The New York Herald Newspaper, September 18, 1873, Page 8

i 8 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR Rejected communications will not be re- ' turned. saan SPR HE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the tear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. Volame XXXVI. stresses NO. 261 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING ‘WOOD'S MUSEUM. Broadway, corner Thirtieth st— Bun MoCu.voveu. Afternoon ani evening. BOOTA'S THEATRE, Sixth av. and Twenty-third st.— Bur Van Winkie, NBW LYCEUM THEATRE, lith street and 6th av.— Noraz Daur. METROPOLITAN TREATRE, 585 Broadway.—Vanrerr Epreerainaust. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Hanpsomm Jacx— Manxep ror Lirx, WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth etreet.—CoLizzn Baws, BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.—Orrna Bourre—La Prniorota. y OLYMPIC THEAT: Broadway, between Houston and Blocker siae-binse Pm Saino THEATRE COMIQUB. No. 514 Broadway.—Vanirrr ENXtgRT4LNxENt, UNION UARE THEATRE, Unton square, Broadway —Tax Seiaxs or tux Kitcuxe, NIBLO'’S GARDEN, Broadwas, between Prince and Houston sts.—Tur Brack Croox. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth ay. and Twenty-third st.—Wanpening Jew, ACADEMY OF MUSK, léth etreet and Irving place.— OrHELo. near GERMANIA THEATRE, léth street and 8d avenue.— Unsere Auuintex, ROBINSON 4H. Sixteenth street.—Taz Rorau Manionetrzs. Mat! ats BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner (Cth av.—Necro Mixsratisy, 4c TONY PASTOR'S OPRRA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vauiery EXtseTainesorn HOOLEY’S OPERA HOUSE, Court street, Brooklyn.— Francisco MinstREia. BAIN HALL, Great Jones street, between Broadway and Bowory.—Tue Pirear. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN.—Summer: Nicats' Cox- cERTs. AMERICAN INSTITUTE FAIR, 3d av., between 634 and 64th streets. Afternoon and evening. NEW YORK MOSBUM OF ANATOMY, No, 618 Broad way.—SClExcE aND Apt, DR, KAHN'S MUSBUM, No, 68 Broadway.—Scrence anv Art. QUADRUPLE SHEET. New York, Thursday, Sept. 18, 1873, THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “C.ZSARISM AND THE JUDICIARY! MR. TANEY AND MR, CHASE! CANNOT WE RAISE JUSTICE ABOVE POLITICS f’—LEADER— EigutTu Pace. DR. LIVINGSTONE AGAIN HEARD FROM! MR. STORNES, THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER, RE- PORTS HAVING PARTED FROM 4IM IN PERFECT HEALTH ON THE 18ST OF JULY— Ninrn Page. “RED” RIOTS AND BLOODSHED IN SPAIN! THE BRITISH FLAG AGAIN INVOKED AGAINST THE INSURGENTS! CARLIS! BONDS ON THE FRANKPORT BOURSE—Nintu Page. BRADLAUGH, THE GREAT ENGLISH RE FORMER! THE CHAMPION OF POPULAR RIGHTS IN EUROPE ON THE RULERS AND LEADERS OF THE PBOPLE—FirrTa Pace. ANOTHER BIG FIRE! CHICAGO ONCE MORE UNDER A STORM OF FLAME! INTENSE ALARM AND A GALLANT FIGHT FOR VICTORY—Nuiwru Pace. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE DEATHS FROM CHOLERA IN FIVE DAYS IN PARIS! THE OFFICIAL REPORT—NintH Pace, VICTOR EMMANUEL WARMLY WELCOMED BY VIENNA—THE SPEAKER OF THE ENG- LISH HOUSE OF COMMONS EMBARKED FOR NEW YORK—NinTH PagE. EMANCIPATION IN CUBA! PUBLIC MEETING IN HAVANA—IMPORTANT LATE NEWS— NINTH Pace. UP IN PROFESSOR KING'S BALLOON! A MILE AND A HALF NEARER OLD SOL{ AN INTERVIEW STILL IMPOSSIBLE—Firtn Page. . TOTAL ABOLITION! THE TEMPERANCE CON- VENTION—TWELFrH Pace. PRUSSIA HONORS HER FALLEN HEROES! THE MONUMENT OF THE VICTORIES OVER DENMARK, AUSTRIA AND FRANCE IN- AUGURATED IN BERLIN WITH IMPOSING CEREMONIES—Sirru Pacs THE SHAH IN TURKEY! HOW HE WAS EN- TERTAINED BY THE SULTAN, AND WHY— YACHTING NOTES—CONSECRATING A NEW BISHOP—SIxTH PaGE. QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE CHIEF JUSTICESHIP, AS GAUGED BY MR. E. W. STOUGHTON! JUDGE CURTIS’ CLAIMS—SEvenTH Pace. FINANCIAL AGITATIONS! THE BUSINESS IN THE WALL STREET BOARDS—THE OOT- TON CROP—EugvewrTa Pace. FINE TROTTING AT WAVERLY AND FLEET- WooD—WHO BURNED COLUMBIA — SES- SION OF THB NATIONAL BOARD OF STEAM NAVIGATION—Szventn Pages, A BAD LOT OF CITY FATHERS! SIFTING THE FACTS FROM THE ALDERMANIC BRIBERY CHARGES — FORGED BONDS AFLOAT — “HOLY TIME’—Turpreente Page, 4 DOUBLE-SALARY GRAB SUSTAINED BY JUDI- CIAL DECISION! OUR MUCH-MANDAMUSED COMPTROLLER AGAIN IN TROUBLE—RE- GATTAS AND ROWING RACES—Turmrgentu PAGE. Ds. Lrvrxasrox Heauru.