The New York Herald Newspaper, May 7, 1873, Page 8

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIBTOR, All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Hearp.+ ‘ Volume XXXVIII. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. between Houston and Bleecker street.—| vty Duaety. Matinee at 2. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, near iway.—Frovu Frov. Broadway and Thirteenth SHILLING. Twenty-third st. and Eighth WALLACK'S THEATR street.—Tue Squine's La: GRAND OPERA HOUS! av.—Monte Cristo. 4: BOOTHS THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth avenue.—Dappy 0'Do' THEATRE COMIQU: Buniesque anp O1i0. ‘0. 5\t Broadway.—Drama, at 2s. ACADEMY OF MOS! ‘ourteeuth strect.—Tae Bur- xusgor ov Lunuixe. ST. JAMES’ THE. McLvor's New Himern BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Haup mw Cuzce— Lavonanix Comeprerta, NEW FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 728 and 780 Broad- way.—Divonce. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway. corner Thirtieth st.— Wir Reiwiy. Afternoon and evening. Broadway and 2%th st— x. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third avenue.—Dix Tocurer pxn Hox..x. ATHENEUM, 585 Broadway.—Granp Variety Enten- TAINMENT. Matinee at 234. NIBLQ’S GARDE) Houston’sta.—AzRaxrs; or, Tux Macic Cuaru. MRS, F. B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Unoer the Gastignat. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vaniety ENTERTAINMENT. Broadway, between Prince and Matinee, BRYANT'S OPFRA HOUSE, Twenty-third st, corner 6th av.—NzGro MinstReELsy, &c. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618Broadwa, Screxce aNd Art, THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents of the Merald. “THE RUSSIAN EXPEDITION AGAINST KHIVA! THE KHAN’S OFFER OF UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”—TITLE OF THE LEADER— E1gutn Pace. RUSSIA IN KHIVA! THE KHAN TRYING TO MAKE TERMS! HE LIBERATES THE MUS- COVITE PRISONERS HELD BY HIM! RUS- SIAN EXASPERATION OVER THEIR BAR- SAROUS TREATMENT! THE ADVANCING COLUMNS BEFORE THE KHIVAN CAPI- TAL—NINTH PaGE. CIVIL WAR IN LOUISIANA! A BATTLE MAY BE FOUGHT THIS MORNNNG !—Ninta Pace. THE CARLIST WAR IN SPAIN! SWISS ORDER AGAINST REFUGEES—THE BRITISH PAR- LIAMENT—AMERICA AND THE VIENNA FAIR—NINTH PaGe. BPAIN’S NEW REPUBLICAN EDIFICE! DIS- ORDERS AND INTRIGUES WASHING AWAY THE SOUND BASES OF LAW AND ORDER! AN ELECTION HARDLY POSSIBLE! THE DESCAMISADOS’ COMMUNE! A TREASURY WITHOUT MONEY AND A CABINET AND NATION WITHOUT UNITY—Srixtn Pace. PRESIDENT FIGUERAS DECLARES THE SPAN- ISH TUMULT LESS ALARMING THAN PEO- PLE SUPPOSE ! DANGERS OF THE SITUA- TION IN MADRID, NAVARRE, LOGRONO AND BARCELONA—SIXTH PAGE. CAMPAIGNING WITH THE BOURBONISTS! THE NAVARRESE LOYAL TO DON CARLOS! HOW THEY ARE ARMED AND EQUIPPED! A CURIOUS WAY OF BLINDING REPUBLI- CAN SKARCHERS FOR ARMS! GENERAL OLLO SKETCHES THE BOURBON ASPI- RANT—THIRTEENTH PGE. 4 THE DIXON BRIDGE CALAMITY! EFFORTS TO RAISE THE ROTTEN STRUCTURE UNAVAIL- ING! THE MISSING—THE INDIANS THREAT- ENING FURTHER TROUBLE: NINTH Pace. FIGHTING THE MODOCS! SPIRITED DETAILS OF THE RECENT BATTLES! GALLANT CONDUCT OF THE WHITES! SHELLING THE SAVAGES—Firtu Pace. AN EXTRA SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE! THE GARDINER RAILWAY BILL PASSED! THE CHARTER SUPPLEMENT — WOMAN'S SUPFRAGE—TWELFTH PaGE. OPINIONS ON THE MAYORAL IMBROGLIO! THE TENURE OF OFFICE QUESTION DISCUSSED BY MUNICIPAL EXPERTS! WHO WOULD APPOINT A NEW MAYOR—SEVENTH PaGE. MAYOR HAVEMEYER’S NOMINATIONS! WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE ALDERMEN— CLEANING BRCADWAY—OBITUARY—FirTn Pags. YACHTING NOTES OF PREPARATION—1HE SOLEMN INTERMENT OF BISHOP MCcIL- WAINE'’S REMAINS—TenTn Page. A NEGRO HANGED “iN NORTH CAROLINA FOR OUTRAGING AN AGED WHITE LADY! A BARBAROUS CRIME AND A BUNGLING EXECUTION—SEVENTH Pacr. BLEAKLEY’S INSANITY AS VIEWED BY THE DOCTORS! AN ADVERSE DECISION IN NIXON'S CASE! LEGAL SUMMARIES— NIXON AND STOKES IN THEIR CELLS— TENTH PAGE. CHANGE! GOLD AND STOCKS FIRMER! EXCEEDINGLY HEAVY EXPORTS FROM THE UNION—STATE PRISON BIRDS FLOWN—LUSIGNANI DOOMED—ELEventu Pace. on Tae Ariantic Caste Company has always been great in two things—promises and extor- tion. Whether it has had one, two or three cables in working order, its object has always been to make its charges just as high as the public would bear. It has done its business well, but it has always taken care to make the people who use the cable pay exorbitant prices for the services rendered. It has now enjoyed a long term of monopoly and has amassed enormous fortunes for all its inside managers and rings. Now let the people have an oppor- tunity to use the cable at fair rates and with- out being subject to imposition. Let us have government cables, owned by England