The New York Herald Newspaper, May 1, 1874, Page 6

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANA STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ‘The Crisis tm England—Mr, Disrecli’s Real Problem. It is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the letter which we print this morning from Newmarket, England. The cable despatch which we printed yesterday, setting forth that “a Mr. Wood” was ready to carry laborers THE DAILY BERALD, published every day in the | to England from Ohio who would work for year. che isha Annual subscription | from four to five dollars a week wages on the price $12. farms, came‘from Newmarket, and referred to All business or phic) Re a condition of affairs which is narrated in full despatches must be addressed New Yore Hema. by our correspondent this morning. The sen- timent is advanced that ‘England is now standing on the threshold of a greater politi- Rejected communications will not be re- | oa] change than any she has experienced since turned. r Letters and packages should be prop- erly sealed. the days of Cromwell.’’ This is, perhaps, an extravagant expression of opinion, especially as it comes from what our correspondent calls “one of the shrewdest and most far-sceing of LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK | the English working class leaders.’ ‘Leaders HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. Volume XXXEX..........:00ceseereeee+MOe LOL Vi ae THEA’ DALY'S pore po a NON! UR ag AS M.; close = aE} lanuy Davenport, Bijou Heron un Pu Puna THEATRE OOMIQUE, No, 514 Broadway.—VARIBTY EN TEREAINMENT, até P.M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. WALLACK’S: bryan! Peete aca Wate a MRS, CONWAY'S BROUKLYN THEATRI ee ne Mr. C. W. Couldock. OLYMPIC a mses Broadway. between Houston and Bleecker streets.— VRUDEV ‘LLE 00, ‘NOvEutY ENTERTAINMENT: at 745 P.M. ; choses at 1 GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Fine avenue and Twenty-third street.—DONALD MCKAY, at 8P. M.; closes at [1 P, M. Oliver Doud Bvron. BROADWAY Le earEe, sat Broadway, _ oj aghington place.—UUMPTY yg td aT Ba aon ats closes at 11 P. BOOTH’S THEATRE, ae avenue, corner of Twenty-third street—THE pag NCHBACK, at 8 P, M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Miss jeilson. Ne vay. ALY ENTERTAINMENT, xed at NI jie GARDEN, am between Prince and Houston streets —VARI- ETY EN LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near re grenue.—La MABJO- Laine, at 8 P. M.; closes at 11 ACADEMY Vf MUSIC, frmmpeente street, corner of ed M pt —Strakosch Ttaltan. be Eg ng ee LR at SP. M.; De — at ¥ P. Ria Puente, ‘Nanne' WOOD'S MUSEUM, of Thirtieth street ESCAPED FROM Bine aT erty at ve M; See ae nae . M. AURORA FLOYD, at 8P.M.; cl Guaue de Forrest. PARK THEATRE, Twenty-second street.—LOVE’S hd Thea eis; closes ati P.M. Charles Fech: PT te THEATRE, Fourteenth near Irving piace.—PECH-SCHUEZZE, at OPekn s choses at il F P.M. Fahuy Janauschek. NEW PARK THEAT! BROOKLYN. LA SONNAMBULA, and DIN, at@ P.M. Lydia ‘Thompson TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUS! ¥, ee yy pet ENTERTAINMENT, at 2:30 EE ; Closes at 5:0 P.M,; also ate P. M ; closesat li BRYANT’S OPERA HOU"E, Sreeyeigt sree ma] near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO MIN- OBINSON HA! et closes at lu P. M. Re LL, Sixteenth street—ART ENTERTAINMENT, at8P. M. COLOSSEUM. Broadwa; raz. omer of Thirty-filth street.—LONDON IN oy ‘M.; closes at5 P.M. Same at7 P. M.; closes ROMAN HIFPODROME, Madison avenue nty-sixth street. Pager Faopantconaitiss oF NATIONS, atl P. M. and TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Friday, May 1, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be partly cloudy, Tae Twm Retic.—Mormonism lifted its head in the House of Representatives for a moment yesterday on the report of the Com- mittee on Elections that a certain Mormon Delegate was properly returned from Utah, but that the committee deemed it right for the House to investigate whether the gentle man was a polygamist, and whether, if so, he is eligible to sit in Congress. This invitation to face the music on so important a point is not relished, however. Congressmen do not see how they can just now make much money or much political capital out of the Mormons. Lirvinasronz.