—From Central Africa comes intelligence, through Paris, that the explorer, Doctor Livingstone, was in the en- joyment of excellent health on the 1st of July, at which date Mr. Stornes, the English traveller, parted from him. This news will afford adaj- tional joy to the friends of the intrepid old man at all points of civilization. Goop News ror Oun Ikon Manvuractcnrns axD Trapgz comes from Liverpool. We learn by telegram that a hundred tons of American bar iron was sold in that city on Monday at eleven pounds ten shillings o ton, and that this was underselling the English in the same article, Evidently we are rivalling England in the quality and manufacture of one of her principal staples, the one that has done most to make her the greatest manufacturing and Commercial nation, Then we have a bound- Jess amount, both of the best iron and coal to work it. These facts ought to encourage en- terprise in our miners and manufacturers and to make them less intent on demanding onerous protective duties which tax the people and oppress other industries, NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1873—QUADRUPLE SHEET. Coosarism and the dJudiciary—Mr. Taney and Mr. Chase—Cannot We Raise Justice Above Politics? Had it pleased Heaven, said the heart- rent Othello, to try him with affliction and bring upon his life sores and shames, poverty and captivity, he could have found patience; but when the fountain of his honor—where he must live or know no life—became a cistern for foulness and shame, what remained? We have recalled the mournful eloquence of the Moor’s sad words when reflecting upon the relations of our judiciary to the govern- ment and liberties of the people. So long as the Bench remained pure we could have patience with any form of misgovernment. So long as we felt that Justice was untempted by Ambition and untainted by Dishonor we could care little for the freaks of a President or the corruptions of the Legislature. These in time we could remedy, for the people have ultimate, if not speedy, jurisdiction, But as the Bench is above any such supervision, 80 we felt it tobe above the temptations and ambitions of public life—to be, as it were, in @ serene atmosphere, where neither storms nor fogs, nor vapors nor poisonous airs, could come to disturb the reason. Is it really true? Has the judiciary escaped the taint of the time? Has the spirit of Cwsariam, which we find in the army, the civil service, the gov- ernment—in the White House itself—affected the Supreme Court? Is this fountain of the nation’s honor pure and uncontaminated ? We approach this branch of the question with some diffidence, because we would fain believe that our conclusions in reference to the Supreme Court are unfounded. In com- menting on the grave importance of the con- siderations involved in the selection of a successor to the late Chief Justice we recently referred in general terms to the gratifying fact that, despite the political influences some- times controlling the appointment of our high judicial officers, the Supreme Court had as a body proved faithful and pure. But in treating moro specifically of individual members of that important Court, and in searching for any stains upon its ermine that may have been left there by the pol- luting touch of Cxsarism, we are compelled to resort toa more scrutinizing and less flatter- ing criticism. The duty is forced upon us of inquiring dispassionately whether in every act of their judicial lives our Supreme judges have been, as they should be, above suspicion or reproach; whether every appointment that has been made tothe Supreme Bench has been dictated by those high considerations for the public good which alone should prevail in the selection of a Justice of the highest Court in the nation. In the last forty years we have had two men in the office of Chief Justice— Mr. Taney and Mr. Chase. As we attribute a good deal of the strength and prevalence of Cwsarism in our politics to the precepts and example of President Jackson we find the spirit manifest in the appointment of Mr. Taney. Readers remember Jackson's stormy contro- versies with the Bank; how he waged war upon it in defiance of law and equity; how he made and unmade secretaries to suit his anger or his pleasure. In the course of this war it be- came necessary to remove the deposits of the government from the Bank. This conld only be done by a violation of law. The Secretary of the Treasury—we believe it was Mr. Ing- ham, of Pennsylvania—declined to violate the law. Jackson dismissed Mr. Ingham, and found in Mr. Taney an officer who cared more for the Executive will than for the enactments of Congress. Taney’s subservience gave Jack- son the victory. For doing this Taney was honored by the grateful President with the highest office in his gift. He was made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; but the stain upon the ermine which came with its bestowal was never removed. Chief Justice Taney lived many years, and gained the honors which in many ways it is impossible should not pertain to the lofty station; but he ‘was never so much of a judge that he was not a partisan. He served the slave power. Ho