The New York Herald Newspaper, February 5, 1873, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. . Volume XXXVIIML,..........scecreeeeee NOe 36 —_—_————— = AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. af 8i F be ge beards OH Treat. “ina street, corner Sixth THEATRE COMIQNE, No, 514 Broadway.—Tax Pano- Bama or Cuicaco, Matinee at 234. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston Bnd Bleecker streets.—ALnAmBRA. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third Dse Grune Agent. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Burraro Bri1—Srace Sravon Yann. : GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth a@y.—Catanact or THE GANGES. s NEW FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broad- ‘way.—AUxE WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth: st.— <ten Sn Bronte iter noon and Evening. ATHENEUM, No. £85 Broadway.—Guanp Vanrery Ex- uurainmxnt, Matinee at 235. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston streets.—Leo anv Lotos, UNJON SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, between Broadway and Fourth av.—One Hunprep Yuans O1p, WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth treet,—Buotagr Sam. MRS, F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE,— Diana; ow, Lovs's Masque. BRYANT'S OPFRA HOUSE, Twenty-third st.. Bth av.—Necro Minstrksy, Kocentricity, &c. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 21 Bowery.— ‘Variety ENTERTAINMENT. corner SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 26th st. and Troadway.—Erniorian MinstReLsy. &¢. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Lxcrurx, “Tux Sanpwicn Istanps.” ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d strect and 4th av.—Matince Bt 2—Beikw's Reapinas. DE GARMO HALL, Fifth avenue and Fourteenth st— Guanp Concert. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— FCrRNcE AND ARt. ‘TRIPLE SHEET. 1873. DAY. New York, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 5 = = THE NEWS OF YESTE To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “THE CONTEST OVER THE CITY SPOILS! THE ISSUE BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC MAYOR AND THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE” — EDITORIAL LEADER—SIxTn PAGE. MAYOR HAVEMEYER AND THE REPUBLICAN RING! SEVERE DENUNCIATION OF THE REPUBLICAN MANAGERS! THE MAYOR CLAIMS THE CITY OFFICES AND PATRON- AGE FOR HIMSELF AND FRIENDS—TurKD Page. MURDER MAD! AN AWFUL SCENE IN A BLEECKER STREET LODGING HOUSE! ANOTHER MURDER FOLLOWED BY SUI- CIDE—SEVENTH PaGE. BIRENGTHENING THE GERMAN FORTRESSES! THE PRUSSIAN PREMIER PROPOSES A NEW PLAN FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE COAST! FORTY-FIVE MILLION ' THALERS ASKED FOR—SEVENTH PGE. CABLE FROM EUROPE! ONE HUNDRED PERSONS FROZEN TO DEATH IN ENG- LAND! CITIZENS DISPERSED BY TKOOPS IN BOHEMIA! WELSH MINE-OWNERS THREATENED BY STRIKERS! CARLIST TRIUMPHS REPORTED FROM SPAIN! THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY “LEFT” ENDORSE GARIBALDI—SEVENTH PaGE. BWINDLED OUT OF THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS! THE WIDOW OF MOSES Y. BEACH CHARGES A FIRM OF BROKERS WITH BREACH OF TRUST—Tnixp PacE. & BRILLIANT BANQUET! PROFESSOR TYNDALL ENTERTAINED BY, HIS FELLOW SCIEN- TISTS AT DELMONICO’S! A GENERUUS FAREWELiL—Turmp Pace. CONSOLIDATING THE NATIONAL BANKS! MR. WILSON’S RESIGNATION ! THE MOBILIER- IZED SENATORS! SPECIAL ITEMS OF WASHINGTON NEWS—Turep Pace. @ROWNMING THE NEW KING OF THE SAND- WICH ISLANDS—LATE TELEGRAMS—Sgv- ENTH PaGE. AVHITELAW REID'S LETTER ON BEHALF OF MISS [DA GREELEY—MARITIME INTELLI- GENCE—PROMOTING TEMPERANCE—REAL ESTATE—TENTH PAGE. A RESPLENDENT PHASE OF CHARITY! QUEEN FASHION DANCING ATTENDANCE ON THE GRAND OLD DAME! THE NOTED PER- SONAGES AND TOILETS AT THE BALL— TarRD PaGE. KILLING NIC DURYFA! THE CORONER'S IN- QUEST CLOSED! A SINGULAR FINDING BY THE JURY—FourTH PaGez. BOSTON'S BARREL HORROR! THE BUTCHERED HUMAN REMAINS FOUND FLOATING DOWN CHARLES RIVER! TRACING THE CRIMI- NAL! THE TERRIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES BROUGHT OUT ON THE INQUEST—Firra Pag. LEGISLATIVE PRO-CEEDINGS—FREE BANK- ING—TaiRp PagR. ® CALDWELL'S PURCHASED SENATORSHIP! HE DECLARES HIS INNOCENCE ON HIS DEATH- BED! THE TESTIMONY TAKEN BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE—Fovrru Pages. REASONS AND REMEDIES FOR CORRUPTION IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE! THE LOBBY VULTURES SCENTING THE CARRION! CHARTER PROSPECTS! THE CITY AP- POINTMENTS—Fovntu Pags, LEGAL BUSINESS IN THE SEVERAL TRI- BUNALS! A DECISION ON THE sTOKES BILL OF EXCEPTIONS PROBABLE AT AN EARLY DAY! INTERESTING TESTIMONY IN THE JUMEL CASE—EiGutH Par. GONSULIDATING THE CITIES OF NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN—STREET CLEANING— Eiautu Page. ' MONEY MORE ‘ACTIVE, AT SEVEN PER CENT COIN! THE GOLY CLIQUE AND THE SYN- DICATE! GOLD HIGHER AND GUVERN. MENTS BUOYANT—NEARLY A RAILROAD DISASTER—NInTB PAGE. BY ‘Tanez Daxrets Come to JupomextT— Dix, Hackett and Brady. Now, then, let us have a speody clearing out of the Tombs. Tue Enp or raz Sxconp WnarTon Taiat.