The New York Herald Newspaper, April 21, 1874, Page 6

— 6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day tm the wear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. Letters and packages should be properly Sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. pals Sele LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO, 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. Volume XXXiX SaUsenENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadw: opposite Washington piace. —HUMPTY DUMPT i AT HOME, &c., at2 P.M. ; closes at 4:30 P. ML; *t SP. M.; closes at IP. G. L Fox. BOOTH’S THEATRE, - Sixth avenue, coreap of Twenty- uid street.—ROBA- LIND, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10 iss Neilson. RE, CTIVE, and VARI- Begins at 5 P. M.; cioses at JOWERY TH Bowery.—OLD sbeurt THE D. EVY ENTERTAINMENT. egantpe tr THEATRE, ad ENTERTAINMENT, at ™ No. 585 Broadwa 7:5 P.M. ; closes NIBLO’S GARDEN, en Prince ane Houston streets.—VARI- Broadway, bet ETY NMENT, at P. M.; cioges ar 10:30 P.M. Y ENIERTA LYCEUM THEATRE, near Sixth avenue.—LA MARJO- loses at UP. M. Fourteenth stree LAINE, at 8 P. M. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIL ¥1, 1874—TRIPLE SHEET. nn $$ The Troubles im the South—Whither Are We Drifting? Our readers have not, perhaps, followed closely the march of events in Arkansas. We have no desire of imposing any wearisome narrative upon them so far as that State is concerned. A local quarrel about the posses- sion of a State office has flamed out into a controversy threatening the peace of the com- monwealth. Into the merits of this contro- versy we have no desire to enter. We ques- tion seriously whether there are merits on either side. The President has shown dis- cretion and firmness by refusing to be dragged into the quarrel. At the same time his action in the matter of the telegraph office shows that he is not insensible to the duty of pre- serving the peace, So long as the partisans of Baxter and Brooks confine their controversy to the fulmination of proclamations and the drilling of armed men it will not concern him. He will not lend the power of the na- tion to serve any party. For if he began in Arkansas where would he stop? Why not with as much grace interfere in the quarrel now pending between the Aldermen and the Board of Police? There would be no end to the new duties and irritating responsibilities of thegeneral government if this policy of miscellaneous interference in local affairs were to become a system. So long as the Brooks and Baxter factions quarrel between them- selves the administration will say nothing ; but when one of the parties, as was the case the other day, seize the telegraph office and, claim the right to stop and revise despatches the President directs his troops to protect the wires. Beyond -ihis action and an admonition from the Attorney General to strive and keep the peace and refer all disputed questions to the people the Presi- Fourteenth street, corner ieving. Place.—Grand Opera— Beveit of M. Canipanini, at 7:30 P. M.; closes at 10:30 | P.M. WOOD’s MUSEUM, orner of Tae street. LADY AUDL'! sh Ss closes at 4:33) P.M. THE at BPM ;“Gtoses ai 10.20 Ne. Broadway SECRE ye PARK THEATRE, Broadway and Twenty-second street.—LOVE’S PEN- ANOE, at 8 P.M. ; closes at P. M., Charles Fechter. GRRMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Irv SP. M.; closes at 1 P.M. Mile. ANGOT, at k be YS FIFTH A’ ‘Twenty-c street and MONS ALPHON t8 P. M.: closes at d Dyas, Miss Fanny Davenport, Mr. Fisher, ie cark. THEATRE COMIQUE, | No, 8M Brondtwav.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 P.M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. WALLACK'S THEATRE roadway and Thirteenth street._THE VETERAN, at 8 M.; closes at 11 P.M. Mr. Lester Wallack,’ Miss ‘Jeffreys Lewis. MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington strect, near Fulton street, Brooklyn.— | ARTICLE 47, Morris. at 8 P.M; closes atllP.M. Miss Clara | OLYMPIC THEATRE, perme Houston and Bleecker streets.— Zand ELTY ENTERTAINMEN(, at | 745. M. yoipsee at 10y GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eig avenne and Twenty-third ‘street.—INSHA- Tate, at 8 P. M.; closes at P.M. Mr. and Mrs. Florence. USE, MENT, at 2:30 4; Closes at ll A HOUS! ‘Twenty-thi irene “NEGRO MIN- STRELSY. at WP. M RO! Sixteenth strect.—AL KUM ftth” street —TONDON IN es cou Broedway, corner ot Tnirty- M. Al. Same at7 P. loses polaliiad + closes at 5 P. From our reports this morning ithe - probabili- ties are tat the weather to-day will be generally clear. Far Sitcns ror Sprinc.—Our agricultural feports from all parts of the country indi- cate a fruitful spring and abundant harvests. California promises us forty million bushels of | wheat. This is better than gold. Tue NepERLAND Sarz.