proclaimed the Dred-Scott decision, and en- deavored to paralyze Mr. Lincoln in his early war measures bya mandamus. Slavery died in spite of his decree, and the war triumphed over his opposition, as it did over the opposi- tion of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Mr. Taney in time passed into history to be remembered (we can scarcely say honored) with Story, Marshall and Jay. Salmon P. Chase succeeded Mr. Taney. Mr. Chase has only just passed away, and the flowers we threw upon his bier have scarcely lost their bloom. We have already done Mr. Chase full justice in regard to those instances in his judicial career in which he manifested in his decisions from the Bench his indiffer- ence to his former political convictions and to his former political acts. But when submit- ting the high judiciary of the United States to a searching investigation, for the purpose of discovering to what extent it has become impaired by the corrosion of Cwsarism, we are compelled to lay bare the motives which placed Mr. Chase in the Chief Justiceship, and to inquire, with the cold im- partiality of a judicial investigation, whether his every act on the Bench was above re- proach. Mr. Chase was a skilled leader, a courageous thinker, with genius for authority; in many respects a great man. But he was neither a great lawyer in the broadest accept- ance of the term, nor an ideal Chief Jus- tice, His ermine came as it came to Taney— not without stain. Among the mistakes of Mr. Lincoln's character was his respect for ex- pediency. Mr, Lincoln never was so intrepid a statesman as to forget the lessons he learned 48 4 politician in the Western States. He was governed by expediency, which was sometimes illuminated by principle and conscientious- ness. He appointed not always the best, but the most available men. To paraphrase his homely wit, he wanted horses that could pull the team—the team being the republican party. He selected his first Cabinet from the men who had been his competitors in the Chi- cago Convention, and from other men who had aided his nomination, Mr. Welles was perhaps the only one appointed on General Grant's theory—of personal knowl- edge and esteem. This rule governed his selection of Mr. Chase for the Chief Justice- ship. Mr. Chase was not a devoted lawyer. He had not studied his profession. He had been in political life. Around him and in his interest were the stormiest politicians of that stormy time. He was the rival of Mr. Lincoln and scarcely his friend. He had used tho vast patronage of the Treasury to be nominated in end active in its use that many scandals arose, and there were revenue transactions in cotton, in trade permits, in raising the tax on whiskey, in the freedmen’s service and in the printing departments of the currency that would sur- pass the Crédit Mobilier. Yet because he had in his interest a large fragment of the repub- lican party, as an act of magnanimity and ex- pediency Mr. Lincoln gave him the exalted office, There may have been irony in the gift, knowing the restlessness and ambition of Mr. Chase. If, however, he could have for- gotten that he was a politician he would have become in time an ideal Chief Justice. But he never forgot it. In his dreams he had seen the Presidency—nay, he had felt the tide im- pelling him to that dazzling seat. Ho never ceased to dream of it, His office wasan exile, an imprisonment. Like Pius VIL, when Napo- leon kept him in captivity at Fontainebleau, he had all but his freedom. So he pined, and planned, and hoped, and fretted, and died, in disappointment and sorrow, as great men die, who feel they were born for more fertile and active destinies. It never occurred to Mr. Chase that he could have no higher station. It might be so to other men, but he craved the free air and bustle and opportunity of the Presidential office. The country, consequently, saw an uneasy Chief Justice. Wherever a political convention opened its doors there stood Salmon P. Chase, in the robes of Marshall and Jay, seeking the nomination to the Presi- dency. He stood at the door of the Republi- can Convention in 1868, asking to be nomi- nated as an extreme radical. When it was found that Grant was in possession he went over the way to the Democratic Convention, and was almost nominated as a conservative. Nor did he appear to feel that in either case he was unworthy of his office. Nor did his friends in the country think so. Is it not only yesterday that we buried him and heaped the flowers on his tomb, and honored him, as ho deserved to be honored, as a great and mighty man? Far be it from us to take a leaf from the heaped garlands that rest on his grave. But is it not a mourntul thing—a sad evidence of the Cosarism that pervades the