—We print this morning the closing scene of the story of Livingstone. The cable has already anticipated the sad news, but the glory and achievements of this man’s career will add a fresh interest to the noble, heroic and mournful story of his death. England recognized the fitness and beauty of Livingstone’s career in honoring him with his illustrious resting place. If the patriot can have no higher reward than the grateful thanks of his felloW men, then Livingstone has achieved the noblest tribute that can be paid to one of English lineage. He rests forever in the great temple of peace and reconciliation, honored by England as among her illustrious sons. ‘Tae Execvtion of Waltz at Catakill, ordained by the law for to-day, has a sad significance in the fact that yesterday in a fit of anger the prisoner killed his keeper. There seems to have been no motive for this new crime. With the certainty of death before him the wretched man wantonly added another murder to the crime which rests upon his soul. The people of Catskill are, the report says, very much in- censed, and there were rumors of an attempt to lynch the poor wretch, who, under the | doom of death, felt that he had become in a | measure the reckless arbiter of life and death. | ‘The Governor promises to protect the Sheriff in the execution of the law, and has ordered out the miljtia to prevent any further breach of the peace. Wrrn Waar Morrve?—In the case of the -ehild Teresa Small, who has been forcibly taken by the police from the persons in whose good caddie meal greta tay and on moral grounds if they could be believed in as the real motives of the proceeding; but there is too much reason to believe them merely pretexts. Commissioner Gardner, who hag declared his faith in bru- tality, and Captain Williams, who bas no need to declare his, are scarcely the persons to be going about as moral knights errant rescuing little girls from contaminating in- of workingmen” are not, as a general thing, very temperate in their expreasions of politi- cal opinion. At the same time, when we come to consider closely the situation, not only as indicated in our narrative of the agricultural strike, but in many other signs, we cannot resist the belief that great political changes are about to take place in England. And yet to the eye of the world nothing could be more placid and tranquil than the aspect of affairs in England. A new Minister has come into power, with more real power,. perhaps, than any Minister has held since the time of Pitt. Mr. Disraeli not only has the House of Commons with him, but he has the House of Lords. The Chancellor of the Ex- chequer has just submitted a budget show- ing an overflowing treasury. The vanity and martial spirit of the people have been satisfied by a triumphant war. Of course, it was only against the wild Ashantee tribes of Africa, but it was a triumph, a cause for real fireworks and rejoicing. Trade, commerce and business prosperity were never so marked, and all the wealth of the world seems to flood the money markets of England: The French and German war, while destroying the. political rivalry of France, also destroyed its financial and commercial rivalry. It is really a problem whether Germany or England was the winner of the absolute fruits of that contest. Not- withstanding these material advantages, Eng- land has had the happy fortune to win the AINMENT, at8 f. M.; Closes at 10 30 P.M. } good favor of France, and to feel that she is a favored nation in French ports and markets. Ireland is restless, but at peace. Canada and all the colonies send their loyal wishes in every breeze, and new colonies come from the far Pacific seas and implore the Queen to cover them with her sceptre. The famine which threatened India seems to be under control, and wherever the English flag waves it covers & scene of apparent peace and prosperity. The United States, which threatened her maritime supremacy, have been thrown back a genera- tion in that race by the rebellion and foolish legislation; and Russia, which menaced her dominions in the East, is held in check by Bismarck and Austria. Certainly there could not be a sunnier or more peaceful scene, one more calculated to inspire the English mind with gratitude. Mr. Disraeli may thank the propitious stars that seem to have followed him through his romantic and extraordinary career that he is permitted torule a nation so supremely happy, powerfuland renowned. Why, then, this fear of ‘a greuter political change than any that has been experienced since the daysof Crom- well?" ‘here may be the greenest of fields and the sunniest of skies, the harvest-burdened earth, the olive, the vine and the billowy sea of ripe, rustling grain, and under all the rum- bling of the earthquake or volcano. Is it so in England? Our correspondent asks us to accompany him to the agricultural section from which he writes. We there see over four thousand farm laborers on a strike. They ask for higher weekly wages, ‘for better cottages, for the opportunities of educating their chil- dren. These laborers have been receiving thirteen shillings a week (less than four dollars), and now ask for fourteen. It seems that not long since they had formed themselves into ‘‘an Agricultural Union.” The purpose of this union was self- protection and counsel. The farmers not only refused to give them the additional shilling a week, but they informed them that if they did not withdraw from the union they would be “locked out’’—that is to say, given no work at all. The laborers replied that but for the union they would now be working for ten shillings a week, and declined to withdraw. So the four thousand farm laborers were “locked out.’’ The farmers supposed that the union would not be able to support the four thou- sand laborers. The trades’ unions came to the support of their agricultural brethren, and now we have the singular fact that the farm laborers are sustained in their contest against the farmers by the hard earned money of mechanics and artisans in the large cities and towns. In other words, labor recognizes the brotherhood of labor, and together me- chanic and farm-laborer will stand or fall. But surely these hot-headed, ill-advised peasants are quarrelling with happy homes— with freedom, comfort and peace. Have we not heard of the free, fair homes of England, where dwells honest industry, and under whose roof tired labor finds comforting, swect repose? All of this brightens our literature; but what do we find in the narrative of our correspondent? A condition of life and com- fort that dishonors the English name, and which never had s parallel in our own slavery times, when negroes were huddled together in cabins on large plantations, In the village of Exning “families of six or seven live in hovels scarcely ten feet square,’’ where a man | of ordinary stature cannot stand upright, ‘‘the walls covered with blotches of green moisture.’’ The mother must go out and toil in the fields and roads, while the children remain home neglected. The squire of this parish, a fine old English gentleman (very fine and old we can imagine, as he is nearly eighty), does not believe in schools and will not allow one in Exning. So the children tramp two miles to school. When they complain they are told to go elae- where. They live in debt to the small shop- keepers, who can imprison them if they pre- pare to emigrate. Now that they are “locked out’’ and denied work, each head of a family only ‘receives from the trades’ unions nine shillings a week, and as nine shillings is be- tween two and three dollars, we can well fluences. They have some motive that appeals understand that the laborers ‘are on as show more directly to their peculiar natures, and | rations as the besieged were in the last days the inquiry in the courta will fail if it does Dot fully develop and uncover this motive. of the siege of Paris.” The lock-out has taken an active form. Men of rude, earnest force, of great natural eloquence, have arisen among the people to lead and animate them. Joseph Arch, who was with us last summer, is ill, but one George Ball is now what our correspondent calls ‘the Moses of the movement.” His speeches are strong and brave. The time was coming when men like Mr. Arch would sit in Parliament, and “some of these Lord Tom Noddies would have to sit and learn at the feet of some of the uncouth peasants of England.” We think we have heard something like this in the speeches of the leaders of the French Revo- lution. Certainly it has made its impression upon the mind of one prelate and assistant, for we have the Lord Bishop of Manchester issuing a letter warning the farmers of the madness and folly of oppressing the laborers. “They may,” says this noble prelate, ‘drive their best laborers to the other side’ of the Atlantic or into some new field of employment; they may fill the workhouses with able-bodied men and women, stripped of their homes and all that has made Hfe amid their hardships still dear to them;"’ but “will they have conquered?” Can any man, asks the Bishop, earn a sufficiency of food, fuel and clothing on a smaller income than fifteen or.sixteen shillings a week? Another clergy- man attended a meeting of the laborers to see for himself its character, and afterwards preached a sermon in their behalf. He was compelled to resign. All that he did was to bear his testimony to the distress and misery around him. These witnesses represent not the political opinions of the radicals—of republican leaders like Dilke and Herbert— but the conservative power of England. Where will it end? Mr. Disraeli is Premiet and the tory party is in power. He is strong enough to do what he will in any reform. He must see, and no one with clearer eyes, that the whole English system is based