—This steamer, after some pretty hard thumping against the Jersey coast, has been taken up the Delaware to Philadelphia. Her double plating saved her, and Jersey has not suffered from the collision. A Brscayan Government. —It seems that Don Carlos bas actually formed a government in | his Biscayan fastness, a government with a | real Cabinet. Don Carlos can remain in Bis- cay as long as he pleases. It is a courtry of | mountains. He has the French frontier for one retreat and the sea-way to England for another. All he wants is some one to lend | him money and he will be King indeed. | | to take a | were ina cruel attitude. dent has done nothing. We can understand the temptations that | would surround the President and lead him positive attitude in these Southern State quarrels. They are the scandals of our republican form of gov- ernment, Much of this is due to the im- patience of our policy of reconstruction. The anxiety of Mr. Johnson to win favor from the | Southern politicians and become the Moses | that would lead the democratic tribes back to the land of political promise and plenty in- | duced him to hurry projects of reconstruction. He reasoned that it was only necessary to with- draw the troops from the South to enable the Southern people to resume the political mastery. | But in this he wag mistaken. The major general was followed by the carpet-bagger, the soldier | by the plunderer. We now see that had the military occupation of the conquered States been prolonged for five years more it would | have been better for every class. The pas- | sions of war would have subsided. The de- feated classes would have beoome reconciled to the necessities of peace and the madness of continuéd disaffection. The freedmen would who came into the South, not simply as ad- venturers but to make their homes in that | sich and highly favored land, would have been encouraged in the honest development of enterprise. When the time came for re- construction the worthiest classes would have | ruled, and government would have been the | honest expression of the peoplé’s voice. have been the surest plan of reconstruction. But the major generals offended the sensitive * | Southern mind and they were sent away by a complaisant President anxious for the South- ern vote. If one was the rule of whips what came after was the rule of scorpions. Arkansas is only another chapter of distress- ing history. The most painful circumstance about the South has been the disappearance ! war and who led her through that extraor- | dinary episode of the Confederacy. What- ever were the faults of the Confederacy the men who guided it possessed a high order of statesmanship. We certainly expected that with the return of peace and the unprecedent- edly generous amnesty which attended peace these men would retain their leadership. They owed this to their people, even if they had lost the inspirations of ambition. Never did _a people need counsel and aid more than the Southerners after the rebellion. They War had desolated their homes, destroyed their industry, over- turned their social institutions, decimated their families and deprived them of a fran- chise which was conferred upon a class who had hitherto been bought and sold as slaves, A Bu to Prorzcr raz Trxas Frosttre, | by establishing a line of telegraphic com- munication through the military posts of | Texas and the Indian Territory to Brownsville | and to other parts, was proposed in the House yesterday by Mr. Giddings, and, upon a sus- pension of the rules, was passed. ‘he appro- | priation is a hundred thousand dollars. This i6@ good measure, and will go far to check Indian hostilities and to advance civilization throughout the South Tue Voce or New Yons,—We are under obligations to Governor Dix for an official eopy of his now famous message to the Legis- lature protesting against the criminal and | pernicious doctrine of inflation which seems to pervade Congress, as well as the resolutions passed by the Legislature sustaining the Goy- | ernor in his views. Nothing that the Gov. | ernor has done in his long and illustrious career will be remembered with more pride than this manly protest against national re- petition and dishonor. Feverisa Sin . mw Wann Sraxet.