The New York Herald Newspaper, January 21, 1875, Page 6

W YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, JANUARY. 21, 1875,-TRIPLE SHEET. ‘What Is President Grant Aiming At? If the President were quite new to public | life and the country had acquired ita first knowledge of him trom his recent acts the universal impression would be that an incom- petent man had been lifted to a station above | his abilities and that his stupendous blunders | ore the frait of incapacity and folly. Noman | of even the most commonplace ability as a | politician could perpetrate such astonishing editions of the New Yorx Henarp will be | mistakes if actuated by honest motives and sent free of postage. | ordinary prudence, Vice President Wilson | may not deserve to be ranked with the highest THE DAILY HERALD, published every | order of statesmen, but he is » man of ercol- day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- lent sense, long experience, quick perception nual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Henarp. Rejected communications will .not be re- urned. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. 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. WORUWE XiacsesssascassccsectserecdessscconoltO,. ML AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. METROPOLITAN TE HEATRE, a oa Broasdway.—VARIETY, at 6 P. NEW YORK 8 Bowery.—ULTIMO, a: 3 P. M.: OLYMPIC THEATRE, Ho,oms Broadway.—VARIETY, at 8P. M.; closes at 10:45 i TADT THEATRE, closes at 10:45 P. M. ATR TH'S T rai» Mot, Gixth avenve.— yf Twenty third | str BBEe*ea'Tr. rf os P.M.; ck Bi — 1 A Sloses at 10:30 P, M. THEATRE COMIQUE, Hos Broadway.—VARILTY, at8P. M.; closes at 1045 BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE. UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, at 8 P. M.; closes at 1045 P, M. ROMAN HIPPODROME, sixth street and Fourth avenue.—Afternoon and | prondee. at2and & TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, fom Bowery.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 ‘Twenty-e: demas es adware WOMEN OFTHE street and Broadway.— x Day, at iets closes at 10:30 P.M. Mr. Fisher, Miss Davenport, Miss Jewett. BRYAN1'S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenue—NEGRO MINSTEBLSY, &c., avs P, closes at 10 P.M. Dan yan Fourteenth srrece DIE SCHOENY HELENE, at 8 P. street — OHOEN aver. M.; closes at 1035 P.M. Miss Lina Mayr. NIBLO'S, Broadway.—UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, at 8P. M.; closes at iow Poe TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at ll P.M SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner of Twenty-ninth street-—NEGRO iiss ¥, at8 P. M.; closes at lu P. M. RO! ‘ HALL, Sixteenth street.—BEGUNE DULL CARE, at 8 P. M.: closes at 10:45 P.M. Mr. Maccabe. GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway.—VARIETY, at SP. M.; closes at 10:30 P. M Fourteenth strectand Sixth nvenueesTWIXT AXE AND streetand -ixtn avenue.— x GROWN, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Mrs. Rousby. WaLLACKk'S eae: w—THE ShA'GHRAUN, at8 P.M; closes at sa Peak, Mr. Boucicaal. y BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington street.—TH GILDED AGRE, at 8 P.M; @ioses at 10:45 P.M. Ar. Raymond. Broad) Of thirtieth wreet 2DIXTE, at 8 P. ¥. lway, corner o! irtieth street — at » Mes sores at 10:45 P.M. Johnny Thompson. Matnee at 2 TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, ‘THURSDAY. JANUARY 21, 1875, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be warmer, with light rain or snow. War Sraret Yesrerpay.—Stocks were generally steady. Gold was firm at 112}. Money on call was loaned at 2 and 8 per cent. Foreign exchange was firm. Tae War or Inperenpence in Cuba, which has so often been declared at an end by Span- ish official accounts, seems to have gained new life and vigor. It is reported that the patriots are laying waste the district of the Cinco Villas west ot the trocha, in spite of the legionaries of Alfonso. . M.; closes at 10:30 | it } joses at 1O30P, M. Mr. | atsP. Lo | of popular tendencies, and no man in the country is better qualified to judge what the people, and especially the republican party, will or will not indorse. His recent letter to | the editor of the Springfield Republican goes | as nearas official propriety will permit to | making President Grant responsible for the | gloomy outlook of the republican party. He does not think the case desperate, | but he sees no safety for the party but in re- | pudiating the mistaken policy of the President. Vice President Wilson is an original repub- | lican, entitled by long service and unswerv- ing fidelity to be listened to os an adviser; | and when he is constrained to censure General | Grant in a public communication the repub- | lican party will be disposed to