The New York Herald Newspaper, October 3, 1872, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. . All business or news letters and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New Yorg jo. RIT THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 51¢ Broadway.—Variery ENTERTAINMENT. BOOTH’S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth fvonue.—ARRA-NA-POCUR, BOWERY THEATRE, Bow: Awunduents—Catironnta Dra\ ;, on, Byron Tax C. ‘WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Esoarep rnox Stxq Sixc. Afternoon and Evening. { INION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thir- teen Rod Fourteenth streets.—AGNES. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street— Diamonns. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third at, and Eighth @v.—Kor Carorre. ' ACADEMY. OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—Tracan Orgea—Faver. WALLACK'S THEATRE, ‘Broadway and Thirteenth ptreet.—PrGMALION AND GaLATEA. WHITE'S ATHENZUM, 585 Broadway.—Nxcro Min- erretsr, do. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner 6th ov.—Nxono MinstaxLay, Eccentaiciry, &¢. ST. JAMES THEATRE, corner of 28th st. and Broad @ay.—San Francisco Mixstrets wv Farce, £0, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowoery.— Granp Vanrerr Enrentarnaent, &c. OHARLEY SHAY’S OPERA HOUSE, Thirty-fourth st. end Third av.—Vagrery Exrentainment. 720 BROADWAY, EMERSON'S MINSTRELS.—Gnanp Exmiorian Eccenrricitizs. . BAILEY'’S GREAT CIRCUS AND MENAGERIE, foot of Houston street, East River. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Rusensteiw Concent. AMERICAN INSTITUTE FAIR, Third av., between 034 and 6éth streets, ‘DR. KAUIN’S MUSEUM, No. 74$ Broadway.—Agr aNp Boncs. ( NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— j Scrmnce anp Arr, ‘TRIPLE SHEFT. New York, Thursday, Oct. 3, 1872. ‘THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. ‘To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. n ATHE ESCURIAL STRUCK BY LIGHTNING: ITS PROBABLE DESTRUCTION AND HISTORY— CABLu TELEGRAMS FROM EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA—SEVENTH PAGE. WHE BURNING OF THE STEAMSHIP AMERICA, AS TOLD BY THE OFFICERS AND MEN: AN OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION—MME. LUCCA AS MARGUERITE—PERSONAL—SEVENTH Paae. LEADING EDITORIAL: “THE PENNSYLVANIA OCTOBER STATE ELECTION AND ITS IM- PORTANT BEARING UPON THE PRESIDEN- TIAL ISSUE" —SIxTii PacE. FIRST DAY OF THE AUTUMN MEETING OF THE AMERICAN JOCKEY CLUB: EXCELLENT SPORT; A RIDER INJURED—NASHVILLE RACES—AQUATIC—Fourt# Pack. GREELEY AMONG THE FARMERS OF THE KEY- STONE—THE GEORGIA ELECTION: A DEMOCRATIC VICTORY—Turmp Pace. ‘EX-MINISTER CURTIN STATES HIS POSITION MORE FULLY—HARLEM COURT HOUSE— POLITICAL—TuIRD PaGE. HE NEWS FROM WASHINGTON—YACATING— COURT PROCEEDINGS—DR. VINTON'S FU- NERAL—SHIPPING—TENTH PAGE. NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, OUTUBER 3, 1872.—TRIPLE SHEKt, The Pennsylvania October State Elec- tion and its Important Bearings Upon the Presidential Issac. On Tuesday next the annual October State election of the great State of Pennsylvania will come off, embracing this time a Governor and other State officers, members of the Legis- lature, which will have the election of a United States Senator, and a full delegation of memberts to the national House of Representa- tives for the next Congress. Apart, therefore, from the Presidential contest, the catalogue of national and State officers involved in this October election would make it sufficiently important to bring outa very heavy popular vote; but, from the peculiar bearings of this election upon tho great national battle of November, the all-absorbing question is, Will “Hartranft or Buckalew be elected Governor? Between the party supporting the national administration and tho opposition coalition this struggle for the Pennsylvania Governor is to be the crucial experiment upon the Presi- dential issue. It is understood by the sup- porters of Mr. Greeley that unloss in Ootober they carry Pennsylvania with their candidate for Governor their prospect for the Presidency in November will indeed be gloomy, if not utterly hopeless, and it is understood by tho supporters of General Grant that-the defeat of Hartranft will at least reduce them to a des- perate struggle to recover Ponnsylvania in November, and that it may change the for. tunes of the campaign. The republican party in Ponnsylvania has placed itself under certain disadvantages ‘in the nomination of Hartranft for Governor, which are caloulated, together with the popu- larity of Buckalow, to cheer the opposition elements with hopes of victory, and to dis- courage the republicans with apprehensions of defeat. Hartranft was nominated by the ruling faction in his party State