and the United States jointly, and used on equita- ble terms, properly secured by treaty. This would be a benefit both to the governments and to the people, and the cost of the work, as compared with its great advantages, would not be worthy of consideration. Tar Swiss Repunucan Government has ordered the expulsion of the Duchess of Madrid and of all other refugee Carlists from the soil of the free territory. Whence comes | the pressure which must have been exercised on the hitherto plucky democtacy to foree it to abandon its proud position of asylum for political unfortunates? Is it of Spanish lever- age, of French origin, or, speaking generally, Af # roliiona character? NEW YOR Against Unecon- ‘The Russian Expedition Khiva—jChe Khan’s Offer of ditional Surrender. We print this morning a cable despatch, special to tho Huranp, dated St. Petersburg, May 6, to tho effect that the Khan of Khiva has repented himself and adopted a course of policy which is intended to conciliate Russia and to lead to the recall of the expedition. The Khan, it seems, has sent commissioners to the Russian military expeditionary Fort No. 1, situated at the mouth of the Jaxartes, with instructions to accept whatever terms the Russian Oommander-in-Chief, General Kaufmann, may prescribe, General Kauf- mann had not seen the Khivan Commissioners; and the explanation is that tho Russian advance corps and the Central Asian envoys bad not travelled on the same route. Such being the case, no change has as yet taken place in the policy of the Russian government, despite the fact that the Central Asian magnate has made an offer of unconditional surrender, Tho Khan seems disposed to give the Russians ample guarantees for the future good behavior of the Khergize population. This new policy of the Khan is supposed to be suggested or dictated by Eng- land. In addition to the proposal to accept what terms Russia might be pleased to dictate, the Khan has liberated and forwarded to Fort No. 1 twenty-one Russians who have for some time been held in his dominions as slaves. These liberated slaves have given a bad account of the treatment which they received while held in bondage in the Khivan territory. It is evidently the expectation of the ruler of Khiva, and it is reasonable to presume that it is the expectation also of those who have ad- vised him, that Russia will accept the offered terms and recall the expedition. It is pos- sible, however, that both the Khan and his advisers have counted without their host, and that the Czar, knowing that his advance guard must now be at the gates of Khiva, and believ- ing that many of his subjects are still held in bondage in that country, may continue the fight to the bitter end. Our news, therefore, important as it is, leaves the situation very much as it was. It is quite possible that by this time General Kaufmann has heard of the proposals of the Khivan ruler and that he has halted in his march. It is even possible that he has been able by this time to correspond with the repre- sentatives of the Czar at Fort No. 1, and so to commence peace negotiations. By the end of May, our despatch suggests, the expedition agginst Khiva may be ended. By the end of May, onthe other hand, with all the light we have now before us, it is just as possible that Khiva may be invaded and so overrun that her final annexation to the dominions of the Czar may be considered certain. Our despatch, it must be remembered, comes direct from St. Petersburg. At the Russian capital yesterday no change was known to have taken place in the Imperial policy, yet it is said to have been possible for General Kaufmann to have been in possession of the news, brought to Fort No. 1 and thence transmitted to him, by the Ist of May. Much will depend on the position in which the Rus- sian General finds himself at the time he re- ecives the news. Much will depend, also, on his discretion. If he finds it quite as conve- nient to advance as to halt we may rest as- sured he will adopt the former alternative. General Kaufmann, by principle as well as by training, is a fierce annexationist. Few men in Russia at the present time are so familiar with the populations of Central Asia as he is, and perhaps no Russian General of the hour in his particular command represents so faith- fully the aggressive sentiments of the Russian governing classes, If General Kaufmann has a chance to win he is not the man to halt be- cause of peaceful proposals. He knows, and knows well, that if he can, with anything like expedition and without too much loss of life and treasure, annex Khiva to the dominions of his master, he will not be blamed for too much daring, when caution, backed up by positive instructions, might have justified the acceptance of peace proposals. As we have said, much