The New York Herald Newspaper, April 18, 1868, Page 6

& NHW YUKK HERALD, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1868-TRIPLE SHEET. wi NTT I NT TT EIT ee ee ee Ueeaana SINT IIIS ee [naman NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Volume XXXHUL AMUSEMENTS THIS EVEN! NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tax WHITE Fawn. Matinee at 1. ACADEMY OF MUSIO, Irving place.—Matinee at 1—-FRa DIAVOLO. WALLACK'S THEATRE, and 15th street.— A NEw Way 10 Pay OLp Dents. Matinee at 1—ROSEDALE BOWERY THEATRE, Bower MAN'S HOME—JA0K RKOBINSO BROADWAY THEAT! CUSTOM OF THE COUNT! —JAOk SHRPPARD—IRISH- AND His Monkey. Broadway.—Fairy Cinc.e— Matinee at 1p. NEW YORK THEATRE. opposite New York Hotel. PawIs AND HELEN, Matinee at 2. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Huwrry Dompry. Matinee at Lig. FRENCH THEATRE. Matinee ato. DUCHESSE DE GEROLS: NEW YORK CIRCUS, saa street. EQUESTRIANISM, &c. Matinee at 2)5. THEATRE coma: E, 514 Broadway.~ 40, Matinee at 2 KELLY & LEON’S MI’ Eoornraiorries, &c.— SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broadway.—ET1!10- TIAN ENTERTAINMENTS, SINGING, DANCING, &C. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comzc VOoaLisy, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, Ac. Matinee at 35. STEINWAY HALL.—Granp Vocar MENTAL CONCERT. i BROOKLYN ACADEMY HELENE, MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— O'DONSELL'S Mi65i0N. HOOL’ OPERA HOU: SE. Brooklyn,—ETHIOPIAN MINSURELSEY—FOLLIES OF A NIGHT. Matinee at 25. BROOKLYN INSTITUTE.—Mus, FRANCES A. KEMBLE’S REavines. La GRANDE GYMNASTICS, BALLET, FAROE, ELS, 720 Broadway.—SOnas, Np Dutou “S.” Matinee at 3x. AND INSTRU- OF MUSIC.-La BELLE tae) 954 and 956 Broadway.—PANORAMA OF THE War. HEET. TRIPLE New York, Saturdny Ys April bead 186s K THE NEW 8. IMPEACHMENT, gh Court opened as usual yesterday. Mr. , of counsel for the President, was still ab- he order of Senator Conkling, that the court ‘shall sit hereaiterut eleven o'clock A. M., was agreed to. The testimony for the defence was then continued. Editor: Mr. Frederick W. State, was then ca! of vice consuls are f ly made a7 tateré: as & matter of necessity, Secretary Welles testified that information having come to him that General Emory was making unwarranted chang troops he deemed it his duty to tell t who said he would inquire what General § ™meant. He also gave important testimony to the consultations of the President with his C: onthe removal of Mr. Stanton. Pending Menton the admissibi of other evidence Secretary Welles the court adjourned, In the House the Committee on Printing was di- rected to inquire into the propriety of printing ten thousand extra copies of the report of the impeach- menttrial. On returning from the Senate chamber it ‘was announced that the Senate would meet to-day at eleven o'clock, but as there was no quorum present it was found impossible to change the hour for the meeting of the House, and the Speaker announced that he would take the chair at eleven o'clock and ant Secretary of that nom among the iden from North river, for Glasgow and Liverpool, touching at Londonderry to tand passengers, &0. The fine steamship General Meade, Captain A. W. Sampson, of the Merchants’ line, will be despatched at three o'clock P, M. to-day from pier No. 12 North river for New Orleans direct. The popular steamship Montgomery, Captain Lyon, of the Black Star line, will leave pier No. 13 North river at three o'clock P.M. to-day for Savannah, Ga., connecting with steamer for the Florida ports, The Revolution at Washington—What Are We Coming To? When that incompetent ‘old public func- tionary” James Buchanan, ip in December, 1860, was brought face to face with the secession of to put in the miserable excuse before Congress that he could find no authority in the constitu- tion to coerce a seceding State. When the great Southern rebel conspiracy had seized United States forts, arsenals, mints and custom when South Carolina, joined at Montgomery by isiana and Texas, proceeded under Jeff Davis to set up an independent Southern confederacy on the corner stone of African slayery, still Calhoun, the best that Buchanan could do was to fold his hands in despair and groan over the dissolution of the Union, pitifully deploring that his would be the last administration under the Union and the constitution of our fathers; and this was his legacy to Abraham Lincoln. Under Buchanan’s theory secession was a reserved right of State sovereignty lying be- hind the constitution—a fallacy which would make the Union a rope of sand, liable at any time to be broken by the caprice of the domi- nant party in any State. But even upon this ground, in going behind the constitution, Lin- coln hit the nail upon the head in declar- ing that when a State goes back to first principles in this matter of break- ing up the Union we must go back to first principles in holding the Union to- gether. His first act, therefore, in response to the initial act of war by the Southern rebel conspirators, was his proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men to re- cover, by force of arms, certain forts, arsenals, custom houses and other United States pro- perty seized by those conspirators in the rebel States. This was an assumption of the war power belonging only to Congress; but had not President Lincoln at once assumed this responsi- bility the government itself, in the absence of Congress, might have been overthrown. With the meeting of Congress, therefore, the Presi- dent’s conduct was approved on the supreme law of self-preservation, as the responsible head of the government; and then, through four years of the most formidable and tenacious rebellion in the history of mankind, the repres- sive measures of Congress were, to some extent, from the very nature of things, behind and outside the constitution and based on the jaws of war and the law of nations, unless we may assume that the power expressly given to Congress ‘‘to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- press insurrections and. repel invasion,” is ample authority for all that Congreas did in the work of suppressing this insurrection of the proceed with the Chairman of the Committee to attend the trial as a mark of respect. THE LEGISLATURE. In the Senate yesterday the bill forthe better regu- lation of Broc firemen and numerous others of a local or personal interest were passed. The dis- cussion on the Erie Railway bill was continued, and after several amendments it was reported complete and ordered to a third reading. A bili was intro- duced prohibiting the use of stoves in passenger rail- ‘way cars unless firmly secured. In the Assembly bills for the publication of the session laws in the newspapers, to reduce the fare on the Sixth Avenue Railroad to five cents, to authorize the construction of stone stairways in Centra! Park and ceding to the United States jurisdiction over David's island were passed. The committee re- cently investigating the management of the New York ferries made a report and introduced bills regu- Jating the ferries to Brooklyn. The bills were ordered toathird reading and passed. Numerous bills not of general importance were reported or ordered to a third reading; and bills incorporating the Highland suspension Bridge Company, for a railroad in Third strect and relative to the storage of combustibies were passed. EUROPE. By special telegrams through the Atlantic cable we have news from Candia, Spatn and Italy, From Athens we learn that the Cretan revolutionists still battle with the Turks and receive aid from Greece and other Christian States. The cities of Barcelona and Bologna were quiet and the labor and trade strike riots had ended. The Italian government had ordered severe measures of repression against the Printers’ Association and other trades unions in Bologna, The news report by the cable is dated yesterday evening, April 11, The Gladstone liberals have organized a series of enthusiastic radical reform meetings over England. Justice to Ireland and the disendowment of all reli- gions are the main points of the agitation, The Prince and Princess of Wales were entertained at a grand banquet by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Gardinal Culten, the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and the President of the College of Manooth being present in company. Ex-Governor Eyre, of Jamai- ca, is to be placed on trial in London for official acta done during the negro rebellion on the Island. Gart- bald! is said to have left his island home for Naples. ‘General Dix's daughter was married in Paris, MISCELLANEOUS. Our special despatch from Montreal says that the Fenian correspondence between lodges in New York and Montreal has been seized by the government, and all the prominent Irishmen are leaving for the United States in consequence. It is reported that an juternational affair will be made of the McGee mur- der, a8 documents have been seized showing that the assassination was plotted in New York. The New Jersey Legislature adjourned sine die yesterday. An Incidental Appropriation bill was vetoed by the Governor because it contained a sta- tionery item of $13,000 ($9,000 less than the same item last year), but the bill was immediately passed over his veto. r General Schofield visited the Virginia Convention yesterday and made an address to the members in view of an early adjournment. He expressed him- self as satisfed with the constitution except the por- tion relating to the test oath, under which-he says enly about two out of thirty oMces In each county can be filled, He suggested a modification of the sweeping disfranchisement, but on his withdrawal a motion to repea! the clause was rejected by a de- cided vote. The constitution was then adopted by & vote of fifty-one to twenty-six, three republicans voting against It. The jury in the Canaan murder trial, wherein Joseph Brown and his wife Josephine were charged with the murder of their little daughter Angie, in order tg. obtain insurance money on her life, yester- day