Convention against the earnest remonstrances and warn- ings of a number of powerful party leaders, including such men as ex-Governor Curtin and Colonel Forney, who are among the most active workers for Buckalew. In addition, therefore, to the Greeley republicans, Bucka- lew will be reinforced to. some extent by those republicans who have repudiated Hartranft without committing themselves against Gen- eral Grant. If from these accessions, and others from the floating vote, Buckalew can gain twelve or fifteen thousand votes, which, under other conditions, would be given the republi- can candidate for Governor, this Pennsylvania October election, with Hartranft’s defeat, will unquestionably give great encouragement to the opposition alliance along the whole line for the general engagement of November, and greatly enlarge the probabilities of Greeley and Brown. The democrats and liberal republicans, ac- cordingly, have chosen this Pennsylvania October election as the decisive test of tho Presidential strength of Mr. Greeley; for here moro favorable conditions for success are offered them than in Ohio or Indiana. More- over, as without Pennsylvania the outlook for Mr. Greeley is very discouraging, we find that all his available forces and resources aro con- centrated upon Buckalew; and yet his elec- tion is not a foregone conclusion. The late results in Vermont and Maine have encouraged the republicans of Pennsylvania with tho belief that, against all defections and deser- tions, they are still strong enough to hold the State, particularly os the administration side will be strengthened by the reinforcement of fifteen or twenty thousand colored voters @HE PATENBURG RIOT INVESTIGATION—THE BIENVILLE CATASTROPRE: MORE TESTI- MONY—LITERARY CHIT-CHAT—FouRTH PAGE. THE BUSINESS ON ‘CHANGE: THE CLIQUES AND SECRETARY BOUTWELL—CAREER OF A “FAMOUS” SWINDLER—MEETING OF VERMONT CENTRAL STOCKHOLDERS— FirTH PAGE. AMERICAN BIBLE UNION ANNIVERSARY—EicaTa Page. Tas Best Man ror Maror—William Butler ‘Duncan. Atsace anp Lorrarz.—Sad must be the acenes now witnessed in Alsace and Lorraine. The French are leaving the provinces in thousands. On Sunday last not fewer than one thousand two hundred men, women and children left Strasbourg for French territory. ‘This is one of the bitter fruits of the war. We honor the French for their love of coun- try; but we cannot blame the Germans. Had the French succeeded it is certain that Germany would have been dismembered. War is always and necessarily cruel. Should France ever draw the sword for revenge the memory of this exodus will give strength to her arm. Tae Ricar Man For tHe Ricut Prace— ‘William Butler Duncan for Mayor. Ir Is Nor Justice to the managing Folly, of Folly Hall, to liken him to the three tailors of Tooley street consolidated into one in- dividual. The three tailors were, after all, considering the historical limitation, but three- ninths—or, reducing the fraction to its lowest denomination, one-third—of an ordinary man. Hence, the reform Folly, being an ordinary man, beats the lowest denomination of the Tooley street tailors. Tammany Has Now a Gnaxp Opportonrry to wash out the last stain of corruption by taking for its standard-bearer in the coming con- test for the Mayoralty Mr. William Butler Duncan. Tae Bornine or THE STEAMSHIP AMERICA.— By the arrival of the steamship China, from Japan and China, at San Francisco, yesterday, and thence overland by telegraph, we have a detailed report of the origin, progress and re- sults of the conflagration by which the Pacific Mail steamship America was lost at Yokohama, The account varies but little from that which was furnished to the readers of the Henatp immediately after the occurrence of the sad event by our special despatches to London and thence through the cable to New York. Three Americans, fifty-nine Chinese and a number of Japanese were lost. An official investigation has been held as to the cause of the disaster. ‘The Court declares that the fire was ‘the re- sult of intention, not of accident.’ Ma. Wu Better Dexcan is a member of one of the strongest banking houses in the | country. He is a gentleman of high culture, and possesses in rare combination all the qualities that fit him to discharge in a bril- liant manner the manifold duties pertaining to the position of Mayor of our progressive city admitted, since 1868, under the fifteenth amendment. At all events, from all the facts and evidence before us, the best that can be said for the opposition in this momentous struggle between Hartranft and Buckalew is that the issue is very doubtful. Assuming, however, that Buckalew is elected, his success does not settle the Presidential issue, unless expressed in a rousing majority and supported with evidences of a corresponding popular re- action