The New York Herald Newspaper, March 1, 1872, Page 6

i NEW YO! BEKOADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Volume XXXVII. a =< a AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Tie Bauer PAN. TOMINE OF Humpty Dumpry. BOOTH’S THEATRE, Twenty-third st., corasr Sixth av. — JULIUS CmsAR. WoOOD's MUSEUM, Broag ances afternoon and evening. —O| corner 40: AT Ska. st. Performs WALLACK’S THEATR v4 es ide TWAGLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway ant 13th sires. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, bet Pri a Houston ats,—Tuk Natav Quien. mee ey BOWERY THEATRE, Bowory— —Bur- oaro ee, E, wery—Dick TURPIN—BUF. ST, JAMES' THEATRE, Tweaty-cighth street and Broad- way.—MARBRIAGE, FIFTH AVENUE TH THE New Dawa or Drv: “MRS. F. B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Bru Demonio. , Twenty-fourth street.— * THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comio Vooar- IBMB, NEGRO ACI, AC.—1XION, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourtn ith at. and - way.-NEGHO ACTS—BURLESGUE, BALLET kon Oro TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE. No. 201 NEGRO ECCENTRICITINE, BUKLFSQUKS, £0. BRYANT’S NEW UPERA HO SE, “ and uavs—BRYaNr'a Minstarie: 1 ft between oth 1 Bowery. — THIRTY-FOURTH STREET THEATRE, near Third ave- ue,—VARIRTY ENTERTAINMENT, SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HAL Bi — BE SAN Feancieoo MinernEce, “Ui O% Brosdway PAVILION, No, 683 Broadway.—Tne VIENNA Lavy Or- OUESTRa. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourtsentn atrees.—Son4RS IN ‘THE RING, ACROBATS, &0. Pace. 1— Advertisements, s~Auvertisements, 3—Wasnington: The French Arms Perard Ex- Plodes; Nobody Hurt; Sumner’s Last Shot; Ammunition Runs Out All Round; The Brazen Preamble Gun Spikod; What ‘Tom Scott Don’t Want and the House Tnat Don’t Care What He Wants—Affuirs im Ausiralasia—News trom Alrica—Art Sale, 4—America and Japan: The Objects of the New Embassy; Oficial List of the Ambassadors and Commissiouers; Review of Foreign Inter- course with the Empire of the Mixado; The Portuguese, Dutch, Kngilst and the Russians the First in the Field; Two Centuries of Exclue 8.0n; Christian Persecutions and Dutch In- tigues; Perry's Treaty and the Ascendancy of the Stars and Stripes; Radical ana Conserva- Uve Confitcts; Compleve List of Treaties Be- tween Japaa and Foreign Nations, $—Ainerica and sapau (Coutinued from Fourth Page)—City Politics: Reorganizing Tammany; Grand Marsballing of the Clans—The French mn he House Investigating Committee at Work: Why and to Whom ihe Arms Were Sold—cuba: Engayements Between Spanish Troops and Insurgents—More Doctors: Com- Mencements at Believue and the New York Bomeopathic Medical Colleges—Engiand: The London Times’ Alabama Editoriais—A Repub- Uc for Europe—st. David’s Day—Jersey’s Latest Tragedy—The ‘trenton Methodist Con- ference—The Tobacco ‘lax—Theta-Delta-Chi Fraternity—Tne Boston Musical Juvilee— Horse Notes—A Warning to Boariing House- keepers—A Theatrical Manager's Great Griel— Live! Suit Decided—Iceboat Racing—Spread- ing Smalipox. S—Bourd ot Audit: The Weekly Meeting of the Board; Submitted Claims from the Fire De- partment, Board of Public Instruction and Court Attendants; Payment of Evening Scnool Teachers; Long and Heavy Pay Kolis Audited, Allowed and Ordered To be Paid— Cheaper Gas—Economv in tne Departments— Payments by the Comptroller—Department of Docks—Mayor Hall: Another Day Spent in Empanelung a Jury; The ‘Twelfth Man Found; The Jury Vom) lete—Stokes’ Grana Jury: Argument of Counsel Against and For the Legal Action of the Grand Jury—Under Kroadway—A Mother at Fitteen—A Poiice- man Arrested—New York City News—Shoot- ing Affray in the Whitney House—Anotner Fatal Car Casualty—Dead or Alive?-—New York Infant Asylum—Lecture on Ireland and the irish—New Jersey Supreme Court. G—Euitorais: Leading Article, “Railways and Railway Laws—Have We a@ Koad wo the Pacific—svil Legisiation Bearing Evil Fruit” — Amusement Announcements, ‘V—Editorials: (Continued from Sixth Page)—The Erie Katlway: Exposition of the Case of the Engush stockholders; Erie has Disgraced America in the Financial Worla—Queen Victoria: Sudden and: Alarming Attempt to Assasuinate Her Majesty—Tue Alabama Claims—Telegrams trom England, France, Germany, Italy, Rome and Holland—Alexis in Havana—News from South Carvliua—Basl- ness Notices. @—Financial und Commercial: Intense Duiness in “The Street; Relaxation in the Money Market; Gold Off to 109%, Closing 110; Gold Checks to Pass Through the Clearing House in Fuvure; Stocks Quiet and Heavy; Pacific Mail Advancing; Erie Looking to Alba Domestic Markets—Smalipox—The Filthy dition of the Street Cars—The Alleged Qui antine Abuses—Gas Suffocation—Faral Rati- road Casualty—srookiyo Aflairs—Marriages ana Deaths. 