—It isa remarkable anomaly that while money is abundant and cheap in Wall | street there is a very feverish state of things | and an indisposition toinvest, or even to spec- ulate, This, we suppbse, arises, first, from the expansion policy Of Congress and the un- certainty as to how the financial questions of the country are to be definitely settled, and, next, the general inflation of prices and heavy indebtedness of our government and people abroad. Men do not see their way clear, and there is some apprehension of failures to meet liabilities. If we can bridge over the period till Congress adjourns and the crops begin to show promise of » good season serious diffi- | culties may be averted. Otherwise there may | be trouble. Uncertainty 1s more depressing | than to know the worst. Let us hope Con- gress may promptly dispose of the cvrrency or | of the ignorance that they might be | docile as slaves. They needed the utmost wisdom and good advice. But the men who | led them in the past were no longer leaders. Lee retired into a seclusion from which he never came, and died without saying a word, as far as we know, to counsel the people who followed ‘him with their lives and fortunes to criminal Appomattox. Benjamin became an exile and | is now a British subject. Breckinridge has imitated the reserve and silence of Lege. ‘Fiunter titae& sirdnitictis effort to re-enter the Senate, but failed. The only prominent | Southern leader who has come back to Congress is Stephens, and comes like a ghost, awakening curiosity, but no longer inspiring obedience or confi- | dence. This sudden fading out of the old Southern statesmen is an extraordinary circum- | etance, and we attribute many of the evils which have aggravated the Southern States to the | apathy or helplessness of the gifted and cou- | rageous men who led them into rebellion and for four years compelled the world to deal with their Confederacy as a genuine and pow- erful nation. We should have welcomed the leaders Confederacy if they came back to political life. For all people have natural leaders, and the men who naturally lead the South are the men of the Confederacy. But instead of their leadership we have | had in the South a@ series of political | voleanoes and earthquakes and ominous | grumblings. To-day we see the smoke in Arkansas. Yesterday we heard the rumbling in South Carolina; to-morrow the earth may | rend in Louisiana or Texas, with spouting fire and lava streams. All these phenomena | mean thesame thing. There are flames and consuming fire under the surface. With all of our statesmanship we have never been ablo to reach the evil. It is idie to talk of recon- struction or peace so long as wo see what we The | = | | ary of occupation under the enlightened and | honest rule of the Northern journals would ; of the marked men who served her before the | and kept in a condition of deliberate and | he | tion and call it peace. It is easy to provoke chaos and call it reconstruction. This is what we have done in the South. Its condition to-day is far worse politically than Poland or Ireland. In Poland the military hand proses rudely upon the people, but they are not robbed. In Ireland aliens sit in authority, | but they are gentlemen who do not show their dislike to home rule and repeal by rob- bing the exchequer. _It has been reserved for the American Republic to unite Russian severity with a rapacity which belongs to no other nation and for which we have to find a | parallel in the careers of Verres and Warren Hastings, The blame for this rests largely upon the general government, but not wholly. We do not excuse the leaders of the South for their apathy. Something more than silent, unprotesting acquiescence in the rule of ad- venturers and ignorant freedmen was required from the mon who had been high in the coun- cils of the Confederacy and who still pos- sessed popular confidence. The Southern people have been abandoned and helpless. The men who should have guided them threw away responsibility. There is not a Southern State, excepting, perhaps, South Carolina, where, notwithstanding the suffrage to the negroes and disfranchisement, the old lead- ers of the South would not have succeeded in overturning the rule of the carpet-baggers, or at least frustrating their schemes until an awakened public spirit in the North came to their aid. What will be the end? Some think that we shall have these periodical and constantly recurring outbreaks, these eruptions of the political volcano, until it burns out and be- comes extinct. We are reminded that long after the Stuarts were driven from the throne ‘of England their followers were mutinous and defiant; that rebellion succeeded rebellion for more than a half century, until Jacobitism became a memory and was only preserved in oppressed the Jacobites, while Ireland, which she did oppress, remains as hostile to her rule as she was seven centuries ago. The dal. We can never feel that we have perfect peace until we have perfect recon- struction. Dante, in his immortal poem, | speaks of visiting that hell where the surface | of the black waters was ever bubbling. It | was because of the sighs of suffering souls | imprisoned beneath