will depend on his discretion. Should he in time know, and in time accept the Khiva’s proposals, the inevitable conflict may for a little while longer be de- layed. But it may not; for much will de- pend on the terms on which he insists, If he asks too much, England may object. If he enters the country and by force seeks posses- sion of more than Khiva is willing to give up, trouble may arise, compeliing England to put-forth her hand. Looking at this ques- tion from allspoints, it is beset with difficul- ties. Immediate peace between Russia and the tribes of Central Asia is the barest of possibilities. Permanent peace is out of the question. And whatever be the result, the inevitable coming conflict between Russia and Great Britain for dominion in Asia still lies clearly visible in the not tistant future. It is this last which gives interest to this Asiatic question, With the movements of troops and with the fate of barbarian tribes in Central Asia we have but little to do. But with possible wars between great Powers and with the possible results of these wars we cannot afford to be indifferent. All the world knows that the British government, spite of its protestations to the contrary, looks with jealousy to the aggressive movements of Rus- sia in Central Asia. It is convenient to Great Britain to have as many barbarous tribes as possible lying between the northern frontiers of India and the territories of the Czar. It is the fixed policy of Russia, on the other hand, to make Central Asia her own, at any cost, willing as she is to bide her time. Her ag- gressive policy in this position, and with this end in view, has been steady and ever onward, Khokand and Bokhara have already submit- ted ; her mistress of the line of the Oxus, The jealousy of the two Powers, as we have said, is well known to the world, ‘This jealousy the one Power cannot conceal from the other. In the matter of Khiva Great Britain has demanded and Russia has given explanations, With the explanations offered by Count Schonvaloff in person in London, and with fuller explanations sent along the telegraphic lines, Great Britain professed herself contented. No one, how- ever, has believed that the explanations of Russia were honest, or that the expressed sat- isfaction of the British Government was sin- Hyon int this presout despatch the spirit of jealousy crops Cut The proposals of the Khan of Khiva are said to be made by the Ladvice of England, English interference 4, ber ——————————— TTT eee beyond a given point will be certain to encour- age and emboldon the war party in Russia, for it cannot fail to win for them sympathy among people who have not and who will not forget the humiliations of the Crimean campaign. Russia, on the other hand, must not encroach too close on British territory in India. Least of all may she do this if she violates positive promises and pledges to the contrary. The spirit of the British peo- ple has been aroused by the events which, for the last few years, have been taking place in Europe. The feeling has begun to prevail that England must again fight to convince the world that all the fight has not been taken out of her. For nothing excepting her own soil will England fight so heartily as for India. It is the possibility of a collision between those two Powers, which, as we have said, compels attention to the Khivan difficulty. In itself a war between England and Russia would be a calamity. But a war between those Powers could scarcely fail to lead to serious complica- tions in Europe. It would be next to impos- sible for the great nations to stand aloof. Sides would be taken in sympathy ; and sym- pathy might lead to arms. A European war on a gigantic scale, in which Germany might be found on the side of Russia, and in which Austria and France, backed up possibly by the whole of the South of Europe, would lend their help to England, is sufficient, even as a picture of the imagination, to fill the world with alarm. How much more alarming if the picture took the shape of reality! To our minds the picture is more real than imaginary. Grant that war has com- menced between England and Russia, would not both Powers seek allies? Froin present appearances is it not next to certain that Germany would go with Russia? Austria could not fight on the side of Russia, and France could not fight on the side of Germany. What, then, more likely than that those Powers would go with England, both Austria and France hoping to regain what they have lost ? And, unless Italy and Spain found it possible to remain neutral, they would have no choice but to fight on the side of their nearest neigh- bors. We have pointed out the importance of an early and amicable settlement of this Khivan difficulty by describing the conse- quences to which war might