The New York Herald Newspaper, February 16, 1875, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD Is His Excellency Imsane? | It is safe to assume that the extraordinary | ®Y legal grounds for their detention. It this , and alarming bill agreed on by the republican | infamous bill passes President Grant ean wake | caucus at Washington embodies the views | a close prisoner of every leading demccratic | and wishes of the President. This caucus | St#tesman and crush out all opposition to lis measure is not indorsed by the recognized | third election in 1876. It the power is con- | | republican leaders in either branch of | ferred on the President to stretch forth huis | ‘NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and | Congress, and the small fry of repub- | cn lap imprison any citizen he pape and 5, lican members would | confine him in a government fort as long as awd agg Mb iis itl, Ad gig to go counter to Haydon page | he pleases, nothing can be easier for him than editions of the New Youx Henary will be | able men of their party unless they were | to secure a third election and as many subse- sent free of postage. | satisfied that they were carrying out the wishes | (went elections as he chooses to have, so long | of the President. We may, therefore, assume | as he has power to suspend the habeas corpus. BROADWAY AND ANN STREET.« JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, published every | The practical effect of this disgraceful bill, if the purpose of deciding whether there were | day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- nual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Youre Henaxp. Rejected communications will not be re- | turned. 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. VOLUME XIj....seesssesesererseeseeeeseeeseeeNO, 47 | portunity to prove his innocence and gets i, assailing it with a vehemence which evinces AMUSEMENTS TO-NIGHT. THEATRE CQMIQUE, Ba Broadway aRiLTys at Sb M. ; closes at 10:45 FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, hth street and Broadway.--WOMEN OF THE arate ,, Mts closes at 10:30 P.M. Mr. Lewis, Miss enport, Mrs. Gilbert. TONY PASTOR’ isa Bowery.—VAKIET RA HOUSE, P.M; closes at 1045 LYCEUM THEATRE, BZ mth street and sixth avenue.—OFF THE LINE gies DODGER, at 8 P. M.; closes at 0:4) P.M. Mr. ‘Toole. JL BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Weare Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenueeNEGRO GNSTRELSY, de., at SP. N.; closes at 10 FM. Dan ryan BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 P. M. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth strecteFAMILIE HOERNER, at 8 P.M; Biases at 10:45 P.M. 3 PARK THEATRE, ay.—French Opera Bouffe-GIROFLE-GIROFLA, | wi BtSP.M. Mile. Coralie Geo! NIB! reaaway.—THE OCTOROON, B P.M; closes at 10:45 ¥.M. Edwin F. Thorne. cou tad be ai wy and Thirty-fourth street.—PARI5 BY NIGHT, ater. M BOOTH’S THEATRE, Bae of pee ga street and Sixth avenue.— Y V.,at8P. M.; closes at ll P. M. - corner ‘wenty-! RBMST ELS? ats Sati P. Me Sixteenth stree' Poses ast 10:45 P.M. es sae Y OF hes ex. corner of Twenty-third street and Fourth avenue.—! HIBITION OF WATER COLOR PAINTIN from 9 A. M. to 5 P.M. and trom6 P. M. to9 WALLACK’S T! Broa@way.—THE SHAUGHRAU. 40P.M. Mr. Boucicault ATRE, at SP. M.; closes at WOOD'S MUSEUM. Broadway, corner of Thirtieth street.—MARKED FOR LIFE, atk'P. M.: closes at 10457, M. Matinee at 2 P. M.—MOLL PITUBER. TIVOLI THEATRE, Fert. street. between Second and Third avenuex— v TY, at 8P. M.; closes at 12 P.M, HEATRE, . ‘Washtnzton EVA CROSS, at8P. M.; closes at 1045 P.M. Mr. Prank Roche, Mrs. F. 8. Con- STADT THEATRE, gy 2" ohm WIVES OF WINDSOR, at 8 P. OLYMPIC THEATRE, tos Broadway.—VARIETY, at & P. M.; closés at 10008 ROMAN HIPPODROME, ‘Twenty-sixth street and Fourth avenue.—Afternoon and evening. at2 and & > TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, TU From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be warmer and parth; cloudy. ‘Wat Srrezr Yestexpay.— The stock mar- tet was without important feature. Foreign exchange was steady, and money loaned at late rates. Gold was quoted at 114}. ‘Tre Iuixess or Done is reported by a cable despatch from Paris, and the news will cause SDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1875. atbrill of regret among the lovers of art. He | the public safety may require it.’ There is | changed at every election of a Mayor, and he is probably the most prolific and most popu- | at present no rebellion, there is at present no | eondemned a plan which placed the heads of Yar of modern artists; but though he has | invasion, and in the present condition of the departments beyond the Mayor's reach. Itis | achieved so much he is still young, and his death now wonld prematurely end a splendid career. Mr. Benoa is a benevolent old gentleman ‘who is unfortunate enough to be always in hot water, through his excess of zeal in the cause of animals ot every description, except those of the human species. His last trouble is with the Grand Jury about a dog fight, and his extraordinary temper has led him intoa ticklish position. Abuse of the Grand Jury is not a jadicious entertainment for an old or young gentleman, and Mr. Bergh may find it something that may curtail his sphere of use- fulness. Tae Arctic Wratuer of this winter bas been productive of much suffering and dis- | aster. Railroad companies should be particu- tarly careful of the terrible effects which fre- quently occur after such an exceptional season. The sudden changes of temperature from one extreme to the other are apt to exer- vise a dangerous influence on rail and axle, and a sudden break in either case may cause joss of life and pgoperty. The iron work of everything connected with a railroad should at this time be subjected to daily supervision. A Portorer or Prorcres.