— Tt appears that the jury in the case of Mrs. Wharton, charged with an attempt to poison Mr. Van Ness, have disagreed and have been discharged. Thus ends the second trial of Mrs. Wharton on the charge of Poisoning, She is now held t@ bail to appear when called upon to answer another charge of attempting to poison Mrs. Van Ness. While we offer no opinion in these cases, but accept the action of the juries as showing that crime has not been proved, it is only fair to say that the determined hostility to this woman on the part of certain medical men, whose reputation for professional knowledge is at stake, and on the part of a portion of the Baltimore popula- fiom. savors very much gf persecution, NEW YORK HEKALD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1873.—TRIPLE SHEET. the calamity which has befallen these few | Our Jury System—The Real Remedy for The Contest Over the City Spolls—The Igsue Between the Democratic Mayor and the Republican Legislature. We publish to-day two communications which foreshadow the contest about to take place over the spoils of the city government involved in the last election. The one is from . Mayor Havemeyer, and is addressed to a self- or two months, if necessary, and the city which has lived thus long under the "| present state of affairs will not be sericpsly injured if no change should sooner take place. It is important that every provision of the new charter should be carefully, sctutinized and rescratinized, so that we may no longer live under a law which no two public officers constituted party of o! as | interpret alike. ‘The spoil will eventually bo the Committee of Seventy; “the other is from | ll gathered into the republican net, and the ® correspondent of the Hznaxp at the State capital. Mayor Havemeyer, who was elected asthe republican nominee, but endorsed by the Committee of Seventy, of which he was the presiding officer, makes a direct issue with the republican, party and declares him- self in antagonism to its policy. He claims to owe his success to the independent votes of the citizens of New York, independent of party, although he received about the same number of ballots that were cast for the regu- lar candidates of that organization, and hence he insists that the patronage of the municipal government belongs exclusively to him and his friends, and should be distributed by him without let or hinderance. He takes issue with the Republican Legislature, which has indicated its intention of framing a charter which might divert the city offices from the control of the Committee of Seventy, and pronounces the leaders of the majority party “‘as dangerous a set of corrupt poli- ticians as those who are under indictment for past raids upon the city treasury.’’ His com- munication is at least entitled to the credit of boldness, He eharges the republicans with a design to cripple the power of the Comptroller or to supplant him with ao “partisan successor,’’ in order to open the door to wasteful expenditures, and he de- nounces the abolishment of the Board of Assistant Aldermen—a body notorious for its corrupt and degraded character—as only a portion of ‘a gigantic scheme of partisan jobbery.”” Inshort, Mayor Havemeyer throws down the gauntlet to the republican party, and follows up, with o vigorous assault upon its character, the policy foreshadowed by his support of Charles P. Shaw, an anti-Grant liberal, for an important city office, and his appointment of a Tammany politician as a City Marshal. His letter follows hard upon the heels of Mr. Tilden’s exhaustive criti- cism of the position of the republicans in regard to the Tammany ‘‘ring’’ exposures, and is shrewdly designed to lead the city of New York back into the democratic fold from which, through the folly of.the shepherds, it has recently strayed. Our Albany correspondence foreshadows the passage of the New York city charter by a re- publican party vote and gives some of the points of the new law. The appointments are to be made by the Mayor in the same manner as appointments are made by the President of the United States or the Governor of New York—subject to confirmation by the legis- lative body, the Board of Aldermen. As, how- ever, a conflict of opinion might arise between the Aldermen and the Mayor, and as it is necessary to adopt some method by which vacancies may be filled in the event of a failure to confirm the Mayor’s nominations, it is to be provided that if such disagreement shall exist for twenty days the Mayor and Aldermen shall meet together at the expiration of that period and proceed to elect