in Ohio and Indiana. But so far we have had no manifestations of a general political reaction, and we have no signs from Pennsylvania, Ohio or Indiana of any very startling opposition triumph on Tues- day next. The chances in Ohio appear to be in favor of the administration party. Indiana, in our national contests generally close and doubtful, now offers at least equal chances to the opposition league of democrats and anti- Grant republicans. But, from the apparent unity of the opposition forces in Pennsylvania on their candidate for Governor, and from the discords and desertions among the republicans here, the opening fora break in the adminis- tration lines, which may, to a considerable | extent, demoralize their whole army, is most encouraging. Yet even in Pennsylvania there is manifestly no expectation in the opposition ranks of the election of Buckalew by an earth- quake majority. We may assume, then, that | if elected it will be by a majority not large | enough to determine the November result, | even in Pennsylvania, and that, in conse- quence, as between the weakness of Hartranft and the strength of Grant, the republicans will appeal from the verdict of October to the new trial of November. On the other hand, if Hartranft, with all his bad surroundings and all the dead weights he has to carry, is on Tuesday next elected Gov- ernor, the result cannot be otherwise than dis- astrous to Mr. Greeley. Indeed, should the republicans next Tuesday, with Pennsylvania, carry both Ohio and Indiana, the results, as in 1868, will be accepted on all sides as equiva- | lent to the re-election of General Grant, re- | quiring only the formglity of the November | election to ratify the verdict of the people. | Before our late revolutionizing Southern re- bellion it was held that ‘as goes Pennsylvania | so goes the Union.” This opinion was cer- | tainly made good in the remarkable Presiden- | tial contest of 1856. Down to Pennsylvania | the preliminary State elections of that year, | in Vermont and Maine especially, indicated the election of Fremont. The democrats, | however, made a grand rally and a vigorous | effort to turn the tide in the Pennsylvania Oc- | tober contest for Buchanan, and from ‘Old | Buck’s’’ popularity and the divisions among the opposition forces the State was carried in that desperate struggle for “Pennsylvania's favorite son’’ by some two thousand majority, | and upon this slender thread of success, to- gether with a similar narrow escape in Indi- | ana, there was a popular reaction whereby | Buchanan was elected in November. Now, as history repents itself, as like causes produces like effects, the opposition alliance doubtless calculate that with their success in these impending October ¢loctions in Pennsyl- vania and Indiana, as in 1856, a popular re- action may be created in favor of Greeley and Brown which will secure them New York beyond a peradventure, and which, in the South and West against Grant and Wilson, will give them the balance of power. Oonceding all this, the conclusien, on the other hand, in- evitably follows that Pennsylvania and In- diana in October are indispensable, or that Buckalew is necessary to any prospect of suc- cess for the opposition alliance in November, and that consequently these State skirmishes of next Tuesday, if lost by the opposition, will be as decisive against Greeley and Brown as, in 1868, they were against Seymour and Blair. Hence the tremendous pressure now brought to bear upon both sides to carry Pennsylvania and Indiana on Tuesday next. On the one side the object is to carry a redoubt or two from which the great battle may be won; on the other side the object is simply to hold the advanced positions which command the field. Or, in Pennsylvania, we may say each of the two armies has brought forward its cham- pion for this October battle of next Tuesday, and that thus the Presidential issue is nar- rowed down to the fight between Hartranft and Buckalew, and that ‘‘the eyes of Dela- ware’ and of. all the other States are anxiously fixed upon this momentous conflict, because tho result and its consequences cannot be fore- seen. We only know that both parties in the Keystone State are. moving heaven and earth to give success each to their favorite champion; it is morally certain that the State on Tuesday next will poll alargor vote than in any pre- vious election in its history, and the same may be said of Ohio and Indiana; and it may be, after all, that certain outside factions not taken into the general account will here and there turn the scale. It will suffice for the present that the Presidential issue is involved in these October elections, and mainly upon the doubtful contest between Hartranft and Buckalew in Pennsylvania. Tre Maror or New York should be a gen- tleman of broad views, unassailable integrity and large experience. In Mr. Butler Duncan we have such a man, and he ought to be nominated by Tammany and endorsed by all the reform parties. Tae Svurzsior Covat.