The New York Herald Newspaper, September 19, 1871, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. No, 263 Yolume XXXVI. AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— ‘Tux New Drama oF Divouor, WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and \3th street. Buus Beanp. OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—Tis BALLET Pan. vomme Or Huurry Dumpty, BOOTH'S THEATRE, 284 st., between Sth and 6th ave, — Tar LittLe Dern TivE. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner 30th st.—Perform- ences afteruoon and evening—LEAU, THR FOUSAKEN, WERY THEATRE, Bor — pea ey wery.—-BERTHA, THE SEWING Ma NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Pri 4 Houston #t8.—CaRLy THR FIDDLER. ay dees GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner ot Sth av, ana 23d sh— Sorry Goorr. STADT THEATRE, 45 and 47 Bowery. —Tnt PosTILLION or Lonjuueat riba GLOBE THEATRE, 728 Broadway. OITIRS, BURLESQUE, £0. LINA EDWIN's THEATRE. No. 720 Broadway.—KELLE & Leon's MinerRete, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, corner of Fourteenth atreet and Broadway.--N¥GR0 AOTS—BURLESQUE, BALLET, 40, Rano ECORNTRI- SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HAUL, 58 Broadway. Tue 8an FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 23d st., between 6th aud 7th ave.—Barant's Min: LB. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery. Neano EOckNrRICITIRS, BURLESQUES, &C. Matinee at 2. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street—VocaL AND INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT. TWENTY-EIGHTH STREET OPERA HOUSE, corner Broadway.—NEWCOMB & ARLINGTON'S MINS T2EL8, CENTRAL PARK GABDEN,—Tatoporna Tomas’ SUMMER Niguts’ ConceRTs. GLOBE THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall.—Va- BIETY ENTERTAINMENT, ee ol AMERICAN INSTITU’ and Sixty-third street,—O; TRIPLE SHEET, New York, Tuesday, September 19, 1871. — EXHIBITION, Third ave nue mn day and evening. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD, Pace. 1—Advertisements, 2—Advertisements, 3—Tremblings of Tammany: The Latest Develop- ments of the Quarrel Over the Comptrolier- ship. 4—Fleetwood Park : Opening Day of the September Trotting Meeting—Horse Notes—The Torpedo Explosion : Commuittal of the Surviving Parte ner—Code of Honor in New Orleans—Chief Justice Chase: His Views on the Political Situation—Caution to Insh Catholics—George Wilkes and the French—Requiem for Pontifl- cal Zouaves—Weiler’s Draft—Large Fire in Long Island City. S—Our Last Horror: Atl About the Man With the Jron Jaw and the Strong Woman—A Dishonest Messenger—The Steamship City of Houston and Her Commander—The Oourts—Financial and Commercial Keports—Domestic Markets— Joe Dowling on the War Path. G—Euttorials: Leading article, “The Tammany Entauglement and its Bearings Upon the Ap- proaching Presidential Contest’—Amusement Announcements, ‘7—Eaitoriais (Continued from Sixth Page)—News from France, England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Rusgla and Germany—Deports from’ Dr. Liv: ingstone—Sinking of the Orange Country of Florida—Great Fire in Nevada—News from Washington—Amusements— Business Notices, S—Tne National Game—Marriages and Deaths— The City Government—Advertisements. 9—Advertisements. 10—Tremblings of Tammany (Continued from Third —_ Shipping Intelligence — Advertise- ment 11—Advertisements. 42—Advertisements, Wo 1s Mayor of this city, Hall Havemeyer? or Sgnators ScuMNER AND Wirson both de- clare that the nomination of General Butler to the Governorship of Massachusetts would bahoptitey‘antt oY the Commonwealth, Taz Watt Srrezr Usvrers.—Yesterday lenders of gold exacted a consideration at the cate of thirty per cent per annum for the use of the coin for one day. Here is a chance for the District Attorney and Grand Jary, who, atter the charge of Judge Bedford the other day, are now responsible for the enforcement of the law. Wuo 18 Mayor of the city, Oakey Hall or Havemeyer? Are we to have law or anarchy in New York? Tue Poxiticians who are using the city difficulties to get into office themselves affect to be satisfied with Connolly's appointment of Deputy Green and his retirement in favor of that gentleman, But do they remember their own favorite name for the Comptroller, “Slippery Dick?” Do they know how soon Connolly, after having trapped them, may resume the active duties of his office, turn out Green and slip out of their fingers? Ir Tizre is to be no governing head in this city it will be like a redderless slip at sea without chart or charter. Joun FoLey has become a great man. He has made his mark by hig intrepid raid on the Ring. To him belongs the credit of enjoining the Ring. He had the plack to begin the legal fight which resulted in fracturing the Ring in two ofits strongest points. No doubt John has been honest in his acts—impelled by pure motives of reform, But is he now pre- pared to enter the new ring combination of the “outs?” Will he throw his prestige into the scale against law and order, and side with Slippery Dick, whom so recently he denounced asthe head and froat of municipal corrup- tion? What has honest Jobn to say ? Tux Ysutow Fever has broken out in Key West, and consternation is said to have seized upon the citizens, Larest From Cur Justicg Caasz.