The New York Herald Newspaper, March 29, 1871, Page 6

VY 6 NEW YORK HERALD pRoaDWAY “AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Herat. Volume XXX¥ A ATS THIS AFTOROQH AND EVENING, GLODE THEATRE, 723 Hroadway,—VaRtery BNTRR- PAINMENT, 40.—DAY AD NiGn?—KBNO. Matinee at 2%. ROOTH'S THUATRE, a OTUELLO WOOD'S MUSSUM Broatway, corner 80th st.—Perform: ances every séleruoon and evening. between Sup ant 6th ave,— OLYMPic THEATRE, Broadway.—Taz Daiwa oF Howizos. Matnce at 2, NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tae SrroracuR oF Tue Bu. Ox. WALLACK’S Bre. THEATRE, Broadway ana \3in street.— LINA EDWIN'’S THEA’ ALL THAT GLiTrens is Nor GOLD—LiNGARD SKRTC Matinee at 2 NEW K STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.—GEuwaNn Orrna—Toe Macio Fry GRAND OPERA HOUSE, cornor of 8th ay, ana 284 6t.— Lre GR NES. BOWERY THovan is. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, JELEREL. THEATRE, Bowery.—ON Hanp—Suvben ‘Twenty-fourtd etreet.— F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brookiyn. — WINKLE, Nano Mid TONY PASTOR'S OF“RA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Va- miniy B AINMEN'T. Matinee at 24g. COMIQUE, 5i4 E Avis, ca Mavi HOO” KELLY & LPON's MIN NEW YOX< CIRCUS, TRE RING, AvkOHATS, 40, ATOMICAL M ML, 743 Broadway. — i DR. KAHN'S SOMENOE AND A New York, Wedaesday, March 29, 1871. CONTENTS OF TO-DAWS HERALD. Pace. Advertisements, 2—Adyertisementa, 3—Tnhe State Capital: Fierce Debate in the Assem- bly Over the New York Viaduct Railroad BIli; Hitchinan, Weed, Fields, Campveil and tue Galleries Spolling for a Fight; The ill Passea— Adverse Report of the Railroad Commuitee on Its Proposed Repeal of the Erie Classitication Ac!—The Connecticut Election: Eifect of Sum- peecu—Proposed German Peace Cele- bration—New Jersey Legislature—How Did He Get 1t?—A Philadelphia Fire Delegation—The Broadway Railroad Scheme. 4-The Broadway Wiuening: The Apphcation for a New Commissioner; Argument in the Supreme Court: Decision Reserved—The Erie Railway Litigation: ‘the Englisa Stockholders; BXx-At- torney General Hoar Denounces the Erle Man- agement, Opera House, Ballet Dancers and All—Reply of the Fire Commissioners to Mr. Bergh—The Newark Methodist Conference— pany—Extensive Fire in Sing Sing. S—Congress: Senator Sumner Again as Champion of Civil Rights; Stringent Measures for the Suppression of Ku Kiux Outrages—Proceed- ings in ihe Court of General Sessions--Charge of Incendiarism—The Weehawken Tragedy— Court of Appe: Court Calendars for To- Day—Financial ana Commercial Reports, 6—Editorials: ‘The Administra- Leading Arti Edito! )—The French Anarchy: Eloquent Speech of M. Thiers tional Assembly; A Solemn Oath to Betray We Kepublie; More Bar- erected by the Insurgents—News from Washington—The Joint High Commission—h S—Prersonal Intelligence— — Weather Report—Business c Bore—Real Estate Matters—A in Georgla—Marriages and isements. xt Rights at Sea: The Dutch Cabinet Movement ior the Security of Private Pro- perty During War—Amusements—St. Do- mingo: The Commissioners at the White House—Fires—Shipping Intelligence—Adver- tsements. 11—Advertisement: A2—Aavertiseme 10=Neutrat Tue St. Dominco Commissioners visited the White House yesterday. They don’t have much tosay about annexation. Sumner appa- rently took the words out of their mouths. Twerp’s New Bux for the distribution of Croton water, which has just passed the As- sembly, provides for the extension of mains to the islands in the East river. It is a rather magnificent idea in its intention, but likely to develop iatoa magnificent job cre its comple- tioa. Ovrraces BY PortcemEeN.—We are almost daily in receipt of too well founded complaints of the reckless, not to say murderous use, of the policeman’s club, and of other outrages which, like the inexcusably cruel treatment of @ feeble old lady who had wandered last week from her home, to be arrested and thrust into a station house cell and sent to Blackwell's Island, cannot provoke too much public in- dignation. Assuredly the very appointment of a policeman to his responsible office pre- supposes that he is at least potentially a gentleman—that is to say, that he is endowed with instincts which make him capable of dis- criminating between the weak and the strong, the submissive and the refractory, aud qualify him to exercise his authority with no less dis- cretion than firmness. If his conduct betrays that he is, on the contrary, a brute, it becomes the immediate duty of his superiors to inquire thoroughly into the circumstances of the case and to punish him by summary dismissal. This is required in the interests of the police force as well as for the protection of the public, Tae New Tax Levy Bu is still caught Uke a piston rod