persons to fill the vacant offices. The principal recommenda- tion of this plan is said to lie in the prospect that a property qualification will be- fore long be required for a vote for Aldermen, thus giving that body a more conservative and respectable character than it has heretofore enjoyed. It is also urged that the Aldermen, being chosen from the different districts, are more likely to be fairly elected and are really better representatives than the Mayor of the popular sentiment. A judicious arrangement of the aldermanic districts may certainly give the respectable portion of the citizens a better chance of carrying a majority of the Alder- men than they sometimes have of electing their candidate for Mayor. Last November, if the democracy had been united, Mr. Havemoyer would have stood no chance of success. Before another Mayoralty election comes round the breach in the democratic ranks may be healed, and the party may unite on a candidate for Mayor. But it is almost certain that divisions will always exist in the aldermanic districts, where politicians are less under party control, and hence a closer con- test may take place over the Aldermen than over the Executive. There are many who believe that to give the Mayor the absolute power of appointment and removal would eoncentrate responsibility and thus render good selections of heads of departments more probable. There is some force in this argument; but the objection arises that, where the uncontrolled power of appointment rests with one officer, a Bombina- | tion of the existing heads of departments, with new “ring” will succeed to absolute power ; but the very certainty of such a result removes the necessity for scrambling haste. Let the charter be a good one and the people will be quite contented that the republicans, who are responsible as a party for the future govern- ment of the metropolis, shall fill the offices with their own political friends, provided the appointees have the requisite qualifications of capacity and integrity. But the people will not be willing that forthe sake of hastily clutching the spoils ‘the republican party should drive through the Legislature a slovenly law which would require legislative tinkering and judicial interpretation for years to come. We are glad to learn that the rumors of a conflict between the Governor and the Legis- lature have no foundation, and that the two branches of the State government, the execu- tive and legislative, are in harmony. The democratic antecedents of Governor Dix may have given coloring to the report, which, no doubt, owes its origin to those who would be glad to break the solid republican strength in the Legislature for their own purposes. But very little reflection will serve to show its un- reliability. Governor Dix stands in a very different position from that occupied by Mayor Havemeyer. The former was the nominee of the straight Republican Convention for the office of Governor of the State, and accepted the nomination at the hands of that political party alone. The latter was the choice of the repub- licans and the reform party, and was put for- ward in the campaign as the representative of the people at large and not of a political organization, The issue made in the State was different from that made in the city. In the State the administration republicans fought against the combination of democrats and liberals and made the issue directly a party one. Im the city there was a pretence at “‘independence,’’ and it was de- clared that no political considerations should enter into the canvass for municipal offices. While Mayor Havemeyer may have a perfect tight to avow himself a democrat, to counsel with Mr. Tilden, John Kelly and Comptroller Green, and to abuse the republicans who refuse to place absolute power in his hands, Governor Dix owes fealty to the republican organization, to which alone he owes his present position. Indeed, the issue in the State was made against an amalgamation of democracy and republicanism, and the result was the-election of over two-thirds of the straight republican members of Assembly and the overthrow of such powerful politicians as ex-Speakers Littlejohn and Alvord. Governor Dix will therefore doubtless feel himself bound in honor to approve such constitu- tional measures as the republican party in the State Legislature may think proper to adopt, even though they may not be in strict con- formity with his personal views and = wishes. In his assault upon the republicans Mayor Havemeyer is not likely to win over the Governor to his side, and the fight he makes will there- fore be confined to the city. His letter, while a good democratic campaign document, will not be likely to alter the temper of the repub- lican Legislature, and will, in all probability, hasten the passage of the new charter. This is the more