—Four Richmonds only in the field here. Ex-Judge James C. Spancer has already occupied the bench of this Court, and was defeated when a candidate for re-election; Mr. James W. Gerard, Jr., is a worthy opponent to measure steel with in a contest for a high office on the judiciary, hay- ing Coke and Blackstone at his ‘fingers’ ends.’ But in this case the nominating Con- vention will perhaps exhibit a proof of their superior wisdom by presenting for election by the citizens the name of the ex-judge—James ©. Spencer. Mr. A. T. Stewart’s Views on Mr. Greeley and the Financial Policy of the Administration. The administration orators and press have been hard at work trying to convince the peo- ple that the election of Mr. Greeley to the Presidency would prove disastrous to the na- tional finances and business of the country, and, at the same time, have praised extrava- gantly the financial policy of Secretary Bout- well and the republican party. Believing that our great New York merchant, Mr. A. T. Stewart, was fully competent to judge of this matter, and that if he expressed an opinion he would do so honestly, we sett a reporter to ascertain his views. The interview we published yesterday shows that he has no afprehensions from the election of Mr. Greeley. When asked if he thought Mr. Greeley’s election would be likely to produce uneasiness and difficulty in the financial affairs of the country he answered emphatically, “I do not,’’ and then added, “Why should it lead to difficulty?” Then with regard to the tariff question he did not think Mr, Greeley’s election would cause any trouble. “I think,’’ he remarked, ‘Mr. Gree- ley leaves that question where it always should be left—with the people, through their mem- bers of Congress, uncontrolled by party dicta- tion. Ihave always contended that the tariff laws, to which our country looks for its revenue, should be dictated wholly by rules of equity and justice, and so as to bear equally in their application upon all interests and classes. Take off the party whip, allow the members of Congress to consult the general interests of their respective con- stituents in framing the tariff laws, and I believe we should find every interest much better served and protected than it now is."’ Mr. Stewart said he never could learn that Mr. Boutwell had any special financial views or policy. He thought the sooner the Secretary ceased purchasing gov- ernment bonds not yet due at a large premium the better, and that the sooner it is understood that the government intends to enter upon o policy which at some future time, no matter how remote, will lead to resumption of specie payments, the better it will be for everybody. He added, that continuing the course which has been pursued the last four years will never lead us to specie payments, but would leave every merchant at the mercy of the gold gam- blers. It is evident, then, that Mr. Stewart does not approve of the financial policy of the administration and that he has no fear of any injury to business or the country should Mr. Greeley be elected. In this, too, he probably expresses the sentiment of the majority of the business community, notwithstanding the assertions of the party press and party politi- cians to the contrary. We Want For oun Mayor a candidate whose high character is a sufficient guarantee in his behalf, a man whose position places him above all the temptations to corruption, a man who can have no other objects in accepting the office than the public good and the approbation of the community; and such a man is William Butler Duncan. Srxra Conoresstonan Disrrict.—Four re- formers pitted against cach other in this dis- trict is as novel as it is refreshing. ‘Tis true, ‘tis pity; and pity ‘tis ‘tis true.” Two or more of them might be spared as missionaries to other districts in the work of reform. The Sixth district would no doubt spare them, and by so doing spare themselves an overdose of that new panacea of the political faculty, Mr. Murphy has had considerable experience in State legislation, and if he himself desires to run, without bargain or sale with any indi- vidual party or clique, the constituents might go farther ang fare worse in rejecting him, The Partisan Press and Our Public Men—Are We Hopelessiy Corrupt or Reckless Slanderers? If the politicians and the partisan press are to be believed our public men are all rogues and our republican government the most cor- rupt and corrupting on the face of the earth. The youngest voter ia the country cannot fail to remember the time when principles were still argued from the