on an inse- cure foundation, when a conflict like this can take place in the heart of England. On the one side we see manhood and misery ; on the other wealth, rank and power. Such a con- test may result in a long battle, in uncertain chances—but how must it end? Let Mr. Disraeli find an answer to this question in the French Revolution and in the war of the North against slavery. Adjournment of the Legislature. Last night the Legislature adjourned sine die, adding to the history of our State the chronicle of one more infamous session. This body has done nearly everything it should not have done, and has left undono all that it could have done with justice and propriety. In its last hours it passed a bill to reorganize the local government of the city of New York—that is to say, it made such a change in our laws as the intrigues of certain politicians of ‘the dominant party seemed to require ; for it is one of the glories of the modern system of politics that no laws stand in the politician’s way—he repeals, abolishes or changes, as agrees with his convenience. The bill for the Fifth avenue pavement did not pass, at which we feel neither regret nor joy; for the pavement proposed was of the poultice sort, and would have been no improvement on the present; but it was not rejected for this reason, probably, but only because the voters did not see sufficient ‘‘rea- son” for passing it. The Appropriation bill ‘was passed without the Senate amendment of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for academies, and a bill was passed for amending the charter of the city of Brooklyn. Two committees are authorized to sit—one a special committee, instructed to inquire if a more economical and honest management of the canals cannot be secured; the other, the Assembly Committee of the Ways and Means, to investigate the present system of ‘taxation. It is natural that the Legislature should want to know all about the taxes, but it is an unac- countable curiosity for it to inquire into hon- esty and economy. The Annual Hegira. To-day is the saddest of all days in the year in, the housekeeper’s calendar. All the ills that flesh is heir to seem to be crowded into a few hours between the rising and the going down of the sun, and weeks and months wil! pass before the direful remembrance of house™ hold gods demolished, stubborn cartmen—who may be termed the iconoclasts of the fireside— bruised limbs and aching hearts, shall pass away. On this day the cartman becomes in- vested with despotic powers, and the mover is, for the time being, his helplessslave. Threats or entreaties produce the same fruitless effect upon the knight of the truck, and naught moves him save the magic palmistry of a greenback. Let this soothing salve be with- held and the unlucky paterfamilias may ex- pect to see his pier glass ‘‘accidentally” im- paled upon a hatstand or ao sofa, or the matron may be driven to distraction by a crash of crockery on the sidewalk. The do- mestic horrors of Moving Day in New York might have furnished Dante with material for an extra canto for his “Divina Commedia,” or the pencil of Doré with one of its most powerful subjects. And yet the restless, migratory character of our people in- sists upon many of them leaving comfortable homes each year and submitting to the hurly- burly of May Day just for the sake of change. The real estate owners and agents have also much to do with this annual hegira from street to street, as they generally lose no op- portunity to increase their rents and push them beyond the limits of domestic endur- ance. While rapid transit remains a problem to be solved at some future day the prepos- terous demands of city landlords must be sub- mitted to and the chaos of Moving Day be a permanent institution. Once bring suburban “homes within a few minutes’ reach of the business community and few will be compelled to go a-maying under the command of truck drivers and extortionate landlords, The hegira is not always a matter of choice, but of ity. Jospzry.