10—Tue State Capital: Another Attack on Super- intendent Miser and the {nsurance Depart- ment; The Spoils of Office in Kings County— Tre Japaneso Embassy—Shipping Intelli- ence—Advertisements. @1—The Courts: The Jumel Estate Case; Suit Against tne People’s Ferry Company; Viola- tion of the Internal Revenue Law—Justice Vinaicated—A Charm That Did Not Work— The Keformea Dutch Church—The Cathearal Property—Alleged Shopliiters Arrested—High- way Robvery—Advertisements, 12—Advertisement: Sgnator Witt1AM B. Wooptn is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is wasting its time in hearing long arguments on the bill to repeal the Erie Classification act and to provide for a fair election of directors, and thus risking the defeat of that measure by unnecessary delay. Unless ihe bill shall be speedily reported it will be believed that undue influences are at work to induce the committee to smother it, or, at least, to play into the hands of the “Ring” by driving it to the end of the session. Is Senator Woodin willing to accept the odium of this position? Gop Went Orr ro 109} yesterday, ona 4rmer market for American securities in Lon- don, where the Heratp’s report of ex-Secre- tary Seward’s opinions about the Alabama claims had a cheering influence upon the money market. Senafor L. L. Lewis, of the Senate Judi- tlary Committee, is one of those responsible for the suspicious manner in which the report on that bill has been delayed. The people are ware that the object of the Erie Ring is to Induce the Judiciary Committee not to report It until the session is so far advanced as to render its defeat possible. Senator Lewis is sharp enough to understand this game. Will he oppose ft, or will he place bimself under the puspicion of being a party to the trick ? A Quzstion oF ImporTance.—According to bur despatch from Richmond thousands of polored operatives employed by the tobacco manufacturers of Virginia and North Carolina re standing idle because the Ways and Means ‘ommittee in Congress has not arrived ata uniform tax to be levied on tobacco. Cannot the gentlemen at the Capitol hurry up, and thus stop the mouths of these thirty-thousand megrocs? iat Senator Jacos Harpensuren, of the Sen- tate Judiciary Committee, is supposed to be an Erie man; but he is strictly honorable and fair, Although he may vote against the bill to repeal the Erie Classification act, he will wot lend hiwself to the disgraceful trick of Balazivg the report of the committee, Rallways and Kailway Laws—Have We a Read te the Pacific t—Evil Legislation Bearing Evil’ Fruit, Congress must make up its mind to a definite and logical policy on the railway question. We have what the Germans might call a swarmery of bills before the Senate and the House granting subsidies to new-boro corporations, conveying tracts of land as large as European kingdoms and_principali- ties, and endowing them with fran- chises that can only be controlled in the future by rigid legislation. The only ad- vance that has been perceptibly made towards an aristocracy in this country has come from railroads and landholders. The stupendous power of the few men who controlled the South before the war and exercised an un- usual preponderance in our government arose from the ownership of great tracts of land and the consequent possession of slaves to til! them. In the North the ambition to hold land inspires our wealthy citizens, and we have single corporations controlled by a small knot of directors and stockholders, wio own as much land as is embraced in the European area of the French empire. The government, having permitted the acqui- sition of vast landed interests by endowing cor- porations with grants from the public domain, must control them by the operation of rigid and careful statutes. Our railway legislation has been little more than experimental. In the early times the policy of one powerful politi- cal party was in favor of internal improve- ments. It was held that in a new and sparsely settled country, with limited accu- mulations of capital, the government should charge itself with the building of railroads and canals and docks and ships and the improve- ment of navigation. The effect of this policy was twofold. Politicians obtained control of giant railways and used them for their own selfish purposes. The Pennsylvania Central, the Camden and Amboy and the New York Central were for years the scandal of our poli- tics, as our system of canals is even now a scandal to the politics of this State. There was no prudent business management. The road was made subordinate to the necessities ofthe dominant party. Men were quartered upon its pay-rolls, contracts were given, free passes were thrown into every tavern, simply to effect conventions and control public opinion. In time the evil worked its own remedy. The famous policy of internal im- provements was buried with the follies of the past and business men came to manage the great properties for business purposes. In New York we stlll retain control of the canals, but the opinion grows stronger that they must be remanded to the care