country—that it should not be thought unworthy in a Chief Justice of the United States to get down among the Trum- bulls and Gratz Browns, the Seymours and Frank Blairs, his name tumbled from bar- room to barroom as a beggar for the nomina- tion to the Presidency? , Many friends of Grant, who honored him as a soldier, have feared he was unequal to his time; that the age has deadened and weakened his administra- tion. We see now how a great statesman—and the Supreme Chief Justice was alike power- less—how he bent before the hour, and, with all his genius and strength, could not resist its temptations. Only yesterday, and the funcral poets and orators chanted the praises of this courageous Judge as one who had the manhood to set his face against the impeachment of Johnson and defeat that enterprise. Sorrow- ful, sorrowful, indeed, it is that we should honor a Judge for partisan courage; that we should forget that the duty of a Judge is to look neither to the right nor the ieftin any trial. Mr. Chase had no business whatever with the guilt or innocence of the President, only with justice and the law—like the obelisk, which stands aloft and pierces the heavens, and is beautiful because it is upright and towering, even like God's own justice and trath. These reflections are suggested by the dis- cussions now before the public mind as to the succession to Mr. Chase. We have had the painful duty of showing that the office under Mr. Tanoy was o reward; that under Mr. Chase it was only a resting place. What is the temper of the present discussions? Simply this: —How will the appointment of this man or that man affect his chances for the Presi- dency? Here is Mr. Conkling, who is named from New York. What is the question in the mind of the friends of that Senator? Not is he competent, learned, honorable, fair- minded; not would his appointment bring renown to the Bench and exalt justice; but simply this:—How will it affect his chances for the Presidency in the next Convention or some Convention to come after? Would he be more available in the Senate or on the Supreme Bench? —just as we can imagine a company of English jockeys discussing whether the air and grass of Surrey or of Kent are best enited for the horse that is to enter for the Derby. More than all, the sentiment of the republican party justifies these discussions. If some prudish person suggests that Mr. Conkling, as Chief Justice, would no longer have ambition— would be content, and would regard his robes stained if they draggled in political waters, the answer is prompt, that this would be to bury himself, tu be of no use to his friends— to be forgotten. Always the Derby—the race for the Derby as the only purpose in life. That won, nothing remains. But it seems tous that something should remain. Is there no fountain of honor or duty in this Republic, but that the foul toads of politics must knot and gender there? Docs it not occur to our public men that this Supreme Bench should be above all influ- ences—even the gaudy winning dreams of ambition? Is there not honor enough in that high and almost holy station that men should not leave its lofty and serene opportunities to bother and fret at the doors of every rowdy convention? There is no justice where this is seen. If the virgin is prodigal enough who unmasks her beauty to the many, so is that justice too prodigal when it even looks up at the Presidency. Looks up at the Presidency ! yes, even 80; for'in our rhetoric we must adapt ourselves to the spirit and teachings of the hour. There was a time when Chief Justices wore appointed for their virtue and their learning and for tho example of blameless and honored lives; when from their empyrean they looked down upon the Presi- dency and looked up to nothing but that God from whom justice comes. But that time has passed, to come again, we hope, but passed from this generation, and instead we find the pernicious influence of that spirit of Cmsar- ism which has taught our public men that the Republic belongs to the Presidency; that in the Presidency is all power, and that power is not for the good of the people, but for the merit and fame and emoluments of Cesar who reigns and of those who live on his bounty. ‘Toe Kiva or Inany 1x Avsrn1a.