The New York Herald Newspaper, April 16, 1874, Page 8

: NEW YORK HERALD| BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, pubitshed every day in the jsear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription Drice $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic {despatches must be addressed New Yorx JHerap. Letters and packages should be properly Bealed. ILONDON 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. _=——— ————— | Pwolume XXXIX. . Neeser treet THE VETERAN, at 8 | and Thirteentn street. —THE VETERAN, at Pema eae aed Pe MME Lester Wallach,” Miss Welfreys Lewis. Perashin eS, CONWA'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, | ‘ashington street, near Fulton street, — IOONNIE SOOGATIC ats F. M.; closes atl. M. Mr, and rs. Barney Williams. OLYMPIC THEATRE, roadway, between Houston and Bleecker streets. — | pray aines and NOVELTY ENTERTAINMEN), at | 45 P.M, ; closes at 10:45 GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Brie avenne and Twenty-third street—THE TICKET. ¥-LEAVE MAN, at?P. M.; closesatll P.M. Mr. and | irs. Florence. BROAD WAS Bee HUMPTY . ite ashington ace. —! OuPTY AT TOME, Ac. Matinee at 2 PM; evening erlormance at 8. M.; closes atl P.M. G. L. Fox. BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, pposite City Hall, Brooklyn.—LA MARJOLAINE, at 8 e x ; closes atl P.M. Fanny Foster. BOWERY THEATER: jowery.—THE LITTLE DETECTIVE, and VARIETY NTERTAINMENT, Begins at 8 P. M.; closes at 11 P. M. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, So, 58 Broadway.—VARIETY ENTER@AINMENT, at 45 P.M. ; closes at 10:3) P. M. NIBLO'S GARDEN, roadway, between Prince and Houston streets.—DAVY oROCKETT, at 8 P. M.; closes at 0:30 P.M. Mr, Frank ayo. LYCEUM THEATRE, | ‘fourteenth street, near Sixth aveuue.—Grand Parisian | oily, at 3 P.M. ; closes at 1 P. ML. ‘WOOD'S MUSEUM, Brosewar, corner of Thirtieth stree.—THE HIDDEN IAND, at 2 P. M.; closes at 4:3) P.M. OLIVER TWIST, P. M. ; closes at 10:30 Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Davenport. PARK THEATRE, Wroadway and Twenty-seventh street.—LOVE’S PEN- ANCE, at 8 P.M. ; closes at 11 P.M. Charles Fechter. | GERMANIA THEATRE, ‘ourteenth street, near Irving place.—EINE VARNEHME HE, at 8 P. M.; closes at 11 P. M. DALY'S FIFTH AVENUE THEATER: ‘wenty eighth street and Broadway.—MONSIEUR LPHONSE, at8 P. M.: closes at 10:30 P.M. | Miss Ada yas, Miss Fapny Davenport, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Clark. THEATRE COMIQUE, Xo. 514 Broadway.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 ’. M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.—V ARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 P. +. ; closes at If P. M. brwenty-thind erect nes Sixth avenue :NEGRO MIN of et, near ave “mm NT ‘N- MDIRELBY, ac.,at SP. M.; closes atl0 P.M. COLOSSEUM, PBrosdwe a rN OF Toirty Ith, street. —PARIS BY | 1d a a P. M.; closes at M.S. TP. z AMT me 1 3 jame at7 P. | QUADRUPLE SHEET. | New York, “Thursday, April 16, 1874. Paes alse From our reports this morning the probabilities ware that the weather to-day will be cool and cloudy. We Osszrve that Jefferson Davis has reached Paris and is living as the guest of A. Dudley Mann, in the Rue de Luxembourg. ‘Mr. Davis will make an interesting addition to the American colony in France. A Dust m Mississirrt.—Our news reports this morning bring intelligence of a duel in ‘Mississippi between two men from New Or- Jeans. One of the antagonists was severely ‘wounded and the whole party hus been ‘arrested. As the practice of the code in the South passed away with the age of Southern chivalry, the best thing that can happen to all | tthe parties engaged in this affair will be to send them to State Prison. Tae Derosrrion or Cesrepes.—That is a ery remarkable document which we print | this morning, detailing the impeachment proceedings in the Cuban Legislature against | President Cespedes. Taken in connection ‘with the recent death of the Cuban leader it dbas a melancholy interest that will not soon tbe forgotten. We cannot readily think that ‘any of Cespedes’ acts have the gravity at- | ‘tached to them by his judges and can only | \deplore that freedom’s battles in Cuba should | so soon contribute so lamentable a chapter to ‘history. Tae Mrixzcz Br Passep the House of Rep- ‘resentatives yesterday by a large majority, the | vote being, yeas 186, nays49. This is the more sremarkable as the House a few minutes before trefused to second the previous question on ‘this measure. The fact is, members appear to ‘be in a demoralized condition, and hardly ‘know what to do or what they do. However, this is a good bill, as it abolishes mileage and sony that members of Congress shall only paid their actual travelling expenses to and 'from Washington once each session. The Benate ought to concur with the House. ‘Still, this