—We publish an interesting account of a recent Interview with Chief Justice Chase held with ® correspondent of the Cincionat! Lnguirer at Waukesha, Wis, on the 11th instant, The friends of the venerable Chief Justice will be gratified to learn that be has entirely 1e- covered bis health, and tliat he will probably resume his seat on the Supreme Bench at the October term. In his political views he en- dorses the platform of the Wisconsin democ- racy, 6 tbe democrats have taken no new departure, and that the change is simply a return to the principles of democracy as ad- vocated by the great founders of the party, Wane THR Qresrion is raised whether McClellan or Green is to be Comptroller of the finances there ought to be no doubt that Mayor Hall ia the chief controller of the city. Tages Ane Peorie in the city who are urging Connolly on to violation of the law and of the peace of the cily, Lot them re- member the 12th of July and the pluck of Genera! Fisk, NEW YORK HERALD. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 19. 187.—TRIPLE SHEET, Tho Tammany Entanglement and Its Bearin; Ui the Approaching Presi- dential Contest. Asa great central political power in State and national affairs Tammany Hall is under a gloomy eclipse, and the prestige and the glory of the Wigwam have departed. It was bul yesterday that Tammany, iike Cesar, seemed strong enough to stand against the world; ‘and now there are none so poor to do her reverence.” She was the impregnable citadel and base of operations of the demo- cratic party of the city, the State and the Union ; but she is the stumbling block to the party in the city, in the State and throughout the country, The astounding and unanswered accusations raised against her, of fraudulent appropriations of the public funds, have operated to weaken the democracy in the late elections in Maine and California, and will doubtless operate to strengthen the republi- cans in the coming October elections in Penn- sylvania and Ohio, and will almost certainly revolutionize the Legislature of New York in November. In the midst of a profound peace, & comparatively dead calm in our political affairs, a catastrophe has fallen upon the democratic party threatening to be more disastrous in its consequences, looking to the Presidential succession, than any misfortune since the breaking up of the party in the Charleston Convention—that dismal overture tothe Southern rebellion. Since 1867, when the wrangling republicans deliberately delivered this State over to the democracy by nearly fifty thousand majority, the republican party has never sufficiently ral- lied to recover it. They made a vigorous effort in 1868, through which they secured the Legislature and thereby a United States Sen- ator (Fenton); but that was all, fn all our subsequent elections the democrats, through the management of Tammany, gained ground, till with the Legislature of last winter they secured complete possession of the State in all its departments. The Tammany chiefs, availing themselves of the enlarged facilities thus offered them in the reconstruction of our city government, so hedged about their new administration with powers, privileges and safeguards that it was suppused, even by their adversaries, that ‘‘the ring” could hardly be broken or dislodged from city or State for twenty years to come. But it frequently hap- pens that, in the plenitude of their power and fancied security, and when least expected, empires, dynasties and political parties, from some fatal mistake or series of blunders, are undermined and overthrown. Thus fell the splendid empire of Napoleon the Third; thus our democratic party, imagined to be all-pow- erful in the overwhelming electi6n of Pierce, began to fall to pieces under the blunders of his administration, Thus, too, from the fatal mistakes of Tammany in the estimates of her power and her security, she is suddenly stricken down, and her weakness to-day is as much a marvel to the quiet, easy-going citi- zen as was her imposing strength of yesterday. The prestige of Tammany is gone, The chiefs of the rural democracy are arrayed agairst her, and within the metropolis she is a house divided against itself. The tremendous democratic army which from year to year has followed to the polls in this city the victorious ensign of