weigh his rea- sons. When so eminent and trusted a repub- | lican undertakes to show that the fortunes of | the party are not yet desperate, and to point | out methods of rescuing it from impending | destruction, the sense of danger which such | an effort betrays is very significant, But Mr. Wilson’s letter does not touch upon the most recent and alarming meagures of the | President. He merely accounts for the astounding republican losses in last year’s elections and suggests means of retrieving | them. The high-handed military interference in Louisiana is the most damaging blow of all, and its prompt repetition in Mississippi exposes the insincerity of the recent Message. It indicates au unrelenting pur- | pose to employ similar means in like | emergencies. When President Grant caps the previous blunders which the Vice | President deprecates with this open and per- | sistent affront to the most deeply rooted senti- | ments of American citizens the conduct of | the President becomes a stupendous enigma. | Is he demented, or is he resolutely bent on | the subversion of our free institutions? A simpleton might unwarily fall into such astonishing blunders as General Grant has perpetrated in his recent employment of mili- | tary force; but it is not easy to give him the benefit of that excuse. Nobody who has had | opportunities for closely observing Presi- | dent Grant believes hima fool Friends and | foes alike who have been in personal contact with him unite in declaring that he is a man | of uncommon capacity. Alexander H. Ste- | phens, who is a person of superior talents himself, and therefore a competent judge of | talents, had good opportunities to take the | measure of General Grant’s capacity at the time | of the famous Hampton Roads conference, and his testimony to Grant's intellectual capacity, | as recorded in his history of the war, is most | emphatic. General Frank Blair had still | better opportunities for observing him in long | end intimate army associations, and nobody | can have forgotten that in the Presidential campaign of 1868, when the whole democratic | press was decrying General Grant as a man of | slender capacity, General Blair stated that | this slighting estimate was a mistake, and | asserted that Grant, possessed a vigor of mind | and intensity of ambition which would make his election to the Presidency a great public danger. The substance of General Blair's memorable declaration was that if General | Grant were once elected to the Presidenvy he would never relinquish the office. The | events of the last two years tend to vindicate the penetration of General Blair. It is only | under such a President as Blair supposed | Grant would be that the third term ques- | tion could have arisen to alarm | the country. The imputation that | President Grant was scheming for | a third election, though regarded with in- | credulity at first, is almost universally | eredited at present. Vice President Wilson | evidently believes it. If he thought it had no | foundation he would emphatically say so in the face of the country, instead of calling on | the President to make a public renunciation Six Untrep Stars Sznatons were elected | of such designs. Why sould he think it yesterday by the Legislatures of various | necessary for General Grant to renounce such States. Kernan, of New York; Wallace, of | pretensions if his own observation of the Pennsylvania ; Dawes, of Massachusetts ; Mc- | president's character had not convinced him Donald, of Indiana ; Cockrell, of Missouri, and Bayard, of Delaware, are the lucky ones thosen to sit in the highest council of the nation. Tae Pactric Mam, Scaxpat is at last on the road to explanation, Irwin, the contu- macious witness, having expressed his inten- tion to unbosom himself. There is now a ebance for the public to learn into whose | pockets the money went and to give their undivided attention for the future to the scandal nearer home. Tae Dercxct Boanp or Assistant ALDER- MEN made a feeble effort yesterday to struggle into existence once more, and appointed a committee to wait on the Mayor to inform him that they had arisen. The latter digni- tary, however, refused to acknowledge their official existence and they were compelled to resume their cerements again. Sanpr Hook Pio The Court of Ap- peals bas just affirmed the decision of Judge | Quinn, in ti Sandy Hook pilots having licenses from the State and those having licenses from the ase of the controversy between | of the reality of the danger? | President Grant's recent conduct is consist- | ent with this theory, but is inexplicable on | any other unless it be the theory that he is a | dolt in public affairs. If he is determined at | all hazards not to relinquish his office at the | expiration of his present term, the | extraordinary