upon the cenire. It can neither go backward nor forward uutil some one gives the fly wheel a turn. It seems the cause of this break ia the evolutions of legislation is Senator Graham, who for some cause, only vaguely defined, keeps away from the Chamber. Tweed, like O'd England, “expects each man to do his duty,” for the truth is (that it takes every man that Tweed bas to do anything, Tbe Tweed majority is too slim at its full to do much, and between sickecss, late lobster salads, too convivial companions and railroad disasters, it is too shaky usually to do anything at all. Thus it is that this man, Graham, by his persistent absence from his seat, has siopped the Tweed legislation of the moment, and is preserving temporarily to the pockets of New York tax- payers the indefinite sums represented by that two per cent to which the quartet of tax col- Jectors nominated in the bill propose in am- bigaous terms to limit the taxes of New York. Grabam, therefore, deserves a medal, but not a gold one, We hope there will beno gold meddling with bim NEW YORK HERALD, WED) The Administration, Congress and the South- ern States-The New Reconstruction Bill. With the restoration of the last of the rebel States to Congress, in connection yiph the Qs tablishmeat of equal giyil and political rights over the length and breadth of the lend, re- ; gardless of race or color, we had supposed the i reat work of Sonthern recoastruction cum- ; pleted and a glorious success. It appears, | however, from the recent Message of ihe Pre- sident to Congress on Southern affairs, that, in ' those reco :siructed States, from the terrorism i of “‘unlawfal combinations,” neither life nor | property is safe, and that the transportation of the United States mails and the collection ! of the internal revonue thereia are dangerous , employments, Hence the detention of Con- ‘ gross for the purpose of some special legisla- { tion in behalf of law and order. It appears, ‘further, that in response to an application ‘from the Governor of South Carolina, in the \ absence of the Siate Logislature, the President has deemed it necessary to give warning tothe ’ Ku Ktux Klans of said State that if, after the ! expiration of twenty days, taey have not | “quietly dispersed to their respective abodes,” , | they will bo dispersed by the United States | Army. And now, in deference to tie Presi- | dent's appeal and suggestions, we have a new 1 biil, prepared by the select committee on the | subject of the House of Representativés, which proposes to put these aforesaid ‘‘uulawful combinations” in the Southern States once more under the stern discipline of the sabre and the bayonet. fully to enforce the provisions of the fourteenta States, and for other purposes.” The first sec- tion provides for the prosecution in the United States Courts of any person who shall in any way interf-ro in depriving any citizen of his equal civil rights under said fourteenth amead- ment. Tho second section provides that any offence—such as murder, mayhem, robbery, perjury, arson, &c.—against the rights, privi- leges and immunities of any citizen, by any two or more persons banded together for the purpose, shall be deemed a felony liable to heavy penalties ina fine and imprisonment, end that a ‘rial in avy such case commenced in one United States judicial district and completed in another may be acted upon and the offender panished in either dis- trict. In other words, all the individuals of an unlawful conspiracy against the rights of citizens, if composed, for exam- ple, of men from Mississippi and Alabama, may be made answerable to the United States Court in either State. The third section pro- vides that in all cases where insurrection, domestic violence, or unlawful combinations or conspiracies in any State shall so far ob- struct or hinder the execution of the laws thereof as to deprive any portion or class of the people of such State of any of their rights, privileges, &c., and the State authorities have been unable to redress these wrongs, or have failed or refused todo so, the President, in bebalf of law and order, is authorized to interpose with the local militia or the land and naval forces of the United States. The fifch section provides that extreme cases of unlawful combinations, armed and organized aud overriding the con- stituted civil authorities, shall be deemed a rebellion against the goverament of the United States, and that in any such disaffected dis- trict, under certain restrictions, the President is empowered to declare martial law and to sus- pend the habeas corpus, first making procla- mation commanding such insurgents to dis- perse. The provisions of this section, how- ever, are to cease to be in force from and after the Ist