Tammany is broken up, and between Tammany and the republican party even this hitherto strong citadel of democracy, in a popular vote this day, would doubtless be prospect that, in the short {aterval to our November election, the democratic party of the State, demoralized and disorganized in this Tammany entanglement, can be put in a position to avoid a decisive defeat in the elec- tions for the Legislature. In truth, while there is no ground for any bope of democratic harmony in this State election, there are good reasons, in the existing intense excitements and disordered condition of things in this city, to fear that the elements of a sanguinary riot arein process of formation here, which, in bringing anarchy upon the city, may throw the whole democratic party of the State and of the United States into the chaos of dissolu- tion. How uncertain and capricious are the revo- lutions of the whirligig of party politics! The Orange procession and riot of July last brought out the powerful Irish element of the democratic party of this city ia favor of Mayor Hall and in opposition to Governor Hoffman. Now we find, from another turn of the wheel, the Irish element of the party arrayed against the Mayor and in favor of Mr. Connolly, Mr. Green and the mixed Committee of Seventy, while the solid German Americans of the city are quietly watching and waiting the opportunity to bring up their reserves for municipal reform. These complications serve only to increase tho demoralization of the democracy and to strengthen the republican party here and throughout the Union; for these Tammany disclosures of wastefuluess, extravagance, negligence and corruptions, looking to the Presidential succession, have operated and are operating, by contrast, to rally the people around General Grant's ad- ministration. But in this division of the New York city democracy between Mayor Hall and Mr. Connolly—which {is a division between the American and the Irish-American ele- ments of the party—we have the break In the ranks which opens the city itself to the repub- licans; for it is a break which not only disarms Tammany as a political centre of power, but the Irish-American clement as a political balance of power. Here, then, as in the settlement of the slavery question and the question of the civil and political rights of the African race in this country, we have the simplest solution of the most difficult political problems, Tammany, in being divided against herself, divides tho democracy of the city into two or three bodies of men arrayed against each other, and thus the cohesion of our Irish and German born citi- zens with ‘‘the ring” is broken, and these de- tached elements are free to take their own course now and hereafter, and the city of New York is open for a reconstruction of our politi- cal parties. The confusion thus created in the democratic camp is evidently the beginning of a political revolution in the city and the State; and the first decisive revolutionary consequence, we expect, will be the election of @ Legislature republican in both branches in November. We dare say, too, that this coming Legislature will be so expressive of the dominant public sentiment of the State under the circumstances tat, with the conseat of ne Governor Hoffman, a republican reorganiza- tion of our city government will speedily follow. But as the late government of the republi- cans here, with its independent and irrespon- sible commissions, was a failure, we have no very sanguine hopes of any great improve- mént in Our municipal affairs under another republican experiment, ¢ ate the carcass {s there will the vultures be gathefed to- gether,” by whatever name you call them. But Tammany has overdone her appointed task, and the temper of the public mind is now “anything for a change.” So the State of New York, in our judgment, will be lost to the democratic party in November, and, with New York gone, with all the attendant demoraliza- tions of the party, what hope will there be for the democracy in the coming Presidential contest? Apparently no hope whatever except the unsubstantial hope of Micawber, that “something may turn up.” And something may turn up. The leading active and pro- gressive democrats of the United States may, from the overthrow of the power and prestige of Tammany, realize the necessity of still another ‘‘new departure” in the shape of a new organization for the Presidency from stem to stern, and a new platform, cutting loose this new party from all the dead leaders, dead men, dead issues aud defunct associa- tions of the past. From the shape that this Tammany imbrog- lio has now assumed, and from the general drift of the public opinion of the country against the democratic party identified with Tammany, as it now stands, only in some such new departure