao. DER-LBON—MADAGASCAR Bast Trours—On! Husn! FIFTH AVENUE OPERA Lis Nos. 2and 4 tal ‘Twenty-fourth street.—Gairrin & Cunisry’s Muvstee Eroriax Muastnncar: Bateaa, Bumuxsaves, ee Tue Brace Croox—Tus Two GENTLEME GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. woe Perens OPERA ERA HOUSE, am mene. ee INSTRELSY, BURLESQUES, Batter Diver Tumwurr,2c-—Tie FORTE FaMaus 40k SHRPPAKDS Matinee at 24g o'Clock. CHARLEY WHITE'S COMBINATION TROUPE, at Mechanics’ Hall, 4% Broadway—In 4 Vantery or Ligne Pd LavGnasis EnNtkRtauMxnts.—Tue Staxets or New ‘ORK. HOOLEY’S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—Erutortas Mix- erreisy, Bartaps and BuRLEsques.—Suavow Pantouiun. BROOKLYN ATHANEUM.—Proresson Hanrz's Mina- cies. Matinee at Two o'Clock. THE BUNYAN Kerth) Union Hall. corner of Twenty-third street and Broadway, at &—Movinc Mine don Gr eur, Tinomin's Pocnass—overe MAGnirioer Scenes, Matinee Wednesday and Saturday at 23 o'clock. NEW xoaE: leony em her apamOny, 618 Broadway.— Hrap axp Rigsr Pronst—Tnk Wasnincton ‘Twins—Wonvers 1 Narowat History, Science ND ART. Lxcrunxs Daicy. Open from 8 A.M. Lill 10P. M. NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1867.—TRIPLE SHEET. thing unchanged, Cotton was less active, and 130, lower, Coffee was quiet, On Change flour and wheat were decidedly higher, corn closed firm, and oats were steady ; pork was scarcely so firm, beef was firmer, while lard was heavy; whiskey was dull and nominal, freights were quiet, naval stores were moderately active, petro- leum was dull and depressed and wool continued heavy, MISCELLANEOUS. “e The details of the news from Mexico received in Havana by the Spanish steamer Puerto Rico, from Vera Cruz April 16, add nothing to what has been already given except a fow contradictory reports about the recapture of Puebla and the presence of foreigners among the lib- erals. It was, however, asserted on pretty good authority that active operations against Vera Cruz were somewhat slackened after a conference that was held between Gen- eral Garcia (liberal) and the American Consu!, E Saulnier, accompanied by Don Miguel Carran, a leading citizen of the beleaguered city, The result of this ull in hostil- ities was a general emigration of all who were desirous of leaving the country, Such seemed to be the main desire of the sympathisers with the empire to be allowed peace- ably to depart, since their lives could not be guaranteed im any other event, Sefior Degollado and young Itur- bide were among the number that lately arrived in Havana, By advices to the 8th instant from Carécas, Venesuela, ‘we learn that the committee of the Venezuelan Congress to whom was referred the matter of ing up a new tariff have been aided in their labors by business men there, and that the bill they expect to report will reduce the export dues to about one-half, The news from the different States of the republic was satisfactoryr Encouraging reports of the success of gold miners in Guayana were published ; it appears that numbers of the successful prospectors were {rom New Orleans. By way of Havana we have reports from the other ‘West India islands, but the news bas been anticipated in all its main points by our regular files a} this port. At Porto Rico am American corm any, which was about establishing a regular steam line in communication with St. Johns, was to commence running its steamers shortly, having secured three good boats. Machinery for boring tor oil in Barbadoes had arrived at George- town from Philadelphia, Tho laborers were working cheerfully throughout the island, and the weather ad- mitted of no delay. Reports from British Honduras, of a later date re- ceived in Jamaica, speak of fresh disturbances having occurred there. The Governor of Jamaica had in con- sequence given orders to Colonel Hunt, the militia aid; Mr. Archer, deputy commandant general; Lieutenant Hopkins and Ensign Crockenden, to proceed imme- diately to Ruatan. But itis not stated whethor any additional English troops were to be sent. Despatches from the seat of war on the plaios report that Horseshoe ste :ion had been surrounded by Indians, and fighting was going on. A telegraph supply train was attacked near Laramie on the 21st, and the stock was driven off, Work on the telegraph lines 1s consequently suspended until an escort can be furnished the work- TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Wednesday, May 7 1867, REMOVAL. The New Yorx Heratp establishment is now located in the new Hrratp Building, corner of Broadway and Ann street. NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. en. fa Senator Wilson spoke in Raleigh, N. C., on Monday ‘and again yesterday. He was followed by a colored man who proposes to represent the Raleigh district in Congress, and who said that he did not wish to get any closer socially with the whites, The audiences were composed almost entirely of blacks, the white people generally being police but indifferent. The war of the racos in Richmond on the stroet car Advertisers will please bear in mind that in order to have their advertisements properly classi- fied they should be sent in before haif-past eight o'clock in the evening. EUROPE. Tho news report