of private parties and be sold for the treasury to the highest bidder. While, therefore, the policy of govern- ment is to withdraw from the management of public works in States like New Jersey and Pennsylvania and New York, the necessity still exists of developing the Western coun- tries. If we give aid to corporations in these Territories, we are compelled for our own interest to keep a careful watch over the prop- erty. The policy which has already borne fruit is a phase of the old policy of internal improvements, The whigs, under Henry Clay, contended for internal improvements. add the history of the Southern Pacific, the Kansas Pacific and the half dozen roads which Senator Pomeroy is said to control, for a double purpose. midnight legislation, with its reckless and ignorant squandering of the public domains, We must tell the legislators who pass bills like the Pacific railways that they are either knaves or fools—with evidently more knavery than folly, We must thoroughly investigate the condition of these roads. Look, for instance, at the condition of the Union Pacific Railway during the past winter. with money enough to have covered every ex- posed section of the track with a snow-shed, or at least to have justified the employment of assistance and machinery enough to prevent the snow from lying on the track more than twenty-four hours. at all when the subsidy bonds were given it meant that such a road should be built as would exhaust the resources of science and engineer- ing to accomplish that result; hero we have travel suspended, the mails de- layed, the Continent divided, as it were, for weeks, and the government is helpless to remedy the evil. a railway to be interrupted for a month con- tinuously we have no Pacific railway at all. The damage caused to business by this in- terruption amounts to millions of dollars, and another season may see it infinitely more disastrous, with all of our subsidies, without -a road to the Pacific. mountain and plain and canyon and stream, which in fair weather will permit a locomotive and train of cars to pass. must make up our mind that communication cannot be counted upon for a day, and that we are as much separated from California as Switzerland from Italy. stance, more than was needed—enough to have built a double steel track, with sheds covering every prices to build the Northern Pacific. The en- dowment voted to this road was an inexcusa- ble violation of law and public policy. Cer- tain railway men and bankers asked for a land grant. The government consented, and then, as if ashamed of its niggardliness, as com- pared with the profuse gratuity to the Union Pacific, turned around and voted a second grant. Our readers may compre- hend the extent of this gift when we say that the owners of the Northern Pacific Railway have received as much land from the government of thé United States as is contained in the European area of all France! The land thus given belonged to the people. It was set apart for them by our fathers, to be homes for themselves and their children. The progress of civilization was gradually reaching it. In time the irrepressi- ble enterprise of private citizens would have built a railway. But Congress, acting blindly, we hope, corruptly, we fear, deliberately voted away the heritage of generations. We trust, for the honor of Congress, that the books of this road will not also show a ‘‘confiden- tial” item of a half million of dollars ‘‘ex- pended in Washington.” We refer to this history, to which we might We must put an end to this extraordinary acts creating the Here is a road endowed If the law meant anything and yet So long as it is possible for So of a truth we find ourselves, A pair of iron rails run over But in winter we This is a painful and humiliating cireum- We have paid the money—four times Yet a month passes without stand how the Erie opinions we print, would naturally regard the Classification act as roguery ever attempted in America ;” nor are : NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 1872—TRIPLE SHKET. The Erie Infamy—An English the Classification Bill—Tbhe Duty of Legislature. The Heratp correspondent in London gives us an important contribution to the history of the Erie controversy. The aunouncement that there has been a rise in the value of Erie stock in consequence of the terrific onslaughts of the Heratp will gratify all lovers of truth and fair dealing and commercial honor. There is no citadel of fraud, no matter how strongly gar- risoned and intrenched, that will not yield in time to the incessant and well-directed blows of an independent and powerful journal. The walls of Jericho fell when they heard the echoes from the rams’ horns, We anticipate no such miraculous results in Erie, We mean to destroy it as the Malakoff was destroyed, by heavy guns and incessant pounding ;. for we regard this Erie combination as the most powerful and reckless that has been known in modern