returned a verdict of guilty of murder ifthe firet degree against Joseph Brown, with a recommen- dation to mercy, after being out twenty-three hours, The General Transatlantic-Company’s steamship St. Laurent, Captain Bocande, will leave pier No. 60 North piver at two o'clock P. M. to-day for Brest and Favre. The maiis for France will close at the Post OMiocc# twelve o'clock M, The Anchor line steamship Hibernia, Captain Muaro, will sail at noon today from pier No. 20 so-called Confederate States. In any event, “‘the Union, as it was” under Buchanan, and ‘‘the constitution as it was” under Taney, were turned topsy-turvy in the suppression of this Southern rebellion, Under South Carolina the best that he could do was | houses, from Charleston to Galveston, and | Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Lou- | adhering to the State sovereignty fallacies of | “the Union as it was” the slaveholding oli- garchy of the tobacco and cotton States were masters of the government. Supplanted in Lincoln's election, they undertook the establish- ment of an independent slaveholding confed- eracy. With their subjugation their paramount institution of slavery, which, through two hun- dred years of cultivation had given shape and character to their industry, their politics, their religion and their social laws and distinctions, went down. The amendment since added to the constitution interdicting slavery, though eminently proper, may thus of itself be called a radical revolution from the original structure of the government. It has opened wide the doors to further revolutionary innovations, including universal negro suffrage in Southern reconstruction and the project of universal negro suffrage throughout the Union by act of Congress. In the same way the extraordinary exercise of the powers of Congress during the war prepared the two houses for their still more extraordinary assumptions of power since the war, in their conflict with President Johnson. Thus we find that since the establishment of their provisional military dictatorships over | the still unrecognized rebel States the two houses of Congress have rapidly advanced to the absorption of the constitutional powers heretofore accorded to the Executive and Judi- cial departments. The President of the United States is reduced to a mere automaton, subject to the pleasure of the Senate in his removals as well as his appointments, while the Supreme Court, with its mind made up on an important case involving Congres- sional reconstruction, is compelled to be silent under a special act of Congress. What, then, are we coming to, looking to the removal of President Johnson for ‘the high crime and misdemeanor” of daring to remove an ob- noxious Cabinet officer without first consulting the Senate ? Who can answer this question? We cannot, looking at the chain of revolutionary events behind us, without the warning that the end of the chain is still before us; for this great and comprehensive revolution, opened seven years ago, has not yet run its course. With John- son’s remeval, however, we may look for the complete fulfilment of the radical programme in a rapid succession of surprises to incre- dulous philosophers, To gild the pill of this incoming radical régime under President Ben Wade we may expect a delusive inflation of the currency, like that under Van Buren in 1835-6, whigh brought about the disastrous revulsion of 1837. Greenbacks or national bank money will be made plentiful, prices of everything will go up, universal prosperity and universal speculation will prevail. The people, perhaps, may thus be deceived with the fallacious idea that, after all, the radicals in full authority are bringing in the millennium. But what will they care for the inevitable crash that must follow, so that they weather the breakers of the Presi- dential contest and get the government and the people firmly fn cate son ? In short, we predict thai after Andrew Johnson's removal, for good or evil, our great kevotution will be fully and rapidly accomplished. Impeachment the Political Issuc. Impeachment has as little to do with law, reason and justice as with astronomy. It is simply the political issue. In this trial the people must see the collision of opposing powers, policies and principles in our politics, struggling for the mastery. On the one hand is the violent radical policy—the destructive policy—the policy of Sumner, Stevens and Wendell Phillips—the policy that is afraid of the | future—that sees ne chance for success but in | hounding on the nation to a Tevengeful course | against the South, and in crying that there is | no safety but in setting the nigger above the white man, On the other hand we see the | calmer, wiser policy of trying to restore the na- tion to peace by return to the principles of the | Constitution, and reconstructing by and with | the Southern people. Since the end of the | war the struggle between these two lines of policy has been constant and growing in bitter- ness, and now at last it has come to