—The Louisville and Portland Canal in Kentucky will become nominally the property of the United States government when the President shM sign the bill which passed the House yesterday. That is to say, the government will pay all the debts or other costs; and if there is any money to be re- ceived some one else will get it. This canal runs from Louisville'to Portland and flanks the rapids in the Ohio River between these two points, and so is 4 legitimate work of river improvement, but the complication of government with private company has an objectionable aspect Civil War in Arkansas. The reckless rivalry of the politicians and the inaction of the federal authorities have at last resulted in bloodshed. The forces of Baxter and Brooks have passed from menace and threat to actual warfare. The battle which the telegraph informs us has taken place between the Baxter forces under General White and a body of Brooks’ men has resulted in a considerable loss of life, and may lead no one knows whither. We are once more, thanks to the plottings of car- pet-baggers, engaged for a second time in civil war, and the consequences may not cease with the blood already shed. ‘We hope the time has at last come when the central government will feel called upon to act promptly and suppress with a severe hand the men who brought sgain on us the cnrse of internecine war. There should be no longer any hesitations or delays, ‘Let us have peace,’’ whatever it costs, and if the lawless factionists of Arkan- sas will not listen to reason and justice let them be talked to plainly and convincingly by the national cannon. If there is any class of men in this coun- try who desire to emulate the half-breeds of the South American republics, and attempt to seize a power by force that the votes of the people have denied them, the sooner they learn that such infamies will not be tolerated the better it will be for the peace and _ prosperity of the nation. We are in favor of paying the utmost respect to State rights, but the moment a party in a State overthrows the de facto government by force and con- stitutes itself in rebellion it becomes the duty of the Executive to suppress such revolt with all the power of the nation. The delay in doing so in the Arkansas case has led to the present outbreak of hostilities and to the inauguration of a civil strife which may lead no man knows whither unless promptly suppressed. Will President Grant see to it? The Political Charter Tinkering Bill—What Will the Governor Do with Itt The bill to give the Mayor of New York the power to appoint all heads of departments in the city government without the confirmation of the Board of Aldermen, and to make thé? Police and Park Commissions consist each of four Commissioners instead of five, is now in the hands of Governor Dix, and awaits his signature to becomea law. It is undisguisedly @ party measure; passed without regard to the wishes or interests of the citizens of New York and against the protest of the Mayor and the Common Council. It reverses the princi- - ple of the charter passed by a republican Legislature one year ago and approved by Governor Dix, in which the confirming power of the Board of Aldermen was held to bea necessity of good government. It was carried through a Legislature of unsavory reputation, by the undisguised lobbying efforts of New York Custom House officials, the United States District Attorney for the Southern district, and other federal office-holders. It is one of those bills which the Mayor and OCommonalty of New York, representing the people of the city, have, by a deliberate legislative act, called upon the Governor to veto. It was introduced within a few days of the close of the session, when no time was allowed to the people whose city government it radically changes either to examine and discuss its merits or to protest against its passage. It has no prin- ciple to recommend it. Even the pretence that the chief executive officer of the city should possess uncontrolled authority over the subordina‘e heads and be held responsible for their character and acts cannot be raised in justification of such a bill while the ro- moval of the persons he appoints is nct also placed in his hands. In view of these facts we do not regard it as by any means certain that the bill will receive the approval of the Governor. The object of those who favored this tinker- ing with the year-old charter is to prevent any change in the present Police and Park Com- missions in case the democracy should elect @ Mayor and a Board of Aldermen in New York next November. The principal of these, so far as the public interests are concerned, is the Police Commission. But this Commission, as it now exists, has been pronounced by the republicans themselves as inefficient, incapable and corrupt. Mr. Russell goes out to-day, and his place will probably be filled at once by the Mayor and Aldermen. The majority of the present Commission will remain in power,.and the bill now in the Governor's hands provides that they shall not be inter- fered with by the appointment of a fifth Com- missioner. Thus much for the consistency of the bill as a mieasure of police reform. But who can tell whether the venerable and vacillating Mr. Havemeyer will appoint a Custom House republican or a Tammany democrat in Mr Russell's place? And what security have the industrious District Attorney .and other office-holders who have lobbied the bill through the Legislature in its dying moments that they will not loge the expected fruits of their labors even before the bill be- comes a law, if, indeed, it ever does reach that distinction? We shall not be surprised to find this eleventh-hour political job turn out as such tricks generally do, to the discom- fort of its authors. However, the bill is not yet a law, and weare quite confident that it will never become a law unless Governor Dix believes that it is demanded by the interests of the city. Warns tHe Srzciz Gozs.