by the Atlantic cable is dated yester- day ovening, April 30, Lord Stanley, Foreign Secretary of England, an- nounced in the House of Commons that France and Prussia had accepted a proposition for a Peace Congress, and expressed bis opinion that the Luxemburg difficulty would be settled in a satisfactory manner, King Wil- liam opened the session of the Prussian Diet with ‘a speech from the throne. He was completely silent om the subject of Luxemburg, a fact which produced some ‘uneasiness when reported in Paris. France is disarming. An imperial order directs the Cessation of the military preparations throughout the empire. The King of Prussia told the Parliament that the ‘unity of Germany “‘was an assurance of the peace of Europe.” Belgium is augmenting her military establishment and about to raise a money loan, Consols closed at 9114, for money, 1n London. United States five-twenties were at 714¢ in London, 76% in Frankfort and 80in Paris, French rentes were at 67f. 60 centimes. The Liverpool cotton market was easier and not so firm, with middling uplands at 11%, Breadstuffs firm. Provisions quiet. By mail we have very interesting details of our cable despatches to the evening of the 18th of April King William of Prussia adjourned the session of the North German Parliament with a speech from the throne, which we publish. The scene in the Chamber was quite animating, and the King was received with loud cheers as the “Protector of the German Bund.’’ His Majesty lauded the labors of the members for the maturing of the new constitution and the consolidation of Germany. Daring the negotiations fora solution of the Luxem- burg question by peaceful means, and anterior to the acceptance of the Congress, it was asserted that Prussia, “in her wecessity to become a maritime Power,’ had determined to absorb by some means the entire king- dom of Holland to Germany, Frenchmen from the Provinces bad, it was alleged, memorialized Napoleon for war. ‘The St. Petersburg journals of the 17th of April in- clined against the Prussian position on the Luxemburg question, ‘The high treason indictments charged against the Fenians on trial in Ireland appear in our columns, with a list of the names of the prominent informers from America who are to be used in behalf of the British Crown, It will be seen that political acts done in the ‘United States by American citizens were made portions of the counts by the Attorney General when framing the indictment. THE CITY. ‘The Board of Aldermen met in special session yester- day. Avresolution authorizing and directing the Mayor to employ legal aid im bringing to a decision before the Supreme Court the controversy between the municipal authorities and the Police Commissioners rolativo to the granting of licenses, was adopted. A resolution calling for an extension of Fifth avenue tothe Battery was referred to a special committee, ‘The Inspector of Excise was busy all day yesterday issuing new licenses, those of 1866 being withdrawn. ‘The sum total received for licenses during Monday and ‘Tuesday amounted to $140, 000. inaaructed the stroet Sontractor to clean all the streots, whether paved or not, The court at police headquarters is doing a heavy busi- Dest, as the associated Police Justices still refuse to inter- fore with Justice Connolly's cases, Daring last week there were four hundred and five deaths in New York city and the public institutions and ne hundred and five in Brooklyn. The per centage in Doth cities, according to Dr. Harris, continues to show ‘the deleterious eifects of the present tenement house system. The presence of cholera is not reported in any ‘of the large cities of Europe, and we may reasonably ex- Pect that the commercial towns in the Mississippi valley ‘Will be the only sources whence the pestilence can reach ‘us this year, A lecture was delivered last evening at the Twenty- Hifth street Baptist church on“ Burmah and the Bur. mose,” by Moung Kiaw, a native of that country. The jury in the Gardiner-Tyler Will case, tried before Judge Lott, in the Circuit Court of Richmond conaty, Staten Istand, came into court on Monday night last and returned a verdict on all the iseues submitted ia favor of David Gardiner, the contestant, A motion for a new trial will be argued at the General Term, the motion Deing made on the ground that the verdict was against the evidence. ' The Genoral Term of the Supreme Court convenod yes. Yerday morning for the purpose of announcing decisions ‘and the names of successful candidates for admission to ‘Practice at the bar, A mamber of orders were promul- gated regulating the fature transaction of business in ‘this branch of this court, A motion was also made for the admission to practice of Robert McLean, late United Biates Minister to China, | The stock market was strong yesterday, Gold closed @ 185 0 34. , Domestic produce was generally firmer and more DMUIA thule UnnoKied ombandien LOL question has been temporarily adjusted. ‘The railroad companies will throw open their cars to whites and blacks alike to-day, with the exception of two or three, which will be used exclusively by ladies and children, the directors reserving the right to say who are ladies, Conductors