times. It must fall, or we must con- fess that our civilization is helpless in the presence of crime and audacity. The point of attack now is the Classification bill, The English holder of Erie, whose views come to us by cable, does not share this opinion. To his mind the Classification bill has meritorious features. To be sure it has the been adopted by many English railways, the argument being that some arrangement is ne- cessary to prevent unscrupulous men from sud- denly buying possession of a majority of the stock of substantial roads and taking posses- sion of the property. this kind is imaginary. If it were otherwise we have no right to do evil that good may come; to violate the first principles of moral law in the interest of morality. We see in this Classi- fication bill and its workings in the Erie man- agement an illustration of the immorality of the whole proceeding, nation of unscrupulous and reckless adventur- ers may suddenly purchase a fraction of stock and then make false issues and purchase the manufactured figure, and, having gained intrench themselves Legislature and making a gives the possession of their stolen gains. when, as in the case of Erie, these gains amount to seventeen millions of dollars a year, we see how the undisturbed use of the money, with no obligation to pay dividends on the stock or interest on the bonds or in the im- provement of the property, will enable them to amass large fortunes, to buy opera houses, manage theatres, decorate troupes of ballet girls and singers, to rush into the wildest speculations, to take possession of the courts of justice, and even to dare to make a con- spiracy to overthrow the credit of the nation. The immunity which the Classification act has given to the masters of Erie, and which it may give to any man who, like them, may plan a conspiracy against other corporations, is too serious a crime to be condoned by legislation. We made a blunder when we passed that act. Our duty now is to remedy that blunder as promptly and thoroughly as possible. Practically a danger of We see how a combi- shares at a nominal this power, by debauching the law which immunity in And them four years’ This being the case, we can well under- stockholder, whose “the greatest act of View of scorn and say that in a free government there is no guarantee for commercial honesty. As & consequence capital has no tendency bith. erward. When it does come we are com- pelled to pay exorbitant interest, When we ask financial men to buy our bonds they want large interest and an abatement of the princi- pal. Every form of investment, from the na- tional bonds which represent the honor of the nation down to the mortgage bonds of some small and thriving railroad, pays a tax upon crime. It is really a tax uponcrime. We per- mit the Erie outrage; we give it life in our Legislature and in our Courts, and honor the leaders as men who deserve honor because of their vulgar ‘‘success”—the ‘‘success” of Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild— and the inevitable consequence is that our credit is stained and mildewed and fs a disgrace to every American, As we have said, we cannot too largely esti- mate the extent of this disaster even in a money point of view. Because of Erie, and the tolerated crimes of the management, and the wicked alliance it made with Tammany Hall, we have lost in absolute money, which might now form a part of the national wealth and be enjoyed by our citizens, a thousand millions of dollars, The American people do not mean to con- done these felonies by submitting to them any longer. Our first duty is to insist upon the Classification bill being repealed, and to say to every legislator who hesitates to vote for that repeal that he has made himself infamous. Whatever arguments may be adduced in its favor graver arguments may be adduced against it, and, above all, its repeal is the firat step towards the overthrow of the Ring. We must then protect the rights of the stockholder, and make it possible for every man, alien or citizen, when he buys a share to vote upon it and control it as his property. There must be no mistake about this, When foreigners invest their money here they have as much right to the protection of the law as they would have in their persons if they came to dwell withus. We have as much right to lock every alienin the Tombs or de- prive him of his liberty as we have to lock up his money. At the same time we do not think it policy to permit for- eigners to become the directors of a corporation like Erie. We insist that, before an Englishman can become Mayor or Governor, or hold any office, he must become acitizen, A railway like that of Erie is an essential part of the Commonwealth and is necessary to its development and its defence in a military point of view. Were war to ensue between America and Canada, for instance, the operation and occupation of the Erie Railway would be a most essential point. In modern