—One of our latest cable despatches informs us Mr, Lincglu’s place, He bad heen ag bogdiens Lthat the King of Italy bad left big own capital on a visit to the Emperor of Austria. It is strange announcement. In explana- tion it deserves only to be stated that Victor Emanuel married in 1842 the Archduchess Adelaide of Austria, To the Austrian family he is thus closely allied ; but since 1859 the relations of Italy and Austria have been the reverse of friendly. Prior to that date Austria was really mistress of Italy. Solferino, Magenta and Custozza, drove Austria out of Italy, and did for Italy even more than Sedan did for Germany. The Vienna visit must be more or less matter of form. The Italian King, however, goes to Berlin, as we under- stand. Does this Northern visit mean an alliance against possible French aggression in favor of the temporalities? The Italian King cannot do much with Austria ; but a Prusso- Italian alliance would make France tame and quietly submissive. In 1815 and in 1822 the power was at Vienna. Now the power is at Berlin. The Cholera and the Yellow Fever im the Southwest. The movements of the cholera in the Mis- sissippi Valley during the past summer, but more particularly in the section south of the Ohio River, have been very eccentric and re- markable. Touching lightly at New Orleans, this pestilence passed up the Mississippi, and first assumed the form of a virulent epidemic at Memphis, and next at Nashville, from’which two cities, after gathering a fearful harvest for death in each, it radiated to various points in the surrounding country. The line of travel upon which it appears to have been most fatal was the railway line into East Tennessee, and in the villages of that mountainous country, famous as one of the most salubrious regions of the United States, the ravages of the disease were such as to create a general panic among the inhabitants. Throughout the West, in short, while such large cities as Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and Chicago, in this last season’s return of the cholera, have hardly felt its presence, small villages and settlements hitherto exempt have been decimated by the disease and almost depopulated by the stampede of the citizens not stricken down. Tho same extraordinary exemption of great cities and the same fatality in out-of-the-way towns and villages has marked the eccentric outbreaks of the cholera this year in Europe. We conclude that science and sanitary precautions in large cities in both hemispheres have mastered the disease and driven it to those interior places whero ignorance as to the treatment required and a general disregard of sanitary measures have furnished the materials upon which the pestilence feeds and is propagated. So well satisfied are we upon this point that we do not fear an appreciable interruption of the busi- ness affairs of this great and crowded city should the cholera visit us, provided always that our responsible health authorities are up to the full measure of their duties in the need- ful sanitary safeguards. The same precautions will equally apply tothe yellow fever. It is given out that tho outbreak of this disease in Shreveport, La., which has, we may say, reduced the popula- tion of that town to the sick and their nurses, and the hearse drivers and grave diggers, was caused by leaving the carcasses of a lot of drowned cattle near the town to fester in the sun and poison the air. The condition of the town itself was doubtless filthy and redolent of noxious exhalations from stagnant water and decaying animal and vegetable refuse when the fever broke out, as was Norfolk, Va., some eighteen or twenty years ago, when the yellow fever was so fearfully fatal there as to make that disastrous visitation a subject for general relief movements throughout the coun- try. New Orleans, before the thorough clean- ing up and draining of the city enforced by General Butler in his military occupation, was almost every year subject to a depressing season of yellow fever; but since the war and from the following of the good example set by General Butler New Orleans has been com- paratively exempt from the ravages of ‘Yellow Jack.” We believe, too, that tho terrible mortality so frequently inflicted upon the cities of Asia, Northern Africa and Southern Europe from cholera and other epidemics has been mainly caused by the abominably filthy condition of those cities. To the same cause may be charged the de- struction of life by the cholera in Memphis and Nashville during the past summer, and to the same cause is mainly due the presence of yellow fever in Memphis at this time, Much of the filthiness and neglect of sanitary duties in those cities and in most of the cities and towns of our Southern States is chargeable to the black population, which, since the war, has generally drifted from the rural districts to the towns and cities, These black colonists, poor, idle, shiftless, ignorant and super- stitious, crowded in malarious holes and corners, have, doubtless, contributed in an unusual degree to the spread of the cholera this year in the Southwest; for the death records of Memphis and Nashville show that the ravages of the cholera were most terrible among those pestilential settlements