are required to see that those who enter the cars are at least cleanly in their attire, It is considered probable that the employés will resign their posts in consequence of this arrangement, as many of them aro scions of war-reduced first families; and the outside whites generally declare that thoy will walk before they will ride with “niggers.” The inauguration ceremonies of the Governor elect of Connecticut occur in Hartford to-day. As this is the first democrat installed in that State for some time a grand display ts expected, and the military of the State will turn out, Some one has offered Mr. Peabody the Presidency of the United States, but he bas declined, saying that as he was seventy-two years old his chief desire was to preserve his health, Petitions are being circulated im Texas praying the general government to divide the State in two parts, one to be called the “Western State of Texas.”” The reason alleged ts tne loyalty of the population of the proposed new State and the proponderance of secessionists in the other portion. Mrs. Jeff Davis returned to Fortress Monroe on Sunday from Washington, where she had been conversing with prominent Southerners on the prospect of her husband's releaso, Mr. Davis himself is in excellent heaith, and expresses himself confident of an early liberation from bis long confinement, An extensive paper mill at Rockland, Del, was de- stroyed by fire on Monday, involving a loss of $300,000, The establishment supplied several New York weeklies with their material, Fitty cont stamps are being extensively counterfeited and “shoved” in Philadelphia, The engraving is well executed, but the notes are one-eighth of an inch narrow- er than the genuine, Heavy distillery frauds have boon discovered in Rich- mond, Va, and several prominent distillers have found their business closed. among them General Henningsen, of Nicaragua notoriety. A Virginian recently lobbied an important bill through his State Legisiature by telling humorous stories to the members, A kog of powder exploded near Fort Loc yosterday, blowing & man named MeCalley fifty fect into the air and “landing” him in the river, He swam ashore and is still living. George Goetz, Alexander Aulgus and Samuel Case, the latter a mere boy, were hanged in Cincinnati yestor- day for the murder of James Hughes in Febraary last, The condemned men exhibited the most extraordinary bravado on the scaffold, the boy Case indulging in such strange antics as to necessitate bis being summarily compelled to cease by the officers m attendance, The outside was very great. Stephen Calhoun Smith, formerly one of Hampton's rebel legion, was sent to Castle Pinckney, in Charleston harbor, by General Sickles yesterday, for mutilating the American flag, at the recent parade of the firemen, President Johnson's Position. A Washington correspondent assures us upon the authority of a United States Senator that President Johnson is by no means committed to the policy of obeying the Supreme Court, should that INtle body of political fossils issue an injunction against the execution of the re- constraction laws of Congress. On the con- trary, the President, we are advised, will ap- ply the Jacksonian and Jeffersonian doctrines of limitation to the court, if necessary, and pay no more attention to the injunction indicated, if called upon to meet it, than to an injunction from Tammany Hall. This is certainly the only course of wisdom and safety for Mr. John- son; but still he has so repeatedly pursued the course best calculated to damage himself, crip- ple the South, and strengthen the radicals, that we shall not be surprised with another experi- ment of the same kind. The ordinary processes of reasoning fail in such cases, and we can only await the actual test and the result. The Impeachment Committee. The House Committee empowered to investi- gate any probable ground for the impeachment of the President will meet in Washington early this month, and conclude its labors so as to be able to report definitely for or against the pro- posed measure upon the assembling of Con- tapi It is probable that the commit- tee will wisely decide to throw overboard all the rubbish accumulated by Mr. Asbley’s com- mittee, and, therefore, that the question will be contingent on things yet to happen—on the course, namely, of the President in the execu- tion of the Reconstrution law. In short, threat ened impeachment has become simply a sword of Damocles, and if the President fs found fur- oma any new obstructioniat policy ft will fall ; otherwise. not. execntion took place inside the jail yard and the crowd The Appronching Presidential Contest—Mr. Sewnard’s Retirement. Mr. Seward has returned to Washington and the cares of State from his semi-annual visit to his quiet home at Auburn. Heretofore this pilgrimage has been marked as a public event, in a speech on the political situation, and in 4 reading of the political horoscope to his neigh- bors by the learned Secretary. On this occa- sion there has been no speech, no demand for one, and no disappointment anywhere from the omission, because “the Governor” has ceased to speak as one having authority. He has fallen from grace as a party