The New York Herald Newspaper, March 31, 1874, Page 6

" INEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. HE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the jsear, Four cents per cop). ‘price $12. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. €ubscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. Wolume XXXIX AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING THEATRE COMIQUE, No. $4 Broadway, VARIETY ENCERTALNMENT, at 8 | ¥. ; closes wt 10 HEATR R, . ixth avenue and third street.—ZIP at7:45 P. M.j closes at 10:43 P.M. “Broadway and Thi BP. M., closes at LL MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington street, near Fulton street, Brooklyn.— CUARIEY, ats P.M; closos at I P.M.” Miss Minnie Couway OLYMPIC THEATRE, Proadway, between Houston and Bleecker streets,— 1 and NOVE VAUDEVILLE 745 P.M. VY ENTERTAINMEDT, at at 10:45 P *ADEMY OF MUSIO, ormanece ta Aid of the German LISTEN, at 8 P. M.; Fourteenth stree ospital—DIL. J closes at il | P.M Germania Thea.re Troupe. B HEATRE, ‘ jopposite City NECK AND NECK, at 8 W.-M. ; closes at Ud BOWERY THEATRE, Wowery.—THE POLISH ud VARTETY ENTER- YAINMENT, Begins at8F closes at 11 P.M. METROPO roadway.—VA ; closes at 10:30 P.M. THEATRE, ENTERTAINMENT, at NIB RDEN, Troadway, between Pi and Houston streets.—DAVY | GROCKETT, at 8 P. M5 closes at 10:90 F. ar. Frank ayo. oM THEATRE, Ponrteenth si a Toutfe—LE wt lS PLM. WOOD Proadway, corner Thirtie rect.—UNCLE TOMS | CABIN, at2 P.M: closes até 30 P.M. uITTLE RIFLE UB P. M.; closes at 10:30 P.M, LY’S FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, hth street and —CHARITY, at 8 P. ar 10:30 P.M. a Dyas, Miss Fanny Mr. Fishe’ STOR'S OPERA HOUSE, RIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 P. B ‘Twenty-third st venue.—) STRELSY, c., a » ML. UM, y-flith stree.—PARIS BY ; closes atS P.M. Same at7 P. New York, Tucsday, March 31, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cold and generally clear. Tae Erte Ramzoap Srrmers haye been forced to succumb. The presence of the militia at Susquehanna depot has solved the | difficulty so far. Both the passenger and freight trains are running again under the protection of the militia. The company was paying the men in squads yesterday, and as each squad was paid it was conducted outside the line of the works and dispersed. There will not be, probably, any further trouble. Much as we may blame the.men for taking the | law in their own hands, the company deserves censure for keeping the men so long without their wages. The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and anziety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- | ment and a shame.—CHaRLEs SuMNER. Tue Review ar Wrxpsor Pang yesterday was agreat success. Sir Garnet Wolseley was in command. The Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Cambridge and other notabilities were present. When we add to this that the weather was fine, what more is needed to show that yesterday Wind- sor had its holiday? Of late England has » fonght on a small scale, but when she has fought she has won. Yesterday's show ought to have been in London. Still, as the war was, after all, a small affair, modesty was becom- It was proper to do all honor to the ing. heroes of the late war ; but it would not have | been in taste to make it a national triumph. Tue Heratp anp THE Grand Juny.—The Grand Jury yesterday summoned before them a reporter of the Heranp aud sought to ob- tain from him information as to the manner | in which this journal had procured exclusive news of the trausactions in the jury room. Of course the reporter was unable to give the desired information, and so the jury very wisely contented themselves with requesting that the Henaup would relieve them from the suspicion ot having supplied the news. This we willingly do. But exactly how we obtain our exclusive news is one of those unsolved mysteries which have puzzled people every day since the Herarp was established and will continue to puzzle them daily for the remain- der of its existence. Tue Romorsp I The politi- cians are excited over th ncement of the Commissioner of Public Works that he intends to resign his position uner the city goyern- ment in May next. The effect of that resig- nation would be to transfer the control of the Public Works Department from republican hands to those of Mayor Havemeyer, w would appoint the present Commissioner's successor. Politically it would enable Mayor Havemeyer to dictate terms to Tammany Hall in the next election, and would leave the re- publicans bare of patronage in the city. This would be good for Tammany; but if it would tend to harmonize the city government the people would not object. The only difficulty n in the way is that Mayor Havemeyer's ap- | pointments heretofore have not been of a character to meet public approval or to pro- mote the cause of good government; and there is ‘‘inharmoniousness’’ in other depart- ments than that of the Public Works. We have had enough of Mayor Havemeyer and of his government, and nothing but a change more sweeping than that made by a single resignation will satisfy the people. The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and anwiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- ment and a shame,—Cwantes SUMNER Annual subscription | s- | business NEW Y The Pertls of Sectional Legislation— Where Are We