stump, and when the newspapers gravely discussed protection and free trade and public policy. The honesty of men in official station was seldom questioned. A stump speech was not a budget of slanders nor the newspaper a vehicle of calumny. That all this has changed is painfully apparent from the daily utterances of political orators and partisan journals, The Presidential can- vass is a canvass of vituperation. General Grant is accused of all manner of offences from present taking to nepotism—gravely accused, even by Mr. Sumner in his place in the Senate. Senator Wilson, together with the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and half a score of the most reputable men in Con- gress, is arraigned by the partisan press, and even by Mr. Greeley in some of his public utterafices, as guilty of receiving bribes in the stock of the famous Crédit Mobilier of the Union Pacific Railroad. A denial from them only provokes fresh charges, and, as in the case of Mr. Blaine, even graver accusa- tions. Can it be possible that any of these imputations are well founded? Is it probable that any corporation—even a corporation as reckless as that formerly known as the Pacific Railroad, Eastern Division, was alleged to be—would give the enormous sum of $1,930,000 to any man as a bribe? Are these things gigantic and wicked slanders or are they solemn and melancholy truths? Whether true or false they betoken a degrada- tion painful to contemplate, and they are almost equally disgraceful in either case. But the imputations do not stop with the President, the Vice President and the Con- gressmen said to be implicated in this Crédit Mobilier transaction, Senator Trumbull is charged with receiving an improper fee in some case where he was of counsel for the government. This is answered by a similar charge against Senator Conkling. Ex-Senator Doolittle is accused of writing a letter to him- self asking himself to share with a fellow named Connatty in the profits of an improper speculation. In Pennsylvania nearly every candidate on either ticket is accused of some malfeasance in office. Mr. Buckalew is as- sailed on the one hand and General Hartranft on the other. Against the latter the accusations have been peculiarly viru- lent and the imputations singularly grave. The last of them is that he caused a convict in the Penitentiary to be pardoned'that the convicted felon might tes- tify in his behalf. Governor Curtin pours his testimony upon the 4ood-tide of crimination and recrimination, and avers that if Hartranft is elected Governor of the State the Legislature at Harrisburg will out-Tammany Tammany in the next three years. New York is not free from the flood of scandal which inundates theland. Theprom- inent supporters of both Greeley and Grant are all villains, if the partisan press is to be believed. Senator Fenton is ‘shown up in his true colors’’ by one ‘‘organ.’’ In reply Mr. Laflin, the Naval Officer, is attacked by another. General Dix and Mr. Kernan, both excellent men, as we always believed, are made the victims of improbable stories, Chauncey M. Depew is a ‘lobbyist’? and Lyman Tre- main an “original secessionist.’ Nobody escapes or can expect to escape the tongue of the common slanderers. Everybody who aspires to anything is at once waylaid by these assassins of reputations. Fresh stabs are inflicted as well as old wounds made bare. No name is too sacred and no reputation too dear to be attacked, and the work which was begun early in the campaign only grows in intensity and virulence as the canvass progresses. It is possible that the war upon character and repu- tation may even become more reckless and bitter than it has been, and yet it has no par- allel in party strife for reckless and bitter vitu- peration. If we take the two leading partisan papers of the country for o single day we find in them more accusations or calumnies than would furnish work for a criminal court for a year. On Tuesday Mr. Greeley’s ‘organ’ put down Collector Arthur as ““Mr. Murphy’s con- federate”’ in some alleged cap swindles years ago; charged that ‘President Grant, his Sec- retary of the Treasury and other high officials were parties to the Black Friday swindle of 1869;'’ referred to Cameron, Hartranft and Mackey as ‘names fragrant of corruption;”’ characterized Mr. Blaine as ‘a Congressional procurer.” and accused Senator Wilson of bribery. General Grant’s organ, by way of reply, charged ‘Mr. Greeley’s man’ with “blackmailing,’’ and while condemning slan- der went into the business to an almost equal extent on its own account. These things dis- grace us in the eyes of the world, and yet the world knows not the men who origi- nate these stories or dig them up out of for- gotten records for public perusal. The worst feature in all this is the one to