lead. Let us hope that peace, not war, will win the day. The Louisiana Troubles—Armed Resist- ance Against the Kellogg Govern- ment, In various parts of Louisiana, if not gen- erally throughout the State, the citizens op- posed to the Kellogg usurpation appear to have resolved among themselves to pay no taxes to this Kellogg. government. At St. Mar- tinsville, the county town of the parish or county of St. Martinsville, this opposition to the Metropolitan revenue posse has assumed the form of an armed organization, and fears are still entertained of a bloody collision between these belligerent forces, which may throw the whole State into confusion. Our despatches of yesterday from St. Martinsville (which lies a hundred miles or more west of New Orleans) represent that the Metropolitans (the Kellogg government posse) took quict possession of the village on Sunday at noon ; that during the night two Metropolitan scouts were dangerously wounded in the suburbs, one of whom had since died; that skirmishing has since been constantly going on; that in a conference between the contending parties the Metropolitans desired to know who of the officers they were about to install were objectionable to the citizens? and that the answer was that the men were satisfactory if commissioned by Governor McEnery, and the citizens only wanted the Metropolitans to leave and not interfere in their local affairs, The citizens’ armed force is estimated at from two to four hundred men, with two pieces of. artillery. Meantime, although the women and children still re- and Khiva alone is wanted to make | mained in the town, a report that the Kel- loggites are organizing the negroes to help them had put the whole population on the watch, all business, of course, being sus- pended except the business of this ‘irre. pressible”’ conflict between the Kellogg State authorities and the hostile citizens of St. Martinsville. A severe storm had prevailed there since Sunday, which, doubtless, operated to cool the excitement on both sides for the time; but the dangers of a fierce engagement appeared to be, nevertheless, increasing. Such is the latest phase of the Louisiana State government complications. The con- flict has extended from the contending fac- tions in New Orleans to a conflict in the interior parishes between the citizens thereof and the Kellogg government, What next? In our judgment these Louisiana disturbances are assuming @ most serious and alarming shape. Compared with them and the issues, the dangers and the possible consequences in- volved, all the disaffections and reported war- like movements among our Western Indians are mere trifles. The President recognizes the Kellogg government as the rightful gov- ernment of the State, but a very large portion of the citizens of the State are evidently op- posed to this government to the extremity of armed resistance to its tax collectors and to other Kellogg officers of a local character, The militia and the police of Governor Kellogg against this opposition may be insufficient in some places (such as St. Martinsville) to enforce his authority. What then? In this extremity he may be sufii- ciently foolish to call in a posse comitatus from the blacks, and, then we may have a repetition of the late bloody drama of Colfax, and not only in one or two other localities, but throughout the State this disgraceful political squabble may be intensified toa sanguinary and merciless war between the whites and blacks. If these reports from St. Martins- ville may be credited this is the extreme peril towards which Governor Kellogg is blindly drifting. The terrible affair at Colfax ought to be sufficient to warn him of the criminal folly of fomenting in any way a war of races in Louisiana, where the black citizens, although | in the majority, would be as powerless as | so many flocks of sheep against a general | warlike exasperation of the whites. If Gore ernor Kellogg can do nothing to enforce his authority without military assistance, let him ndt appeal to the blacks, but to the Presi- dent; for it will be far better on the part of Governor Kellogg to turn over the State to the government of the United States Army than to attempt to enforce the recognition of | hig State goyerament by the desperate alter- native of negro militia or volunteers. Con- | be held to fix, so far as the Courts are con- j gress, at the late sossion, in a cowardly way. left this whole Louisiana imbroglio to the dis- cretion of the President. The President has exercised his discretion in adhering to Kel- logg; but as Kellogg is manifestly unequal to the dangers of the situation, the least that General Grant can do in this extremity is to see to it that Governor Kellogg in his blunder- ing efforts to restore law and order shall not involve the