Drifting The argument seems to gain ground that the President will feel bound to support the action of his Secretary of the Treasury so far that he will not care to veto a measure that in some respects is an indorsement of the financial action of the administration, The Senate seemed to be aware of this possible quandary of the President, for its action combined the two points, namely, an indorsement of the | action of the Secretary and a still further in- flation of the currency. So that the President cannot strike the inflationists except through the person of his own Secretary. While we can understand the cruelty of the problem thus submitted to the President we still maintain that the conse- quences of an approval of any measure of in- flation are so dreadful that he should take upon himself the responsibility of destroying it, no matter what the consequences may be to his Treasury Department. its ultimate and logical conclusion, what will be the result? We have demonstrated that there can be no financial peace in America and practised. History shows that with- out financial and business peace there can be no true peace. When once we theory of dishonor and repudiation we invite a condition of affairs that will in time subvert | the law. When the law is paralyzed what re- mains but violence? More especially as in the present Congress, when we have one section our pro-slavery vassalage. tion began with a commercial and financial dissatisfaction arising out of stamp measures. Our second war with England was connected with our merchant marine and _ the British claim to supervise the seas. We | have regarded our recent civil conflict as a consequence of slavery; but English thinkers contend that it was no less a con- sequence of the Morrill Tariff bill—that un- just and extraordinary measure of protection passed by the republican party when it | came into power. We are not sure that this is not among the real reasons, more es-" pecially when we remember how nearly we came to war in 1832, when the South resolved to ‘nullify’ a tariff law. The riper our civilization the closer and closer we come | together in commerce, trade, financial and ‘intercourse; the more each section rests upon the other, and the more sincerely we should labor to sustain each other. Stephen A. Douglas declared that there was no higher purpose in the war than the opening of the Mississippi. The West, he contended, would never submit to a foreign Power com- manding that mighty channel to the sea, and the West, according to his view as a leader of that section, would never consent to a peace | that did not bring the Mississippi under its | flag. So that even hs statesmanlike mind saw a commercial cause—among the most im- portant that led to the war. Yet here comes a question of the same char- | acter, a commercial and financial ques. | tion, as important as any ever disputed | by the armies of a people. Inflation, like | Slavery, is a sectional issue. Like slavery | it is demanded by the South. Before the | North, the East and the West were united | against slavery. Now the West and the South | are in alliance against the North and the East in favor of inflation. Look at the vote yes- terday upon the moderate and wise provision | of Mr. Sherman’s Finance bill, providing that the Secretary of the Treasury should on and atter January 1, 1876, pay gold to the amount | of one thousand dollars to any holder of that {sum in United States Treasury notes. This | was, we repeat, a moderate and wise measure, | @ step towards resumption of specie pay- | ment and national solvency. And yet it was defeated by the votes of the West and the South combined, but one Northern or Eastern Senator, the whimsical and eccentric | Mr. Sprague, of Rhode Island, opposing it. | Now dwell on this for a moment! Here is a | proposition not to resume specie payments | immediately or fully, but simply declaring | that at a later day, and a day far distant, the | Treasury would partly resume. In other | words, that with the beginning of the centen- | nial year cf our independence, and eleven | Years after the close of a triumphant war, we would not resume, but give an earnest of an intention to do so. And yet the West and | South, in alliance with our peculiar and romantic financier from Rhode Island, unite to defeat it! | Now, do our friends see the gravity of thy proceeding or where it will surely lead us? | The Western and Southern States form ter- | ritorially a large part of the Union, but in | population, wealth and revenue a small | great extent these States | part. To a | are the children of the older Commonwealths. Like children we have treated them— | with indulgence, magnanimity, patience and beneficence. We have gloried in their | progress; we have paid our money to build railways, canals and public buildings, to | develop the country and assist them in their | advance to civilization; we have clothed them with the dignity of independent States; | we have welcomed Nevada, Oregon, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and West Virginia, for instance, and given them twelve votes in the Senate in opposition to the two votes of New York, although New York's votes represent more than three times the popula- tion of the six combined, a hundred times their aggregate wealth and perhaps a thousand | times their commerce. We have given them the rank of Commonwealths