action of the House seems to be so ‘disinterested and exceptional, so unlike al- most everything done where the interests of ‘the members are involved that we should not ‘be surprised to see the bill defeated by some wubterfuge in the end. Boruprxe mm THe Crry, according to the re- Mation—His Record and His Duty. Everything now rests with the President. The passage of the Senate bill by the House sends that measure to him for approval. The House bill will hardly go through the Senate, and we presume it has been passed in a spirit of bravado by the House, a quiet hint on the part of the representatives of the people that we had better bear with the ills we have than fly to others we know not of. We do not suppose that the leaders of the inflation policy ever meant to make the House billa law. But it now stands as a menace to the President and the country, indicating what the inflation- ists will attempt if they are defeated in the Senate measure. On the other hand this Senate measure imposes a peculiar embarrass- ment upon the President. His Secretary of the Treasury during the panic, and in orderto | relieve the distresses of the business people, issued a certain part of the Treasury reserve. This Senate bill confirms that issue. Now, if the President vetoes the Senate bill he is in the position of rebuking his own administra- tion, of declaring virtually that his Secretary acted without authority of law. For the Sen- ate, and particularly the House, will not be in the humor of approving the act of the Secretary of the Treasury unless the Presi- dent is willing to accept it in its present shape. So that, any way in which we look at the question, it becomes one of great embar- Tassment, and we can understand the pressure | that will be brought upon the President to | consent to this insidious measure of inflation, | under the pretence that it is necessary for the | vindication and self-respect of his administra- | tion, At the same time we are profoundly con- vinced that the President owes to the country | a duty far higher than any that can pos- | sibly be demanded by the comfort of | his administration. However anxious he may be to secure a confirmation of his | action by Congress in the issue of the reserve, he must not do this at the terrible | sacrifice imposed upon him by the approval | of the Senate bill. He can say truly, and the | country will sustain him in the averment, that | he cannot permit a flagrant attack upon the public faith and credit under the specious | guise of an indorsement of his Secretary of | theTreasury. He will find the highest inspira- | tion in his own record. There is no question | upon which the President has expressed himself with so much frequency and force as the finan- cial question. It came to him at the outset of | his administration as the most important issue before the country. After his supreme and transcendent successes in war the President | naturally felt that, if he could only succeed in | funding the national debt, returning to specie payments and advancing our credit to the | proud position it held before the war, he would have gained new and even more brilliant | the fame of Hamilton to the fame of Wash- ington. Accordingly the whole record of the President has been in favor of financial in- tegrity and solvency, The financial mistakes of Boutwell, and his administration of the Treasury was little more than a series of mis- | takes, were condoned by the country be- cause they clumsily expressed the yearning of | the people for specie payments, for a solvent bank system and for the restoration of the | national credit. We were mainly satisfied to | learn on the first of every month that | | Mr. Boutwell bad, during the month preceding, redeemed so many millions of bonds. Events have shown that it would have been wiser for the President and his Secretary to have given more attention to the general financial condition of the country, leaving | the immediate duty of paying the debt to the | future, when we had recovered from the im- mediate burdens of the war and found our- | selves strong enough in the added resources | of increased prosperity to meet the expenses | of the war without a strain. | But so eager was the President in urging | his financial policy that he made every con- | sideration secondary to its success. The time has now come for him to prove the sin- | cerity of his declarations. Let us look at his | record for a moment and see what we have a right to expect from him at this time. We find him calling the attention of Congress to the duty “of securing to the citizens a medium of exchange of fixed, unvarying value.’’ This the President wisely regarded as ‘one of the highest duties of the govern- ment,” implying ‘‘a return to a specie basis,” for which no substitute could be de- vised. On December 4, 1870, the Presi- | dent, in & message to Congress, insisted | that we “‘should look to a policy which should place our currency at par with gold at no | distant day.” In 1871 we find him again urg- ing the same policy in terms of unusual em- | phasis, saying truly that the condition of the | | currency ‘fostereda spirit of gambling preju- | dicial alike to national morals and the national finances.” This, we repeat, is an emphatic opinion from a man as moderate in his phrases as General Grant, and we can understand the annoyance its publication at this time will | be apt to give to warm supporters of the ad- ministration like Logan and Morton. Still more 80, we have the statement, distressing toa mind like that of General Butler, for instance, that “we can never have permanent prosperity un- til a specie basis is reached.” Considering | that the pine woods and Rocky Mountain statesmen are eagerly demonstrating tuat there is no prosperity to be compared with what must result from the accession of a variety of new printing presses to the Treasury Depart- ment, the calm opinion of the President, that no number of rapidly revolving printing presses will add a dollar to our ‘permanent contract.’’ These words, as our readers may remember, were spoken by the President in his first inaugural address. They had an un- usual meaning at that time, because the Presi- dent came fresh from the people, and his noble declaration was in some senses a protest against the astounding financial philosophy of some of President Johnson's later messages in favor of virtual repudiation. Nor was the President hasty in forgetting this declaration, for in his first annual Message to Congress he speaks of irredeemable currency as actually “among the evils growing out of the rebellion.” We quote this striking phrase at the risk of grave offence to states- men like Senator Cameron, who insist by their action that irredeemable currency is among the “blessings” flowing from the rebellion, like emancipation and union. In 1870 the President, in his annual Message to Congress, and ignoring the views of men of the peculiar genius of Mr. Sprague, called upon Congress to adopt a ‘wise and prudent”’ policy, ‘‘which would place our currency at par with gold at no distant day.’ Reflection evidently strengthened the President in his persistent views, for we find him in 1871 actu- ally asserting that one of the effects of an irre- deemable currency would have a most ‘‘dam- aging effect’ upon ‘‘the prices of all articles necessary for everyday life."" In 1872 he con- tinued to impress upon Congress the high im- portance of ‘the preservation of our national credit.’’ It will amaze our Rocky Mountain statesmen, like Harvey, to learn that the Presi- dent actually believed that our credit was not to be preserved by issuing enormous quantities of decorated paper as money, but by providing ‘‘a national currency of fixed, unvarying value as compared with gold.” The voice of the country in summoning the President to a second term, by a vote as magnificent as that given to Washington, evidently did not change his temper, for in his second inaugural address he says that his efforts would be devoted ‘‘to the restoration of our currency to a fixed value as compared with the world’s standard of value, and, if possible, to a par with it’? In his last Message to Congress he crowns his record in these words:—‘‘We can never have permanent prosperity until a specie basis is reached.” “The exact medium is specie, the recognized medium of exchange the world over. That obtained, we shall have a currency of an exact degree of elasticity. If there be too much of it for the legitimate purposes of trade and commerce it will flow out of the country; if too little the reverse will result. To hold what we have, and to appreciate our currency to that standard, is a problem de- | serving the most serious consideration of Con- gress. With this record we can only have one | hope so far as the President is concerned— honors—would have added jn some measure | that he will be worthy of his fame and of his ‘Consistent and noble utterances, and veto this bill. Whatever annoyance may result to his administration, he owes this veto to the good name of the country. Let him show the people that his words are something more than words; that his promises are not to be broken when the time comes for their fulfilment, and that this is the one occasion in which, in the exer- cise of his constitutional prerogative of the veto, he will stamp out and destroy a perni- cious and degrading measure. State Buildings—A Good Suggestion. A bill has been introduced in the Legisla- ture by Mr. Miller, of Herkimer, creating a State building commission, to consist of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Comptrol- ler. The commission is to have control of the