the waters, We never | see these bubblings and restless movements | of Southern society without feeling that they | | represent the imprisoned souls beneath, and | | hoping that the time may.come when they | will be released from their thraldom and ad- mitted to the responsibility of a generous and | untainted citizenship. Taxing National Bank Circulation. | . There was a little flutter in the House of Representatives yesterday over a bill intro- national banks, as the telegraphic report states it, but we suppose the proposition is to tax the national bank circulation. The tax proposed is from one-half to one-quarter of one per cent monthly. it, the tax is to be on circulation the amount will be from three to six per cent per annum | on the circulating notes. A contest ensued | as to whether the bill should be referred to the | Committee on Ways and Means or to the Com- mittee on Banking and Currency. The roil rency. Mr. Beck then wished to withdraw his bill, remarking that he did not want it to be smothered. The Speaker decided the bill could not be withdrawn. Mr. Beck under- stood, no doubt, the national bank influence in the committee to which the bill was referred. There is not much hope of the measure being reported back favorably. Still, it is one that ought to be pressed upon Congress. The privilege of a national circulation on the amount in excess of their reserves. This would give to the Treasury from twelve to twenty millions a year. But besides that it would do more than anything else to prevent an undue expansion of currency. Banks would not be established where the interest on money is not high, and it is in those sec- tions of the country where interest is high that banking facilities are needed and de- | manded. In the great money centres no more banks would be established if the circu- lation were taxed as’ proposed. Present Grant anp Civ, Service.— The message which the President has ad- dressed to Congress on the subject of the civil service will be read with interest by all who believe in this much needed reform. We have always tried to feel that the President meant to distinguish his administration by the establishment of a civil service system that would practically extinguish the corrupting doctrine that ‘to the victors belong the spoils." Our confidence in this purpose has been shaken by some incidents, like the ap- pointment of Sharpe as Surveyor in New | York over Benedict, and the appointment of Simmons ig Boston. But we have remembered that the President is largely atthe mercy of Congress, and more especially of the Sénate. The President may appoint According to the rules, but the Senate must confirm, and as no | rules bind Senators of what value is a civil | service which is strangled in executive ses- | sions? Before dealing hardly with the Presi- | dent, like so many of our contemporaries, for his supposed apathy or freachery to | civil service reform, let us remember the position of the Senate and his own helplessness to carry out the rules independent of that body. Let us insist upon the Senate giving its direct sanction to these rules. | | Srzam Lanes Across tue ATLANTIC.— The other day there cleared from this port six steamships, sailing for different points in Europe and America; thera arrived five | steamships. But even these figures do not begin to express that active, ceaseless life on the sea which is every morning presented to the reader in our marine columns. In those little | printed paragraphs there is information of the | first value to thousands of families who are | watching for the first intelligence of the ar- vival of loved ones at ports of safety, | intelligence for thousands of shippers of | valuable cargo, interesting not alone to | the merchant of New York, but those, as well, who participate in commerce along the entire extent of the Atlantic seaboard. Steam lanes | in themselves might be difficult to define over ballads and romances. But England never | | | If, as we understand | was called, and the House voted to refer the | bill to the Committee on Banking and Cur- | : i national banks should be made to pay for the | there would have been some pumps rigged ca- | | coast and that of Great Britain. It will become a nice question, in legislating upon this sub- ject, as to how broad it would be desirable to make the steam lanes, as to whether they should be all in the same zone of travel, or as to the necessity of laying down for each line its own proprietorial right and domain on the sea. A discussion of these questions we com- mend to the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Underwritera, the marine insurance companies and Congress. The Case of the Amerique—Another English Outrage. - Our special despatch from London