direct issue over the alleged offences of the President, who favors the wiser policy, Thus the one policy has the other before it in the position of | a culprit, and will condemn it, of course. Po- litical fury never went so far and then stopped short. Hitherto all has been done, more or less, in accordance with the forms of law, though the spirit of the law has been ignored or defied. Mr. Johnson certainly knew that it was not in an honest purpose to try him that he was brought before this so-called court. He knew that the intent was to condemn in his person a certain political policy. Neverthe- less, he went quietly to trial, evidently not dis- posed to be the first to fail in observance of the law. None viewing the situation calmly can believe that the impeachers are honestly urged by the motives they pretend. Asserting the su- premacy of the law is no part of their pur- pose; but to secure the supremacy in the government of the political policy of their party is the single object to which they are willing to bend everything, including the law. Hitherto, however, both parties have kept sub- stantially within the forms of justice, the impeachers especially doing their utmost to disguise their purposes, and to conceal from the people the fact that this grand farce of a trial is only a political game. But the forms of law, however elastic, cannot be stretched beyond a certain limit, and it has now become a point who shall first dare to go openly out- side the law. Stevens, as the exponent of the policy of violence, declares that Johngon must be condemned without regard to what is proved or disproved before the Senate. This is the member of the radical party whose tongue the more wily politicians cannot control, and whose impatience of disguise has hitherto done so much to tell us what radicalism truly aims at; and just at the point he indicates his party will break with the law. It is under the necessity to find the President guilty, law or no law, and if it does not so find him guilty it convicts itself of the crime of obstructing and endeavoring to remove the man who wis executing the law. If it cannot prove the charges alleged, and yet finds the accused guilty on those charges, it violates all form of law and stands confessed in its true character. It will then be for the President to determine if he should submit to a verdict that has not even the forms of justice to give it sanctity and force. A Fable of a Frog—What Comes of Ima moderate Inflation. Once on a time a certain frog saw an ox quietly grazing in a field, and was seized with an ambition to be very large—if not a very large ox at least a very large frog. Specta- tors were not wanting, for the silly little croaker even announced to the ox and his brother frogs that he proposed to inflate or burst; and the experiment of swelling or trying to swell was accordingly begun. A bellow common to frogs, a deep inspiration of air, like a balloon inhaling gas, and his frog- ship was speedily swollen to the utmost capacity of his skin. ‘‘Boo, boo! see here,” croaked he with bated breath, ‘Iam just as his race, has no longer in England a place to fill. Disraeli has yet a grand réle before him, and he is not the man to be wanting when occasion, calls for him. What the Erie War is About. The “Erie Railroad war,” as it is called, has been so muddled up and befogged by injunc- tions and counter injunctions, orders and coun- ter orders, arrests, contempts, legislative reports, bills, stockjobbing newspapers, igno- rant Bohemians of the penny-a-line order, cards, statements, oaths, sermons and psalms, that it is not a matter of surprise if, as in the Schles- wig-Holstein imbroglio, only a very limited number of persons understand exactly what it is all about, Some suppose that the great railroad king, Vanderbilt, ‘holds a vast number of Erie shares, and is trembling in his boots for fear the stock should go down and drive him to sell all his fast horses, fine wines, splendid pictures, household furniture and wardrobe—except a single suit and a change of linen—to enable him to meet his losses. Others imagine that Daniel Drew has made a heavy draught upon Heaven, or some other place, and is in mortal terror lest he should be unable to depress Erie after selling short, make his pile and save his soul. A few believe that the New York Central monster hungers to take Erie into its rapacious maw—to swallow it, with its broad six feet track, its locomotives, cars, depots, directors, bridges, bonds and stocks, including the disputed ten million issue, like an anaconda swallows a sheep. And again, others have the impression that Daniel, as soon as he escapes from the lion’s den, designs selling out the whole Erie concern, including right of way, bed, track, rolling stock, capital stock, equipments, conductors, widows and orphans, at a low price, for cash, and putting the proceeds into a magnificent meeting house for the conversion of the souls of bankers, stock brokers, Wall street jobbers and railroad directors. Yet, after