things he has been doing are intelligible; on any other hypo- | thesis they are a puzzle. So long |as the republican party maintained its | old ascendancy and showed no signs of de- cadence it was natural for President Grant to trust to common political arts. With that | party in an assured majority he had only to | secure its nomination to realize his hopes, | and the activity of the office-holding interest might have been relied on for packing the Na- tional Convention in his favor. But since last year’s elections have demonstrated that the republican nomination will not be equiva- lent to an election the President has been forced to change his third term tactics. mere nomination will be more easily secured when its worthlessness to an ordinary candi- date abates competition. The difficulty will United States, as to which are entitled to pilot | }). in electing the nominee, and the game the coastwise steam-going vessels not sailing under register. Tho decision, as affirmed, gives to the Sandy Hook pilots the right of pilotage | equal with those acting under government | license. ‘Tne New Beroun Tuner, which the Dela- ware and Lackawanna Railroad Company are President is playing looks further ahead than a mere nomination. It is apparently his policy to bring the Southern States under military control and make their votes in the Presidential elec- tion depend on his will By re viving and inflaming the old animosities | ing forward with such zealand diligence, | between the North and the South he hopes to has attracted tho attention of the Grand Jury | get the votes of many of the Northern Statea of Jersey City, on account of the inexcusable | and to secure his success by military control | loss of life attendant on its construction. | of the Southern elections. The third term " estion, therefore, comes up ina more dan- Sixteen persons have been killed or severely question, Pp 7 injured since the work began, Jersey jistice | gerous aspect than ever. It looks as if Gen- cannot be expected to remain still under such ecircumstances, and some stringent measures may be expected after the forthcoming inves- | Sonth and making the bayonet the instrument tigation is held. There is a similar oppor- | of political success, The same means by eral Grant were determined to re-elect him- self by trampling down ali rights in the His | | equally effective in controlling the Southern | electoral colleges, and he would seem to be | trying how far he may go in employing the army to frustrate elections, with a view to future operations, when all his hopes will be finally put at stake, Foiled in this by the | patience and persistence of the Southern people there is another means on which he may rely. Inspired organs hint of troubles with Spain and the revival of the Virginius diffloulty. We have many grievances with Spain, but no more than we had fifty years ago, and no different from those that have harassed previous administrations. Our country lies con- tiguous to Spanish possessions and to countries formerly under the Spanish crown. The tendency of our ‘manifest des- tiny’”’ has been to bring us into constant col- lision with the policy and dominion of that nation. We have been incessantly driving the descendants of Cervantes from a Con- tinent over which they once ruled. From the very nature of this geographical and political relation it would lead to misunderstanding with Spain. We have had this for a half cen- tury, not alone during Grant's administra- tion. If the President had intended to ex- tend aid to Cuba and recognize its indepen- dence he could have done so on many occa- sions; but he has stood aloof until now. He has really been the ally of Spain in its war upon Cuban independence. But driven from his hopes in the centralized republican party, defeated in his plan for the reviving of the rebellion, his last effort to retain control of the country may be a foreign war. Does he seek to win the next campaign by this bloody sign? The Proposed Amend: Charter. A bill, which is understood to receive the approval of the democratic magnates here and at Albany, has been introduced in the As- sembly for amending the charter of the city. We have not seen the text of the bill, but the changes, as described, are not very radical, which may be seen by comparing them with the charter as it stands. The Board of Aldermen is to be increased from twenty-seven mem- bers, its present number, to twenty-eight, in order that the newly annexed district may be represented. Six are to be elected at large as now, and three in each Senate district as now, except that the annexed territory is joined to the Eighth Senate district for this purpose, and with it elects four members. The Alder- men are to hold office for two years, and each citizen to be entitled to vote for