presents the latest phase of that most entertaining and remarkable story of the sea, the history of the adventures of the French steamer Amé- rique, She is safe in the pleasant and pretty little port of Plymouth, on the south coast of England, and the French owners have teen heard from. It seems that in going into the port the ship touched bottom, and this evi- dently relieved the French and magically restored that beautiful elasticity of character which they had temporarily lost. They had all made up their minds that she must go to the bottom, and she has gone there—con- structively. It is true she has only scraped the mud a little, but this is enough to cover the point. They were amazed before by the failure of all their anticipations, but now they have recovered themselves and come out to assert their rights, and will do their utmost to prevent the dishonest and infamous Eng- lish from further interfering with their prop- erty. Altogether this case presents one of tue most startling outrages ever perpetrated by the people of one ‘nation on the people of another in a time of profound peace. In view of this case the outrage perpetrated by Captain Thomas, of the Greece, in his dealings with the Europe sinks into insignificance. He seized the Europe and sent her away in charge | of his own men, so that if she went to the bottom the French Captain could not witness | it, nor even heroically go down with her; but condition of the Southern States is a scan- | in that case the French have not such clear reason to complain, because they called upon him for help; so that if he abused the oppor- tunity thus offered him at least the first mis- take was theirs. But that cannot be alleged here. No ono called for these English of the Spray and the Barry to come and assist the French ship in distress. No one wanted them. “On the contrary, quite the reverse.’ Here was a steamer merely left alone, ‘as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." The Captain was gone ashore. There had been passengers and a crew; but all had rambled away in the boats trying to put their hats on marine butterflies, Some of them had gone ashore in an Italian boat—perhaps to take breakfast—and others in an English boat and | some in a Norwegian; but it is evident they | have learned by education the duties as well (ee ok as the amenities of freedom. The new men | meant to return, for they had not taken their baggage. Indeed there cannot be the slight- | est pretence for the asscrtion that this was an abandoned ship. Why should any one have abundoned her? Why do people ever abandon ships at sea? Only because of some danger. But here there was no danger. ‘The ship was perfectly safe. Even the English them- | selves admit this. Could the bursting in ot a couple of deadlights have frightened an ex- perienced captain and a whole crew? Perish thethought! It isclear enough that the gallant French cared little for what might come by the deadlights, since they thought the stuffing in a few pillows and sheets all that was necessary todo for guarding against suchadanger. Be- | sides, it is well known that the French are an ingenious and capable people in the handling | of mechanical contrivances, and we may as- suredly believe that if there had been the slightest apprehension on the French ship of an untoward result from the little water that had managed to find its way into the hold pable of making an impression on it. And here again the English condemn themselves, for they testify that there were no such | pumps. It is clear, then, that the Captain had only gone ashore and temporarily leit his ship; for the shore was but a hundred miles away. He could go and return in a day. What's a hun- dred miles in an age of steam? His ship was only in the position equivalent to what our amphibious grandfathers called offing.” But it appears that a captain no longer has the right to leave his ship in this way, and this point gravely affects the free- dom of the seas. For while the Captain was amusing himself ashore these two English steamers came snouping along, and made fast to the French ship and dragged her away into an English harbor, where, no doubt, they in- tend to claim that they have some rights over her in regard to salvage; but we rejoice to learn that the French mean to resist. The | line must be drawn somewhere, and English sailors must be prevented from interfering with French ships and encroaching on the rights of French captains in this most un- warrantable wey: Legan Insvstion—Derewrton or Wrrt- Nessus. —The Hon, Sinclair Tousey, Chairman, of the Executive Committee of the Prison Association of New York, addresses us a letter, taking strong grounds against the in- justice and hardship of the present practice of