and have en- dowed them with capital to do business, in the hope that, while they shared with us the | advantages of the Union, like us they would be jealous of its prosperity and its honor. | We have not asked the West to make a sacri- | fice for the East, We have shown the South | unexampled forbearance under circum- | stances which would have induced Rus- sia to make her another Poland, and England another India and Jamaica. When it was necessary to build a Pacific Railway we paid for it, although, so far a» the East is concerned, it might have been delayed a hun- dred years. And so we might continue the enumeration of benefits conferred and bur- dens sceepted if we did not feel the topic to be | Bopleasant aud almost mmpatrictic. But we are speaking plainly w ow brethren in these distant Btetes aud wilh on em- phasis that mast not be misunderstood, when we say that in forcing upon us For, following this doctrine of inflation to | | while this pernicious teaching is accepted | attempt to manage the government upon any | | voting against another, as was the case during | Oar early Revola- | oy ORK HERALD, TUESDAY, this measure of inflation they virtually dishonor our flag and our national fame. They compel us to ask seriously whether the infamy of inflation and continued insolvency is not an evil greater than that of slavery. Where will it end? Are there no lessons in the past to admonish our Senators of the folly and the crime of repudiation— of a violation of precepts as old as Sinai? Are there no lessons in our own compam- tively brief and eventful history show- tions may be driven by ambitious men to an arbitrament as decisive and bloody as any struggle of royal ambi- tion or princely aggrandizement? Can our brethren in the West and South suppose that we can forever submit to have a minority of the Union impose upon us a degrading servitude? For can any servitude be wore degrading than to follow a flag which two sections of the country, for their own selfish purposes, have made the flag of insolvency and repudiation? Where must legislation of | this character inevitably end? We must go with these States, consenting to their debasing and unnecessary expedients, like chained cap- tives trailed at the car of Repudiation, or what? Once embarked upon this career, } where can it end? To-day an increase of a few millions, to-morrow a great many additional, and in the future—what? Of what value is our country and its citizen- ship if it only brings us distrust at home and in foreign lands derision and contumely ? Not many years have elapsed since we heard the tramp of armed men, the rumble of artillery wagons over our streets, the clatter of the horsemen hurrying to the war. It seems only yesterday that we saw the dreadful bulletins that told from day to day of the battle and the carnage; brother armed against brother; the fair fields of the South channelled and torn by ruthless and unpitying war; fire and flame leading our armies, desolation and famine in their train. It seemed only yesterday when the skies were reddened with the flames of burn- ing towns in the Carolinas or darkened with the smoke of smouldering fields in Virginia. Have we forgotten the tremendous and ap- | palling consequences of that strife? Do we not remember that it was the fruit of legislation which arrayed one section against another; which sought to impose a selfish and dishonest: alliance upon the North; which claimed to canonize the wrong of slavery, as it is now proposed to perpetrate the crime of inflation? he lessons of that day should have taught generations to come the madness of any appeal to a spirit of sec- tionalism, especially upon an issue fraught with the shame that attends repudiation and inflation. Let us weigh well the real meaning of this situation and apply the words of the great master when he prophesied the result of similar sectional strifes in England ;— —Let me prophesy! The blooa of England shali manure the ground And future ages groan for this foul act; Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels, And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound; Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny Shall here inbabit, and this land be called The field of Golgotha and dead men’s skulls. O! if you rear this house against this house It will the wofullest division prove ‘That ever fell upon this cursed earth! Prevent, resist it; let 1t not be so, Lest children’s children cry against you—Wor! The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and ansiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- ment and a shame.