of. the carcless and ignorant blacks. Hero is a field for reform and reconstruction, in which Southern and Northern philanthropists may labor to some purpose. The yellow fever appears to be extending northward from the Red River, being reported at Little Rock, on the Arkansas, As it disap- pears, however, with the first frost, with the more common summer malarial fevers of the South, and as the first frosts of autumn have already appeared in the North, we are en- couraged to believe that a few days or a few weeks hence the first frost will put an end to “Yellow Jack,’’ even in Louisiana, for this year. Meantime we are absolutely secure against the cholera or the yellow fever in Now York only in maintaining a proper attention to sanitary precautions on the land and the water. Nuvety-stx Manion Buswexs or Wuxat, the Mark Lane Express says, will be required by England this year from abroad, in consequence of the failure of the potato crop and shortness of the grain crop. This is considered good authority on the subject, but there may be a little trick of trade in making the announco- ment of such an extraordinary deficiency at the present time. However, tho prospect of a foreign demand is good for our farmers, Cheap transportution would come in very well just now, and would have a beneficial effect upon trade generally and the exchanges, as well as upon farming interosts, Will the rail- road companies make freights as low az pos- sible. and thea bengdt the whole countey? The Sting of Comscience at Hunt- ington. The loathsome crime of Huntington, like the curses of the Arabs, has come home to its nest. What the world has been saying for a month Huntington assembled to say on Tues- day night last. The world has been saying that crimes as essentially wicked may have been perpetrated before, but that in a civilized community it is without precedent that, between sympathy with the criminals in one faction of the people and indifference to the satisfaction of justice in the remainder, this crime should be practically shielded from the law by a whole county. Huntington in sackcloth and ashes met on Tuesday night to acknowledge the truth of the accusation and to resolve that their energetic action should in the future wash the stain away. Slow as fho awakening of the Huntington conscience has been, we are glad to seo that it has at last been alive to the sting of self-reproach. We wish they had done this sooner. The delay has given time to people, not unfriendly, for the formation of opinions regarding the psychological working of the village mind which have resulted in expressions that would carry 6 profound grief to any man of fine moral sense who might be ever so remotely connected with the Gehenna of Long Island. “How can this community of Thugs, who make their churches conspirators’ lodges, who fiendishly outrage life in masks and outrage death in virulent anonymous scribblings, wherein forgery is the lightest defiance to morality and society—how can they come and go without the brand of Cain upon them being visible of all men?’ has been among the mildest of the questions asked by the thought- ful. We wish that the sting of conscience had shot a pang through their moral organ- isms earlier. Mon now will sit down and question Huntington's motives in the awak- ening to remorse as they did its dumb indiffer- ence before. Tho tar and feathers on Kelsey have been sticking to every one in Hunting- ton; and, looking in the world’s eyes, they have at last seen how the world sees them— namely, as savages in war paint, that defiles whoever touches them, and teathers that give them that touch of horrid jest-making tragedy, moreawful, which is seen in the grin- ning jaws of a fleshless skull. They are abashed and shrink back from themselves. Pity it is, indeed, that we cannot comprise all their motives in that word remorse, which is the self-stabbing of the pollutedsoul. Read- ing over the account of the meeting we are rapidly sent from a contemplation of the souls of Huntington to the mud and clay that lies under the thick cowskin boots of the Hunting- tonians. We come from remorse to real estate. It is an odd thing that the dull earth should have been more sensitive to the crime of last November than the’ people it nourishes, but such is the fact. Real estate, said one of the speakers, has shrunk twenty-five per cent in value, It shrank as a living thing shrinks and contracts in the presence of something that creates fear. Thus the soil spoke to the soul through the pocket. It is strange, indeed, the ways in which the curse of crime comes home to roost. Ansther Conflagration in Chicago. Chicago, unhappy Chicago, was yesterday the scene of another extensive conflagration, which, if not so