imprisoning witnesses. He calls attention to the bill of the Hon. H. H. Beecher, of Che- | nango, the purpose of which is to do away with these by providing that the testimony of any witness, upon the examination of a person | charged Witn..grime, may be taken down in writing and, belig propetly certified to, can | be used on the subsequent trial. In reference to the present practice Mr. Tousey saysi—/‘I know nothing in our legal practice that works greater hardships and more rank injustice than the practice which this bill proposes to abolish. It any one doubts that under the system great wrongs are daily\done, his doubts can be speedily ended by a visit to almost any county jail or to the Houseyof De- tention in this city.’’ Onime Apatixc.—Judge Brady delivered.a neat address to the Grand Jury yesterday morn- ing when he discharged the members, express- | ing his gratification at the unusual absence of crime. This the Judge attributed to the energy and firmness with which criminal laws are administered. It gives us a sense of genu- ine comfort to feel that we are passing out of the shadows of that ghastly reign of terror which rested upon the city during the latter ‘and financial questions, for this year at least, | see in Arkansas, It is casy to make a desola, | avy other sea than that which lies between our | dave of the Tammany Bing ‘én the | “| perity of the metropolis would be secured, The Last Days of the State Legisla- ture—How the Character of the Ses sion May Be Redeemed. ‘The State Senate has it in its power to ter- minate the present session of the Legislature in nine days from to-day. The concurrent resolution fixing April 30 as the day of final adjournment having passed the Assembly now lies on the Senate table, and ‘can at any time be called up as a privileged question and adopted by the latter body. The matter is, therefore, out of the reach of the House, and the Senators will be responsible if the session should be unnecessarily protracted into May. It isa fact not complimentary to our repre- sentatives at Albany, yet nevertheless true, that the people of the State, and especially the citizens of New York, experience a sense of relief when the Capitol is closed for the year and given over to carpenters, carpet-beaters and scrubwomen. Much of the legislation of the last few years which has not been corrupt’ has been crude or injudicious. While the present Legislature has not been 80 objectionable as some of its predecessors, it has as yet failed to make good a title to the confidence of the people, and there appears to be little prospect that it will add to its repu- tation during the remainder of its existence, Indeed, it seems more likely to lose than to gain in character by a prolongation of the session, and it will, therefore, be wise on the part of the Senators to avail themselves of their power to bring it to a speedy close. There is yet time, it is true, to reverse this record. The passage of less than half a dozen well-considered laws within the next nine days would place the Legislature of 1874 in an honorable position, and win for it a respect which has not been enjoyed by a Legislature of the State of New York for the last ten or twelve years. Most of these desirable laws would certainly relate to the city of New York, and might thus be regarded by some as of a local character ; but the interests of the State and of the metropolis are so closely identified that it is impossible tu benefit the one without benefiting the other, or to damage the one without causing the other to suffer. The city is now in a condition in which inaction will be fatal. We must either progress or retrograde. All that is required to give us here an imperial city equal to any of the Old World cities lies within our grasp if we will only stretch forth our hands and secure the prize. If we neglect to do so we must be contented to see our commercial supremacy pass from us and to give up the title to the metropolis of America. The de- cay of the city of New York means the decay and impoverishment of every county in the State, the decrease of the value of farm lands and produce, the destruction of the canals and the paralyzing ot all mdustrial interests, The progress and prosperity of New York mean the enrichment of the State, the en- hancement of the value of lands in every sec- tion, the growth of manufactories, increas- ing business for our canals and railroads, and increasing wealth and happiness for the | people. For these reasons the laws that are absolutely needed to give the metropolis the opportunity to grow and to prosper are of a general and not of a local character. The first and most important: of such laws | is one which will secure the construction of steam railroads in