as this can there be even a respectable fight made against the re-election of General Grant. On the other hand, in the new departure of a new party organization there ig gtill time enough for action, and there are still floating materials enough from which, with the débris of the democratic party, to form a powerful opposition party for 1872. The Democratic Union party might do fora name, and the principles suggested by Chief Justice Chase, with the Chief Justice or some such universally acceptable man as standard bearer, would serve very well for the initial platform of this new party movement. Other- wise General Grant will walk over the course in 1872, and a scrub race will inaugurate a new organization of parties in 1876, The Situation in the City—What Is Be the Next Step? The situation in the great municipal contest has not undergone much change since yester- day morning. As was generally anticipated, Mr. Connolly refused to yield possession of the Comptroller's office, stating that he had not in fact or equivalent resigned his position and denying the authority in law of the Mayor to remove him. Mayor Hall, on his part, officially notified the other city depart- ments that he does not recognize either Con- nolly as Comptroller or Green as Deputy Comptroller. General McClellan, to whom the Comptrollership was tendered by the Mayor, is undexstood to have signified his readiness to undertake its duties and respon- sibilities in the event of the retirement or expulsion of Connolly from the office, while he declines to become a contestant fér the place so long as possession is disputed by the incumbent, No application was made yester- day to the Courts in relation to the matter by any party, and Mr. Greep an" “daties “ot the Comptrollership, from which Connolly has virtually, if not actually, retired. There is, of course, a deadlock in the municipal govern- ment, and an uneasy feeling is abroad that the complications among the politicians may lead to riotous demonstrations and probably to actual collisions, The immediate interest turns now upon the two legal points, first, as to the power of the Mayor to remove Connolly without impeach- ment; and, secondly, whether Connolly's pub- lic abandonment of the duties of the Comp- trollership in favor of Mr. Green con- stitutes a resignation of his office. Mayor Hall is backed up in his position by the legal adviser of the city, and, it is rumored, by the Attorney General of the State, while the Connolly party present an opinion on the other side from Charles O’Conor, The latter holds, first, that the Mayor has no power to remove the Comp- troller, the only mode expressly provided under the charter for such removal being impeachment; and secondly, that the action of the Comptroller, in turniog over all the powers and duties of his office to Andrew H, Green, does not amount to a renunciation or resignation of his office. While Mr. O’Conor’s legal reputation stands deservedly high, it must be remembered that his opinion is but the opinion of a single lawyer and is only entitled to so much weight. Besides, the ‘‘looseness” of these legal opin- ions is proverbial, The amended charter certainly provides that the Deputy Comp- troller shall ‘‘possess every power and per- form all and every duty belonging to the office of Comptroller whenever the said Comp- troller shall by due written authority, and daring a period to be specified in such author- ity, designate and authorize the said Deputy Comptroller to possess the power and perform the duty aforesaid.” But this provision was unquestionably made in the in- terest of the city and not to its injury. Its intention was to prevent the stoppage or em- barrassment of the city government in case of the necessary or unavoidable absence of the Comptroller. It could never have contemplated giving the Comptroller the power to transfer the duties of his office, which he is sworn to faithfally perform, to another party during his whole term, and to continue to still hold the nominal authority and to enjoy the emoluments bim- self. Yet if the Comptroller can do this for five months why not for five years? Mr. O'Conor in his opinion says :— The appointment of a deputy in precise con- formity with the letter of the statute and in execu- tion of tts obvious Intent cannot be a renunciation or resignation of is office by te Comptroller, It 18 simply the performance of a duty enjoined by law whenever necessity or expediency may require it, Tug Qecessity or expediency of the step ts sulmitted to tue discretion of the Comptroller exciasively, 1 cannot suppose that any jurist cau be found who will Unk otherwise. It is This is not the point really at issue, not te appointment of a deputy, but the pub- lic renunciation and relinquishment of all the functions of the