day of June, 1872. This is the substance of the bill which the select committee of the House of Representa- tives propose as a remedy for these Southern disorders. In justification of the act, as an imperative necessity, it is said that the lawless and malignant spirit and elements of the late rebellion have again become rampant in most of the Southern States; that the lives and pro- perty of Northern men therein are at the mercy and are frequently sacrificed to the vengeance of the so-called Ku Klux Klans; that the emancipated blacks, for no other crime than that of voting the republican ticket or belonging to the Union League, are shot, hanged, drowned or scourged, and that this scourging is sometimes applied to the negro women, with the buroing of the house of the obnoxious family; that nume- rous school houses appropriated to the education of the emancipated blacks have been burned ; that the teachers in such schools have been and are subject to numerous insalts and barbarities, including whipping and ban- ishment from the State; that in the several tates disgraced by thes2 outrages the local authorities are powerless under the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klans or consenting parties to their atrocities; that the local courts, even if inclined to justice, can do nothing against the terrors of the Klu Klux and their affiliated witnesses pledged to perjury, and so on to the ead of the horrible catalogue. Finally, it is charged that the objects of all thesa Ku Klux Klans and their affiliations are, by areign of terror, to exclude the Southern republicans, chiefly the emancipated blacks, from the polls, and so to get complete control of the several States concerned, and then to render the four- teenth and fifteenth amendments and all the reconstruction laws of Congress practically null and void through the election of a demo- cratic President and Congress according to the Tammany national democratic platform of 1868. Now, admitting this fearful catalogue of accusations against the “‘unlawful combina- tions” of the Southern States to be substan- tially truae—and when General Grant officially declares them to be so, and desires some special legislation oa the subject, they must, to a great extent, be true—the question recurs, is the remedy proposed the remedy required? We think it does not reach the seat of the disease, We think the difficulty and the remedy are to be found in the fourteenth amendment. The third section of this amend- ment declares that ‘no person shall bea Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice Presideut, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having pre- viously tiken an oath asa member of Con- gress, or as an officer of the United States, or agsamomber of any State Legislature, or as an executive or iudicial officer of anv State, The bill in question is entitled, ‘‘A bill more | amendanent to the Constilution of the United ; to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebel- H Yon against the same, or given aid or com- { fort to the eneinies thereof.” And then there ‘isa disfranchisement law, extending to these and other parties conspicttous in the rebel- | Hon. Here, hen, is the difficulty. | These parties so punished are the leading | white men in intelligence, political experlence, | Influence and property in the Southern States. | Their Inte slaves may goto Congress, but those | disabled whites still bear the brand of traitors. | They have all tho duties of eubmission im- | posed upon them, but none of the personal ; are held responsible, under pains and penal- | ties, for the crime of a whole peeple, and the ' whole people concerned sympathize with their | suffering confederates, many to the extremity ' of thee “unlawful combinations.” Reach this era di laws of the !and. remedy follows, in the fourtsenth aineidment, its specified rebel disabilitics, and it i3 in these simple words, referring to the particular disability of any individual— ; “but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of | each house, remove such disability.” All, then, | tuat is wanted to place the dominant and reapon- | sible white classes of the South in full rapport ' with the government of the United States is to restore thes2 men to the full and equal condi- | tion of loyal citizens. They will trust you if you wilitrust them. Try it. The experiment | has been tried in scores of individual cases, and no failures, that we are aware of, have been reported among them, Try, then, a universal amnesty, as provided for in the four- teenth amendment, such an amnesty as will make even Jeff Davis eligible again to the Presidency, and you wili do more to disarm | these Ku Klux Klans than you can possibly accomplish by