the city. It is conceded by every reasonable person that rapid’ transit in New York is now an absolute necessity. Without it we must repel the commerce that is seeking us ;*with it we shall speedily double { our population and the valuation of our real estate. The Legislature can yet give | aus such a lawif it will, The Eastman bill may yet be taken up with honesty of pur- pose, perfected in accordance with sound business suggestions and passed by both houses within the next week. The represen- tatives of the city in the Senate and Assembly should stand shoulder to shoulder in the effort to secure such a result, and no honest member from an outside district could then refuse to respect the united voice of New York. There are other measures relating to the city of New York which should not be | suffered to fail, In connection with rapid transit we should be enabled to secure well | paved roads and clean streets, The bill to | provide for the repaving of Fifth avenue as to secure the macadamizing of that impor- tant thoroughfare and its care and maintenance by the Park Commission. It is scandalous that such an avenue should be left in its pres- ent condition. By common consent it has been held sacred from the encroachment of the horse car lines and set apart as a drive through the heart of the city to the suburbs. Yet it is suffered to remain unfit for travel and special law we need a reform § in the whole management of ‘our which should be placed under the control of a separate commission, invested with abso- lute power over their paving, repairing and cleaning. Then, with the city and county provement of the northern portion of the city again set in motion, the progress and pros- the whole State would be correspondingly bene- fited, and the Legislature of 1874 would prove to the people that reform is not altogether a mockery and a failure. Certain bills of a more general character | are to be acted upon in the few remaining | laws have yet been passed, and those bills | which are desirable should claim all the remain- ing hours of the session, while untiring vigil- ance should be exercised to prevent the sudden springing of jobs. The hope of the lobby is in the closing hours of a session, when mem- when confusion reigns supreme, and when obliging clerks can, without much risk of detection, take the business of legis- lation out of the hands of the mem- bers. As we have said, the record of the Legislature of 1874, as it is written up to the present moment, is not such as its mem- bers should desire, and the indications, in the Assembly at least, afford but little hope that it will be improved between this time and the final adjournment. Yet we are in- duced to make this last appeal to the self- respect and honor of the majority. If the Senate will irrevocably fix the time of adjourn- ment, a6 it now has the power to do, we shall then, at least, know that only a few days of the session remain. and that, if we cannot should become a law, and should be so framed | a disgrace to the city. In addition to this | streets, | governments consolidated, and with the im- | days of the session, some of which should | not be suffered to fail. Very few important | bers are eager to push forward their own bills, | hope for the success’ of just and honest laws, we may at least calculate upon a speedy release from the hands of unfaithful legis- lators. The Board of Aldermen and the Mayor= A Small Political Tempest. The action of the Board of Aldermen yes- terday in regard to the Police Commission has created quite a commotion in local po- litical circles. The special meeting called by a majority of the Aldermen was supposed by Mayor Havemeyer and his friends to mean the confirmation of Mr. Howland, the nomi- nee for Police Commissioner in place of the late Henry Smith. The result proved a se- rious disappointment to this expectation. In- stead of confirming Mr. Howland the Board adopted resolutions alleging incapacity and malfeasance in office against the present Po- lice Commissioners, and calling upon the Mayor to suspend and remove them in ac- cordance with the provisions of the city char- ter. This open attack upon the Police Board was led by Alderman Ottendorfer, who has hitherto been the warm supporter of the Mayor, and the hostile resolutions were car- ried by a vote of eight to five. According to political gossip this action of the Alder- men grows out of the return of Alder men Ottendorfer, McCafferty and others to full communion with Tammany, conse- quent upon the discovery of a bargain be- tween the Mayor and Comptroller on the one side and the Custom House republicans on the other, by which the nomination of Mr. How- Jand as Police Commissioner was to be fol- lowed by the nomination of a