construction of all State buildings, in- cluding the new Capitol at Albany. In view of the repeated attacks that have been made on the management of the present Capitol Commission, as well as on general grounds, we are disposed to regard the bill with favor, The commissioners are to have power to ap- point a supervising architect, who is to be invested with the entire charge of the details | of construction and made directly responsible | to the commission. In the election of Gov- ernor and Lieutenant Governor, with probably two exceptions in the former and two or three in the latter office, the adhered to her old traditions and chosen men of distinguished character and unblemished record. From Clinton down to Dix, running through such namés as Jay, Tompkins, Yates, Van Buren, Throop, Marcy, Seward, Bouck, Wright, Young, Hunt, Seymour, King and Morgan, we find almost unbroken an honorable Executive line, while the list of Lieutenart Governors, made brill- iant by such names as Van Cortlandt, Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Erastus Root, John Tracy, Luther Bradish, Daniel §. Church, Henry J. Raymond, Henry R. Selden able to the State. The State Comptrollers | have also been in the main excellent officers. The people have not yet lost faith in the executive branch of the State government and will be well satisfied to see Mr. Miller's bill become a law. The Septennate, The Pall Mall Gazette prints a curious statement to the effect that, in the event of certain elections going against the gov- ernment, Marshal MacMahon would appeal to the country with this question:—‘Does the | nation confirm my election as President of | the Republic for seven years? Yes or no?” | The Marshal entertains a hope that the vote would be in the affirmative, and that with such a vote he could afford to summon a new Assembly. Without this support a new Assem- port of the Superintendent of the Department prosperity,’ will be @ disappointment and a | bly would be a dangerous experiment. The jof Buildings, has been checked lately, in con- jgeequence of the prolonged action of Congress won the currency and the uncertainty of the | presult. Disagreements between employers laborers as to time and wages have also some effect. Still, many costly buildings we been or are being erected. The number first class dwellings put up during the year two hundred and ninety-nine, and of tene- jment houses six hundred and thirty-two. There were on the 31st of March six hundred sixty-four new buildings in progress. It 8 curious feature of our social life that so \many tenement houses are built in propor- ‘tion to others, and shows the urgent necessity of rapid transit to afford better homes for the Aaboring population and others of limited means. There will be, probably, a revival of building enterprise when the currency and nancial questions are definitely settled. | surprise. | The President, it may be interesting to a statesman as profound and tarry as Merrimon to know, as far back as 1869 had sincere views about his duty in a case like the present. He would, he said, always express his views to | Congress, and, when advisable, use the ‘‘con- | stitational privilege of interposing a veto’’ to | defeat measures he opposed. Singularly | enough, in the very Message which asserts this plain and at times necessary duty he says:—“A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our posterity the Union. | The payment of this, principal and interest, | 48 well as the return to a specie basis as soon | 88 it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class or to the country at large, must be provided for. To protect | the national honor every dollar of the gov- chances are that the vote would be largely re- publican, and not disposed to respect the will of its predecessor. But if the nation con- firmed the Marshalate he would only have to amend his Ministry to suit the opinions of the new Legislature. If the vote of the coun- try were to be averse to the pres- ent government, then would come a most interesting question. The Assembly could recall Henry V., or there would be a plebiscitum asking France whether she pre- ferred Bourbon, Bonaparte or republican. Without some definite expression from France of her confidence in the present government it is little more than a scandal, and we can well understand the Marshal's uneasiness. His power comes from an Assembly which long since lost the confidence of the people. It is a government without a root. ernment indebtedness should be paid in gold, In fact, the only governments that seem to State has | Dickinson, George W. Patterson, Sanford E, | and David R. Floyd Jones, is equally credit- | the old monarchy. Napoleonism, with all of its favoring prospects, is only an expedient, system based upon a man, which needs a Napoleon to make it possible. Germany