likely, inasmuch as it is well known that a coup is contemplated by the democratic managers, who are now endeavoring to obtain the resignation of all the city office-holders of their own party in order that Mayor Have- meyer may fill their places with members of the Committee of Seventy, and thus render the removal of heads of departments under the new charter the more irritating to those ‘‘re- formers.”” Meanwhile the people are expected to look on patiently while the office-seekers are thus playing their respective games. No wonder that our citizens should grow weary of this farce and demand at the hands of the Legislature a charter framed for the efficient government of the city,’and not for any Mayor, party, committee, clique or faction. A Touch of Spring. Yesterday brought to a large portion of. the country the first soft breath of Spring, ‘ethe- real mildness.”’*, From the lakes to the Gulf and thence over the Alleghanies and the seaboard rising temperature was announced, and after the intense cold of last week it was most wel- come. What effect this warm spell may have in dissolving the snows and ices which have accumulated on the mountains and along the seaboard can be determined only by its dura- tion. It is, however, a warning to us to pre- all their enormous patronage and means, might at any time render certain the success of a candidate who might be ready to make a bargain with them for their Felention in office, Thus, the chance success of a dishon-" est Mayor for a single term might lay the foundation for a long continuance of corrupt rule too powerful to be easily broken up. This danger would be greatly lessened if the confirmation of the Board of Aldermen or ‘an election by the Mayor and the Aldermen com- bined should be required. It is therefore probable that the plan indicated by our cor- respondent will receive the sanction of the Legislature and the approval of the Governor. In regard to the Finance Department it is grati- fying to learn tlmt the enormous political power of the Comptroller, a growth of Tam- many corruption, is to be entirely destroyed, and that the officer whose duty it is to audit and pay all the accounts against the city is to be henceforth wholly independent. The sug- gestions of the Committee of Seventy will be in this respect adopted, and a Commissioner will be placed at the head of the Finance De- partment, the Comptroller’s office being made an independent bureau, like the Chamber- lain’s, in that Department. Some of the im- patient party organs, too eager to seize upon the spoils, are urging the Legislature to rush the new charter through with indecent haste, It is to be hoped that no attention will be paid to the advice of these indiscrect partisans, whose zeal is probably incited by anxiety to realize on disputed accounts against the City Treasury. The Legislature is making a char- ter under which the city may live for the next fifteen or twenty years, and their work should be carefully and intelligently done, The ex- actant oficc-helders cam adlerd to wait aanon pare for the water floods which the soft touch of Spring may prematurely send rushing with ruinous consequences through our water- cours The sun has already completed more tape hea from the southern tropic to his vertical positio® vyer the line. Two weeks ago a writer from the Pacilld slops de: scribed the usual early Spring’ there, already as balmy as the breath of June in New Eng- gland, the country green and beautiful and thé vegetables and crops flourishing in the genial weather. Although our vernal season is nearly two months behind that of the Pacific States and Washington Territory February may send us streaks of fine, warm weather, sufficient to melt all our Winter snows and in- undate our rivers, The day was, no doubt, a “weather breeder.’’ We may now look for the early and final dislodgement of the great ice gorge at Port Deposit and at other points on the Eastern rivers. A Pacrric TevxrcRarn CanLe seems to meet with favor in Congress. We are in- formed that the bill of the old East India Telegraph ,Company for that purpose has passed the Senate Committee on Foreign Ree lations unanimously and the House Committee with only one dissenting vote. This company, by the way, is entirely an American one, and is wrongly named. Its object fs to lay cables rom our Western shores to Japan and China and along the China coast. It asks no sub- sidies, and, therefore, Congress sees no objec- tion, probably, to giving it a charter. If the capitalists and business men connected with it can accomplish this important work with their own means, and without asking money or bonds from the government, every one will commend their gaterrrive ond wigh — em guoceam Effect of the Credit Mobilier Exposures Upon the Morals of Public Men, One of the most remarkable developments growing out of the Crédit