State in the confusion of civil war. The Situation in Spain—Herald Cor- respondence from the Republic. Our new-born sister Republic across the sea is far from happiness. From the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules, from the Atlantic | coast to the shores of the Mediterranean, the Peninsula is tortured with uncertainty or torn by the strife of armed men. In the capital a population of politicians and professional place-hunters pass the weeks in agita- tion, almost seeming intent on national suicide. We print to-day a budget of letters from Heratp correspondents in Spain, giving a comprehensive view of affairs at various points, affording valuable information as to the hopes, fears, dangers and encouragements of Sefior Castelar and his companions in the government, as well as the condition and prospects of their enemies. After long and earnest search two of our staff have found means to enter the Carlist ranks, and writing from their lines tell us the story of Basque devotion to the fortunes of King Carlos VII. Through their eyes we see coffins passing the French frontier encasing Carlist cannon, and whole communi- ties welcoming the representative of ‘right divine to govern wrong.’’ Our observer at Madrid tells us in graphic sentences the high ambition of the representatives* of popular right to rule the proud Spanish nation, which in historic times bore sway in the four quarters of the world, for the honor of the sovereign people, emulating the exam- ple of Washington, Jefferson and the fathers of American liberty and order. From Barce- lona we have the sad story of order set at naught by votaries of the rights of man as an individual, regardless of the duties men owe to society. The highest hopes of human progress march with the efforts of the brave men who would guide Spain in the way of liberty, progress and the equal rights of all men. They are beset by many dangers born of a long course of the rule of dynasties and privileged orders. At the start they meet an insubordinate army and an empty treasury, yet the firm faith of a sin- cere belief in the rights of all men to self- government and a resolute reliance on the virtue of the people givesthem courage to hold the reins of government till the voice of the nation can be heard in the elections of this month, which are to choose the Constitu- ent Cortes, Liberty has a hard fight in Spain. Adherents of Alfonse and of Don Carlos threaten her, with means contributed in Lon- don and munitions from France, while the mad Internationals equally menace society with their clamors for the abolition of property and the reign of the shirtless. Can the patriots who at the call of their country assumed the control surrendered by a king hold the Spanish nation intact till its will is spoken in the election? This is a question vital too noble nation and of deep interest to the friends of liberty in all lands. A perusal of the Henaxp correspondence in this issue will aid those who are interested in forming an opinion on this grave question. The American Scandal at Vienna. The State Department at Washington is decidedly unfortunate in its selection of foreign representatives. With the exception of Mr. Washburne, at Paris, and one or two others, its Ministers abroad have not done credit to the country, Mining speculations, Court fiunkyisms, stupid vaporings about “territorial inviolability,”” such as have re- cently been witnessed at Madrid, and petty jealousy, malice and meanness, such as have developed themselves in the Legation at Vienna in connection with the Exposition, do not serve to raise the character of our diplo- matic representatives. Coming down to the unfortunate scandal of the paid Commissioners to Vienna, we see the same infelicity in the selection of agents wherever the finger of the State Department at Washington is found in the pie. Between the paid Commission and our small-minded Legation we have stood dis- graced in the eyes of the world, at a time when, as the most enterprising and ingenious people on the globe, we should have occupied @ position of proud pre-eminence. It seems doubtful whether the matter will be mended by the new selections of the State De- partment. With the-exception of some of the honorary Commissioners no names yet mentioned in connection with the Vienna Exposition are such as command popular approval. If we are to retrieve the disgrace of the opening day, when the American de- partment appeared dark, dingy and barren, “ike a deserted railroad town on the Plains,” and when the United States flag waved, appro- priately, ‘Union down,” it must be done by the energy, spirit and genius of our exhibit- ors and the efforts of a few honorable men among the honorary Commissioners. We have hope and confidence that the American department