war railways have an impor- tant function. As we would not permit aliens to command our forts, or police our lakes and rivers, or supervise our arsenals, so we can- not permit them to have sucha control of our ‘railways as would make it possible for them at any time to impair the national defence. But this point can be met. We advance it as what seems to be an un- answerable argument to the suggestion re- ported by our correspondent that the Erie Railway can only be reformed when it comes into the hands of an English direction. Let fw da The Health Omcer of Now Work—The Quarantine Laws of the State. A great deal of fuss has recently been made over the management of quarantine matters under Dr. Carnochan, who now retires from the position of Health Officer of New York, and a legislative committee has been spending several days over a professed investigation of the subject. The inquiry has been of the usual character. Discharged _stevedores, lightermen and boatmen; rebellious Staten Islanders, who regard the firing of » quaran- tine station as a perfectly legitimate method of getting rid of the offensive institution ; ship owners who occasionally indulge in the prac- tice of slipping quarantine, and have been at some time or another caught at the game, were ready in numbers to testify to the enormities of Dr. Carnochan’s administration, as they would be prepared to bear evidence against any Health Officer of the port of New York, whomsoever he might be. On the other hand, prominent ship owners, the managers of the great steamship lines, and professional gentlemen of skill, experience and high repu- ation, were willing to bear witness that the affairs of quarantine were efficiently, honestly and courtevusly administered under Dr. Car- nochan, as they would doubtless maintain in the case of any other Health Officer whe simply discharges his duty under the Quaran- tine laws, without being responsible for their character, The testimony taken by the com- mittee was no doubt one-sided. All such in- quiries are made to represent the sentiments of the majority, and their absurdity is shown in the fact that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the majority and minority of an inves- tigating committee draw precisely opposite conclusions from the evidence given before them. Yet in this case we are informed that the Quarantine laws were on trial, rather than the Health Officer. The crusade against Dr. Carnochan was, of course, of a political character. The large quarantine fees authorized by law have made the office of Health Officer of New York a political one, just the same as the enormous emoluments of the Sheriff's office render it im- possible to separate that position from politics. The party in power expects to: draw from Sta- ten Island a good share of the expenses of a campaign; and as Dr. Carnochan is no politi- cian and.does not care a straw for the exigen- cies of party, he was felt to be # very im- proper person to monopolize the profits of quarantine, The fees for lighterage, steve- dorage and cooperage are lower now than they were in 1869, yet they are sufficiently large to excite: the longing of general committees, ward committees and all the riff-raff of political organizations. These gentry have been successful in getting rid of Dr. Carnochan, but they will scarcely be ben- efited by the appointment of his successor. Dr. Vanderpoel, of Albany, comes of an old and distinguished family, and both in his private and professional character will do honor to any position he may fill. ‘ Now, that abuses do exist in quarantine affairs at this port, uo person will deny; but they are of the laws, and not of the adminis- tration. The facts that the office is madea political one, and that party cliques and factions assume to rule or ruin the in- cumbent, are of themselves sufficient to When the republicans were making their way to power they pledged themselves to a Pacific Railroad. Pacific. practical little road. doubt tory of Pacific Railway legislation was known we should have a chapter of cor- ruption as interesting and painful as any in the history of Tammany Hall. tion was in the first place endowed with gov- ernment bongs more than enough to build the It was then permitted to execute a first mortgage bond, having precedence of the gov- ernment as a lien upon the road. there was a land grant which, of itself, was enough to have built the road. passed giving the owners peculiar facilities. Instead of husbanding these resources the di- They were anxious for votes, and this assurance gave them power in the It was redeemed by the passage of the bill which authorized the building of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific. legislation on this subject, the building of the road and the various steps taken to accom- plish the work, showed the ignorance and inca- pacity of Congressmen when dealing with a public exposed point. we surprised to know that it “excites