the employment of the army and the navy, and (he United States courts and marshals, aud the suspension of the habeas corpus, with the continuance of these rebel disabilitics. Under these disabilities it is notorious that the Southern men best qualified, from educa- tiox, experience and influence, to assist in restoring law, order and harmony in the Southern States, are ruled out, and ignorant Southera whites and blacks and unscrupulous Northern adventurers and speculators, coming ; iato power, have done much to bring into general disrepute these reconstructed Southern State governments. Make it the interest of the Southern white men who give the tone and the public sentiment to Southern suciety, make it an object with them to support the constitu- tion as itis and the administration, and you will gain them. In a word, restore them com- pletely to the “rights, privileges and immuni- nities” of “‘citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside,” and you will make friends of enemies and convert these horrid Ku Klux Klans into law-abiding men; for their present occupation will be gone with the removal of the cause, The News from France. If it were not that the fate of a great nation depended upoa the result of the Rouge out- break in Paris the announcement of the pro- bable officials under the proposed red repub- lican réYime would be really laughable, Blanqui is spoken of as Presideat, and Pyatt, Flourens, Delescluze and a couple more are to be the centres of authority... What more ridi- culous could be expected? And yet only such men have any chance’ of getting into power should the government of M. Thiers succumb, ; The news from France which we publish this morning is quite interesting. On Monday last M. Thiers made an eloquent speech in the National Assembly, in which he defended his policy and took a solemn oath not to betray the republic, Oaths do not amount to much at the present day. However, we give M. Thiers credit for sincerity. Mar- seilles and St. Etienne have been tranquillized, the government claiming to have suppressed the insurgents and restored the prefects and other officials. While the Versailles au- thorities were endeavoring to find a trust- worthy army the Paris rebels were improving their situation. Greater vigilance than ever was exhibited by them, and more barricades were going up in the streets, An insurgent newspaper, evidently elated by the success of the movement thus far, had proposed the forcible dissolution of the “rotten” Assembly, and another newspaper advocates the assas- sination of the Duc d’Aumale. Paris, how- ever, was tranquil, which she ought to be, considering that the enemies of the Insurgent Committee have wisely cleared out. Such, in brief, is the news from France this morn- ing. It throws no new light on the situation, but it proves that the troubles are anything but over—that, rather, they are increasing. Tue Erle Class:fication Fraud. The Railroad Committee of the Assembly has made two reports upon the bill to repeal the Erie Classification fraud. Of course the majority favor the defeat of the bill, thus up- holdiog the villany, and the minority work themselves into a fruitless passion over the outrageous impositions of the Classification act and the transcendent rascalities of Fisk and Gould. Thus will end in defeat another attempt to overthrow one of the most aggra- vating pieces of legislative impudence that the arch devils of the lobby ever fathered. The plain equity of the repeal bill would have se- cured its passage in an honest Legislature—if such things are not myths—and it would have made a sturdy fight aa it was if the republican members had followed their partisan bent, But it seems two of the majority of the com- mittee who reported against the repeal bill were republicans, and doubiless when it comes to a vote in the House enough republi- cans of easy virtue will be found against it to defeat it beyond hope of recousideration, Erle’s money-bags have been too heavy for ; 6uch feathery legislation, whether they have | been opened cautiously in the earlier stages of the game to make Goodrich a geod deal richer, or have been thrown in bulk into the ‘ opposite balance at the last mecting of the | committee. Tok New York Apvertisine Company bill has passed the Assembly. It is one of a number of unqualified impositions that seem ‘likely to be pusucd through in the hurry of the night sessions. ' benefits of a restoration to the Union, They ; y, and you reach the seat of this South- i ase of organized violence against the v The St. Domingo Project—Let it Drop. The President must be by this time fully aware that his St. Domingo project is a failure, that it is popular with some politicians only, ; and that te press