the whole number, The power of confirming all the Mayor's nom- inations is to be given back to the Board, re- storing the charter in that respect to the oon- dition in which it existed previous to the bill passed near the close of the last session to meet a temporary exigency—a bill which Governor Dix apologized for signing when he saw the use that was made of it by Mayor Havemeyer in his strange appointments last summer. The other change simply repeals the requirement of the Governor's assent to complete the removal of heads of departments by the Mayor for cause. The last two of these proposed changes are certainly judicious, as is, also, that part of the first Which gives a member of the Common Coungil to the an- nexed district. The repeal of minority repre- sentation is a sheer partisan movement, for which there are none but party reasons, its sole object being to exclude republicans from any share in the city government. Tweed Again. The ex-chief of Tammany Hall has certainly no need to complain of the devotion of the gentlemen who serve him as counsel. A new movement has been made before the Court of Appeals for the purpose of obtaining his re- lease on a writ of habeas corpus and his ad- mission to bail. We do not know the merits of this procedure nor have we any idea of its probable success. We note the fact as an evi- dence of the vigilance shown by the attorneys in the case to secure the release of their mas- ter. At the same time they make a great blunder. The true wayto secure the release of Tweed is to make restitution of the money stolen from the treasury. It is known that a paper is already in the hands of the city au- thorities offering to return three millions of dollars provided the city will grant immunity to the members of the Tammany Ring. This shows a disposition which should be encour- aged, and also that there is some money re- maining in the pockets of these highway rob- bers. Why should not Tweed’s counsel, be- fore they make another application to the courts, hand in to the presiding justice a check for three millions of dollars as an earnest of their faith in dealing with the city? This would be a good beginning, and would go far toward preparing the mind of New York for a | feeling of mercy to ® man once so mighty and now 50 fallen. Texrmznt Houses as Man Tnaps.—The recent calamity in Brooklyn by which a num- ber of lives were sacrificed to the criminat carelessness that prevails in regard to the en- | forcement of ‘the laws regulating tenement | houses naturally suggests the question, What | protection is there against the constant repe- tition of such a tragedy? We have in this | city hundreds of such man traps totally un- | provided with fire escapes. A rickety flight of stairs running up many stories and in- flammable as tinder serves as the sole means | of exit to many families when the alarm of fire is given. Consequently there is a holocaust at all times ready for the torch | in those dens, despite the laws which have | bean especially framed for the prevention of | | such horrors. Can not the attention of our | authorities be directed to this criminal state | of affairs, or shall poor families be constantly | subjected to the imminent danger of horre | ble death? ‘Tux Rerzy of the Corporation Counsel to the charges embraced in the letter addressed | to him by Mayor Wickham is a lengthy docn- mont, and comprises an exhaustive explana- tion of Mr. Delafield Smith's official conduct in all matters referred to by the Mayor. It is unnecessary to criticise the defence of the Corporation Counsel. isfactory to his friends, and his official acts may, as he alleges, have been all well inten- tioned. Ihe Mayor seems to consider that the retirement of Mr. Smith from office and the appointment of some other person in his place will conduce to the harmony and tunity for our Grand Jury in the Fourth which he undertakes to change the political | efficiency of the city government, and this character of Southern Legislatures would be | alone is quite sufficient cause for his removal avenue tunnel tragedies, Is There s Deficit tn the City Treae- ury? There is every reason to believe that a Proper investigation of the city finances would show a deficit of some three million dollars in the city treasury. Not that there is at pres- ent any suspicion of dishonest practices in the Finance Department, but a deficit may exist without corrupt misappropriation of the public moneys, as the result of ignorance of the provisions and restrictions of the law in our financial management. Sur- plus balances of appropriations are shown on paper, and are from time to time transferred to this or that purpose by the Board of Ap- portionment; but it is doubtful whether the money represented by these figures is really in the ‘Treasurer's