Comptroller in favor of that deputy for five months, that is held to have been a resignation on the part of Connolly, The “obvigus invent” of (he — statute | was to enable the Comptroller during illness or unavoidabie or necesswy absence from his duties, to empower his deputy to fill his place, so that the machinery of the government might go on, and not to authorize him to withdraw from the duties and responsi- bilities of Bis office and virtually appoint his successor. Po een ca ae The disputed poiats will, 00 the Courts and be decided thera, It 1s pro- bable that Mayor Fall may appoint another successor to Connolly, now that General McClellan has declined to contest the office, and in that event an application will no doubt be made to a judge for legal authority to take possession of the office, In the meantime we are informed that Acting Comptroller Green has handed over to the investigating committee several papers belonging to the department. We are assured by the organs prompted by Connolly that these papers expose gross corruption and peculation on the part of Messrs. Sweeny and Hall, and that these revelations will startle the community. It is fortunate that this much good has been accomplished, and we are glad that Mr. Green has had an oppor- tunity to obtain and secure these papers. Let us have the disclosures they are officially an- nounced to contain. If, as Connolly declares, they implicate his late associates, Sweeny and Hall, in frands such as he himself stands branded with, we shall insist upon their removal from the offices they now fill. And we give notice that we shall not patiently suffer them to appoint friendly deputies, to transfer their active official duties to these subordinates and to screen themselves from punishment and public odium behind the skirts of political confederates. douht. go to ae uo Have We a Commune New Yorkt— How Bad Precedents May Work Evil= What We Expect from Mayor Hall and Judge Barnard. There is one view to be taken of the present complications in Tammany Hall that seems to us to shed a new light upon the movements of what is called the Reform Committee. Are we not about to introduce under a peaceful guise the reign of the Commune, as we saw it in Paris, with perhaps consequences as disas- trous as were ever seen in the Commune in its wildest days? We have a government. However debased or foolish its administration may be, what- ever may have been done in the way of corruption or violation of public trusts, this government represents the will of the people of New Yerk. It raises taxes, makes public improvements, looks after the health, happi- ness and welfare of the city, and from decade to decade it has advanced our muni- cipal prosperity from stage to stage until we have a metropolis rivalling in wealth and splendor the renowned cities of the Old World, We have had republican Mayors and demo- cratic Mayors, Mayors who were neither democratic nor republican, but the choice of rings and factions of the great parties, sud- denly blossoming into power and as soon fading out of sight, like the gourd which came up in a night and passed away like a vision. There have been violations of the representa- tive spirit—boards and commissions and arti- ficial efforts to wrest the power of the people from the people, In the end, however, the old ship has always STuRE ol" FKosperdus and gentle seas. Now there comes a gathering of law- yers and rgrchants, rich, ambitious and craving political distinction. Time after time these men have striven for the control of the great city. Money has been raised and spent, and we have had all the machinery of suspicious and dangerous partisanship. Every shape has been assumed and every political fancy has been conjured into life, The names they have taken from time to time would form a curious chapter of political arch- weology. Mozart and McKeon, Tammany and Anti-Tammany, Whig and Republican, Radi- cal and Conservative, Democratic Union and Young Democracy, Know Nothing and Native American, Temperance and Citizens’ Associa- tion—new names for one purpose—only meaning power, wealth and ambition. All these movements, however, have simply meant one man’s success or the success of a party, They have never gone beyond the law—have never caused a triumph that was unnatural or dishonest, or in any way in contradiction of the established principles of municipal tree government. Now, for the first time, the straining for power means a violation of the fundamental laws of represenative government. We seea body of gentlemen assembling, selecting a financial oficer, making a bargain with a Comp- troller denounced for malfeasance, and with his aid and assistance giving their candidate power, Mr, Green is nominated by Mr, Havemeyer. Mr.Havemeyer is the chairman of a town meeting. He