leader and has lost his prestige asa prophet. He reads in “the Book of Chronicles” that his poliiical career is ended, and he bows to the decree of fate. Thus, ceasing to be a candidate for the Presidency, he has no more speeches to make on political affairs, no more party favors to ask nor frowns to fear, no pipe to lay, no in- structions to give, nothing, in short, to do but to put his house in order for the evening of his days. .We learn that Mr. Seward has decided to retire from public life as soon as the Southern States are represented in Congress, or, at the latest, with the present administration. He wisely considers the Presidential succession a foregone conclusion, so far as he is concerned, and, therefore, he withdraws, after quietly dis- missing all his followevs, even to his faithful Sancho and his lamenting good man Friday. He has no further use for them, and so, like Adam and Eve, they have “ail the world before them where to choose.” But what an instructive example of disappointed ambition is here! Like Clay, Calhoun, Webster and others, Mr. Seward has devoted himself through many years of hopes deferred to that one grand object of aspiring politicians, the White House. Clay, with all his honors and all’ his achiovements, died a disappointed man as a twice defeated candi- date before the people for the Presidenoy. Calhoun, soured by the terrible consequences of the wrath of Old Hickory, finished his career in plots and movements looking to a Southern confederacy ; and Webster, like Douglas, after serving the Southern wing of his party in the cause of slavery, never recovered from the shock of Southern ingratitude, as made mani- fest in the nomination of General Scott. Indeed, there would seem to be no limit fo the revenge of a man cheated. ‘out of what he claims as his right to the White House. Thus Van Buren, who claimed a second term, be- came as spiteful in being tricked out of it as was Calhoun in being superseded by Van Buren as the anointed heir to the succession ; and thus Tyler and Fillmore, in their ambition to get a term on their own account, became as unmanageable as Calhoun or Van Buren. To poor Pierce the White House was so much clear gain, and eo, even for one term, he justly thought he had cause to be not only astonished but thankful. As for Buchanan, afier thirty years of intrigues with and humiliations before the Southern slave oligarchy tor the honors and powers of the Presidency, we dare say that his four Presidential years of fear and trembling under the rule of Jeff Davis, Cobb, Floyd, Thompson, Gwin, Mason and Slidell, have made it infinitely worse for him than it would have been had he been rejected like Calhoun, or defeated like Cass. Mr. Seward, therefore, in failing to reach the Presidency, may console himself with the re- flection that, thongh his record asa disap- pointed aspirant is not so grand and glorious as that of Clay, it is (Russian America) not so barren of substantial fruits as that of Calhoun or Webster. Nay, more ; he ought to be grate- ful that,in escaping the responsibilities of Buchanan, he has escaped his humiliation and disgrace—to say nothing of Andrew Johnson. Philosophy is a good thing under irreparable losses of any kind, and Mr. Seward is not only @ philosopher but an optimist. Alexander Pope had it that “ whatever is, is right ;” but our happy-minded Secretary has it that “what- ever is, though it may be wrong, is the best.” Leaving him in the full enjoyment of this dogma, we are called to inquire what becomes of the Seward faction of New York with his retirement from the political field. There is nothing remaining of this faction to damage even a town election. It has nearly al! melted away and disappeared, What is left of it, like the silver gray clique of the old whig party, and the Brooks detachment of the old know nothing party, will probably be absorbed in the omnium gatherum of the forlorn democracy. With the retirement of Mr. Seward the fierce animosities and faction fights that have fol- lowed the dissolution of the firm of Seward, Weed and Greeley ought to end. The chief organizer of the republican party is pretty much in the condition of the chief organizer of the Irish republic—he has (barring Russian America) nothing but his disappointments, his | mistakes and his failures to leave to his die ciples. There need not, then, be any trouble touching the succession to the prophet’s man- tle. Mr. Weed may take it and sport it in the halls of the Manhattan Club ; or Mr. Raymond may hold {t aloft, like the trowsers of Mahomet, among the sachems of Tammany, and it will do ne harm. As the Israclites wandered about forty years in the wilderness before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land, so the New Yorkers have for forty years, more or less, been travelling behind the banner of Seward, the fife and drum of Thurlow Weed and the ghost of Morgan. Let us rejoice that, with Mr. Seward’s retirement from the camp, we shall have a fair field and a new departure for the Presidential succession. Too Eager by Half. The view which the St. Petersburg press takes of the value of Mr. Seward’s recent pur- chase from the Russian government is certainly not