—CHarLEs SUMNER. Mr. Bergh and His Duty Toward the Horses. The more we consider Mr. Bergh’s late effusion on the subject of pavement the more we are constrained to admire the calm wisdom, moderation and accurate perceptions of the philanthropist and philosopher. In- deed, the regret he expresses that our views have been so often in conflict with his own is one with which we fully sympathize. We cannot, of course, assent that all his opera- tions have been wise. His conduct seems to us still, in some unimportant particulars, to have been a mere persecution of the public. His operations for the discovery of roosters that crew unfortunately at midnight, when they should have crowed only at dawn, are of this class. But, then, we must remember, of course, that he possesses a warrant, signed by Gen- eral Dix, as Governor of the State, authoriz- ing him to invade any man’s house at any time of night if the untimely song of chanti- cleer shall be heard therein, and authorizing him, further, to imprison and otherwise badly use the owner or occupant of the house un- | less he satisfies Mr. Bergh that his intentions in keeping the said chanticloer are strictly honorable. It suddenly occurs to us that even chanticleer himself is a religious symbol. Has this thought ever forced itself upon Mr. Bergh? We know he is very fond of re- ligious symbols. . He talksa great deal, like goodman Verges in the play, and frequently he touches on the deep religious significance of pigeons, which he is fond of calling doves. | But none of the pigeons are more thoroughly | symbolical than the cock which crew thrice in the night, and whose crowing was of most significance to a person whose character no one admires. Judas went and hanged | himself when he had heard the cock crow three times ; and, though there could be no just comparison between him and Mr. | Bergh, we do sincerely hope the latter will cease to walk at night, or will take some other | precaution to prevent any consequences that | might follow a rash impulse and strange spirit of imitation, for we should not like to lose him just as we have begun to understand | him. Though, as we have said, we cannot assent to the wisdom of all his acts, we regret that we did not understand him earlier, for be- tween us we might have been able to do some- | thing for this badly governed city in the way of securing @ decent pavement. Mr. Bergh’s | observation that the Macadam pavement is only a question of money is but one of many illustrations of his knowledge of the subject. 'In this city excellence, fitness, comfort go | for nothing—are not in any sense factors in the result. It is the price that determines. How little can the city authorities get it for, | how much can they make the city pay for it | and what can they put in their pockets—these are the problems. Now, as the Macadam pavement is a ques- | tion of money, it can be shown that it is the ing that commercial and financial ques- | “4 ll MARCH 31, 1874—TRIPLE SHEET. cheapest pavement ever laid down, and we believe it can be laid down without involving the ordinary city expenditure. It may be done by a special tax on horses, and we believe no one would rejoice so much at the result as the owners of the horses who were called upon to pay the tax. Everybody also, we believe, would accept Mr. Bergh himself as a fit person to lead the movement to secure the necessary legal authority for the tax, the statistics on which to base it, and, as an incor- ruptible man, to make the contracts for the pavement, Can he not see the enormously practical mercy to the horses involved in this, and does not that mercy make it his duty to undertake this project ? The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and anaiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- ment and a shame,—Cuartes SuMNER. The Meaning of the Issuc. Inflationists should not fall into the error of supposing that the apparent tranquillity of the country, in view of the oppression, rob- bery and wrong of the laws they are making in Congress, is due to want of perception or indifference. It is due to the nature of the people. Things are taken cocily with us until | the moment for resistance comes. This fact has misled some close observers of our character as a people. So quietly did the nation at large take the early re- sistance of the Southern States in our late war that the astute Emperor of the French was led to believe we would not fight—that we would fall to pieces quietly, and that the moment was, therefore, propi- tious for him to get a foothold on this Conti- nent. His error was disastrous; and just so disastrous will be the error of whoever supposes the people of the Eastern and Middle States will accept that future which has begun in the inflation laws. Inflation means, as we clearly see, national dishonor. Ii is not the first step towards that ignominious goal, for the first step was taken long since in the radical errors of our financial system ; but it is the first step that may be universally recognized as taken at a great turning point, as leading us on a path that can come out at no other piace. It is the first of the steps which, once definitely taken, will be found to be irretraceable, and to which future inquiry must inevitably turn with the same strange wonder with which we now turn to such legislation in the past as the Fugitive Slave bill—a wild project to compel by law the acquiescence of revolting reason and jus- tice. Only the East in this confederation of States can be either ruined or dishonored financially, for only the East has a financial existence. Eastern cities, and pre-eminently this city, are the money capitals of the nation. Out West there is plenty of real property, but the money to create it went from the Atlantic slope, and the energy and the skill as well; and on the in- vestment thus made of Eastern wealth the West pays interest, and this interest it looks upon as « bond of slavery, though it had very different views when it borrowed the money. Now, the addition of forty-four millions of dollars to the currency is the repudiation by the West of one-sixteenth of all the interest it owes to the