hands. The City Chamberlain’s last report sets forth that the balance remaining with him at the close of the past week was one million six hundred and thirteen thou- sand dollars, the receipts for the week in excess of the payments having been about six hundred thousand dollars, This would leave only a little over one million dollars, besides the week’ssurplus receipts, to represent all the cash in the treasury, including the incoming taxes, the receipts from assessments and col- lections of arrears, and the surplus balances alleged to exist. In view of these facts the res- olutions adopted recently by the Board of Apportionment, on the motion of Mr. Lewis, President of the Board of Aldermen, calling for a detailed statement from the Comptroller of all appropriations for the last throe years, of the expenditures from the same, and of the surplus balances remaining on the Sist day of December last, are timely and desirable. The report thus demanded will be swaited with It may be entirely sat- | interest and subjected to a careful scrutiny. The small balance remaining in the treas- ury suggests the inquiry, On what amount ot deposits has interest been paid by the deposit banks since the present Chamberlain entered upon the duties of his ‘office, and is money received by the city from any source whatever suffered to remain in possession of any public officer without drawing interest? The present Comptroller furnishes no detailed informa- tion of our financial condition, except such meagre and unintelligible summaries as are published by him from time to time to cover ® formal compliance with the law. The city authorities, who ought to be as familiar with all these details as the Comptroller himself— the Mayor, the members of the Board of Ap- portionment and the Aldermen—are kept in as profound ignorance of the true state of our finances and of the manner in which they are managed as are the people who owe the debt and pay the taxes. Hence we grope in the dark while discussing matters relating to the Finance Department, and can only hopeto force information by investigation. But it would seem that the city ought to be drawing interest on more than one million six hundred thousand dollars at this time, con- sidering our sources of revenue, the surplus balances that are alleged to exist, the collec- tions that must be made on assessment rolls, and on arrears of taxes and assessments due in former years. We therefore insist that, in place of these resolutions calling for information from an obstinate, conceited and crafty Comptroller, we should have a searching investigation of every nook and corner of his department, conducted by independent and competent persons. We also call the attention of the Board of Apportionment to the evident violation of law committed whenever a transfer of an unex- pended balance of any former year is made to pay expenses in excess of the appropriation of the current year in any department of the city government. The charter is distinct in pro- hibiting any expenditure whatever by a depart- ment in excess of its appropriation for the year.“ An unexpended balance in any | department existing at the close of one year may be transferred to that or any other depart- ment at the time the estimates and appropria- tions are made in any succeeding year, thus reducing the taxation to that amount. But the balance thus transferred must form part of the total appropriation fixed upon: for the particular department to which it is given. After the total appropriation for the department is fixed and determined upon for the year in the final estimate it cannot be increased by the transfer to it of any unexpended balance lett over from former years without increasing the total appropriation and thus directly violating the law. These facts deserve the serious attention of Mayor Wickham, whose dnty it is to take care that the law is properly observed, and whose first care should be to discover whether a large deficit actua lly exists in the city treasury. Rapid Transit in the Legislature. The resolution offered in the Assembly by Mr. Jacob Hess, a member from this city, in- structing one of the committees to frame ao bill conferring on the Common Council authority ‘‘to perfect and put in force a sys- tem by which rapid transit can be secured,” seems so clearly repugnant to the State con- stitution as amended that it is not likely to pass after intelligent debate, and, even if it | should pass, the Governor would veto it or the courts set it aside. It will be idle for the Legislature to waste its time on so abortive a scheme. One of the amendments to article 3 forbids the Legislature to pass any act “granting to any corporation the right to lay down railroad tracks.” A power to put in force a system of rapid transit necessarily | implies