very flattering to our Yankee cuteness. It says that the celony was of no sort of use to Russia; that in the event of hostilities with either England or the United States it would be impossible to retain it, and, in fact, that the Russians would have been gainers if they had got rid of it for nothing. Our government, it is added, was so anxious to purchase that it would have been ungracious for Russia not to give it the preference. While our ideas of the value of the territory do not altogether coin- cide with those of the St. Petersburg journals, we agree with ghem that we might have madé a better bargain for it, Mr. Seward may be an excellent jndge of town lots in Aubarn, but he evidently has but an imperfect acquaintance with the value of real estate within the frigid gone. What we might have got almost for ask- fing he has given s fancy price for. Next time bho cocs into the market on qgpount of the gor: ernment we trust he will ask the advice of @ | What the Constitution of 1846 has Done for competent land agent. It is not a pleasant the City and State. thing for a people who regard themselves as| The State constitution of 1821, framed by smart to be overreached andthen laughed at. the convention over which Daniel D. Tompkins presided, was based upon sound principles, The Latest Phase of the Luxomburg Question. | and until the Commonwealth in its rapid pro- From telegrams which we print in to-day’s | gress outgrew its proportions it gave the peo- HeRax it is somewhat difficult to understand | ple an cfficient, honest and economical govern- whether all the nations named in yesterday’s | ment, But a quarter of a century made a great cable newsas parties to the London conference | difference in the commercial and political have actually agreed to take part in the same. status of New York, and it was felt and King William, we are told in one despatch, | acknowledged that we needed a larger garment has been silent on the subject of Luxemburg, for the free use of our limbs. The people de- and the fact has created uneasiness in Paris; | sired a change in the fundamental law of the while in another it is reported that Lord | State, and the Convention of Revision of 1846 Stanley, the Secretary of State for Foreign | was held. It was controlled by politicians of Affairs, had stated in the British House of | narrow views and fell into the grave error of Commons that the proposition for a Peace | moving in a direction exactly opposite to the ‘Congress had beem accepted by both France | right one. The defects then commencing to and Prussia, and he gave it as his opinion that | mike themselves felt in the constitution of 1821 the Luxemburg affair would be satisfactorily | arose from an insufficiency of absolute power settled. The telegraphic wires, with all) in the executive head, and the amendments their excellences, are not above playing | required were such as would more effectually us little tricks now and again. The messages | concentrate authority and responsibility. The they convey are sometimes so strangely | State officers, such as Secretary of State, Comp- contradictory that the conviction 1s irre- | troller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Surveyor sistible that the burden of their news is not | General and Commissary General, were then always more than mere rumor. Yesterday we | appointed by the joint ballots of the Senate were distinctly told when the conference was and Assembly, and, as the Legislature could to meet, who -were to participate therein, and not always be in perfect accord with the Gov- that certain preliminaries had been agreed upon | ernor, there was sometimes @ want of harmony as a basis for deliberation. It was not possi- | and unity of purpose between. the Executive ble to doubt that all the parties named, of | and the heads of departments subordinate to whom Prussia, of course, was one, had signified | him, which impaired the efficiency of the State their willingness that the conference should | government, The remedy would have been to be held, their willingness to take part in | have transferred the appointment of all those the same, and their assent to the terms pre- | officers to the Governor and Senate; but the scribed. Until, therefore, we have more posi- | county politicians, who controlled the Con- tive news to the contrary, we must still be | vention, failed to comprehend these facts and allowed to retain our conviction that the cloud | looked for reform in the diffusion of power. which threatened war has been dispersed and | The State officers were all made elective, and that there is for this European complication the | thus the Governor was left at the’ head of the prospect of an amicable settlement. We cer- | State, without authority over his subordinate tainly have not much faith that when the con- | officers. There was no direct responsibility to ference is held the representatives will confine | the people anywhere. The government was their attention solely to Luxemburg ; for that is only one part of the difficulfy. Other and relative questions must be considered, else per- manent peace is impossible. So far as we can see no good would result from war to either of the