—The bullion of the Bank of England decreased during the last week near three millions of dollars in amount, and the directors, following the usual course, have raised the rate of discount a half percent. The minimum is now fixed at four per cent. France is drawing upon the bul- lion of England and other countries just now, with a view of establishing specie payments; but, really, the notes of the Bank of France are and have been for some time only a frac- tion below par. The action of that bank in eccumulating bullion is, therefore, for the KEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1874—TRIPLE SHEET. purpose of making sure work of it, and to firmly establish a specie basis, beyond all per- adventure, whenever it declares specie pay- ments restored. The Verdict im the Leshy Case. ‘The three days’ trial has ended, and Leaby, the slaughterer, has escaped from justice. After the charge delivered by the Judge, of which we have nothing to say, the jury re- tired to deliberate, and after a somewhat pro- tracted delay, and, we are willing to believe, serious and sober consideration of all the points in the case, they returned with a ver- dict of ‘Not guilty.” The verdict, of course, must be accepted by the public. Before the law Leahy is acquitted of the very serious charge preferred against him. We are not by any means satisfied, however, that the public mind is pleased with the verdict, or that the acquittal of Leahy will be a positive gain to the cause of law and order in the city of New York. It will be admitted that the defence of the accused was well conducted; but the charge of the Judge and the verdict of the jury will’ find various interpreters. That Mc- Namara was cruelly alain no sane man can refuse to admit In his own home, when he and his family had retired to rest, an attempt is made to force an entrance into his house. Like a trueman McNamara resists and threatens to resist to the death. He believes that his home is his castle; and, knowing that he harbors no offender against the law, he will allow no intrusion. Because of this righteous belief and of this manly pur- pose he is shot and killed. The intruder and the slayer is an officer of thelaw. Wehave no desire to belittle the difficulties of the policeman. In the ordinary discharge of his duty a certain amount of discretionary power must be allowed him. But when he goes on a special mission, as he went in this case, he ought to go with a warrant; and he ought also to be sure beforehand where that warrant is to be served. In this case Leahy was all at fault. He believed his man was in the build- ing. Without awarrant he went to find him; but he went tothe wrong door. The door was that of a poor man, and, of pourse, the police- man cquld not be wrong. At the door ofa Fifth avenue mansion he would have rung the bell, would have handed in his card or quietly declared his mission and waited for an answer. But then this was only a tenement house, and the inhabitants were poor; and, of course, you know, poor people, especially tenement house people, have no rights which a policeman is bound to respect. The poor man awakes from his slumbers, dreads a burglar and a bur- glar’s purpose, and threatens violence if vio- lence is offered. The door is forced open and the simple minded, honest defender ot his home falls bleeding and dying on his own floor, the victim of the policeman’s bullet, This is the story. No rounded rhetoric can make the facts other than they are. Poor McNamara is gone and his slayer is ac- quitted. After this verdict it will not sur- prise us to learn that Leahy has been made a captain of a precinct and that he is on the high way to the highest post in his calling. Thus it is that we are marching towards perfection. Reform at Albany. Poor old Mr. Havemeyer, ‘though a rener- able man and aitute, is no match for the politicians at Albany. He evidently has a notion that he winds up all the political clocks; but his réle is rather that of the simple animal whose paws are used to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the party monkeys. In