the greatest reprobation.” It is a still graver out- rage that holders of stock in good faith cannot get it registered in their own names and vote upon it at the election of officers. An English capitalist may purchase a million of shares, and pay his good money for them; they are of no more use to him in the actual management of his property than a million of leaves in the vale of Vallambrosa. He finds them recorded in the name of Mr. Gould or his representative, and he cannot have them transferred to his own use and profit. So far as the profit is concerned, as the revenues of the road are diverted to the personal emolument of the combination of gamblers who are in possession, the shares | of yield him no more revenue than the firewood | land heaped in his cellar. Our laws and legislation make it possible, therefore, for a man to own property in America and have no control over it. In answer to this we have the base argu- ment that foreigners, and especially Englisb- men, have no rights in American railroads’ which we are bound to respect. We virtually say to foreign investors that if they send communication, and Congress, under the drill of a gigantic Pacific Railway lobby which holds high court in Washington, does not take astep to remedy the evil. The Senate can give weeks to the wrangles of Schurz and Sumner and Morton, but not a day to a matter as important as this. What we want to know is, Why have we no Pacific railway? Why was this money squandered upon a ring of greedy speculators? Why, with the princely endowment voted by Congress, have we @ road only certain during the midsummer months? Why is there no government super- vision of the Northern Pacific Railway? How do we know that when this road is built we may not find that our enormous land grant has been thrown away? The whole system of government subsidy to railroads has been shamelessly managed, and under an exact and rigid operation of the law—were Con- gress to do its duty—the private directors, the government directors, the examiners appointed by the government to report upon the road, would be called upon to answer for this manifest abuse of trust before a committee of Congress, and perhaps before a jury of their But the United States. improvement. We have that if the inside his- One corpora- it, We we must defence and In addition Laws were the English shareholders elect whoever they please; give them the awplest security ; see to it that every dollar of their money is pro- perly invested, with interest duly paid, but let American citizens have the direction of all lines on American soil. that a majority of the Board, or, in fact, the whole of the members, be citizens of the Let it be made a law There can be no objection to this limitation, It is not inspired by any feeling of unkindness to English gentlemen, but by a proper senti- As we understand English law no alien can hold real estate in England. There is a reason for that distinction which we do not care to fathom. ment of prudence. Nor do we complain simply say that, as Eng- it | Officer and all his subordinates should be paid subjects, so of | services. That of the Health Officer himself of transportation and supply, by putting them under the com- mand of American citizens. vision plainly enacted, we again say, let us overthrow this whole Erie fabric. is done we have no reform. Tammany was protects her the possession of English protect offence, With that pro- Until that rectors of the road formed an inside ring called a Crédit Mobilier, themselves being the members, and gave this ring ‘the contract for construction, They paid the inside ring the government bonds which came as a subsidy, the proceeds of the first mortgage bonds and the land. grant bonds. In other words, the princely endowment of money and bonds and acres which the govern- ment paid into their right hand as directors they quietly put into their left-hand pockets as railroad contractors, after deducting the cost of a rapidly built and imperfectly constructed road. The Crédit Mobilier gave enormous dividends. The road that remained was a skeleton. The Railway Ring which accomplished these results has been powerful enough to defy investigation. We can understand the silence of Congress on the subject when we remember that on one occasion a leading offi- cer of the road declined to account for the disbursement of a half million of dollars charged in his accounts, as he had expended it in Washington in ‘‘a confidential manner.” The discreet board did not press for a bill of items; but public opinion, which was shocked at the shameless advantage taken of the government by a rapacious corporation, prevented the passage of any further subsidy. One experience of treasury robbery was suffi- cient. We had paid four prices to build one road, and the next step was to pay two prices. The railroad pioneers who vowed that no road could be built in the West without bonds and lands suddenly found that