that of laying down railroad tracks, | so that if the city government is a ‘‘corpora- | tion” Mr. Hess’ scheme is clearly unconstitu- | tional. But the city government is over and | over again described in the charter as a cor- | poration. ‘Lhe charter is full of such phrases | as “the legislative power of said corpora- | tion,"’ “the executive power of the corpora- tion,"’ “‘connsel to the corporation’’ and so forth, When private corporations are meant | to be designated in the new amendments they | prefix the qualifying word. What the city | wants is on efficient, practicable plan for | rapid transit, not a new subject for legislative | wrangling and subsequent 1 War 1 Impexpixna between Turkey and Montenegro, and the Elropean Powers are profoundly impressed with the gravity of the sitnation, not so much on account of any impor- tance they attach to either government as the precarions and delicate relations existing between themselves. The slightest breath of | may fan the dangerous elements of an armed peace into a devouring flame, the result of which no man can foresee. The Lighthouse Board. ‘Mr. Sargent, of Oalifornia, has introdmoed in the Senate a bill for the reconstruction of the Lighthouse Board. It abolishes the posi- tions in that body now held by naval officers and creates others to be ocoupied by heads of bureaus in the Navy Department. It re- moves, in short, persons of special experi- ence and instruction for the duties and fills their places by adding to the already onerous duties of certain officials an enforced partici- pation in a service of which they have no knowledge and in which they can feel no in- terest. The effect of the measure, if carried, will be to destroy the Board as it now ex- ists and put the lighthouse system in tho hands of the Engineer Department of the army. It o§ght previously to establish in the land service a body analogous to that cele- brated branch’of the sea service known as the Horse Marines, For our present lighthouse system in this country, the most extensive and the most efficient in the world, with, perhaps, the ex- ception of Great Britain, we are indebted to the navy. Until 1845 the lighthouses wero in charge of the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, and were conducted on the rush and farthing candle principle; but at that time two officers of the navy, Lieutenants Jenkins and Bache, were sent abroad to examine the European system. In accordance with the elaborate report of these officers the present Board was established, consisting of several civilians, two naval officers, two army engineer officers and a naval and military secretary. Up to within a year past the Board has worked har- moniously, and our commercial marine has been perfectly satisfied with the manner in which our coasts were lighted, of which the details have been mostly under the direction of the naval secretary, while contracts and superintendence of construction of lighthouses have been under the Constructing Army En- gineer. The mercantile community will, no doubt, be startled at the proposed new arrangement, for common sense will tell any one that a naval officer with his sea experience is much more competent to manage lighthouse matters than a soldier can possibly be. The former knows better where lighthouses should be located, and, having witnessed the systems adopted throughout the world, he knows when the lighthouses under his charge are properly con- ducted. In the new plan, instigated by the army engineers on the Board, the naval edu- cation and experience which have given so much satisfaction to our merchants and ship- masters are ignored, and, while the people nt large will.admit that our forts and arsenals sre beautifal and expensive works, they will not consent thatthe lighthouse system shall be changed simply to gratify certain engineer officers, who, because they cannot have their own way in all respects, are determined to break up the present system. Senator Sargent has hitherto been the great champion of the navy. Oan it be that he has a grudge against Secretary Robeson, with whom he has formerly worked in har- ness? It would certainly appear so. But is the country to suffer from this ill-considered bill in consequence? There is, perhaps, no subject on which Mr. Sargent is less instructed than this lighthouse business, and this will, no doubt, be taken into consideration when the matter comes before the committee, Senator Boutwell, who had the lighthouses under his control as Secretary of the Treasury, is very familiar with this whole subject, and we recommend him to be careful that no injustice is done to the mer- cantile interests of the country through the ill-advised recommendations of a captious officer, with whom this bill originated. If any change is made in the present sys- tem