will yet show worthy of the Great Republic; bui if it does there will be no thanks to the State Department at Washing- ton, the Legation at Vienna or the speculative paid Commission. Tue Exports or Domestic Propucr the past week from the port of New York reached a total of over $7,500,000—tRe largest amount ever sent from this,or any other port of the United States—indicating the increase of an internal industry aud the expansion of our foreign trade. For the expired portion of 1873 the total exports from this port have been $95,000,000, while the importations have been $157,000,000. Now, New York exports only | two-fifths of all the exports, and imports two- thirds of all the imports of the country, Ac- cording to this ratio the total imports have been a million or two less than the exports, In this calculation the exports are in currency | by indecent haste to forestall the action of other yalues and the imports in specie; but, even with allowance for this difference, the present céndition of our foreign trade shows that it is healthier than it has beon any time since the suspension of specie paymenty. Nixon's FAT Seavey Judge Barrett's de- cision yesterday, refusing t@ Bronte play of proceedings in behalf of Michael Nixon, con- K HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1873—QUADRUPLE SHEET. cerned, the fate of the Chatham square assas- sin. Only the clemency of Governor Dix now affords hope for his escape from the just pun- ishment for an unprovoked and reckless crime, which might have claimed its victim in any one of the thousands who crossed the track of the bloodthirsty ruffian who now approaches the scaffold. Socicty has no reason to regret the quick movement of the law in his case, and only blames the imperfections of our code which allow Stokes, whose crime long ante- dates that of Nixon, to mock justice by vexa- tious delays of execution. Are We to Have Any Rapid Transit in New York? The State Legislature hag been trading and tinkering with the question of rapid transit in New York all the session, just as it has traded and tinkered with the charter, and the result of its legislation promises to be of a similar unsatisfactory and inefficient character. We are left in doubt as to who is Mayor to-day, and it appears as if we were also to be left in doubt whether we are to secure any rapid transit through the island after all, despite the number of schemes that have been pushed forward. The Gilbert elevated road is said to be blocked by some means or another; the Vanderbilt tunnel is a myth; the Pneumatic is of a doubtful character, and half a dozen others are humbugs. There has been no solid, sensible action on the part of the Legislature on this question, or we should to-day have a law for the construc- tion by the city of two viaduct railroads run- ning along the two river sides, from the Battery to Spuyten Duyvil Creek, with such cross roads as might be necessary. But there seems to be a stupid, fossilized opposition to any expenditure or enterprise on the part of the city to secure a public benefit that would be the most valuable boon the people could receive. The bill to authorize city aid to the Metropolitan, or three tier road, as the same might be completed in sections, has been op- posed through this false economy, while if that or any scheme is practicable, it would be to the interest of the city to aid in its speedy construction by the loan of its credit on proper security. The best thing to be done would be to enact a law authorizing the immediate construction of viaduct roads to be built, owned and worked by the city for the interest of the people. If this is not to be done the city should by its aid assist private enterprise in securing rapid transit. The health, morality, comfort, wealth and growth of the metropolis depend upon the speedy solution of this question. ‘We must give the people some means of reach- ing their homes by steam railroads, so that they may spread out into the upper parts of the island and relieve the crowded, unhealthy, demoralizing localities now swarming with tenement houses. Every year that this is de- layed is a calamity not to the metropolis alone, but to the whole State and to a great portion of the Union. The Disputed Mayoralty Question and Mr. Havemeyer’s Appointments, The question as to the legal right of Mr. Havemeyer or of Alderman Vance to fill the office of Mayor under the new charter gathers additional importance from the fact that pro- posals for over one million of the stocks of the city of New York have been invited since April 29, the bids for which are to be opened to-morrow. Many of the proposals had no doubt been made before the grave doubt as to the standing of the present acting Mayor was in existence, and in justice to the bidders as