principal parties involved. We judge, there- fore, that there is but small likelihood of the negotiations, already commenced and having peace for the:r object, being rashly broken up. War, if it should happen, can do no injury to the United States; but in the interestg of the populations concerned, thers being no ‘great question at stake, we wish for peace. parcelled out, as it were, piecemeal, and each officer made as independent as possible of the other. The judicial system was changed. Under the constitution of 1821 all judicial officers were appointed, and the higher judges held their offices during good behavior until attaining the age of sixty years. The constitu- tion of 1846 made the judges elective by thé people, limited their terms of office and threw the courts into the turmoil and corruption of Politics, The experience of twenty yoits has proved that the constitution of 1846 was a budget of errors and defects from its first clause to its last, aid fraught with danger to the State. Under its license we have been going on from bad to worse, year after year, until at length corruption stalks abroad in our Legislature and in all our public bodies unmasked and unblushing, and the whole fabric of govern- ment is crumbling away.’ It was pretended that the Herkimer county politicians—Hof- man, Mann, Loomis and their tollowers—were very watch dogs of the financial interests of the State; but under the work of their hands our taxes have increased enormously; our State and municipal debts have swelled into vast proportions ; fraud and peculation have found unlimited opportunities for their opera- tions upon the public works ; the Legislature, although nominally restrained from forming corporations under special acts, have sold out every franchise upon which they could lay their hands; and corruption and anarchy, or- ganized under the constitution, have been marching on until they have reached a point beyond which is the overthrow of all law and order. The Convention of Revision which is to as- semble in a fow weeks, must go back to the system of responsible government, if they desire to save the State from serious trouble, The condition of the city of New York at the present moment is but a type of what the State itself will soon become. Here the peo- ple are taxed over twenty millions of dollars, and are virtually without any government at all. They have no voice and no will in their own affairs. They elect a Mayor, and the Legislature ties his hands and strips him of all executive power. They elect a Board of Councilmen for one year, and the Legislature extends their term to two years—and might do so to twenty years. The Police Justices are in an open fight with the Police Commis- sioners. The Common Council find all their municipal powers secretly and suddenly snatched out of their hands and transferred to a Commission, and straightway they repeal nearly all the city ordinances and leave us without any laws at all. One independent de- partment conflicts with another, and each separate body squanders the people’s money without any fear of the consequences. There is no responsibility anywhere ; no law any- where; no order anywhere ; nothing but ar- bitrary acts from every quarter. These evils are all directly traceable to the constitution of 1846. If we would secure any permanent reform, we must entirely change the principles underlying our State polity. We must have governments in the State and in municipalities, armed with all-sufficient power and authority, and held directly re- sponsible to the people. Centralization must take the place of diffusion, so that if we are badly and corruptly governed the people can reach at once the unfaithful public officer and cast him out These are the points to which members of the approaching Constitutional Convention should direct their thoughts; for the people will expect from them a sweeping and thorough reform. ‘The Hon. John Morrissey aed the English Presse. The complaint of an Irish demagogue that he wasone of the best abused men in creation seems likely to be eclipsed by the grievances of the Hon. John Morrissey. He is not merely assailed for the sins he has committed, but for offences of which he is as innocent as a lamb, Every one knows thatsince he bas been in Con- gress he has demeaned himself like a gentle- man. Even Gully, in the British Parliament, did not cut a more respectable figure. But the democratic facts that are recognizable in mon- archical England are, it appears, not to be per- mitted in republican America. Gully might worthily sit in the British House of Commons, but the Hon. John Morrissey ought not to sit in Congress. Hence he has been made a butt for the ridicule and abuse of the English press. But 80 far as the ridicule goes, he has now the Jaugh on his side. The London papers caught Republican Institutions in Turkey. We have.Scriptural authority for holding it to be hazardous to put new wine in old bottles ; the old bottles are apt to burst. When, there- fore, we are told that Turkey is beginning to import the modern ideas of Western Europe, and even those of America; that a recently appointed envoy to the United States, Edouard Blacque Bey, is about to