the good old days, perbaps,when the Mayor was younger and the world was younger, too, the head that now tops the venerable ruin we call our Chief Magistrate was stored with rare conceits and bright notions—that is to say, notions bright enough for those times. There were nct many diamonds in the number, but it was a period when paste passed very well. Dicky Riker was then a great man. No doubt the Mayor was a person of respectable altitude intellectually, measured by that stand- ard; but, alas! the times are changed. There are more ideas in the world. There are more games on foot. There is a great deal more money in this city to be stolen, and the awful ingenuity and intellectual activity that this temptation stimulates makes the old times of city politics seem like ages of Arcadian sim- plicity. Shades of Riker and Havemeyer ! what men there are now to compete with, compared to the men there were in the good old times! Now we have Mr. Green, the Comptroller, and Mr. Jimmy O’Brien and Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Tom Murphy and Mr. Charlick and Mark Lanigan aud Denny Burns and Jimmy Hayes and Corney Flynn, in short too many to name, all men of the most be- wildering political genius and altogether transcendent capacity. With these names written down we are ashamed to think what pigmies in politics the contemporaries of Mr. Havemeyer were. Simple-minded, moss-grown old gentlemen—peace be to their ashes !— for it is the traditional style to talk of what remains of them as ashes, though none of them were cremated. Mr. Havemeyer, brought up in the antique simplicity, is in the hands of the sharp men of our time as clay in the hands of the potter, and takes unconsciously the shapes they conceive for him. In the political pools in which they paddle it is not correct to say that Mr. Havemeyer is out of his depth, since the expression would seem to suppose that he has some depth, while in tact he is unconsciously shallow, always. by com- parison. In the shallowest pools the poli- ticians have nowadays he would sink out of sight head and ears. In this expression about head and ears it seems to be implied that a man’s head sinks out of sight while his ears are yet seen above the water, and that these still visible ears are the last to disappear, from which perhaps the expression was originally contrived for the case of some man like our venerable Mayor. We cannot say which of the great poli- ticians of the time inspired the Mayor with the notion of writing a letter to the President of the State Senate protesting against giving him the sole power to create Police Commis- sioners; but perhaps it is not a necessary part of the great plan of government that this should be known. It is not known who invented the mariner’s compass, yet ships, guided by it, come safely into port every day, and thus, though we do not know who pro- posed it, this letter will stand forever as an. evidence in our history of how wisdom and patriotism and self-ebnegation cry sloud in See ian eee notice of them. It is understood that has been great compétition for of the pen with which General his Measage vetoing the Infia! what is that to the pen wi Havemeyer wrote his letter? arithmetics there are many drums, such as, If a pair four dollars what is the of a hay? All these will in importance in future publications to the inquiry as to the relative value of these two pens, and a genera- tion of politicians will grow up endeavoring to solve the great problem—If the purchase of the pen with which Grant killed a mischiev- ous law exhausts the wealth of Golconda, how shall we borrow money to buy the pen with which Mayor Havemeyer wrote against in- creasing the power of his office? 4 i pipe lt I iH a ry Es ab and take on themselves the labors to which he is unequal. It is true that to give him this power involves s political outrage and makes an uncalled-for change in our city charter, and, in fact, reduces legislation to a mere game of hide and seek between hostile par- ties, and abuses and: perverts the law to corrupt and personal purposes. ll this also, it is equally true, is just what we had from Tweed and Company, who are now in prison or in exile, so that our reform is a farce and our government as bad ag it ever was, or worse, with no other result of our spasmodi¢ up- rising than a change of the names of our tyrants and rogues. But this is a trifle com- pared to heaping honors on Mr. Havemeyer, and placing power within easy reach of the men who pull the wires when the Mayor dances. Steam Lanes at Sea. The question how to diminish the dangers of ocean travel is just now receiving a good deal of attention in England. The necessity of