and the Army Bill. The Prussian government has won a new victory in the German Parliament. After a long and angry struggle between the Prussian element and the elements representing the new States of the German Confederation the Parliament has accepted compromise measures proposed by Prussia and passed the Army bill. Our readers, we fear, have only vaguely under- stood the character and intensity of this struggle. The Prussian government has never been very conciliatory in its dealings with representative bodies, and we fear that, if the Parliament had been simply an expression of Prussian sentiment, the Emperor would have found a rude and peremptory way of answer- ing its objections. In the quarrels which marked the early part of the royal reign the Emperor carried his point by the use of abso- lute power, and earned for himself a reputa- tion for tyranny which was only destroyed, or better, perhaps, atoned by Sadowa and Sedan. But a German Parliament is a far different body from the old Prussian Legis- lature. It represents governments who came into the Confederation with reluctance; some of them driven into it by the stress of success- ful war; others, like Bavaria and Saxony, compelled to accept the relation as a penalty for alliances with Austria. The representa- tives of these old kingdoms must receive more delicate treatment than that vouchsafed to mere Prussians. Accordingly we have had a series of unusual efforts on the part of the government to compel the acceptance of the official measure. The Emperor, for instance, on the occasion of his birthday, as reported by our German correspondents the other day, referred to the crisis hanging over the army as an ex- traordinary crisis, and expressed his resolution to sustain by the power of the sword all that the sword had gained. He could not hold Alsace and Lorraine, for instance, without keeping an army of four hundred thcusand men “ready to march.” This opinion was | strengthened by the declaration of Moltke that it would require fifty years of a large standing army and armed occupation of the annexed provinces to confirm their conquest. This opinion he sustains by a more recent and somewhat declamatory statement that Germany found it necessary to ‘keep her hand on the sword’’ in consequence of the shouts for revenge, and that ‘‘disarmament would mean war.” Then we have Prince Bismarck in a tempestuous and dramatic attitude. Accord- ing toan ‘‘inspired’’ German chronicler the Prince recently summoned certain Deputies to | his bedside and declared that he ‘‘could not sacrifice his European reputation, and that as soon as he could hold his pen in his hand he would send in his resignation.’’ The Prince saw only two ways to save the realm from the difficulties surrounding it, his own retire- | ment or a dissolution of Parliament. The result of this unusual pressure is that the Par- | liament and the Prussian government have come to an agreement. The Army bill has been passed in an amended form and peace once more prevails. But there are certain pregnant thoughts that should not be overlooked. We have all along been told by truculent fellow citizens at home, zealous about the German vote, that the | Frenchmen are either cowards or monkeys; | that it was a pity Bismarck did not dis- member and annex the country. Evidently | the Emperor does not think so or he would not crave the constant presence and readiness of four hundred thousand armed men. We have been assured also that Alsace and Lor- | raine were in heart and sympathy German, | and longed for the hour when they could again meet the motherly embrace of dear old, bereft Germania. Most assuredly Moltke holds » contrary opinion or he would not ask fora fifty-year standing army tohold the prov- inces. It has also been cheerfully believed that the result of the last war was the paralysis’ of the power of France and her degrada- tion into a second rate position among the na- tions. Prince Bismarck labors under no such delusion or he would not have staked his reign upon the fate ofan army bill. Moreover, all | the beatific assurances of peace that have | fallen from the governing lips of Germany, of perpetual peace, growth in arts and the in- dustries, harmonious alliancee and so on, | were evidently hopes and visions, not expres- | sions of belief. For it seems that peace can | only be preserved by an aggregate of standing | armies and an expenditure of treasure such as | the world has never seen. | No wonder that Germany is restless. No | wonder men who love their Fatherland hasten | to leave home in such numbers that the emi- gration problem is now one of the most em- | barrassing in the German policy. Germany | sees now that she made a mistake in her con- test with France. Instead ot making war upon | Napoleon, as the Emperor avowed to be his | purpose, he