yet more active republican of the same stripe as the successor of Mr. Russell, whose term expires in May. With the Police Commission in proper hands, if we are to credit this version of the affair, the whole force of the municipal administra- tion was to be united with the power of the city a continuance of the present city govern- ment, The people care very little about these in- trigues and counter intrigues, but they will welcome with satisfaction any programme that promises to give us an entire change of rulers. It is notorious that the Street Clean- ing Bureau has been inefficient and corrupt, and that the present Police Department is a mere political hucksterage for potty trades and bargains, The incapacity of the whole municipal government is also con- spicuous. From the venerable Havemeyer and his ancient, Matsell, through almost the entire list of city magnates we find the same wearying mediocrity, interspersed here and there with downright incapacity. It is the fashion of political declaimers to de- nounce the ‘‘corrupt rule’’ of Fernando Wood; but as Mayor of the city the ‘hero of the white mustache” displayed more capacity and executive ability than can be found in the whole of the departments of the present mu- nicipal government puttogether. His admin- istrations were certainly more ecowomical, and, probably, more honest, than the present “reform” régime, despite all the boastings of the latter. Mr. Wood’s downfall was due to his ambitious attempt to become an autocrat in his party. He strove to accomplish too much, and he raised up a rebellion against his rule which caused his overthrow. Mr. Havemeyer is a different sort of person. He | has only succeeded in making himself ridicu- lous, and when he retires from the Mayoralty he will be regarded as a more absurd practical joke than even Mayor Tiemann. His bulls against city improvements and his interminable letters to the Governor, the Legislature, the Aldermen and others will be remembered with amusement and wonder. At the same time, the Aldermen who are | now on the warpath have done noth- ing os yet to entitle them to public con- fidence. Their time has been taken up with petty intrigues and combinations that have lasted over two or three meetings only, to give way to some ‘‘new deal.’’ They may change in two weeks all they did yesterday, or before that time may call another meeting and turn themselves over to the Mayor and his appointees, Whether they eventually go to Tammany or elsewhere is a matter of very little consequence to the people. Tae Enp or tHe Ticuporny Case.—At& last it would seem as if we had reached the end of the Tichborne case. Most sensible people are satisfied that one of the ‘most gigantic swindles of modern times has been fully exposed and that the offender in the case has been brought to punishment. An attempt was made towaids the end of last woek to force | anew trial. It was claimed by Dr. Kenegly that, on the part of the Court before which the late trial took place, there was a want of jurisdiction, and that the verdict rendered was not in accordance with the evidence. Dr. Kenealy was heard and judgment was re- served. This morning we learn that the new trial has been refused and that the application has been finally dismissed. Let us hope that this is the end of it. Sympathy should now go, not with the claimant, but with the family whose estates have been ruined. Horse Ractye in THE Sovts continues to be a favorite sport in that section and is re- iar even in spite of thé poverty of the erners. We have reported the large cae and good racing af Qharleston, Sa- well as the spring meeting of the Louisiana Jockey Club at New Orleans, which may be considered the proper commencement of the spring season. There will be five days’ rac~ ing at Memphis, commencing on the 27th, and then will follow the races at Nashville and | Lexington, and finally at Baltimore on the 26th of May. After that the thoroughbreds and the sporting men of the South will come North for the summer season in this section, The passion for good horses and horse racing seems to be natural in the Southerners, and they must certainly have the credit of raising splendid stock. Tux New Muvister 10 Prussta.---A Londom journal announces that Mr. Bancroft will soom retire from Berlin, and that he will be suc- ceeded by J. C. Bancroft Davis, of New York, the present Assistant Secretary of State. Fratennrry.—Now is the time to show thet we are brethren indeed to our suffering fellow citizens in the South. An appeal printed elsewhere speaks of great destitution in. New Orleans and asks for aid, Such an appeal. can never be made in yain to New York. national administration in foisting upon the” vannah, Macon, Selma and other places, ag’