it would make him more i popopular with the masses than he has already ; become. His best plan is to send the report : of the Commissioners to Congress and then | dismiss the subject from his mind, give it up | entirely and let it remain as it is—a doad letter. ; Yoless he is totally blind he must perceive | that the popular verdict is against him; that | throughout the length and breadth of tho land ' he is losing caste; that his friends are leaving him in scores, and if he wishes tg retain even ‘his war reputation, and the standard hé obtained by reason of his services in the fleld, he mast give up this St. Domingo scheme, ‘one that has become distasteful (o all | right-thinking people, who see in it only a political job, got up to benefit a few, leaving tho | the little bill that wi!l bo entailed upon it if j that mongrol Spanish American republic ' should be added to our donfain. He cannot | afford at this crisis vo sdd to his rapidly grow- ‘ing unpopularity; he should no longer , endeavor to work against the tide of public | opinion, but he ought by all means to strive to | regain some of the good opinion he has los’. | This is his policy at present, and to carry it out his first act should bo to remove ovr , Squadron from the waters of St. Domingo, tura Baez over to the tender mercies of , Cabral, Luperor and others, and then let St. : Doming# Grop as he would a hot potato. The truth is we do not want St. Domingo, ils President, its people, its territory or any- thing appertaining to it. We should profit nothing by its acquisition, On the contrary, it would be a source of expense from the ; moment it passed under our control. | We should be compelled to adopt its lazy, worthless, semi-barbarian population, who j never have done and never will do anything for ' themselves, Wo must take them as they are, | with their habits, manners and customs, and make them citizens of the United States. We shall fall heir to a vast expanse of territory, un- cultivated and uninhabited, cities and towns | in a state of ruin, and a climate detestable in the extreme during nine months in the year. Besides all this, we shall have a little difficulty with Hayti, which is to be thrown in as part of the bargain, to say nothing of the debt of the republic, for which we shall have to become responsible. This is a true picture of ‘what we should come into possession of by the an- nexation of Dominica, and our people know it; and no matter how brilliant the project may be made to appear by the report of the Commissioners, the people will oppose it and the man who still continues to force it upon them, Hence we again utge upon the President to let the matter drop. The Joint High Commission. The Commissioners representing the inte- rests of Great Britain, of her Canadian depend- ency and of the United States, so far as we know the facts, dine and wine, make puns and crack jokes, day after day, in very pleasant fashion, The Commissioners from England and the representatives of the United States get along well. It is felt on both sides that the two great English-speaking peoples must not quarrel about trifles. A common mission and a common destiny, already on both sides clearly foreseen, make the pathway clear and open the door toa final and satisfactory settle- ment of all outstanding questions. The New Dominionites alone stand in the way. Like all small people they are big in their own esti- mation. What about Great Britain, what about the United States, if Canada is not satis- fied? The great pity is that we did not allow, on the two occasions on which the Fenians attempted to invade the Dominion, events to take their course. On both occasions we interfered and prevented the Dominion being swamped by a few hun- dred Irishmen. The unfortunate thing is that while we did the work the Dominion takes the glory. The victory in the Intter case particu- larly was such that the Dominion believes her- selfa match for any or for all nations com- bined. Sir John A, Macdonald seems to think himself a mightier man than Earl de Grey and Ripon, and, of course, infinitely superior to all the United States representatives. We advise our Canadian friends to behave themselves, for the reason that John Bull and Brother Jonathan have made up their minds as to how this thing is to be settled. Our Canadian cousins may growl as they please; but if they will not learn what their place is and what their duty is they must make up their minds to be snubbed. Our advice is, no more snarling. Neutral Naval Rights During War. A cable telegram from Brussels, which an. pears in our columns to-day, reports that the grand international desideratum of the neu- tralization of private property during war has been attained by agreement