permitted himself to make war upon France. From having the sympathies ot the world he excited its resentment. In- stead of building up Germany he sought to | destroy France. Ignoring the spirit of the nineteenth century, that no great and free people can be governed without their consent, he rudely annexed two French provinces and condemned them to a half century of martial law. Rather than so make war that France would regard Napoleonism as the cause of her misfortunes, and look upon the Emperor William as the defender ot his crown against the ambition of an imperial adventurer, he preferred to treat every Frenchman as the hereditary and implacable enemy of his house, and so humiliated the people that revenge became another word for patriotism. The result is a burden upon Germany herself so vast that the Parliament groans and threatens mutiny, and burdens upon other nations—Russia, Italy, Austria and England— of the most stupendous character. Instead of a serene and lasting peace, we have German generals asking for men in the most anxious manner, while the proud Bismarck has been scouring Europe for alliances against an enemy who was supposed to be crushed at Sedan. In the meantime France steadily, patiently arms, and gives all her energies to the peace- ful development of her resources. With all the clamor at Versailles about one form of government or another this purpose is never forgotten. We do not know how long there will be peace; itis probable that this gener- ation wid pass away without wa: but ii is psi earn MU IB oo OA oo GR GN ai ee le Lf eT MT The Presidemt and the Policy of In-| unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the | have any root in France are the republic and very certain that the next time a German em- Peror crosses the Rhine to “protect the peace of Europe” he will find another commander than Bazaine and other troops than the ill- conditioned levies which Gambetta sent to defend the banks of the Loire. The Greece and the Europe—Unpleas- ant Consequences of a Fortunate Rescue. In the rescue of the passengers and mails of the French steamer Europe by the English steamer Greece the plain facts of the case— the facts that are indisputably clear—reflect great credit upon the seamanship and human- ity of the British captain. He delays his own voyage nearly a day ; he sends out his boats in a heavy sea and extends the hospitality of his ship to four hundred human creatures, who, but for him and his service, would now in all probability be numbered in the mourn- ful chronicle that keeps the names of the ill- fated Ville du Favre. Asa sailor and a man, we may say that he could have done no less, and this is easily said, without the considera- tion that very much less has often been done in these cases. In our judgment this captain acted handsomely and nobly, and the leading fact in the case is that he saved four hundred human lives without an accident. For conduct like this we might reasonably suppose that no word could be said on the subject not to his credit, and especially that those indebted to him for their lives would have the grace and manly spirit to speak only in praise of the services ren- dered to them in such extremity. Instead of recogni: zi y bis id, wever, the; ener- ously cece be ae Tor- get the whole story in the energy with which they remember some petty detail. They cor- rect some statement of his that does not agree with their remembrance, and take the occasion to vilify and libel him; they raise a point of veracity; they deal with small shortcomings— indicating a remarkably close observation and a remarkably retentive memory of every- thing but the one great and leading fact in the case. All this we regret to see, because sympathy is naturally moved in favor of the French captain and company, who have lost their ship, and it is unfortunate that this sympathy should be forfeited by a mistaken course, and especially when this mistaken course puts the French captain in an irreclaimably false posi- tion, He is in a case to need to be saved from his friends. Little that he could now say, or that could be pretentiously said on his behalf by others, could better his position legally with regard to the salvage of the Europe, if a case should arise between him and the prize crew put on his ship from the Greece. But apparently no such case can ever arise; for the prize crew have been landed—they having in their turn given up the ship—so that if she is still afloat, which is unlikely, the rights that may have been acquired by the people from the Greece have been extinguished by their abandonment of the vessel, and a new and totally different question will arise if she is cast on any shore, Even if the case had arisen as between these parties there is pretty clear reason to believe that#he French owners must have had the worst of it, It