has no power and no re- sponsibility. Any citizen may call a meeting, take the chair, cry ‘‘reform,” and nominate whoever he pleases for Comptroller. If he can find a Comptroller, judicially denounced as an abettor of “highway robbery” and willing to bargain for his immunity, or, using the plainer phrase of our English contemporary, to turn “State's evidence,” he may place his candi- date in office and give him absolute control of the financial affairs of a great city. What Mr, Havemeyer does to-day Mr. Morrissey may do to-morrow. It is only a question of opportunity, and if Mr. Connolly or a man like him can be found in a terrified humor he will as soon make a bargain with Mr. Mor- rissey as with the ex-Mayor. The example is the same. It fs full of evil. Like all evil examples, it threatens danger to free institu. tions and republican government, We saw a bolder type of this lawlessness in Paris, The men in power were the chosen officers of the republic. Whether the republic was welcome or not, it was the supreme will in France, aud any other assumed power was simply usurpation. Well, there was a gather. ing of men in Paris who had no confidence in Trochu and Jules Favre and M, Thiers, There was corruption—imperialism, monarchi- cal purposes—all manner of offences in their eyes, Tobe sure the reply was that these men—Trochu and Favre and Thiers—were the chosen ministers of Paris, constitutionally in office, and, whether for good or evil, charged with the destinies of the great city and the great nation, The gather. ing thought differently, They took up arms, seized the national cannon, drove the chosen rulers out of Paris, proclaimed their own government, erected barricades, took the nation’s money and their fellow citizens’ property, fought pitched battles in the streets and suburbs, pulled down national moau- mente and destroyed palaces, the fame of whose beauty and historical associations filled tion and héfror, ~~ , This was the Commute! ‘Che world &! ders at what was done and thé meu who controlled it. Yet they were good men tn various ways. Many of them had honor, courage, virtue. They thought they had a cause. So have the men who now in towa meeting and secret caucus propose to over- throw the city authorities and take possession of the city. They have honor, courage, vir- tue. They think they have a good cause. Mr. Havemeyer is a good man; but he is no better than Delescluze. Mr. Tilden is a worthy citizon; but no worthier than Pasoal Grousset. Mr. Green is honored for many merits; but Mr. Green is no more honorablo than Vermorel and Dombrowski. The editor of our English contemporary is no better than Mr. Rochefort; and it would be well for his shrivelling and dreary newspaper if he had a sparkle of Rochefort’s audacious and inimi- table genius. It may be said that there were adventurers in the Commune, like Cluseret and Felix Pyat; but so there are adventurers in the New York party, like Morrissey and O'Brien. What we contend is that the principles of the Com- mune and the principles of this Cooper Institute town meting and the irresponsible Committee of Seventy are the same. They are revolu- tionary. They do violence to our free institu- tions, to good government. If they are per- mitted now to obtrude their caucus nomija- tions into high office by an alliance with men denounced by the Supreme Court as bign- way robbers, and the chief of whom is, as such, asked to resign by the Mayor, there fs no reason why ina year or two we might nob have in New York the same terrible scenes we saw last summer in Paris, The principle is the same. Evil is evil, let uscallit what we will. We cannot violate law in the matter of Mr. Green without doing itin agraver emergency, Mr. Hall is bound to put his foot upon it or retire from his office as incapable and unworthy. If he consents to Mr. Havemeyer and Mr. Connolly dictating his financial appoiatments he might as well resign, He is no longer Mayor. The town meeting having appointed Mr. Green to-day may do what it pleases to-morrow. Once begin Communism and no one can say where it willend, Fortunately the Mayor has half solved the problem. He has named his choice for Comptroller, a choice that will do him honor throughout the world. It now remains for the Courts to confirm it, And we underrate Judge Barnard very much if he does not act as firmly now as he did when called upon for justice by Mr. Foley and his frie nds, Real and Bogus Reformers—The Schemes of the Politicians. The people of New York are to-day reaping the harvest they have themselves sown through their carelessness in the discharge of the duties of citizenship and the indifference with which they have for years suffered their munintne! «Mann tn hacama th- gevy OF ODY political adventurers who may have had the boldness and