the entire lighthouse establishment ought to be placed under the Secretary of the Navy, where it properly belongs. ll the inspectors afloat are naval officers, very many of our lights are in vessels, and it requires an inti- mate knowledge ot the soundings and ap- | proaches to locate a light properly, all of which belong to the naval element. A naval officer could very well determine whether a lighthouse was properly constructed, but how should an engineer know whether a lightship was properly located, built and equipped? The present Board has given great satisfac- tion to the country, and there should be no changé, unless to place the establishment in the hands of the navy. Tax Murrany Inrerrenence ar Vioxssuno has an exceedingly ugly look after the apolo- getic disclaimers put forth in the President's Message. After the President had attempted to screen the Louisiana interference behind the assertion that army officers are not law- yers, thereby making an implied admission that they had overstepped legal limits, they would naturally refrain from taking any similar step on their own judgment and await commands from headquarters before ventur- ing toact. It is therefore important to know by whose orders the troops acted at Vicksburg. Assuredly General Emory would not have dared, without a specific command, to disre- gard the Message and make a practical denial of its sincerity. It is incredible that the orders in the Vicksburg case did not emanate from Washington. Nobody but the President himse!f would have dared to thus stamp the Message asa false disclaimer and a hollow apology. And yet it will not surprise us to find Senator Morton, on some bright morn- ing, excusing the President on the ground that the whole thing took place without his knowledge. Tux Boarp or Epvucation.—The annual report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools, which we publish to-day, gives many interesting statistics of the progress made in the most important of our municipal institu- tions. There are over three hundred schools under the care of the Board of Education, and there has been a very large and satisfac- | tory increase in the attendance of pupils for the past year as compared with former terms. ‘The fau'ty ventilation of many of the primary schools is denounced in strong terms, and it is earnestly recommended that measures bo taken to preserve the health of the little ones intrasted to the care of the Commissioners, Tue Great Scanpat Tat still drags its seems to have reached fever heat. Moulton is the central figure of attraction at present and the target for the fire of cross-examination. Tho illness of ex-Judge Porter yesterday com- pelled General Tracy to take his place in the legal surgery of dissecting Moulton’s testi- weary length along and public interest in it | a rr Wie cal” Git toginlative action wilt be taken to enable the Court to prolong ite present session beyond the prescribed limits, If so, it is difficult to tell when the end of the famous trial will be reached, It affords us great pleasure to note the action of Mayor Wickham in conference with the heads of departments ‘for the purpose of facilitating the administration of affairs.” The meeting on Tuesday, at which the Mayor ‘Was present, in consultation with the heads of - the departments, seems to have been of an important character. The purpose of the Mayor in calling this conference was to enable him to take ‘‘a vigilant and active supervision of the execution of the laws." The Mayor expressed many sound principles, He op- posed the business of lobbying in Albany, which has been the practice of so many de- partment heads. He thought that the city should agk for no legislation tntil the matter had been maturely considered by the heads of all the departments. In other words, he haa made for himself a sort of cabinet, composed of thirteen members, and he proposes ta govern New York by its advice and co-opera- tion. 4 We should not be surprised if this forma. tion of what may be called a municipal cabi- net will be of great value in the administra- tion of affairs, The trouble with former Mayoralties was that the Mayor, as chief executive, went his way, while the heads of the departments strolled off in different and antagonistic directions. Thus, under Mayor Hall, the Tweed charter, as it was called, gave imperial power to the Comptroller, and mada what was really intended to be an office of re vision and limitation one of executive authon ity. This abuse still exists. It wasconfirmed by the order of Judge Barnard, clothing the present Comptroller with almost ab- solute power. The Mayor will have an insuperable difficulty in his office unless, he puts an end to the anomalous position of the Comptrollership and to the mischievous influence exercised upon the city by its present incumbent, Even if Mr. Green were a perfect Comptroller the office, as now existing, is a mistake and should have no place in our government. But Mr. Green is a most improper man to be ine vested with functions of so vast and arbitrary scharacter, This is the shadow in the path of Mr. Wickbam. He must reform his office and make the Comptrollership what it should be, and withdraw Mr. Green from a position which only disturbs public confidence in tbe present government and retards the enterprise and growth of the city, and makes impossible any wide and just measure of reform, Moan Boxps.