is said now that when the French captain left his vessel he left her with the intention to return; that he went away only to communicate personally with the English captain in regard to the passengers ; and it is further said that this was declared and understood at the time. If this is true, if the French captain went away intending shortly to return, then the Europe was not an abandoned vessel; and if the British captain, as charged, prevented his return forcibly, this was a wrong on the part of the English sailors, and they could derive no advantage from their own wrongful act. But we must remember that it is disputed and very explicitly denied on the part of the English that the French captain intended to return to his ship. And in this difference the intention of the French captain would scarcely be accepted from his own dec- larations made now, but would have to be derived from his acts. These seem to be against him. He had a life preserveron. He is reported to have said, in coming on the Greece, that his own ship would not float three hours, and if this could be proved it would surely indicate that he left her because he thought any effort to save her would be hopeless. Several facts of the same nature seem to weigh heavily against his declared intention. As we have said, however, it seems to us to be a great error on the part of his friends to provoke the discussion of these points by making what seem to us very ill-judged charges against Captain Thomas. Some of these are already openly made, and some others are included in a letter which has been addressed to us by Mr. George Mackenzie, and which we must decline to publish, because it seems to us to bea libel on the English captain, If the French captain left his ship, hopeless of his capacity to carry her into port, the event has proved, apparently, that he was the best judge of her condition, and, onthe whole, acted wisely, even 1f prema- turely, since another was compelled to leave her a little later. All the indications from his conduct are that he did so leave her. It he was not hopeless, if he intended to return, it is strange that he should have left her all night without a light and without a soul on board. Morz Trovstz my Arkansas.—The long threatened intention to oust Governor Baxter, of Arkansas, from the gubernatorial chair culminated yesterday in a piece of sharp | practice that is likely to end in a conflict of arms. It will be remembered that Joseph Brooks, the republican candidate for Gov- ernor in 1872, claimed to have been elected; but the Legislature set his claim aside and awarded the office to Elisha Baxter, his op- ponent. An application was made to the courts to oust Baxter ; but it was not pressed, and he continued to exercise the office till yesterday, when he was forcibly ejected from the State House by Brooks upon authority of an order from the Circuit Court, which had been obtained without the knowledge of Baxter's lawyers. Civil war is threat- ened and the President called upon to restore the authority of the State to the hands of the Governor. The policy of the administration in regard to the chaotic governments of the South has been so remarkable that it is not ejected by federal courts there will soon be an end to republican government im every part of the country. Steam Lanes. We publish elsewhere this morning a letter from the Secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce commending the course of the Hznatp in urging upon Congress and the maritime nations the early establishment of ‘steam lanes.” We are gratified that the memorial of this useful public body has been graciously received by Congress and that it has found able advocates in Senator Roscoe Conkling and Representative S. S. Cox. All, apparently, that remains to be done is to secure the immediate passage of Senator Conkling’s bill and the co-operation of foreign maritime nations. When the Ville du Havre was lost Admiral Jaurez, a member of the French Assembly, at once introduced a reso- lution asking that an international commission might be established for the determination of such a code as would lessen the dangers of transatlantic voyages and punish officers who night negligently jeopardize the lives of their passengers. This proposition was followed by a similar movement in the House of Com- mons. We are not aware that any steps have been taken in Germany to accomplish the ends in view; but, if not, we hope that the Chamber of Commerce will loseno time in communicat- ing with the German government and with those organs and corporations which may have an influence in hastening the organization of this commission, We would say, furthermore, that it would be idle to convene at such a con- afew oli -ste horse reformers, who would fat at peer ft ‘parle and then ad- journ, after having written a fine