East or to Europe, and that is why the West votes roundly and steadily for inflation. It votes distinctly, openly and knowingly to make its financial burdens easier. It owes a certain number of nominal dollars in legal tenders, and if it can buy the legal tenders in the market at half price—if it can get twice as much paper money for the same quantity of wheat—it lightens its bur- dens, and that is its purpose. The fact that it can do this by legislation, that Western and Southern votes together can by law so “re- organize’’ our finances that the Western men shall presently own what now actually belongs to Eastern men, and own it without having paid for it, is a dangerous lesson for the West and South to learn; but they have learned it by the votes in the House and Senate on the Inflation bill. The circumstance that this is repudiation— a covert kind of theft—does not stand in the way, for the West is not sensitive as to honesty. Honesty isa dull virtue that will not thrive in the broad and breezy area of the prairies, to which nature has denied the glory of trees in order that the world might more readily admire the freemen of those plains, the sprouting and towering splendor of Mor- ton, and the velvety, mushroom-like coming up of Logan. Western men have won the wilderness from the Indian and the bear and the wolf, and the result has been to im- press upon them that the world belongs to the strongest. Whoever can take and hold is the owner, whether against the bear or against the builder of a railroad; whether the victory be by bowie knife and rifle in the forest or by votes in Congress, Now, as the addition of forty-four millions of legal tenders is the repudiation of one-six- teenth, and the coming addition of fifty mil- lions of national bank notes will be repudi- ation in a slightly greater degree, Eastern men can already see that Congress has confis- eated or converted one-eighth of their prop- erty; and free banking, which is meant to flood the country with worthless paper, will melt away rapidly what will remain. Free banking isa kind of dust which the West means to raise to hide its theft. But the practical issue is, What does this all lead to? Where must it all end? Here isa grave point that it seems to us the President should weigh before he takes the irretraceablé step of signing the Four Hun- dred Million bill. Can he or any one else, contemplating the ultimate results, see any other issue buta new secession and a new civil war? He is a Western man, and the Western pressure is on him, and he will sign | the bill because it isa Western measure, though we do not believe he can be indifferent to the fature; but the signature of that bill is in- evitably a turning point in our history. Slavery made a war because of the essential con- flict of two industrial systems, and the irre- pressible conflict of financial views will make another, All the States east of the Allegha- nies, finding that laws are made for them by | their enemies—laws under which they cannot live—laws such as would be made for the ants by the ant-eaters—will revolt against the | Western legislation, and the West will en- deavor to subdue them and compel obedience to the prairie freeman. History is for us, in spite of Mr. Morton, just what it has been for other people since - These events are attractive phases in our cold, the world bean. More is known in this ago than has been in some others—especially, of course, by some men in the Senate; but the ways of men are the same, and wars bave the same origin and the same results, and men now living must, in all likelihood, see our second civil war. The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and anaiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- ment and a shame,—CHartEes SUMNER. The Charity Movement and the Thea- tres. The results of the recent charity movement in New York are of a character so gratifying that they should not be permitted to pass out of recollection without a word of comment. stern, practical life, They break its mo- notony and show that we are not consumed by the mere passion of money-getting; that we have some concerns with the romantic and pathetic sides oflife. It would be a hard life, indeed, if we were simply a hurrying, rush- ing mob, caring little upon whom we trampled or for those who fall by tho way. These evidences of kindly feeling and friend- ship are beautiful, and when we look back upon what has been done since the winter began, when we study our several charitable movements in their various forms, we may feel that New York in the magnificence of her charity has exceeded far the highest anticipa- tions of her people; for we now see that but for some such general effort in | behalf of the poor we should have had measureless calamities, New York was threat- ened with a visitation as severe as that which came upon Paris, and we all know what the journalists of Paris did under the leadership of Mme. MacMahon, the wife of the Presi- dent of the Republic of France. The form which charity assumed in France was not un- like the forms it assumed here. What was dreaded in France was absolute want arising from poverty, and this want could only be met by a general system of relief, the open- ing of soup kitchens, the distribution of bread and soup and meat, and the sale of wholesome cooked food for a nominal sum. We do not know how successful these