all, the Erie war is much less in- comprehensible than Schleswig-Holstein. Lord John Russell said of that mysterious affair that there were only two men in the world who ever understood it—himselfand a German who had explained it all to him; but the German was dead and Lord John had forgotten all about it. We suspect that there are two men. who very thoroughly understand the meaning of the Erie war, and that neither of them is likely to allow the infor- mation to escape his memory. It is simply a struggle between two magnificent operators for the next year or two's possession of a valu- able piece of trading capital—to wit, the direc- tion of the Erie Railway, With this in their hands they can manipulate the stock to great advantage. If Drew should be the successful party his policy is known in advance. Such energies as his religious duties permit him to waste upon worldly affairs would be devoted to making short sales, depressing the stock, buying in at the lowest figures, and investing the profits in the erection of churches. If Vanderbilt should win his object would be to raise the market value of the stock, to keep it out of the street, and, possibly, when it had attained a magnificent figure, to sell it out after the fashion of Nicaraguan steamship lines, pocket the princely proceeds, add an- other jewel to his kingly diadem and purchase a few more fast horses, Bearing this object of the war in mind, it is large as you;” but the ox kept on grazing, quite aware that the little nondescript’s large- ness was nothing more than mere wind. “Boo! boo! Am I not huge ?”—and herewith ® second inspiration followed, causing the little nondescript’s skin to strain very taut in places and manifest symptoms of cracking, while still on grazed the ox, minding nothing whatsoever about his neighboring fan-legged diminutive. “Boo! boo! boo!” this time thrice croaked the inflated little fellow; while just at the last “boo” the ox was startled by the crack and buzz ofa little explosion, and turned just in time to see his frogship in fragments. So let a small copperhead sheet of this city, of limited circulation, take warning by the fate of the poor frog, and not pretend to equal its superiors in size and influence by swelling itself too much with stale news and cheap advertisements, for white paper is dear, and it may some fine morning burst. England and Her Revolution. On an early day the English Parliament will resume its sittings, and the Prime Minister will be compelled to say whether he will or will not continue to hold the reins of power in face of a powerful opposition. The presumption is that Mr. Disraeli will find it necessary to resign. His only chance is to come forward with a bolder bid than that which Gladstone has made. A bolder bid, however, will hardly save him; for the question of confidence, which * rcady settled, cannot be so easily got ovr. The liberal party is united, and Mr. Disraeli can- not hold office without their consent. The meeting which was held in St. James’ Hall on Thursday evening, and of which we gave an account in yesterday's Hknatp, shows bow the liberal party intend to act. 11 may almost be taken for granted, trom the voice of that meeting, that Mr. Gladstone has already be- come Premier of England. The revolution, however, is a something altogether different and apart from the success of party, The stone is already rolling, and, in spite of any man or of any party, it will roll on. We have no idea, however, that the revolution will be other than peaceful. Revengeful feelings will not seek to be slaked with blood, as was the case in the first English and the first French revo- lution, The English people have grown wiser, and we have set them @ good example in the interval, It would be absurd meanwhile to imagine that a descendant of the house of laracl, @ man full of the vitality and genius of easy to understand the manoeuvring of the rival powers. Vanderbilt, by the aid of his extensive capital, has been steadily buying up Erie stock and collecting proxies, so that at the next election of directors of that company he might outvote Drew and take control of the road. Drew, finding the ground slipping from under him, has issued ten millions of new stock for the alleged purpose of completing the six feet track from Akron to Toledo; which stock, being held by himself and his friends, is intended to vote the Drew ticket at the next election of the company, to swamp Vanderbilt and to continue in office the present board of directors. Vanderbilt is beaten if this stock shall be permitted to vote. Drew is beaten if this stock shall not be permitted to vote. Van- derbilt has the best of the fight in the courts thus far on this side of the Hudson river. Drew has the advantage in his Jersey fortress, where, under the authority of the law passed by the New Jersey Legislature, he may call the next meeting of directors at Fort Tay- lor, appoint his own inspectors, allow the vote of theten million issue and declare himself and his friends duly elected. The