Mobilier frauds is the effect cf the exposures upon the morals of public men. Our advices from Washington inform us that every conversation upon this question, either in public or in private, is tinged by the moral or, rather, immoral hue of official bribery as compared with other vices which the world unites in condemning. Men who were not accustomed to vaunt their virtues have become the loudest of the Phar- isees, A Senator noted for his volubility in profanity is often heard to say that though he sometimes swears he has not yet learned to steal, A Representative who frequently yields to the rosy god of the overflowing cup con- gratulates his boon companions on the trivi- ality of their offences in comparison with the offences of the sinners whose masks have just been torn from their faces. The illiterate men, the vulgar men, the bad men are now the ones who make broad their phylacteries and thank God they are not as other men. The Senate and the House are the same this year as last, but the relative positions of Sena- tors and Representatives differ. Before, Col- fox and Patterson and Dawes and Garfield and the rest looked down upon their struggling brothers from the lofty eleva- tions of public probity and private virtue. The - poor chaps underneath looked up to them as upon the dizzy heights of honor and honesty and truth. Now, those who were above are below and those who were below regard the erring ones with contempt and disgust. Men who were not supposed to be nice in their affiliations hesitate to take the Vice President of the United States by the hand. All of those who, like him, yielded to the temptations of Oakes Ames go about with the collar of the Evil One round their necks, and are shunned as the ministers of evil. Some of them are begging their associates in Congress in the most piteotis way not to allow them to be utterly forsaken and cast down. Their punishment is greater than even the strongest of them can bear. If they had sim- ply been corrupt they would be derided and laughed at; but, having added perjury to cor- ruption, they are scorned by the dishonest as well as the honest, Even the sycophants who basked in their smile in the day of their power wear an appearance of horror when they ap- proach and are the loudest to cry ‘‘Hypo- crite!’’ when they depart. The scoundrels who are daily bought and sold in the Capitol put on faces of injured innocence in their presence, and go about gently sighing, ‘I never would have suspected such villany in these good men!’”’ Thus they go, and every day they sink lower than they were the day before. If this were all the country might regard their degradation with the joy that comes of the knowledge that their punishment is de- served. But religion suffers from the crimes of its professed followers. The Church is re- garded with contempt, and its ministers are contemptible. The mention of the Young Men’s Christian Association raises a laugh. “The Sunday school busimess is played out’’ is heard daily from a hundred lips. Christi- anity is becoming a reproach. Piety is re- garded as a cloak for fraud. Temperance and all the virtues are pointed out as the covering for corruption. There is nothing good except evil, and nothing evil except being caught at crime. The smirk of goodness is equivalent to hypocrisy, and the affectation of immo- rality the badge of integrity and truth. The want of private virtue indicates the possession of public worth." The order of things has been reversed, and the unbelievers are loud in their thankfulness because the ‘“‘good men’’ have come to grief. The ‘‘good men’ cower before the storm. They can never again be their former selves, for, like the woman who was happy in the love of her children, yester- day a wife and to-day a courtesan, they carry their shame in their faces. Like the unfaith- ful wife, they plead their temptation while they deny their guilt, and thus make the proof doubly damning. Their fall is im- measurable, for the injury done to morality and religion is as much a part of itas the sins which occasioned it. Looking back over the history of the Crédit Mobilier investigation, we are appalled at the enormity of these men’s offences. We can understand the avarice which tempted them to ‘‘invest’’ in Oakes Ames’ bonds. We can even appreciate the sophistry by which they might try to convince themselves that they were not bribe-takers. But we cannot under- stand why they should solemnly swear to lies which were almost certain to be refuted. It seems impossible that Mr. Dawes should assert that he had a thousand dollars in the hands of the Sergeant-at-Arms ‘‘waiting in- vestment,”” when in fact he had no money to his credit on Mr. Ordway’s books. It seems impossible that Senator Patterson, while, as it appears, perjuring himself and asking Ames to commit perjury also in his behalf, should