institu- tions have been, but we anticipate that they must have been perfect, as we have heard nothing recently of any general suffering among the poor of Paris. While the journalists of Paris and the ladies of the governing household united to meet a general want ina spirit of harmonious co- operation that might well be imitated in New York, the movement with us took a broader shape. We do not refer particularly to the system of soup kitchens, those managed by Mr. Delmonico as well’as those under cor- porate and private management, or to the sustained and unusual efforts of the many charitable associations in New York and else- where. All were admirable and timely in their way, and served to break the dark spell of the dreadful winter months. But we par- ticularly refer to the united efforts of the actors and managers of New York. The magnitude of their exertions has probably been overlooked by our readers. It assumed several shapes. First came the combination performance of Messrs. Daly and Wallack, gentlemen who manage two of the most ad- mirably conducted theatres in the world, worthy to be ranked with Old Drury and the Theatre Frangais. In this Mme. Lucca took a graceful and prominent part. Then we had the operatic performance, and after- ward the combined entertainment under the management of the theatres that did not assist in the first. Here we had Niblo’s, Booth’s and the various other theatres uniting in a movement the result of which was a great pecuniary success. We do not know the exact amount thus raised from the various theatres, but we have no doubt that in the aggregate it will prove to be the largest sum ever raised by the theatres in New York for purposes of humanity. While speaking of the players we have still further to note the singular fact that New York has now a larger number of theatres, especially in proportion to the population, than any other city in the world. Most of the great cities, like London, Paris and Vienna, have one or two theatres which, sup- ported by the government, give exceptionally good plays. But we have no subsidies in New York, and instead of one we have four or five first class theatres, with an opera and con- certs. We have special German and special French theatres, also first class. Instead of the frivolities and burlesque, in the way of | music and acting, which form the burden of so many of the minor theatres abroad, and, in fact, of the majority of the theatres in Lon- don and Paris, we have the best styles of the legitimate drama. The London Times reports eighteen theatres and places of amuse- ment under its editorial column. The HERatp, representing a city not one-half the | size of London, reports the same number, with Mr. Stuart coming on the scene to make nineteen, and not counting the Grand Opera House and Mr. Fox’s new theatre. We look down the Times’ list and there are only three which play legitimate, proper comedy and drama—‘‘School,’’ ‘The Rivals’’ and the ‘*Belle’s Stratagem’’—while in the Hrranp list there are five or six theatres performing the highest kind of dramas. So that New York will not yield to any other metropolis the palm of being a city of intelligent and refined amusements. Nor can we let this pass without a brief | word on another subject. The player's call- ing has had ups and downs in the public opinion of the world, from the time when the histrionic Athenians sang their Greek choruses in a cart down to the time when William Shakespeare shuffled across the stage as whitened Hamlet’s ghost. And we have many eloquent and pious brethren who see as much evil in the ways and life of our players as in the Pope or the atheist, and who bestow a great deal of cant upon the subject. But somehow when a good work re- mains to be done no class comes as promptly forward, with willing heart and open hand, as our players. They give with a profusion and a constancy that from profane people is quite Scriptural, and strikingly in keeping with those maxims of the Christian gospels which they are supposed to defy in their lives. This isa matter that cannot be too widely known and too highly respected. And, believing as we do, that Charity, like love, lies at the base of true religion and covers its multitude of sing, we feel that if ever the misadventures of our poor players are brought before the re- cording angel he will treat them as he Gid the oath of Uncle Toby, and b‘ot them ou: with a tear. The Veto Power as a Check on Sec- tional Aggression—The Hope of the Nation. The debates in Congress on the financial question which preceded the passage of the Four Hundred Million Inflation act make it evident that the financial views of the Congres- sional majority are confined within sectional limits. Witha few exceptions the Western and Southern representatives spoke as they voted, in favor of an increase in the volume of the paper to which we choose to give the name of money, and their arguments were based on the necessities and supposed inter- ests of their own sections. When Morton ridiculed the ‘“‘book-learning”’ of Schurz and denounced the financial principles which built up the British government as European theories not applicable to this young and vig- orous country, and when Logan impatiently cut the Gordian knot of resumption with his sword, these Western braves avowed themselves the champions of a section and not of the nation. Their position