of the European Cabinets. The negotiations which were in- stituted some time since by the government of the King of Holland looking to this result have, itis said, beon “entirely successful.” Should this intelligence prove to be exactly correct it will afford a vast relief to the great commercial interests of the world by the registry of an executive declaration, which will go far to obliterate all the technical in- tricacies of the writings of the jurists from the time of Grotius to the moment of the issue of the latest publication of Sir Robert Phillimore. The immediate cause of the dis- cussion of the subject was the sinking of six British colliers in the Seine by the Prussians. Count (Prince) Bismarck, Earl Granville and Count Bernstorff entered into ministerial communication, and there is little doubt that the Dutch Cabinet appeared as an in- terested neutral intermediary at the proper moment by mutual consent. We illustrate our cable despatch by the publication of the opinions of the statesmen who were most directly interested in the discussion. This information will be of much interest to the American people. It may be, also, oppor- tunely available for the use of the members of the Joint High Commission in Washington. Tur Erm Litiaation.—We refer to another column for an extended report of the case of John B, Heath and Others vs. The Erie Rail- way Company, which came up yesterday in the United States Circuit Court before Judge Blatchford on argument on demurrer to the bill of complaint. A remarkable feature of country to foot ; ESDAY MAKUH 29, I1871-TRIPLE SHEET. the proceedings yesterday was the freedom and force with which counsel for the plaintiffs pitched into the Erie management and de- nounced what he termed the wholesale plun- der and devastation of the property of the company. The argument will be resumed this morning. The Widening of Broadway. The question of awards and assessments on the projected opening or widening of Broad- | way bas at length been brought before the Supreme Court in Special Term. Yesterday able counsel was heard, first on the part of the | | Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, through | Sorporation Counsel O'Gorman, on a motion | to vacate the order of confirmation ob- ; tained by the Commissioners of Estimates 1 and Assessments, and by counsel for cértain | property owners who hold to the action of the ‘ Commisgioners, | oy tom eee |” ‘The whole origin of the litigation is involved ‘in muddle. The three Commissioners origl- , nally appointed to make awards for the pro- | perty proposed to be taken for the projected | | improvements put dowa the figure, according to their valuation, at over six millions of | dollars, This was a nico little sum to be added to the city debt. Of this sum over two mil- lions was to be imposed on the Mayor and | Commonalty and over a million and a half on | the Central Park, It was charged that the original abstract of awards and assessments | had been changed and amended; that they had been increased and diminished by the unauthorized act of the Commissioners. On this point, on the motion to vacate the order of confirmation, it was argued that the act in relation to the opening ee of streets, passed in 1859, expressly required that no awards should be diminished or asseas- ments increased without notice to the parties to be affected, and that the violation of this statute in this particular instance was espe- clally onerous and vexatious, because, if the information demanded by the statute had béeit vouchsafed, the proceeding could have been resisted and defeated at the outset. The Opponents to the proposed improvement are the majority in interest, representing in amount nearly three-fourths of the entire assessment to be imposed, and the claims of these pro- perty owners to be heard against the proposed measure should of course have been para- mount, The action of the Commissioners is the most unaccountable feature in the whole case. It is alleged against them that they made their awards and assessments without any proper evidence of the value of the property to be taken for improvements or assessed therefor. That in one instance, where the award is charged to be most excessive, they based their valuation on a statement and representa- tions of the owner, notwithstanding that the law expressly forbids the swora affidavits of owners of property to be accepted as authority or weight in estimating values. The motion to vacate was opposed on the ground that the order of confirmation was final and conclusive, and could not be repealed or va- cated except on proof of fraud, aud then only by due process of law, and not in the form of such a motion as that before the Court. This whole widening