which we have already adverted—namely, that it makes little difference whether these things are true or false. The world in general will believe what we say of eachother. Old dynas- ties will rejoice that our Republic is going to pieces through the greed and corruption of politicians, and will hold up the pictures we are painting of ourselves as a warning to dis- contented subjects. Kings will laugh at our follies and courtiers point toward us the finger of their scorn. We are fast becoming a byword and a reproach among nations, and we owe the exposure of our shame, if not our shame itself, to the Jefferson Bricks of the time. The American people, hearing so many scandals, will reject all of them, and so far ag any good is to be accomplished by the expo- sure of wrong-doing, it will fail in the general incredulity. But the effect will be lasting for evil. If the scandals, or even a tithe of the scandals which are being scattered broadcast over the country are true, the Republic has little to hope from the virtue of its public men. It they are not true it is a loose public sentiment and a deadened sense of public and political morality which permit them to be told without rebuke. In any case our institutions are in danger and the anarchy of Mexico and the degradation of the South American republics are impending over us, Tho partisan press is fast encompassing onr ruin. eosin} These newspapers have forgotten honor and duty in their own greed for partisan success. No man’s reputation is any longer dear to them, and political opposition is con- sidered a full justification for personal vituper- ation, Many of these stories may be true, but even their truth in most cases is no excuse for their present publication. General Grant's official acta are generally well understood, and all who approve of his conduct as President will reject the accusations of his enemies. It would be impossible to convince either Mr. Greeley’s friends or his eneinies among the masses that ‘one B. F. Camp” was his “agent” in any operation involving bribery and cor- ruption. The whole course’ of the partisan press is as futile as it is degrading, and it can only end in a stern rebuke of such falso journalism or the downfall of the Republic. Tae Orrice or Mayor of this great metrop- olis, with its local expenditures of twenty-five millions a year, is not the place for a mere theoretical or visionary reformer. It is an office, at this crisis in our city treasury affairs, calling for a skilful and experienced financier, familiar with large monetary transactions, such a man as the head of the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co. In this practical view the city could desire no better man for our next Mayor than Mr. Duncan. Tue Pourrioat, Canvass—THEe Mayorauty.— Within a few days reformed Tammany will meet inconvention to nominate a- candidate for Mayor: In the nomination then mado will the citizens have an opportunity of judg- ing whether the men who set up the banner of reform have strength and honesty enough to act up to their pledges. Half-way measures never lead men to victory. Let Tammany and the Committee of Seventy unite in presenting the name of William Butler Duncan as the reform candidate for Mayor, and a popular endorse- ment will follow such as no candidate for that office ever before received. The Folly Hall and Apollo Hall Poli- tlolans. Folly Hall may not be known to all the readers of the Heratp. It occupies a fashiona- ble locality—a malicious slander of tho ‘‘reds’’ declares that fashion and folly generally are found in company—being situated in no less aristocratic a place than the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The name may not be fully written out, but the curious inquirer will discover on the parlor that bears the title the initiatory let- ter F. Political bodies are nowadays in the habit of christening themselves after the names of the halls in which they assemble. Formerly we were accustomed to hear of the Jackson democracy, the Clay whigs, &c.; but at present we are more familiar with Mozart Hall democrats, Tammany Hall democrats, Apollo Hall O’Brienites, the Twenty-third street republicans, the Union League Club re- publicans, the Custom House republicans and the like. On Tuesday evening the Folly Hall reformers sprang into existence, and, like the famous tailors of Tooley street, proceeded to take under their sheltering wings the manage- ment of the affairs of the Commonwealth. The head Folly, whose Christian name is John, was charged with an important duty. Up from the heart of the people had come the swelling demand for the advancement of the banner of real reform, inscribed with the name of William Butler Duncan, over the carcasses of all Folly politicians and bogus reformers. It was known