a land endowment would suffice. Then came a shoal of land grants for railways and telegraphs, with shoals of other bills mow in committee asking for grants for every conceivable project, The largest endowment in the way of land was that given to the Northern Pacific. Although no bonds were paid as a subsidy there was reckless- ness and profligacy in the legislation which gave it life, While we paid four prices to build the Central and Union Pacific, and saw money, bonds and lands quietly slip into the pockets of a ring of directors, leaving the road, as we hove snid..a mere skeleton, we have paid two countrymen. that these men, each and all, are morally as guilty of offending the law as Mr. Congressman Stokes, who is now in jail, and Mr. Congressman Whittemore, who passed within the shadow of the jail. if we had simply honest business men, instead of incessant demagogues like Schurz and roar- ing demagogues like Morton, if we had legis- lators above the fascinations of the Pacific Rail- way lobby, this whole matter would be re- As the evidence stands we feel If we had statesmen in Washington, formed. The reckless men who have squan- dered the public treasure would be punished, the whole railway system would be governed by sound logical principles, the corporations so richly endowed would learn that they were under the law, not above it, and the great West, instead of falling under the dominion of grasping and audacious speculators, would feel the impulse of generous, progressive and life-giving enterprise. “Toe Mysreriovs INFLUENCE OF THE Herarp.”—On Tuesday last, in the lower House of the New Jersey Logislature, a joint resolution in favor of an act of Congress pro- viding for an appropriate survey of the coast and bay at Cape May, and for the erection of a breakwater at that point, being under con- sideration, several members spoke in opposi- tion to some terms of the resolution. Mr. Leaning, of Cape May, then sent to the Clerk’s desk a copy of the New York Herarp of Monday, the 19th instant, and had read there- from an editorial entitled “Hydrographic Researches and the Revival of American Com- merce.” Mr. Leaning stated that after the reading of the article he thought it unneces- sary to offer any further remarks on the subject, and the House evidently thought that no further debate was needed; for, with a slight amendment, the resolution was adopted, and a committee appointed to urge the matter upon Congress, So we go; and so it is that in all things looking to the development, advancement and prosperity of the country, on the land and the sea, the Heraxp, far and near, is recognized ‘as one speaking by euthoritr.” their money to the United States they must run the risk of confiscation. have dealt with the foreign holders of Erie, and, indeed, with all American holders who are not in the confidence of the Ring, as though we had confiscated their money. We take it and use to drift into the pockets of a few gamblers, and give them no account of it, and debar them from the courts, and allow them no voice For, in truth, we it, and permit it in the management of their affairs. The great Ring is sub-divided into forty smaller rings, in all of which the masters of the road have an interest. Every article necessary for sup- plies, for rebuilding the road, for roll- ing stock and the development of the property. is furnished to the great Ring by the smaller rings, and paid out of the Erie treasury at their own valuation. There is no check upon these expenses, no economy in management, no care for the interests, of the stockholders. The owners go to the Legislature and find that the Ring has purchased its members. They entreat the Courts only to learn that the servants of the Ring wear the ermine, They appeal to Albany and discover that the pen of the Gov- ernor obeys the Ring as readily as the timid Faust when he wrote his name in blood at the command of Mephistopheles. What has been the effect of this shameless and extraordinary immunity? American credit has been lowered in the eyes of the world to the level of the credit of Brazil or Turkey or Mexico, Here is a nation of sur- passing wealtb, with mines and forests and fields of grain and manufactures and water courses. Here isa proud, brave, enterprising people, famous for enterprise, industry and thrift. They have shown a progress that has amazed the world. In the ordinary course of business our unusual advantages and the ‘natural desire for capital to develop them would bring to our money markets the merchants of the world. Here are opportuni- ties for honest gain that no nation possesses. Yet prudent men avoid America because our credit has an evil name, and those who do not wish our institutiogs well, point at Erie with an ulcer: Erie {s a cancer. It must be rooted out, and at once, and we must make it impossible that it can ever grow again upon our body politic. The Queen Victoria Attempted Assassina- tion Story. A universal ‘expression of pleasure at the escape of the widowed English Queen from the latest would-be royal assassin will re-echo throughout the civilized world on reading the painful story to-day. Coming so swiftly on the heels of the great Thanksgiving pageant of Tuesday last, it will serve in the pages of history to throw a dark but not a fatal shadow where there was so much of light and joyous- ness. It is not hard, on looking back over the record of the century to find these aspirants to sit pilloried on the benches of infamy or fanatic madness beside Charlotte Corday, Ravaillac and Jacques Clement. Our own history within: the decade furnishes a fanatic monster to the roster of distinguished assassins. This latest creature of that blinded passion is named O’Connor, a native of Ireland, and appears to be little more than a boy in years. The motive which he alleges and the circumstances of his thrust- ing a pardon to the Fenian prisoners into the face of the Queen and calling on her to “‘sign or die!” would seem to mark him as a lunatic of the ordinary king-assassin type. It will be recalled that shortly after her coronation she was assaulted in the same vicinity as that in which yesterday's attempt was made. Her son Alfred was fired at and wounded, it will be remembered, by an individual named O'Farrell, in Australia, with some similarly insane object racking his weak brain, The regret at the unfortunate oceurrence will be considerably moderated by the fact that the only person likely to suffer therefrom will be the mad or vicious young man for the moment the notoriety of the hour. Tur Lovistana Demoonatio STATE CENTRAT. Commrrree have issued an address in which the adoption of the passive policy is recom- mended. Louisiana is » State in which pas- sivism, has lately not been ver conspicuous, prove the existence of a radical defect in the system. The large fees received by the Health Officer lie at the root of the evil. The extraordinary emoluments of the position are regarded asa legitimate fund for political expenses, and the officer, finding him- self stripped of a large share of his legal profits, sets to work to discover how he can make money, if not illegally, at least by a sharp and excessive interpretation of the law. If the State Legislature really desire a reform at Quarantine, and be not bent only on con- trolling the office for political purposes, a law should be at once enacted cutting off all the fees pertaining to the position and making the officea salaried one. Every dollar collected should go to the government, and the Health sufficient and even liberal salaries for their should be fixed at a sum sufficient to induce a physician of the eminence of Dr. Vanderpoel to accept the place and abandon his private practice, and the appointment should, for the same reason, be for ten years. It shouid be made an offence punishable with immediate removal for any officer or employé connected with Quarantine to accept a fee or present for any official service whatsoever, and the fees levied upon the commerce of the port should be cut down to the lowest point consistent with the expenses of the service. The inauguration of Dr. Vanderpoel would be a, good time for the adoption of such a reform, as he will be indifferent to the compensation he may receive, and certainly will not be likely to lend himself and his office to the purposes of the politicians. If quarantine reform be really desired by the Legislature it can be secured alone in this way. If the laws be suffered to remain as they are the abuses complained of will still exist, without any fault of the Health Officer, and before long we shall hear the political hounds who have hunted down Dr. Carnochan howling at the heels of Dr. Vanderpoel. The Senate Judiciary Committee: and the Erie Classification Repeal Bill—A Word te James Wood. The bill to repeal the Erie Classification act still hangs fire in the Railroad Committee of the Senate. Senator James Wood is the chair- man of that committee. Recent developments should have induced Senator James Wood to, respect the character of the Legislature su fa- ciently to resign that important position. A Senator who “borrows” money of Tweed and Gould and then votes for their bills is scarcely a fit person to head the Judiciary Committee, of the State Senate. We now insist that Sen.’ ator James Wood shall at once report the Erie bill, The farther hearing of argument is a/ bold fraud, designed in the interest of the’ “Ring” to delay action on the bill’ until, driven to the end of the session, it may be defeated. It is quite probable that Gould might be generous enough to loan more money toa Senator, should he or any of his friends be in pressing need of pecuniary assistance ; but the liberality of Mr, Gould can be no excuse for the defeat of justice and the continuance of the Erie directors in power in defiance of the stockholders of the road. Let us have a report on Senator O'Brien's bill