stockholders—we mean the bona fide stockholders, and not the kite flyers of Wall street, who sell what they never possessed, and buy what they never receive—have an in- terest in the affair, and must judge for them- selves in what direction it lies. At present the calamity at Port Jervis will serve to un- pleasantly remind them, in the shape of heavy damages to the friends of the forty or fifty killed and the sixty or seventy wounded, that stockjobbing management of a road is not the most profitable to those who buy its shares as an honest investment.. They must decide whether the depreciating policy of Drew or the appreciating policy of Vanderbilt is the most likely to raise the value of their property and to put money in their pockets. The people also have an interest in this fight. The man- gled bodies lying at the foot of Carr's rock, crushed out of all semblance to humanity, and the frightful wounds and mutilations of the living victims of the disaster, warn all men that their own lives and limbs are jeopardized through the neglect of the practical management of a railroad by directors who spend their time and energies in speculations in its stock. The story of this terrible accident forms a bloody and significant chapter in the Erie war. There is another feature of the struggle of public mo- ment. The cry of ‘‘monopoly” is raised, If Vanderbilt should succeed in obtaining control of the Erie road, already carrying the Central, the Hudson River and the Harlem in his pockets, he will own alf the competing trunk lines from the West tothe New York seaboard, and the alarmiste declare that in that event he would rule the Western connecting roads literally with an ‘“‘iron” hand; that the rates of freight and of passenger fare would be enormously increased in order to raise the receipts of the roads and the ‘market price of the stock; that, in fact, the producing, consuming and travelling classes in this city and in the West would be in the power of the railroad autocrat and would suffer untold evils from his rule, There are others who affect to ridicule this bugbear of “monopoly,” and who point to the fact that Vanderbilt has taken the Hudson River and the Harlem Railroads into his grasp, and, although parallel lines, has raised them both into profitable, paying and excellently managed roads. Every one admits that so far as practical railroad management is concerned Vanderbilt has had no equal since the death of Dean Richmond. Some people suppose that the struggle between these railroad magnates is the imme- diate occasion of the panic now prevailing in the high priced, fancy stock market, and hence the “ame ducks,” as they limp on the “‘street,” are bitterly denouncing both Vander- bilt and Drew. But this is all stuff and nonsense. The natural tendency of the country at this time is towards a financial crisis. There is no confidence in the govern- ment—no settled policy on the part of Congress on which the country may safely lean with a feeling of security in the future—and the people are beginning to appreciate the fact that the wild gambling of Wall street has beneath it no solid basis and may fall to pieces atany moment. This is the meaning of the present panic, and it will go on and on until it ends in a final grand crash and ruin, unless the radicals should succeed in removing Jobngon and obtaining control of the whole machinery of government through Ben Wade and their Congressional majority. In that event an inflation of the currency by one hundred million dollars on the start will again send up prices, give an-impetus to all schemes, however chimerical, rain upon Vanderbilt, Drew and all other operators a golden shower, and for three or four years longer drive off the settlement between solid enterprise and wild speculation which must inevitably come at last. So far ‘as this Erie litigation is concerned, it would be a public advantage if it could be brought to an end. It is in a measure respon- sible for the Port Jervis calamity, since the thorough repair of the track throughout the line, which was contemplated early this spring, has been brought to a stand by the legal squabble. We have hope, however, that it may close sooner than is generally anticipated ; for we are mis- taken if some fine spring morning “‘two tray- ellers” will not be seen, after the fashion of G. P. R. James’ famous horsemen, side by side, in earnest converse, pacing the deck of a New Jer- sey steamer bound for New York and a market. The development of the romance will disclose the fact that these two friendly travellers are the present great antagonists of the Erie war, and in its last chapter we shall, beyond doubt, find these two deserving champions carrying off and dividing up the fruits of their valor, while all around are heard the groans and the not over classical exclamations of the wounded and dying outsiders who are left writhing in the ‘‘street.” Moral:—Cor- nelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew are tried veterans in the art of railroad war and