destructive as the memorable fire of 1871, which swept away the best por- tion of the city, was large enough to occasion much suffering among the poorer classes and to spread consternation among the citizens. The flames began their work in the hay depot of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail- road, at Newbury street, and ran in a north- easterly direction, driven before a strong south- westerly wind. The locality of the com- mencement of the fire, the direction and fury of the wind and the track of the flames were almost identical with those in the conflagration of two years ago, and this fact, no doubt, served to increase the fears of those who were sufferers by that calamity. No per- son who has not experienced the force of a strong sou’wester in Chicago can form an adequate idea of the sweep and power of the wind. The flames spread with fearful rapidity and burning brands were thrown a great distance in advance, as heralds of their ap- proach. A mile of ground was burned over before the flames were fairly under the control of the firemen; but then, fortunately, the battle turned in favor of the latter and the fire was checked. Fortunately the buildings in the burned district were of no great value, and were not numerous, considering the space covered by the flames. About two hundred dwellings were destroyed and the loss is comparatively light. Nevertheless a large number of poor families will be rendered homeless and will need assistance. No doubt the aid they re- quire will be promptly supplied by their neighbors, who must know so well the misery and suffering incident to a great conflagra- tion, All things considered, it is fortunate that the city has escaped so well. The fire of 1871 occurred in October, when the weather was much moro severe than at present, and when the winter was close at hand, The lesson taught by the former disaster was the wisdom of ‘erecting a stronger and safer class of buildings than those which had been de- stroyed. It will be well if that lesson is re- membered in the present instance. The Current “Weather Keview” Crop Prospects. The weather review, published monthly by the Signal Office and recently issued, presents @ graphic epitome of the eventful meteorology of August. The data it affords, whilo of universal interest as a chronicle of the great Atlantic storms which raged on our seaboard, will also furnish materials from which te intelligent merchant may deduce the influ- ence of the summer on the crops, and hence make an approximate estimate of the fall market. This is the first issue of the kind which attempts to trace tho movo- ments of the great anticyclones of North America and to give the tracks they pursue. From the review wo learn that the latter meteors, so marked by the high barom- eter, were first observed emerging from British America, and while their areas remained cen- tral on the Continent their paths were ap- proximately from the northwest to the south- east. We are left to judge of the immense power of the gale which fell upon Long Branch in the middle of August from the sig- nificant statement that ‘the unusual velocity of one hundred miles per hour” was obtained by the wind on Mount Washington during the gale of the 16th ult. But the novel and excel- lent idea of the rain-chart (accompanying this paper) on which, by the use of shaded tints, the amount of rajnfall, whether in excess or deficiency, is portrayed and made appreciable to the eye, is one of the best features of the publication. From this chart it appears that the usual and distressing droughts of August have not been felt in the Northwest, but rather an ex- cess of rain, which, it is to be hoped, may avert ina measure the danger and devastation of the autumnal forest fires, The August meteorology of the cotton belt, while more favorable than that of July and June, when combined with the last two months’ temperature and precipitation, appears to show that the summer just passed has not been the most desirable for the cotton crop. In the Middle States and lower lake region the prospect is bright for good returns, and there are no discouraging items for the other sec- tions, A Contumacious Public Duty of the Aldermen Mayor. The law under which our city government is at present carried on creates a Commission to examine the books and papers of all the municipal departments for the purpose of testing the honesty and capacity of their management. The Oommissioners are required to report to the Mayor the result of their investigations. Some time since the Commission was filled, and proceeded to the discharge of its duty. Comptroller Green at first threw obstructions in its way by refusing to allow the Commissioners to employ clerical assistance. It is