assert things to Ames’ discredit which he knew Ames had it in his power to disprove by documentary evidence. It seems impossible ipo Vee Pegs og shold cud ey sluggish nature into furious activity by charg> ing the latter with something like embezzle- ment of five hundred dollars of his money when he knew the “‘S. C."’ check would over- turd oll his falsehoods. It seems impossible that Judge Kelley and General Garfield should assume positions equally untenable and as easily disproved while attempting to make Ames the scapegoat of their sins, Yet these, and others besides these, have so made their utter baseness apparent to the eyes of their countrymen. It is no wonder, then, that men stand aghast at their offences, that moraly are unloosed and that religion is contemned. But it must not be assumed that any of the jobbers are deterred in their work of bribing and being bribed, for the old couplet is still true, and Men who were honest have turned knave, And they who knaves have beeu the closer shave, While all eyes are turned toward the Crédit Mobilier exposures, the lobby, both in and out of Congress, is more industriqusly at work than ever. The jobbers can operate with comparative ease, for there are none to watch them. The chuckling rascals at the capital rejoice that they are allowed to pursue their schemes undisturbed, and the record will show more accomplished thefts this Winter than ever before. The effect of the Crédit Mobilier exposures upon the morals of public men has been to make them even more corrupt than in thopagt oud mary a rascal, Dot gilected by “good men," is busy earning money and infamy. We cannot dismiss this subject without a glance at the peculiar attitude which these people bear toward morality and religion. ‘Three of the men whose connection with the Crédit Mobilier has been definitely fixed were preachers in early life. These are Patterson, Harlan and Garfield. They were liberally educated and trained in all good ways and works, Patterson graduating at Dartmouth College, Harlan at Asbury University, Indiana, and Garfield at Williams College, Massachu- setts. They were not men, like Adam of old, ignorant of the knowledge of good and evil, and they not only knew the difference between an investment and a bribe, or, to suit Harlan’s case, between legitimate election expenses and a bribe, but they knew how to make the one look like the other. Besides these, Colfax and Wilson were temperance and reform lecturers and ‘‘exhorterg,’’ and better men were de- ceived into applauding their apparently su- perior excellence and virtue. Even a few nights ago the outgoing Vice President lec- tured in Baltimore on the temperance issue. It is not possible that the multitude which listened: to him would be instructed by his teachings, in view of the cloud that overhangs his reputation. To make the picture a com- plete one the incoming Vice President should have appeared upon the platform with him, and thus the way would have been paved for Harlan and the rest of the clergymen to preach from the same: pulpit with Parson Newman. In such effrontery as this there would be nothing out of harmony with their past careers; but, on the other hand, it would have ® peculiar fitness not unlike that of the pres- ence of Mephistopheles and Faust while Mar- guerite was trying to worship, There would be something so wonderfully Satanic in these yen simulating their dissimulations that it would add wonderful perfection to their past lives, especially at this time, when all men are deploring their downfall and the effect of their downfall upon the morals of public men. The Committee of the Assembly and President Thiers, On Monday last President Thiers appeared before the now famous Committee of Thirty, and, onthe constitutional project which that committee has submitted to him, stated his views at considerable length. Our readers have already been informed through these columns that while the President is entirely in favor of the creation of a second legislative chamber, he is utterly opposed to the new project in so faras it provides for the limita- tion of his powers. On Monday the President criticised in detail the proposals of the com- mittee. The scheme, he said, contained 1l- disguised attacks on himself, and he urged the necessity of his being free to address the Assembly on’ questions of general policy, in place of being allowed, as.is proposed, to take the tribune only when bills are before the House. His concluding words show that the President is not at all satisfied. ‘You humil- iate me,’’ he said. “I accept humiliation, but I will not become a political manikin. Iam only a little bourgeois. You wish to make me contemptible.’’ The President appears again before the committee to-day. It is not at all impossible that when the project comes before the Assembly the President may be found to be stronger than the committee. The little man has fought well hitherto and with great success. Cuba Before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. General Banks, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs of Congress, has been all along the friend of the patriot Cubans, and has made several efforts to in- duce the gévernment, either through the action of Congress or by the direct action of the President, to have them recognized as belligerents. According to our Washington despatches he has renewed his efforts. He offered a resolution in the Housg of Repre- sentatives recommending the President to open communication with foreign govern- ments with a view of devising the most effi- cient means for the protection of non-com- batants, to enforce emancipation and the rules of civilized warfare in Cuba, and finally to establish peace in the distracted island. The resolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and, it is said, will come up again shortly. Moderately worded as it is, the object is to concede belligerent rights to the Cubans, which they are entitled to by four years of heroic warfare. It is said that the representations of Colonel Macias, the agent of the Cuban Republic, who has just returned from Europe, have had some influence in this new movement. As General Banks and Con- gress were deterred some timeago from taking action in this matter by the administration, and as Congress, being indisposed to do any- thing adverse to the will of the President, who represents the dominant party, there is reason to believe this movement is in accordance with the views.of the administration. If so, and we hope it is, the Cuban difficulty is near XWolution, >The ingly impossible for in to terminate if, only needed the recognition of the Cubans as belligerents by the American government to secure the independence of Cuba. The infor- mation afforded by our correspondence, and the supply of materials of war and other neces- saries lately to the Cubans by blockade run- ners, with other facts favorable to the Cuban cause, may have had the proper effect upon the administration and Congress. If England should be disposed to unite with our govern- ment to thus terminate the horrible civil war in Cuba, and to extinguish slavery there, as is stated, all the better; but if not, the United Stated government should no longer be a pas- long ‘stenzcla, sive spectator pf the atrocities on its border. Let us hope Congress will take some action before the present short session ends to encour- age and guide the President, in ® more deter- mined, humane and American policy with ee segard to Cuba. ™ ae ™ Patton BiaMARCE AND THE GenMan STROM noips.—The Germafi Chancellor has just sub- mitted a proposition to the Federal Council of the German Empire for the appropriation of nine million thalers each for the erection and improvement of fortifications at Cologne, Kinigsberg, Wilhelmshaven, Kiel and Posen. What does it all mean? Are we to have another war? It is clearly Bismarck’s de- termination that in the event of war Germany Will not be unprepared Its Apparent Mischief, In natural wrath against those Tweed jury- men who voted for acquittal some of our con- temporaries and many public correspondents have indulged in ignorant and illogical state- ments about the jury system of our city. It has been asserted that it was the Jury Commis- sioner who selected the grand list for the county, and it is claimed that only taxpayers should git in the jury box. The fact is that the law obliges every male citizen between theages of twenty-one and seventy years to become a juryman, and makes the Commissioner a judge to strike off the names of those citizens who are professionals or officials, or firemen or militiamen, or sick or infirm, or illiterate or of bad character, accordingly as he can ascertain such cases. Curtly stated, the law is that no citizen is disqualified absolutely from jury duty, and exemption has been legally con- strued to be substantially a privilege. It is belicved that many a minor serves, and not a few old beaux, who generally prefer the task to the alternative of admitting their age. ‘There are not unfrequently instances of retired firemen and soldiers who evince patriotism by not asking exemption. There have been three Commissioners of Jurors in this city, Messrs, Haws and French, now dead, and Mr. Douglas Taylor, the pres- ent Commissioner. Each ono of them, asthe official records show, has made the Directory and poll lists his foundation for jury books, and then, by serving notices, has usually dis- covered who of the Directory men were aliens or non-residents and who of the electors claimed peculiar exemptions. Perhaps, too, by oral examination the Commissioners have obtained much information about the character and fitness of the men who called at