manuscript on tinted paper, neatly tied together with red ribbon and perfumed with Ihlang-Ihlang. Serious, practical scientific men, who are not so scientific that they are useless, should be appointed, and each and every delegate so named should have the reputation of having done something. In our day we have had all manner of international congresses. We have had a Coinage Congress, a Telegraph Congress, a Weight and Measure Congress, a Prison Re- form Congress, a Peace Congress, a Universal Language Congress, and yet every nation holds on to the medieval traditions of its money, to its own system of telegraphy, to its own avoirdupois, to its own abuses of prison discipline, to its own vicious and belligerent susceptibilities and to ita own tongue and dialects. A mari- time congress called together to decide upon ocean tracks, to command electric lights on the sea and to improve our maritime law shoald not meet and pass similarly into his- tory. Seamen and merchants are generally practical men, who have little or no time to lose, adi from this class we hope the majority of the delegates will be chosen; and we de- voutly pray that the congress in prospective will not adjourn without, at least, having taken some decisive action. Week after week until December there will‘be on the average between ten thousand and twelve thousand passengers in transitu between this and Euro- pean ports. Although the season of snow storms is over in the higher latitudes, icebergs, fogs, collisions, unwisely lengthened ships, bad seamanship or defective boilers may at any moment entail appalling disasters. We do not believe they will occur, but they are possible. To render them impossible is to assemble the best maritime wisdom of the two hemispheres, to convene the best masters of hydrography and the laws of storms, not for- getting that old sea captains without theo- retical training have an experience not to be treated with derision. Tinkering with the Street Cleaning. A bill has been introduced in the Assembly creating a street cleaning commission in New York, to be composed of the Mayor, Comp- troller, President of the Board of Health and three other persons to be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Coun- cil. The commission is empowered to divide the city into districts and let the cleaning by districts to the lowest bidders for the contract. As the Mayor appoints the whole Board, the Mayor would, in fact, be the commission. Under the venerable Mr. Havemeyer we should not be likely to secure a very active or competent commission. The proposition ia a mere tinkering with the subject. We had better have a commission for New York and Brooklyn as a single dis- trict and give the appointment to the Gover- nor. Besides, the commissioners thus ap- pointed should have control not alone of the cleaning of the strects, but of their paving and repairing as well. They should be empowered to macadamize all the principal roads that need repaving. This would be a solid reform, while the bill now before the Assembly is mere patchwork and would leave our streets in their present deplorable condition. We cannot have clean streets until we have good roads, and we shall not have good roads until some such reform as we suggest is secured. Tue Remars or Dr. Lrvrxcstoye reached Southamptcn yesterday, where they were re- ceived by fifty thousand people. Mr. Henry M. Stanley, the Hzraxp correspondent, was immediately recognized by Wainwright, who was with Livingstone in Central Africa. Wainwright communicated to Mr. Stanley a full description of the death of the great traveller and philanthropist. Tue Lovistana Case.—In the Senate yeaters day Mr. Carpenter's bill for a new election was again under discussion, Senator West making a long speech in opposition to the measure. His argument hinged upon the simple proposition that if Kellogg was not legally elected Governor of the State McEnery must in fact be the Governor. This is no doubt the truth, but it is hopeless to ex- pect Congress to say 80 by restoring to the State its rightful authority, and, consequently, a new election will be better than a usurpa- tion which is to continue for two years longer. ‘The allegations in regard to the re-enactment of the Election law by the Legislature are ag startling as the offginal crime, and, if true, only go to show the recklessness with which dema- gogues promote their usurpations in the Sout’. Tse Benpes Annest.—We publish this morning a full account of the arrest in 0 of Bender, the Kansas assassin. Thescrime and the long escape from capture are alike remarkable ; but, as in most cases of the kind, justice has found the offender at last. The whole Bender family will probrbly remain st | easy to predict what course will be pursued; | but if governors of States continue ta be large but a little while longer,