reported that he has since obstructed the Commissioners in the discharge of their functions, embarrassed their investi- gation of the books and accounts in the Finance Department, and in some instances virtually refused or withheld the information they have sought. The Commissioners of Accounts have a plain duty to perform. The thorough inves- tigation of the operations and accounts of the Finance Department is the most important of all their official work. The reports of the Comptroller are mixed and muddled in a man- ner which excites the suspicion that it is not alone official incapacity which renders them unintelligible. No person knows outside the Comptroller's office how large is the floating debt of the city, which properly embraces all unpaid accounts against the city. No person knows outside the Comptroller's office how many claims are needlessly left unpaid, cost- ing seven per cent interest to the taxpayers, while the money with which they ought to be paid lies in the banks of deposit, drawing— Officer—The and the for the city, at least—only four per cent interest. This information can- not be obtained except through the Commissioners of Accounts, for the employés of the Finance Department are as reticent now as they were when they served in the Comp- troller’s office under Connolly, or in the Department of Public Works under Tweed. If the Commissioners cannot wring out of Mr. Green the information they require, and to which the people are entitled, they chould dis- continue their investigation and report the facts to the Mayor and the Board of Alder- men. It will then be the duty of the authori- ties to protect the people and to take the proper steps for tho removal of the contuma- cious Comptroller. The Board of Aldermen will not ahrink from their duty. Will the Mayor havo the courage to perform his share of the necesssary work? Views of the Transportation Question im Canada. At the very agreeable meeting of the Con. gressional Transportation Committee with prominent men of the Dominion at Montreal on Tuesday some neat and complimentary speeches were made on both sides about recip- rocal advantages and identical interests be- tween the British colony and the United States. This, of course, is the usual style of addresses on such occasions. But behind all that there were some things said particularly interesting to the merchants and citizens of New York. Mr. McLennan, the President of the Montreal Board of Trade, after adverting to the enor- mous products of the West and the facilities that Canada afforded and would afford more and more for them,‘ remarked:— “There is no antagonism in this matter. It isan interest for the development of this country asa whole. What will answer the producer in the Western country and the consumer in Europe will answer our purposes as carricrs.’’ While this is a broad and liberal view of the matter apparently, it simply means that the greatest temptation is to be made to our farmers and merchants of the West to give Montreal and the Dominion the benefit of the trade of a large portion of the United States. The splendid canals and natural water courses of Canada and the docks of Montreal are attracting this business, because produce and merchandise can be carried cheaper that way. Onr citizons of the West, looking first to their own interests, will avail themselves, no doubt, of the cheapest route to a market. Senator Sherman, one of the Congressional Committee, said on this subject that if the West could send wheat for a cent less a bushel by any other route than such as we now used, that route would be preferred. Ho added:—. “Thongh the Siates had built sixty-seven thousand miles of railroad it was still insuffi- cient. Canada had given to her water carriago made by the hands of the Almighty, and the people of Ohio said that if New York did not offer facilities for the carringe of grain, why they would bring it into Montreal. (Loud cheers from the Canadians.) The progress of trade and its development knew no nationality and no accidental difference. The West must have an outlet.’’ This is true, no doubt; but what do the citizens, merchants and wealthy men of New York say to it? Will they do something moro than speechmaking? Will they see the necessity of prompt action and practical work to prevent the trade of the West being divorted in other channels than by this city? Senator Morton, refer- ring to this same subject a short time since in a speech at Indianapolis, mentioned that he had received a proposition from a dis- tinguished business man in Holland to build o four track railroad from New York to Ohio o7 Indiana, and double track roads in connection to Chicago and St. Louis. All that was asked was a charter from Congress, The Senate