was the position of nearly all who voted for the Infla- tion act. Like the old advocates of slavery, they studied the interests of their States be- fore the honor and credit of the whole Union, It is only at a time like this, when sectional selfishness makes itself apparent in the action of Congress, that we properly appreciate the wisdom of that provision of the national con- stitution which invests the President with the veto power. ‘The President of the United States stands above sectional influences. To him the whole nation is as one State, and the people of the several States are as one people. He is not required to regard as sacred the will of the majority when that will is clearly in conflict with the general good. The veto, when exercised at all, must necessarily be ex- ercised against the will of the majority, and itis this fact that gives the “great conserva- tive principle of our system’’ its priccless value, Without it the legislation in Congress might be framed in accordance with the views or interests of whatever section of the country might happen for the moment to possess the greatest power, and then free government would be destroyed. For as certainly as war followed the attempt of the slave States to fasten their yoke on the neck of the Union so surely must war follow any serious attempt to sacrifice the honor and safety of the nation to the interests of a section. The veto power has generally been wisely exercised, and, fortunately, few Presidents have been found willing to use it asa political weapon. As we haye already shown, the most important of the Executive vetoes have been called forth by bills having relation to the subject of finance. And their unassaila~ ble position has been the protection of public interests before the advancement of personal or sectional interests. When Madison re- tarned to Congress the United States Bank bill it was because, strong as was the influence in favor of the measure, it was not ‘“calcu- lated to answer the purpose of reviving the public credit." Said Jackson, in his veto of the Bank bill, “Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by acts of Congress. By attemping to gratify their desires we have, in the results of our legislation, arrayed section against section, interest against interest and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union. It is time to pause in our carcer.”’ The words of Madison and Jackson sound the keynote for President Grant’s veto of a bill which strikes a fatal blow at the ‘public credit;” of a bill passed by men who have ‘“‘besought us to make them richer by acts of Congress,’’ and whose legis- lation threatens to army ‘‘section against sec- tion, interest against interest.” Itis the old fight of the general good against sectional self- ishness. Why should we doubt that President Grant will prove true to the nation he has already saved from sectional madness? Up to the present time he has shown himself to be not only one of our greatest generals, but one of our most skilful political leaders, In the midst of internal party dissension he has managed men and cliques with admirable tact. Although he has occasionally stood in conflict with the party that elected him he has been neither a Tyler, a Fillmore nora Johnson. In such controversies he has compelled the submis- sion and has commanded the respect of hia party. He can do so still if he will use the veto power to protect the nation against infla- tion, for he will have the mass of the people at his back. We do not know whether he looks to the succession when his present term of office shall be brought to a close; but, whatever his views may be in this respect, ha must, at least, prefer that his Presidential record shall stand in the line with the records of Washington, Madison, Jackson and our other eminent rulers, rather than sink to the level of the record of Buchanan, whose weak- ness precipitated the war. President Grant holds in his own hands at the present mo- ment the determination of the position he is to occupy in the political history of the country. Let him waver and yield to sec- tional clamor, and he will rank in the future with Buchanan. Let him stand firmly by the general good of the country, and he will take his place by the side of Washington and Jackson. His veto will be the fitting response of the preserver of the Union to the first gun fired by the inflation Confederates on the Sumter of national credit and national honor. The possibility of a new issue of inconvertible paper I regard with amazement and anxiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would bea delre ment and a shame.—CHARLES SUMNER. An Irrepressible Conflict. Another irrepressible conflict is indisputa. bly latent in the difficulties of our national finances. No two sections of a great nation were ever more definitely divided in principle on ® measure of vast national importance than now are the West and East on the neces- sities of our condition in this regard. In the East it has been found, as it is inevitably found in the older settlements everywhere, that probity, national and individual, is an absolute necessity of social stability; that nothing can be counted upon without it; and, therefore, the East holds that our finances must be managed on the simple principle of paying what we owe as it comes due, and o/ throwing ovarboard our paper vromises at tht ra