that the powerful regenerated democracy could not resist the acceptance of so popular and sterling a candidate, and that the nomination would put a stop to all trades, bargains and intrigues made under the mask of reform, and would unite all good citizens in its support. So the Folly, whose name is John, was commissioned by all those interest- ed in such bargains, trades and intrigues, to call together as many of his fellow Folliesas he could muster, and to make a nomination for Mayor at any hazard, so that their candidate could afterwards withdraw or run as a ‘‘dum- my’’—a convenient article well known to the Politicians of the Folly school—as the necessi- ties of the case migit demand. It was known that the Mayoralty field once occupied by such @ candidate as William Butler Duncan the duty of genuine reformers, which is to sit in judg- ment upon the action of the political parties, and not to dabble in politics themselves, would be ended. The mission of Folly Hall the night before last was not successfully fulfilled. The man- aging Folly has a weakness, and that weak- ness is known to bea venerable and respect- able politician who was actually Mayor of New York in 1845, when the city had three hundred and seventy-one thousand two hun- dred and twenty-three inhabitants; when the Watch Department comprised, all told, officers and watchmen, six hundred souls; when forty- eight thousand eight hundred and ninety votes were cast at the election; when the en- tire receipts of the Corporation—taxes, Sinking Fund and all—were six hundred and twenty-one thousand and thirteen dollars and twenty-four cents, and the total expenditure on thé maunici- pal government was six hundred and four thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars and ninety-four cents, leaving to the credit of the city—and of the Mayor—the sum of six- teen thousand six hundred and ninety-three dollars and thirty cents in the City Treasury on the Ist January, 1846. Such conclusive evidence of the honesty, economy, energy and competency of the ex officio head of the six hundred city watchmen, this tangible proof that not an unnecessary dollar had been wasted on lanterns, rattles or overcoats, could not go unrewarded, and the Mayor was re- elected in 1848, This excellent public officer his shoulders now than he had then, but his vigor is attested by his lusty candidacy for nomination at nearly every municipal election for the past quarter of a century, and as he Don't feel a day older, Jack, not a day, the enterprising Folly, whose name is John, has long since agreed with himself that the ex-Mayor is just the man for the Folly reform crisis, But at last Tuesday's meeting of the Folly haulers things did not work smoothly. There were present a few delegates from real reform organizations—such as the Young Men's Democratic Reform Association and the great German Reform Association—all of whom retired as soon as they discovered the object of the Folly meeting, protesting that it was absurd for a handful of patriotic bald eagles, who had no _ authority and represented nobody but themselves and the wire-pulling political traders bohind them. to set themselves up in the business of nominating candidates for the People of the metropolis of tho Empire State. So that, when the nomination of the venerable, honest and over-ready-to-be-nominated ex- Mayor of 1845 was actually made, there were only the voices of the Folly whose Christiam name is John and a dozen companions to unite in the shout of acclamation, and only the cotton umbrella of one highly respectable are oe Spproval on the floor of Folly Now, it may be imagined by the uninitiate® that Folly Hall and Apollo Hall are wide apart. The one is located in tho well fur- nished parlor of a fashionable hotel; the other mingles in the samo building with negro minstrels, is the next door neighbor of a Pool-selling establishment and vis-a-vis to a first class sporting tavern and some famous banking houses of a different description from that of Duncan, Sherman & Co. Yet there ia ashrewd suspicion that there are links be- tween the two invisible to the eyes of ordi- nary observers, and there are reasons to suspect that the Folly politicians are engaged in the business of playing into the hands of the Apollo politicians. Of the two bodies Apollo is by far the most manly and honest. The Folly clique hide their cards, scheme, lobby, bargain, and assume to be, like Joe Bagstock, “sly, devilish sly!'’ Apollo comes out boldly for James O'Brien, and, sink or-swim, live or dio, is. for him ‘and for bim only. QOnone side all is pretence; on the other there is no pretence at all. Apello Hall has an object in dividing the reform associ- ations, and avows it. Folly Hall professes to champion reform, yet does its best as a tender of Apollo Hall to destroy the unity of the re- form movement. We do not believe that Apollo Hall is benefited by its tender. There is something worthy of admiration in the action of the Apollos, who unfurl the banner of their chief and defy opposition, boasting that the political reformers and the anxious republicans dare not refuse to strike a bargain for his support. There is only ludicrousness in the bombastic efforts of the Folly Halt mimics of the Tooley street tailors to take upon their shoulders the whole respon- sibility of the government of the city ot New York, and to dictate to the merchants, bankers, lawyers, mechanics, busi- ness men and laborers of the metropolis, from their little Fifth avenue parlor, who shall be Mayor of their great city. It is the story of the frog and the bull repeated, and it will be prudent for all who do not desire to be affected by the offensiveness of the operation to get out of the way of the Folly frog before the in- evitable consummation is reached. We Requme ror Mayor one who has a large stake in the interest of the city—a gen- tleman of posiiion, influence and experience— like William Butler Duncan. Mr. Duncan understands thoroughly the wants of our city, and would know how to combine jndi- cious economy with a liberal expenditure for public improvements. A Mayoral miser is as much out of place ina city like New York as a wholesale political robber. Tue Escurtan in Friames.—By a special telegram from Madrid, through London, we are informed that the Escurial, the great mon- asto-tomb-palace and art treasure repository’ of Spain, is wrapt in flames and likely to fall a ruin before the progress of the firé king.’ The building was struck by lightning yester- day evening and enveloped in fire almost im-' mediately afterwards. The progress of the destroyer was so rapid that the dome and tower of the edifice fell in atan carly moment. The royal palace, its library, paintings, manuscripts and other valuable and sacred relics were being consumed with apparently little prospect of controlling the visitation when our despatch was forwarded. The Summer residence of the Spanish King was in danger also. A brigade of firemen had been hurried off from Madrid to the scene of the disaster, but it is to be feared that their efforts will prove of little use in saving one of the most noble monuiienty of the compound piety, religious discipline, learn- ing, art and royalism of the Spaniards. Ramway ManaGeMeEnt In Encianp.—‘ Run- ning ahead” at a terrible rate of speed to “make up time,"’ on a railway from London for Edinburgh, produced yesterday the disas- trous collision and melancholy loss of life which are reported to us by cable from Eng- land. When, or how, will the managers and the working officials of railways be brought to a due sense of their responsibility and duty towards the travelling public? Tae Dirricr Arrorneysuir.—Here also there are four candidates pressing their claims upon the Convention—all good and true men. Any one of the charmers would do well enough were all the others away. But, like Banquo’s ghost, they ‘will not out,”’ until they are ruled out on Saturday next. Judge Garvin has given all-sufficient proof of his earnestness in the work of reform, with which the office of Dis- trict Attorney has a great deal to do, If, how- ever, any change is to be made in this important office and adjunct to the criminal judiciary of the city and county, the nominating Convention will find in Mr. Wheeler H. Peckham one in an eminent degree qualified to fill it, Mr. Peck- ham has materially aided in the work of re- form and has been an active member of the Bar Association. He is also well posted in all that has been done with regard to the Ring in- dictments, and asa public prosecutor would be quite in his element. Tae True Has Comm when the people of | this island should choose a Mayor who is bess (0 De: Sarty © few OFS Yenss 0) CASEY ON | ailiey political hack nor a politician, who has no jobs to look after, no friends to reward, and no enemies to punish; but whose integ- rity, ability and experience in business affairs can be fully relied upon in the work of honest reform. Need we say that W. Butler Duncan, ‘ prominently among our worthy citizens, fully meets these demands? Tae Jupicmny Canvass—Tue Supreme Court Jupersarr.—There are nine candi- dates in the field for this important office. It is of supreme importance that the Convention nominate a man who as a lawyer and a citizen has proved himself worthy of the office and of the suf- frages of the people. Mr. Algernon 8. Sulli- van meets these requirements. Others of the candidates also do—Judges Sutherland and Shea; but as one only can be elected, let the Convention that mects on Saturday noxp choose between them, Mr, Joseph J, Marril,