their offices. Even when a corrected list of fifty or sixty thousand names has reached the wheel from which, by lot, the Judge and the County Clerk draw a monthly or daily set of jurymen, the Courts have continually come across deaf men, illiterate fellows, aliens and others, excusable, who had escaped prior ex- aminations, but whom the authorities would properly report. These exempts the Commis- sioners thereupon drop from their books. Legislative annals show that at the long session of 1847, which followed the adoption of the new constitution of 1846, the lawmakers not only originated the present system of se- lection but made two radical changes in ac- cordance with the popular tendencies of the times. These were the abolition of property tests for jurors in this city and of the perni- cious system of picking up jurymen from court bystanders, and who were called tales- men. The locofocos, butt-enderd and equal rights democrats, who were then in ascend- ancy, refused to admit the whig and aristo- cratic doctrine that poor men should not sit, on juries. They said that if the property, liberty and life of a man depended on the verdict of his peers then the poor citizen should have a chance of being judged by his fellows as well as the property-holder of being arraigned before his brother taxpayer. And so the law has continued until the present time. All this pother about tampering with the Jury law is nonsensical, because, if the law of 1870 be looked at, one finds that what- ever changes it made were restrictive, and not an enlargement of that law of 1847. Undoubtedly the poorer classes, and indeed the mental dregs of our electors, are ina large majority upon the jury service lists. But this arises mainly from the fact that the business men of the middling and upper classes can get exempt from the jury box at twenty-five dol- lars each chance of drawing, even if they do not happen to tip the wink to a server of the notice or enlist the sign manual of some poli- tician for the eye of a friendly court officer er deputy clerk. The class of jurors who mainly serve is composed of impecunious men, gen- erally without influence. Of course there are men of means and intelligence, with leisure and patriotism combined, who also attend court as jurymen. Yet these, as. newspaper readers and free thinkers, usually get black- balled by the judges or lawyers. The real remedy for the jury abuse is not by making taxation the standard fora juror, but to abolish the fine, and then allow the judges by attachments to force each man who votes to serve once, but only once a year as juryman in some Court. By thismode the reformers and bank directors, who gow grumble at verdicts and disagreements over their newspapers and be- fore their cosey breakfast tables with their twenty-five dollar exemption receipts snugly in their pockets, will be compelled once a year to occupy Ingersoll chairs in a Garvey freacoed court room by day, and at night to sit beside @ cheerless Davidson safe beneath the dim burners of a Keyser chandelier. Consolidation of New York and Brook. lyn=—Why Not Westchester County, &e.t The subject of the consolidation of the citier of New York and Brooklyn has been taken up in a practical way by some of the most public spirited and influential citizens of the latter city. They met at the residence of a private gentle and, after a full interchange of pfs on neg to start a petition for presentation to the Legisiavité in favor of the- proposed consolidation, and also 0 draft a bill” to meet the purpose. A more public ¢xpres- sion of opinion will no doubt in due time” Se’ given in favor of the movement. Now it be- comes the duty of the citizens of the metrop- olis to act in concert with those of our enter-- prising sister city, and by a strong and united appeal to the present Legislature set the ball in motion toward attaining the object in view. There is no reason under the sun why New York and Brooklyn should not be united under one municipal government. The in- terests.of the inhabitants, socially and polit- ically, as well as pecuniarily, are ina great measure identical, and in the concentration of political power under few and responsible chiefs there will be less danger of looseness and corruption in the administration of muni- cipal affairs, and there is is no reason why the movement in favor of consolidation with or annexation to the metropolis should be con- fined alone to the city of Brooklyn. West- chester county is as much part and parcel of the city and county of New York as any of the uptown wards in the city proper. The limits of the city are gradually creeping into Westchester, without course of law ox ordinance, so naturally do the citizens in each county ignore the existence of a boundary line in tho transaction of much of their érdinary avy hugiposs, It 1s through Weatebester wa