the shrewdness to seize upon them. The city government is paralyzed, its wheels are blocked, the business of its most important departments is at a standstill; and this disgraceful situation, dangerous to our peace at home, damaging to our credit abroad, has been brought about mainly through the squabbling and scrambling of the fat politicians who hold office and of the lean politicians who want office. It has been the habit of our citizens who live and prosper out- side the political placer, to indulge periodically in bewailings over official corruption and in loud demands for municipal reform ; but they have, nevertheless, suffered primary elections to be held without taking any part or interest the world. And the end only came after massacres, battles, sieges, universal degola- therein, and they have absented them- selves from nominating conventions, The consequence has been that the whole machinery of party has been left in the hands of the politicians, The wire-pullers and adven- turers, who regularly make livings and for- tunes out of politics, have put themselves or their friends in nomination for places of trust, and when election day has come the protesting citizens have ‘‘voted the ticket” as a matter of course Without regard to the character or qualifications of the candidates, After clec- tion and the subsequent distribution of the spoils malcontents have always been found who, failing to secure from tho successful party such a share in the pickings and steal- ings of office as they believed to be their due, have led a renewed assault against those in power, and then, incited by their appeals, the independent citizens have again and again gone through with the same programme as that we have described above, and generally with the same profitless result. Occasionally, indeed, the outsiders have formed combina- tions powerful enough to overthrow the office- holders and to put new men in power, pledged, as a matter of course, to reform the goverament, to decrease the taxes and to put a stop to corruption, But in the end the party of retrenchment has proved a costly experiment ; the city expenditures have increased instead of diminished, and the men who have risen into place upon the ruins of one set of plunderers have in their turn been denounced more bitterly than were their pre- decessors. We have only to look back a few years to discover striking instances of the failure of these pretended reforms, When Fernando Wood was the head of the city gov- ment Tammany labored for his overthrow, and the republican organs of the city aided in the work. The New York English Zimes then declared that Mayor Wood's government ‘‘has made these (the city) departments sought by the most needy and unscrupulous of our par- tisan politicians, and bas led to the most fla- grant abuses of public trust and the most vul- pable waste of the public funds,” and insisted that ‘some reform of the government is im- peratively demanded,” The Z'ridune declared its readiness to join hands with ‘“‘all who honestly try to render our municipal rule less corrupt and oppressive than it now is,” and naively declared that such reform as it then advocated, in common with its Tam. many allies, would ‘‘gegure the people from robbery in the building of the new City Halt!" Tammany came into power in combination with its republican allies in the shape of me- tropolitan commissions, and the present city government is the lineal descendant and repre- sentative of that ‘municipal reform.” Ow citizens can judge for themselves whether the change secured less ‘“‘waste of the public funds” and protected the people from “robbery in the building of tho new Qiiy ai." == The politiclans ‘And partisan organs now desire to take advantage of the popular de. mand for § more economical, honest and efficient city goveriiment, and to make a new combination against the men they then helped to power, If tus people who really desire reform, following ths practice of former years, leave the de tails of its accomplishment to theae men, they will find themselves rescued from one evil only to be involved in another of a yet more deplorable character. The primaries will be held; packed nominating conventions will put into the field candidates for Senate, Assembly and other positions of trust, accord- ing as bargains may be made, and when the day of election arrives the honest reformers in casting their votes will find themselves compelled to support men undeserving of their confidence or to give up all hope of changing the present order of things. This is not what our citizens desire or expect. They owe itto themselves to seo that a movement in which they are earnest and sincere shall not be mado use of bya set of unscrupulous adventurers for their own purposes, The singular and sudden striking