leave Constantinople for Washington, where he will study whatever analogies may exist between our States, Terri- tories, counties and municipalities, and the Turkish eyalets, sandjacks, cazas and nabiyes, with a view, perhaps, of recommending the Sultan to adopt our republican institutions, from town meetings up to Congress; that the Sultan has persevered in retrenching the ex- penses of his government, to the sore grief of all ladies of the harem and their French milli- ners and mantua makers; when we learn by our latest mail advices from Constantinople that a coalition has been formed between “Young Turkey” and the high Mussulman clergy; that a constitutional government, equal- ity of races and control of the public power are preached in all mosques, the example being cited of Mahomet and the greatest Caliphs, and that the influence thus brough} to bear upon the masses is very great; and when we reflect upon the consequences that must inevitably follow—such as the multiplication of schools beyond any present calculation of the marif naziri, or minister of public in- straction ; the multiplication of newspapers, of which there are now but a baker's dozen throughout the empire and its tributary provinces, and only four are in the Turkish language; the introduction of steamboats, rail- ways, telegraphs, and all the quickening im- pulses of western civilization; when we hear and think of all this we cannot help anticipating an early explosion of the pure despotism or absolute monarchy which reigns in Turkey. Abdul Aziz may be a more efficient ruler than that voluptuous and effeminate opium eater, Abdul Medjid, his predecessor. He is said to be himself inclined to favor the reforms which young and wealthy Osmanlis, educated at Paris, seem eager to introduce into their native country, at the instigation of Mustapha Fazil Pacha, the enlightened brother of the Vice- roy of Egypt, who is looked upon as the leader of Young Turkey. But if the Sultan adopts all the newly proposed reforms a radical change will be wrought in Turkish government and Turkish society, and the leavening influence of institutions essen- tially republican will begin to work. Abdul Aziz will have destroyed the peculiar dis- tinctive forces of the Ottoman empire as effect- ually as Mahmoud II. slaughtered the Jani- varies. The new wine will burst the old bottles. Our Public Schools. As such a vigorous attempt was made during the past winter to entirely remodel the public school system of this city, and as the propagators of the proposed change were so eloquent in the exposure of the dreadful abuses, it is upon the whole rather pleasant to hear that the system is not altogether villanous and evil. This is the verdict that comes from Boston. A school committee of that city having visited the schools of the larger cities in the Union, with a view to observation for the im- provement of the Boston schools, has returned home and given a report highly calculated to satisfy us with our condition in the important matter of public education. They say:—“Under the administration of the syatem as carried out by the Board of Education a degree of order, precision and energy of action has been at- tainod which has carried, and, if persevered in, must continue to carry forward the great work of popular education in the city of New York, with @ steady and strong progress, both in the of its diffusion and the excellence of ter.” As the Boston committee is not secking political preferment here, we would rather accept its estimate of our schools than the very different one of the discontented job- ‘bers who were last winter 99 very cager for & new system him io Conerags. and, taking it seriously, in- dulged in savage comments on it. If the hon- orable gentleman were not so accustomed to hard hits he might feel rather sore at them and commence suits for slander against their authors. “4 English jurors have a great respect for muscle, and there is no doubt thathe would get swing- ing damages. Like all professors of the manly art, however, he disdains such means of vindi- cating himself, and therefore will probably content himself with a hearty laugh at the con- fusion of his traducers when they discover that re Sg made the victims of a practical joke. The Negro Element Under the Political Reor- ganization of the South. The*news from the South with regard to the status of the negroes and their ideas and aspi- rations under the new order of things becomes every day more interesting. “The colored people,” one of our special correspondents says, “ wherever I have been, seem to be thor- oughly organized in the matter of politic. Their preachers, their schoolmasters, the few Northern men living in the cities and towns and very generally the officers and assistants connected with the Freedmen’s Bureau, keep them up to the work.” It is probable, how- ever, that on the plantations and in those parts remote from the towns, where the negroes are not so subject to these influences, they are less organized and more under the influence of their , old masters. Still it seems that wherever the Northern republican influ- ence extends they are disposed to sup- port that party. But they exhibit a geod deal