question becomes eminently important from the fact that many of the buildings on the projected line of im- provement have been already built back at great expense, and now, pending the legal discussion of the question, all transactions in house letting, leasing, and, in fact, in house buildiog, are at a standstill. The proba- bilities are that many minor litigations in the courts will arise from the complicated suit now going on. Judge Cardozo, at the close of the session yesterday, took the papers and reserved decision. Railrond Corporations and Monopolies. We print elsewhere a numerously signed petition to the Legislature asking redress from the alleged grievances inflicted by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, which, as a gigantic monopoly, has, by its enormous moneyed influence, obtained and maintained control of the great highway of commerce in this State, imposing such rates of freight and passenger charges as shall enable the payment of dividends ona swollen and disproportionate capital. The document in question is not without suspicion as to the entirely disinterested nature of its origin. But, whatever the speculative designs of those who first put itin circulation, the HERALD is always willing to let all sides be heard. There is no doubt that the country at large is endangered by the existence and growth of such enormous corporations as that of the New York Central and Pennsylvania Central Railroads, which latter, it is said, had much to do with shaping national legislation at the last session of Congress, as well as State legislation, in the interest of its stockholders. But the remedy is certainly not contained in the suggestions given by this petition. As long as these companies are not given a legal monopoly of the routes they traverse there can hardly be any equitable reason for limiting their right to ara money. If they earn over seven per cent rival capital- ists will soon build rival roads. The New York Central has a viriual capital of ninety millions of dollars, on which it earns eight per cent per annum. Yet if Mr. H. B. Claflin and a few other millionaires who have signed the petition are really desirous of a remedy let them subscribe forty millions of dollars and they may construct and equip just as good a road as the New York Central be- tween New York and Buffalo and share its traffic to the extent of not less than seven per cent upon their investment. Avain, figures will show that freights are about the same and passenger fares less than they were before New York Central advanced from a non- dividend paying to a sixieen per cent stock. Mr. Tweep introduced a bill ia the State Senate yesterday giving himself power as Commissioner of Public Works to change the grades of streets within the area bounded by Bleecker, Broadway, Chambers, Bowery and Chatham, There is a heavy slope within this area, about the neighborhood of the ‘tombs, which makes it hard for the car horses; but we cannot see that the benefit to accrue frem levelling the grades will repay the expense. Tun Munpenie Ruttorr 13 to Be HANarp.— The Court of Appeals bas so unagnimonsly decided in his case etl Revival of [tallan Opera. We understand that there is a prospect of a short season of Italian opera at the Academy after Lent bya company from Havana, and that negotiations are pending by which Mlle. Nilsson will %e onabled to appear in opera at the same establishment in the fall, Whatever the merits of the Havana company’s enter- prise may be ia an artistic point of view we cannot judge before hearing them, but the intense desire to see Nilsson in her own favorite sphere is a.gufficient guarantee on the part of the public of the entire success of hor geagon on the lyric stage. But here again, for the Posed time, arises the one great obstacle to ‘Ytalian opera, of which wo aye spoken so often—the per- sistence of the stockholders of the Academy of Music in olaiming privileges ro rod rk can concede withoyt vi a Sa eae Soe A privilegéd Consist of two Lundred ‘‘deadhead” rt see renting out of various sources of inedthe connected with opera, such as libretti, flowers, restaurant, &c., to outside parties, and: immunity from all responsibility in the success of @ season, except the pleasing one of drain« ing the manager's treasury by a dozen inge- nious devices, No manager or artist, not even Nilsson herself, can make Italian opera suc- cessful at the Academy in the face of such opposition, and it would be absurd to look for anything but disastrous failure until the stockholders are willing to accede to reasonable terms. The idea of a number of wealthy gentlemen in the metropolis of America—gentlemen who represent the first circles of fashion, to whom Italian opera par- ticularly