of hands between Comptroller Connolly and the men who were but yesterday denouncing him as a public robber bears a suspicious appearance. The Heratp cares nothing for Tammany rings, Young Democracy rings, Murphy rings, Fenton rings, Irish democratia rings or rings of any kind. We are inde- pendent of all political parties, factions and cliques, and advocate now economy and hon- esty in the administration of the city govern- ment, joined with a broad and intelligent enterprise, as we have advocated the same al alltimes and under all circumstances. Wher- ever corruption exists we denounce it and demand the punishment of the corruptionists, as wo have done for years in regard to the new Court House and other jobs, when the mouths of the partisan press have been filled with bribes and pap or closed by expe- diency, Connolly has been officially ad- judged unfaithful, and we demand hia removal from office without any patched up compromise or pretended atonement. Should Hall or Sweeny or any other public officer be found guilty of similar delinquency we shall in like manner insist upon his retire- ment, We have no political ends to subserve which render it desirable to make terms with acorrupt Comptroller or with ward strikers and bullies, In the name of the people and asa fearless and independent public journal we demand real reform, and as a first step in this direction we call for the unconditional removal of Connolly and all his friends and abettors from the office in which, under hia rule, frauds have been committed ‘‘of the character of highway robberies.” We insist that those who, for political expediency or for the advancement of their own interests, desira to make terms with a dishonest public official elell no luuger palm themselves off upon the people as city reformors, Can a Mob Rule New York?—What Is Good and What Is Evil—Baraard Mastos of tho Situation. There is nothing easier of solution than the present complications in New York. When in doubt as to what is expedient let us ask what is right. There is no axiom in moral philosophy more settled than this: that the end never justifies the means. In the interest of what is called reform and good government we are asked to approve one of the most flagrant usurpations of power ever known in our municipal history, There is, of course, a great mist of “reform” and “purity of the laws,” and all manner of phantoms floating before the minds of the people, and here and there skipping in all directions some foolish Will- o'-the-Wisp scheme or other which we are called upon to follow as a new guiding star, But, shunning these foolish diversions, let ua look the whole Tammany situation square in the face, and see just what is right and what is wrong. Primarily, then, we have a government of New York. Whatever may be said of it, or of the character of the men who control it, it isa government of the people—made by the people, for the people. It is their will, and our only recognized expression of free muni- cipal authority, Over it presides the Mayor, the chief executive officer, and as much the head of the corporation of New York aa General Grant is the head of the republic of the United States. For good or for evil, the citizens of this city have taken our Mayor unto themselves as their chief magistrate until they elect his successor or remove him by dua process of law. They have done neither. They have not as yet proposed to do either. Any crippling of his functions, any emasculation of his constitutional powers, is revolution, Woedo not consider Mr. Hall in’ the case. Mr, Hall, as a person, a member of Tammany Hall or a constituent of the Ring, is nothing to us, The whole policy of the ring has led to abominations that we cannot con- sider without anger and pain, The argument would hold as good were Mr, Fernando Wood or Mr. Horace Greeley in his place, What do we owe to the office? Where should law begin’ and end? How far should we consecrate and accept usurpation? If to-day a mobof gentle-' men, headed by Mr. Stebbins and Judge Pierre.’ pont, can usurp executive powers, why should not another mob, headed by Mr, O'Brien and Mr, Morrissey, do the same thing to-morrow? Now, these are graver questions than may Appear upon the surface. We understand the doep yearning in the bosoms of the people for, reform. For nearly forty years the Hrraio has been the exponent and champion of that feeling. ‘The history of the Hgrauo from the beginning ia tho history of successive, oaraest and successful wars upon tho corruptions of parties in New York and tho nation, When our Buglish contemporary was na mere sti- pendiary of Tammany, the apologist of Mr, Tweed and the champlon of persist- ent oulrages pon the treasury; when eveo its present habitation was by « trick, ® job, and, op is gloaiy felt by eminent