of shrewdness and may not be so pliant in the hands of the white politicians. “They consider, themselves,” our correspond- ent remarks, “entitled to their share of public and representative positions, and are disposed to forego the claim for the benefit of those who want the offices themselves.” From all this we see that the negroes are becoming educated as to their new position. Under the rivalry of politician and political parties to obtain their votes, and through the labors of the white ora- tors who are spreading themselves over the South, they will learn quickly to value their newborn privileges. They may become con fused by the conflicting representations and- misrepresentations of those who want to cons, trol their votes, and they may not be able to comprehend fully political questions; but they will have no difficulty in understanding that they { are on an equality with the whites as regards their rights, and equally entitled te hold office. Such being the case, it is reasonable expect. they will want some of their own neni sent them in both State and federal offices—in both the legislatures and Congress. This, we say, is only reasonable and ‘the natural result of the extraordinary political and social revo- lution the country is passing through. But the problem which excites the greatest interest just now, particularly among politi- cians, is, what party will be able to get the negro vote. The republicanss are moving heaven and earth to secure it. This is the object of the missionary labors of Senator Wil- son and other Northern orators. At present they seem to have the best chance. The old democrats are nowhere in the struggle. In fact, they appear to have given it up. We do not hear of a single Northern democrat enter- ing the lists against Wilson and the other repub- licans. The old Southern democrats are equally apathetic. They appear to have no idea of resuscitating their party in the South. Indeed, one of their leading men, Governor Orr, of South Carolina, advised the colored people, in a speech at Columbia, not to attach themselves either to the democratic or republican party at present, “but to wait and array themselves upon the platform of a national Union party, that could be occupied in common by both races South and the people of the North.” A colored apeaker who followed, the Rev. Henry M. Turner, said that “he wished, above all things, to see a united South; for he felt satisfied that, notwithstanding the education of the past, the Southern gentleman was the best and truest friend of the negro.” From all these signs of the times we conclude that the old democratic party of the South isdead; that though the republican party is making great efforts it will find no lasting elements to sustain it in that section, and that the probability is that a new party, based upon the material interests of the South, will spring up to exercise a powerful influence, in connection with the agricultural West, over the future policy and destiny of the country. Quarantine—Movement of the Health Au- thorities. The health authorities, not unmindfal of the fact—according to the almanac—that summer is approaching, although the weather for the past few days has been in no way suggestive of a hot season, made an aquatic visit on Mon- day to the neighborhood of West Bank, Coney Island and Barren Island, with a view to look after quarantine matters. Between the rough- ness of the sea and the afflictions attendant upon it, which seem to have befallen nearly the whole party, there was not much accom- plished. The crib at West Bank would not sink, owing to the troubled state of the winds and waters; Barren Island could not be approached for the same reason, and a view of the sandy shores of Coney Island was only obtained through the green and yellow vision of sea sickness. So the health authorities good-natar- edly delegated a sub-committee, with strong stomachs, to make an inspection of the two islands at some future and calmer day. One point, however, was arrived at, and that was reached from the information of a weather- beaten and experienced pilot, that Barren Island, which is designed for the accommoda- tion of emigrants not infected with disease, cannot be approached by a vessel at all when the wind blows from three different points, and that passengers would have to be carried in small boats a distance of ten miles from the emigrant ship. From these facts it would appear that the right spot for a quarantine and hospital station has not yet been hit upon, and that after all the art'ficial island proposed to be formed at West Bank, in the lower bay, be found to be the only suitable place for the Coney Island is out of the ques- tion. To establish quarantine there would only be to provoke a repetition of the incen- diary on Staten Island a few years ago. West Bank is an isolated spot, far from any mainland, where there are no vested rights to be infringed upon, and little danger of contagion spreading to any populated districts, By the acquisition of Rassian America the United ‘States fing bas boon advanced to within thirty-six miles of Asia, and the area of the republic increase from. ‘2.906.198 oquare miles to about §,590.000