well as for the credit of the city, it is desirable that the doubt should be legally solved. Every suggestion that has yet been made by those who charge that the question as to Mr. Have- meyer’s position is a mere canard has failed to prove that he is in reality Mayor of the city. The law under which he was elected has been repealed and is dead. No officers whatsoever can hold office under its. provisions, for those provisions no longer exist. The present charter, which creates the New York city government anew, specially retains in office for their full term the Aldermen who were elected at the same time and under the same law with Mr. Have- meyer, but does not retain the Mayor. The Dongan and Montgomerie charter has no more to do with the question than has the Declaration of Independence or the Washing- ton Treaty. Mr. Havemeyer is not Mayor, then, under any law; but Mr. Vance is acting Mayor under that provision of the new char- ter which makes the President of the Board of Aldermen the Mayor, in case of a vacancy in the latter office, until the next general election “at which a Mayor can be chosen,’’ which is in 1874. There is, however, a constitutional question to be decided, to wit—whether an officer elected by the people can be legislated out of office before he has filled his legal term, if the office to which he was elected is continued in existence. This is a question for the Courts, and can only be decided by the Courts. It should be carried there, for the safety of the credit of the city and to prevent needless litigation, and probably inextricable confusion. Under these circum stances it becomes a public duty on the part of Alderman Vance to test the question and bring it to a speedy legal solution. We there- fore call upon the Board of Aldermen bya formal resolution of their body to request the President to claim the office of Mayor, in order that Mr. Havemeyer may be afforded the op- portunity to legally establish his position. This is the more important inasmuch as the | nomifiations already sent in by Mr. Have- meyer do not claim public confidence and hold out © bad promise for the more important ap- pointments yet to be made to the Board. The de facto Mayor has seen fit to nominate an Alderman in place of Mr. Peter Gilsey, de- ceased, although a law is pending in the State Legislature to give the Board the power to fill the vacancies in its own body. In this action Mr. Havemeyer has been guilty of the same alleged offence for which he was so prompt to rebuke his predecessor, an attempt authorities. The object of his precipitancy is to secure a vote in the Board for any nomina- tions he may make. It is a trick more becom- ing Comptroller Green, with whom it is said to havo originated, than My, Hayemeyer, and it proves the justice and propriety of the law How before the Logislature, which deprives the Mayor of the power to appoint Aldermen yicted for the murder of Daniel Rbyfer, ane | Who bold a gheck upon his nominations That the Mayor snould be allowed first to create the Aldermen and then to make appointments to be considered and confirmed or rejected by the Aldermen he has created is @ glaring and flagrant outrage upon honest and responsible government. Common de cency should have induced Mr. Havemeyer or his manager to have delayed the nomination of an Alderman until final legislative action had been bad on the bill in question, and if the Board of Aldermen respect themsclves they are bound, on these public grounds, to reject any nomination for Alderman that the Comptroller or Mr. Havemeyer may be anxious to force upon them. It is said that Mr. Claussen was selected with the object of coercing the ‘German element’’ of the Board into his support; but this was a short- sighted plot, inasmuch as the Aldermen, if they receive the authority to make their own election to fill a vacancy, can choose their associate from,the German nationality if they should see fit to do so. James &. Orr. One after another our prominent public men are passing away, and many of them, we regret to say, before they have filled the meas- ure of ripe years and while a career of usoful- ness was before them. It is but the other day that James L. Orr was at this office, appar- ently in good health, on the eve of his depar- ture for St. Petersburg, he having been ap- pointed Minister to Russia. He had hardly reached the Russian capital when death struck him down. Though a statesman of long and varied experience he was only fifty-one years old when he died. He was born at Crayton- ville, Anderson district, South Carolina, May 12, 1822. His immediate ancestors were from North Garolina, and of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion. John Orr, his grandfather, was a pae triot soldier in the Revolutionary war. James L. Orr