directs itself—claiming the privilege of enjoying this luxury without paying for it, is un-American and illiberal, These gentlemen say that they have invested a great deal of capital in the Academy and that the returns have been so small that the least they shoul have for thelr disinterested efforts in the cause of art is the privilege of their seats. Surely these gentlemen do not wish more than the legal rate of interest on the money they have invested, and a reliable manager can be found who will pay them the required seven per cent, They will never realize anything by keeping their pet establishment closed all the year round or depending on a few desul- tory concerts and balls. Again, they effectually kill Italian opera at any other house, as the Academy is recognized as its legitimate home, and it can only lead a spasmodic existence elsewhere. The stockholders should not look back to the repeated failures in Itallan opera at their house for years past om account of incompetent management, third class artists and poverty-stricken accessories. The natural consequence of such a state of affairs was pecuniary loss to the stockholders and artists alone, as the management generally had nothing to lose. Let them place their building entirely in the hands of a responsi- ble impresario and the returns will be larger than they dream of or than they have ever expe- rienced before. But if they persist in their narrow-minded policy not even Nilsson can save a season of Italian opera at the Academy, and no manager will accept the responsibility without the express intention of deceiving them and the public. : Now that Paris is no longer an operatic headquarters, and that there are many emi- nent artists in Europe open to an American engagement and even anxious for cue, there could not be a more propitious time for the revival of Italian opera in this city. The public want it and are willing to pay for it, as they always appre- ciate true art, This has been evidenced this season by the great success of the Nilsson concerts even at a high rate of admission. Every artist who visits this country is en- chanted with the American public, and Nilsson so much so that she has refused am enticiog London engagement in order to stay among us. Why, then, should the stock- holders of the Academy be the only obstacle in the path? We trust that they will now yield to the dictates of reason and common sense, ‘ The Methodist Book Concern. The sub-committee of the Methodist Book Committee will make another attempt this morning to agree upon an expert to examine the books of the Concern for the frauds which have been alleged to exist therein. Dr. Bing- ham, chairman of the committee, arrived yes- terday afternoon, and the Bishop, Scott, and the other members are expected by noon to- day. Why the committee should spend so much time over the selection of two men for such a werk and put the Concern toso much expense, is beyond the ken of ordinary busi- ness men, If “figures do not lie” any capable bookkeeper or accountant out of the many who have offered themselves, should be chosen without further delay, and if they do lie then the duty is equally plain and clear. But no man should be allowed to raise the cover of a single book who could be even remotely suspected of falsifying the accounts in the interest of any party to this contro- versy, Every week that this committee spends in New York costs the Concern from four hundred to five hundred dollars, It is time, therefore, that this farce was finished anda new piece brought on the boards. The interests involved are too great to be longer trifled with. The Quick Transit Problem. The Viaduct Railroad bill has passed the Assembly. It will probably pass the Senate, be signed by the Governor, and in the cours? of five years become the great quick transit route of the metropolis, It is intended to whirl passengers through the back yards and second stories, across the streets and parks on tilts, and, at intervals, along the surface of pavements, by the agency of the steam locomotive from the Battery to Harlem, and even to Yonkers. We are bound to have quick transit some time, and it is probable that this is the best plan we can get. There was some most extraordinary legislation in con- nection with it, some unusual scenes in the Assembly, the dominant majority undertaking by most useless and unrighteous means to stamp out Weed, of Clinton, who conscion= tiously. and strongly opposed the bill. Tho zeal of the majority indicates that everybody was securely fixed beforehand, and there was no need for such a display of wrath as thoy visited upon Weed. Oa the contrary, the an- seemly exhibition leaves no doubt that there was corraption at work somewhere among the