doing something to check the recklessnesa of shipowners and sea cuptains seems at last to be fully recognized, but how it is to be effected remains a puzzle. Within the past few months, in addition to the number of steamships lost in the Atlantic, a number of British steamships engaged in the Indian and China trade have come togrief. As the excuse cannot be put forth that they were commanded by Frenchmen and therefore unseaworthy, some other explanation had to be sought. The discussion has brought to light some facta not generally known to the public, which show that a reprehensible system of racing exists in the Indian and China trade, as well as among the Atlantic steamers. Safety is sacri- ficed to speed, and to this circumstance may be directly traced most of the disasters which befall ocean steamships. So grave has this abuse become that the insurance companies are arranging toadopt measures of mutual defence by so regulating their tariffs that shipowners and captains may find it their interest to place safety above every other consideration. Thia would, no doubt, exercise a very healthy in- fluence, and we should very much desire to see a system of partial insurance substituted for the present system. The increased re- sponsibility thrown on shipowners would probably have the very best effect in encour- aging care and foresight in the sailing of ships. There are, however, accidents of the sea which the question of insurance cannot very much affect, Nor would the sacrifice of speed insure safety. Foggy weather and badly understood signals will at intervals cause marine disasters, and all that can be done is to diminish the chances of collision as much as possible. The adoption of clearly laid down ocean lanes is the simplest and most effective way of diminishing the danger of collision, and, should accidents occur, fur- nishes the best security for speedy relief to vessels in distress, All other plans to settle this difficulty will be found to be practi- cally inoperative. It will always be. difficult to prove culpable recklessness against the survivors of any disaster. Con- flict of evidence will ever make the inflic- tion of punishment difficult and deprive it of all moral effect, and therefore render it useless. Besides, the punishment of a recke less captain cannot restore life nor snatch from the greedy waters valuable cargoes. What is needed is safety, and that can best be procured by regulating the lines of travel to be followed by passenger steamers crossing the Atlantic. The number of steamships crossing, instead of being o danger, as at present, would then be a source of security, as the ships would convoy each other, and, instead of isolated steamships rushing blindly and capriciously across the ocean, each one a danger to the rest, every ship would become part of a great trading fleet, sailing almost constantly within hail and in a position to re- ceive or extend succor should occasion arise. That is the goal to which we are tending, and itisas much the interest of the steamship companies as of the public that we should arcade owl Sennen ay PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Senator Schurz ett Boston for Washington last night. rated R, F. Stockton, of New Jersey, ts at the | Fifth Avenue Hotel. Right Rev. William H. Hare, Bishop of Niobrara, 18 residing at the Coleman House. Rev. John R. McDougall. of Florence, Italy, is registered at the St. Nicholas Hote. Ex-Congressman Thomas Cornell, of Rondout, N. Y., is living at the St, Nicholas Hotel. F. L, Cardoza, State Treasurer of South Carolina, hasarrived at the Westmoreland Hotel. Vice President Lacius Robinson, of the Erie Rail- way Company, has arrived at the Hoffman House. ‘The Prassian government has taken possession of the property of the Bishop of Olmutz in Silesia, Samuel 8. Fisher, formerly United States Com- missioner of Patents, is staying at tne St. Nicholas jotel. ves John Power, member of Parliament for Wex- ford, Ireland, has apartments at the Brevoort House. Senor: Carvalho Borges, the Brazilian Minister, arrived from Washington yesterday at tue Brevoort House. Senator elect William B. Washburn, of Massa chusetts, was at the Astor House last evening, on his way to Washington. The Court Journal makes this announcement:-- “Lord Randolph Spencer Churchill, M. P., son of the Duke of Mariborougn, was married miss Jeannette Jérome, of New York, on Wednesday, 16th inst., at Paris. The Marquis of Blandford, the Marchtoness Camden, and Sir Ivor and Lady Core nelia Guest were present at the ceremony. His lordship will shortly return to town to attend te his parliamentary duties, having taken @ real dence in Curzon street jor the season.”