—There is one painful fact in the proceedings of the Board of Audit, pub- lished in yesterday’s Henatp, which is an evidence of the evil ways into which our city has fallen. The Comptroller announced that he should issue for local purposes bonds to the amount of three hundred and eleven thousand dollars. This seems to be a small matter, and when we remember how bonds were manufactured in the olden times, when. Tweed was at the mill, we may be thankfol that it was not alargersum. But every issue of new bonds means an addition to our debt. The misery of the whole busi. nessis that we go deeper and deeper inta debt, endin the knowledge that it must end either in repudiation or burdensome taxation. Is there no way to bring our city affairs down to such a basis that the metropolis can pay as it goes, without adding to the already vast pile of indebtedness? Mayor Wickham promised us many reforms. Let him bring forward a new one, and announce that under his reign there shall be no more bonds, but the city shall pay as it goos. Two Munperens suffered the last penalty of the law yesterday in Pennsylvania—Frederick Heidenblut, in Philadelphia, and Samuel Beighley, in Greensburg. The latter made a public confession of his crime before his death. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, M. Dumas? reception by the Academie Francaise wiil take place in Feoruary. Professor E. E. Salisbury, of New Haven, is re siding at the Westminster Hotel. Mr. Henry A. Tilden, brother of the Governor, is sojourning at the +t. Nicholas Hotel, Senator-elect Wilitam W. Eaton, of Connecticut, has apartments at the New York Hotel, Ex-Governor Andrew G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania, 18 registered at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Mr. Daniel Dougherty, of Philadelpnia, is among the latest arrivals at the Hotel Brunswick, Lord Rosebery, of England, arrived in this city yesterday and 1s staying at the Brevoort House, James Graham, third Duke of Montrose, ree cently died at Cannes In his seventyesixth year. London paupers are let to artists as models at one shilling an hour by the workhouse authori tes. Commodore John R. Goldsborough, United States Navy, has taken up his quarters at the St. Denis Hotel. In all there have been arrested for participation in the insurrection of the Paris Commune 20,604 persons, Mr. Franklin B. Gowen, President of the Philae delphia and Reading Railroad Company, is at the Brevoort House. Perhaps the bayonets of the United States Army will be satisfactorily “fixed” when a democrane Congress gets at them. un Sunday, when Mr, Beecher said, “That may ve a beautiful bird, but it bas lost a tail feather,™ did he refer to Moulton ? The German Rang und Quartier Liste, or army Tegister, just published, contains no fewer thaa forty-nine persons bearing the name of “Vow Aroim.” Mr. Pelligrini, the admirabie caricaturist of Vanity Fair, is about to marry Mrs, Collins, daugty ter of the late Charles vickens aud sister-in-law te Mr. Wilkie Collins. Count von Stehelin, the nephew of Horr Krupp, Wou $80,000 at the gaming table at Monaco and left for home by the next morning’s train witp the money in hts pocket. flon. Kernando Wood last night gave a social dinner party in Washington in honor of his guest, ex-Governor Seymour, of New York. Among those present were prominent members of Con- gress, including Speaker Hiaine, The people who wanted to make Alfonso King had to telegraph to his mother, who knew he was out, to know where he was. Dou Alionso was, in fact, at Sandnurs', England, completing hu course as an artillery cadet Lord Camoys, the head of one of the oldest Roman Cathoiic families in England, has been stricken from the list of Catholic peers printed in the Catholic Directory for 1876, because his ati. tude in the Gladstone controversy was not satis, factory to some one near the Archbishop, It 18 the duty of the Governor of tnis State to “take care that tie laws are falthiully executed, Qnd he will be to blame if any untoward conse. quence results from the fact that certain members of the Legisiature are not sworn according to the requirements of the constitution under which they hold their seats,