was educated at the University of Vir- ginia—that noble institution from which many statesmen have sprung. He became @ lawyer, and in 1844 he was elected to the State Legislature. His political life began, then, when he was twenty-two years of age. Early in life he was elected to Congress, and while there he opposed the admission of Oali- fornia and the compromise measures of Henry Clay, and in 1851 attended a meeting in Charleston to consider the expediency of with- drawing South Carolina from the Union. At that time Mr. Orr threw the whole weight of his opinions and efforts in favor of what was then known as the co-operation party. Al- though regarding the right of a State to secede from the Union as one of its attributes of sovereignty, he opposed its exercise as @ measure of policy, and was largely influential in carrying the State on this issue. He sub- sequently voted for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and, though originally elected as a whig, he generally acted with the demo- cratic party after entering Congress. In the Thirty-fifth Congress he was chosen Speaker, and was remarkable for his impartiality and justice. In 1860 he went with his State into secession, and as a member of the South Caro- lina Convention he affixed his name to the ordinance of secession from the federal Union. He was one of the commissioners appointed by that body to proceed to Washington and confer with the government, and was sub- sequently designated as Commissioner to tha State of Georgia. Mr. Orr, during the late struggle, served in the Confederate Congress as one of the Senators from his State. Asa rebel he was one of the General Lee class, who went into rebellion and secession because their education in the doctrine of State sov- ereignty had convinced them that primary allegiance was due to the State, and not to the Union. When the Confederacy fell with tha surrender of Lee he set to work at ‘‘recon- structing” in a very sensible way. He did more than “accept the situation” in words; he told his slaves they were free, and arranged with them to continue work for a share of tha profits. In the Reconstruction Convention restoring South Garolina to the Union, of which he was also 8 member, he was the lead- ing man on the progressive side of all ques» tions, and he was in his views greatly in advance of that body. ‘Iam tired of South Carolina as she was,” said he, in a speech in the Convention; “I covet for her the material prosperity of New England; I would have her acres teem with life and vigor and industry and intelligence, as do those of Massachusetts.’* He went into rebellion so easily and got out of it so readily that there was at first some disposition to distrust his leadership; but while conservative even asa member of the republican party he continued to stand in the foreground of the movement toward a more republican form of government. This led to his being chosen Governor of his State in 1865 to succeed General B. F. Perry, whom he had beaten for Congress in his first canvass in 1848, He was the first and best constitue tional Governor South Carolina has had undex the new order of things. In 1868 Governor Orr supported the nomination of General Granf for the Presidency, and he was a member of the Philadelphia Convention last Summer which pronounced in favor of Grant's renome ination and re-election. As a member of that body he made an eloquent appeal in behalf of Grant and the republican party. His services were rewarded by the appointment of Minister to Russia, In all the positions of public life Mr. Orr filled he showed the ability and qualities of a statesman, striving rather to do that which was best and practicable under the circum- stances than adhering to impracticable theo- ries. In consequence of this he was never popular with the old school of strict construc- tionists in his State and the South. He was genial, kind, a charming companion, an excel- lent citizen in all the relations of life, and was greatly beloved by all his friends. If Mr. Orr did not quite reach the standard of the few men occupying the first rank of statesmen im the history of the Republie—of such men ag Clay, Webster, Hamilton and Jefferson—he was only just below them, and, had he lived, might have reachod a higher position than he attained. His death is a loss to the South, which needs all her able, practical and expe- rienced public men, as well as a loss to the whole country. tae AccomMMopagIons Yor THE Pusiic IN CEN- wnat Paxk.--We fear the Central Park au- thorities are becoming lax in their duty to the public. The vehicles which were specially authorized to convey passengers round the Park at twenty-five cents a person, and which stand at the entrance of Eighth and Fifth ave+ nucs, po Joncer fake pagsepaers all the wa,