are far too shrewd to invite for themselves the fate of the Kilkenny cats, whatever the rest may do. Tenement Houses and sire Escapes. At the inquest upon the bodies of the three victims of the Rivington street fire some curi- ous testimony was elicited from Mr. McGregor, the Superintendent of Buildings. He stated that, with the small number of assistants which the law allows him (eighteen), it would take him three years to carry out the clause in regard to providing fire escapes for tenement houses in the city, and upon this allegation he bases the cause of the disaster in Rivington street. Ifthe Superintendent had applied to the police we presume that he could have obtained all the information, and, for the matter of that, all the assistance necessary to put tenement houses in order. The police in the ordinary routine of duty must be thoroughly acquainted with all the tenements in the Metropolitan dis- trict. They know th m, and how far the law is complied with each case, better than Mr. McGregor cad his eighteen assistants can know it within the three years which that gentleman allots for the performance of his duty in “going through the city.” The truth is that the inspection of tenement houses would be much more efficiently done if it was placed in the hands of the police instead of in those of the Superintendent of Buildings, and the sooner the business is put under their control the better it will be for the safety of human life. The Coroner's jury in their verdict censure the owner and the agent of the buildigg in which this catastrophe occurred, which is all very well, because it was proved in evidence that there was not the remotest chance of escape for the inmates on the third story except by the very frail one of a leap to the ground, and this, as the result proved, was no escape at all, for they were killed by the con- cussion. But the jury further recommend that the Legislature should clothe Mr. McGregor with more power, which is absurd, because Mr. McGregor has already too much power. Not only is he entrusted with authority to regulate fire escapes in tenement houses, but he is authorized to supervise the erection of build- ings—a matter which, not being an architect, he knows nothing about, and is quite incom- petent to form any opinion upon. certain that he even comprehends what a tene- ment house is, as we have observed that he endeavors sometimes to enforce the law upon owners of houses devoted to business Purposes, and that in his recent testimony he swears that the house in Rivington street did not come under the law, as it was not considered by him to be a tenement house, although the landlord swore that it was occupied by several families, and at one time was rented to nine families. This is certainly a very extraordinary illustra- tion of the fitness of Mr. McGregor for his position. It is pretty evident from all these facts that the bureau of the inspector of build- ings is in @ very disorganized condition, and requires an entire renovation. LEGISLATIVE Reront ON THE : Pesinens, —The Assembly Committee on Commerce and Navi- gation have submitted a report on the condi- tion and management of our city Terrien, which is not altogether satisfactory. It does, it is true, condemn in strong terms the Williams- burg Ferry Company, but it is altogether too lenient with the others, Bad as the Williame- burg ferry is, it is not so much worse than the others that the one should be censured and the faults of the others attempted to be hidden by @ process of whitewashing. It ia notorious We are not- that all of the ferry companies of this city, with perhaps but one exception, are criminally negligent of the lives of the thousands of pas- sengers that daily cross the rivers in their boats. In addition, the means of saving life, in the event of accident, are notoriously insuflicient. We trust that the Legislature will not reat con- tent with receiving the report of its committee, but will enact stringent laws compelling future good management and greater care of the lives of those who are compelled by necessity or otherwise to trust their persons on the numerous ferryboats. Why Have We No Italian Operate It is a very singular state of affairs that while American artists are creating a furor in Europe Italian opera is, to all intents and purposes, dead in this city. We have two large opera houses, plenty of fashionable people, a full supply of excellent artiste—in fine, all the necessary materials for opera, with one sole exception—a manager.’ By a manager we do not mean one hundred and ninety-nine and a half individuals who know nothing about opera, entertain the most exalted opinion of themselves and the lowest estimate of everybody else, and regard the opera house as their private domain and the public as intruders. An impresario of Italian opera should be possessed of very different qualities. Italian opera should be managed in the same manner a8 a newspaper—namely, by making it an intellectual despotism, with one controlling mind alone over it. The ¢mpresario must be dictator and responsible only to the public, The mistake made so far by our opera managers has been in looking upon opera in the same light as a circus, minstrel hall or menagerie. The one hundred and ninety-nine and a half feudat despots of the Irving place catacombs have succeeded in killing opera at the Academy, and through the want of common sense manage- ment the same result has been attained at Pike’s. The only principle on which opera management can be successful in this city is om that of centralization of power in the hands of the impresario, always, of course, subject to that grand high court of impeachment (ne Manager Butlerg included), the public. Every amusément goer in the metropolis knows how the neglect of this principle operated at the Academy; the same idea, with slight varia- tions, was carried forward at Pike's. At the one place one hundred and ninety-nine and a half managers produced the effect; at the other deference to certain artists and soi-disant musical people led matters to the same end. Let the impresario, with all his faults, be dic- tator and supreme head, and let no prima donna dare to interpose an objection or even a suggestion, and Italian opera will be made permanent. Why have we no Italian opera? In Europe American singers are the reigning stars of the principal opera houses. Mr. Gye, at Covent Garden, depends on Jenny Van Zandt and Patti for his sensations this sea- son, and Mr. Mapleson has Miss Kellogg as one of his first prime donne. In Copenhagen Miss Huntley and other ladies from Boston ox- cite the interest of all the operatic public, and Kate Morensi will bea great card in Londom this summer. We might multiply examples, but these are sufficient to show that the country which first made the reputation of Malibran is the grand purveyor of Europe in Italian opera. Yet we are deprived of the lyric drama here, because that rara avis, a common sense im- presario, is not tobe found. Why does not the man who made opéra bouffe sucha great success at the French theatre take the Italian question in hand oat deal with it in the same manner ? Mr. Mennedis Apology to the Grand Turk. Our Pera correspondent, whose letter we publish to-day, confirms the ocean cable account of the favorable impression produced, at the Porte by the despatch of the Secretary of State to Mr. E, Joy Morris, explaining and regretting certain offensive remarks of the American Minister at Constantinople relative to the Sultan, and also the publicity inadvert- ently given to them. Our correspondent’s letter was accompanied by copies of the de- spatches of Fuad Pacha, Blacque Bey and Mr. Seward. We publish the despatch of our Sec- retary of State, together with translations of the despatches of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Constantinople and of the Turkish Minister at Washington. The whole case is set forth in this correspondence, which is a model of the union of dignity and courtesy that should always characterize diplomatic in- tercourse. The satisfactory settlement of this ‘* Eastern question” is all the more gratifying on account of the friendly relations which have so long subsisted between the Ottoman gov- ernment and the government of the United States. Mr. Seward bears‘testimony to these friendly relations when he says in his de- spatch:—‘‘ Certainly no State ever had less reason to complain of bad faith, inattention or want of comity on the part of a foreign govern- ment than the United States have now to com- plain of the Sultan and his government.” Mr. Seward, moreover, freely admits that the course of administration which the Turkish government has pursued since the date of the criticisms of Mr. Morris on the Sultan has conclusively vindicated the character of the Sultan for sagacity, ability and vigor. Tne Centra, UNpEeRGRouND RatLroap.— Both branches of the Legislature have passed and the Governor has signed the bill incor- porating the Central Underground Railroad. Asa whole it is less objectionable than the abominable arcade railroad scheme, although it will probably be fought to the death with injunctions and law suits, Commencing at the City Hall it rans under Chambers, Centre, Mulberry, Bleecker and Eighth streets, and Fourth avenue, Madison avenue, thence con- times in a northeasterly direction to the Har- lem river and conndcts with Harlem bridge at the terminus of Third avenue. The act of in- corporation contains many stringent features, which, if carried out faithfully, would benefit the public. The only question that arises is whether the road will ever be built. The litigation which the company will be plunged into by parties owning property on the pro- posed route, with other obstacles incident to a0 vast a work, renders it probable that the present generation will pass away before its completion. At any rate, if the passage of the bill will have the effect of killing the arcade project the people of New York will be greatly benefited, even ff the Central Underground Railroad be never built,