— Whether it was love of art that induced the person arrested yesterday to steal pictures from the present exhibition at the Academy of Design is not of much importance to the directors of that in- stitution ; but it is not likely that a man who carries out paintings under his overcoat pays as much regard to quelity as to quantity in his selections. He might admire marble group, but wonld hardly attempt to purloin t, while he might not be pleased with a Meissonnier, and yet wonld take it because it was so handy. His selection of ‘The Stool of Repentance” yesterday, therefore, was not probably dictated by anxiety to profit by its oral teachings, but rather by a desire to seil 1 for the spiritual benefit of somebody else. He will now have the lessons of the picture | impressed upon him in more vivid colors than those of the painter, and it is tobe hoped that when he emerges from the academy he is destined to inhabit for o while his mind will be in o better frame. Ge. ee | “| any sort of accountability for abuses of power. | that His Excellency desires and covets the ex- traordinary powers which the caucus bill , seeks to confer upon him. We will not go | into @ minute discuasion of particular pro- | visions of the remarkable bill adopted by the | Congressional caucus, Passing over minor details, we ask, in the name of the country, what possible justification there can be for | suspending the writ of habeas corpus in the | present state of the country ? | Washington despatches lead us to believe that | What is the purport and meaning of the | writ of habeas corpus? The substance of | that great writ of freedom is that any person | arrested by the government is entitled to be brought before a magistrate competent to de- cide whether his arrest and imprisonment are | according to law. Any person in the com- | munity may be caught up and imprisoned, but if he is innocent/he is entitled to an op- | | it passes and becomes a law, is to make every i citizen of the United States dependent on the | | mere will of the President for his liberty ; and when we confer on General Grant authority | to imprison whom he pleases and to detain | them in custody as long as he pleases, without Tesponsibility to courts of justice, we make him absolute master of tho country. Our he is not even the absolute master of Con- gress, and that that long-suffering and faith- fal body is in this matter not willing to | surrender all our rights at the President's demand. The Costigan Bill. This bill having been advanced to a stage which shouid render its passage by the Assem- | discharge. The writ of habeas corpus is the | ordinary safeguard against unjust imprison- | ment. It merely entitles the prisoner to be | | brought before a judge authorized by law to | decide whether his arrest and detention are | | legal. A suspension of the writ of habeas | | corpus confers upon the President the right,to | arrest and imprison citizens on his own mere | | discretion, depriving them of any right to | | know whether there are charges against them or not. When the habeas corpus is suspended the | President can snatch up any citizen in any psrt of the country and put him in perpetual | imprisonment by his arbitrary will, and the | victim has no means of redress. He may be | the most innocent man alive, and be able to establish his innocence by the strongest evi- dence; but the power of the President to arrest him and keep him in perpetual custody | without judicial inquiry confounds alldistine- | | tion of guilt or innocence and makes the ‘mere arbitrary will of the President the | supceme law. The suspension of the habeas corpus would make the President an irrespon- sible despot. It wonld enable him to im- prison any citizen whom he disliked, or against whom he had a prejudice, without any sort of responsibility to the judicial tri- bunals. There is no definable distinction be- tween an absolute despotism and a republic in which the Execative is authorized to sus- pend the writ of habeas corpus. The sus- pension of that great writ, which has for cen- turies been regarded asthe chief bulwark of liberty, is simply a free permission to | the Executive to arrest and imprison anybody | he pleases on his own mere discretion, without The bill agreed on in the republican caucus authorizes the President to declare martial law and suspend the habeas corpus in any part of the Dnited States, making him the sole judge of the necessity in every case. If this | monstrous bill should become a law President Grant would be absolute master of the liberty of every citizen of the United States. It would only be necessary for him to proclaim martial law in any State to enable him to ar- rest and imprison his political opponents, without any power on their part to have their cases brought before a judicial tribunal to de- cide whether there were any grounds for their arrest. Such a law would make one man the absolute master of the liberty of every citizen. Under it he could arrest and imprison any- body he pleased and nobody could call him | to account. The merest glance at the constitution will suffice to show that the suspension of the writ | | of habeas corpus cannot be justified under | present circumstances. The constitution does | not permit that great bulwark of liberty to | be suspended in mere anticipation of danger. Its language is that ‘the privilege of the writ | of habeas corpus shall not be suspended un- | less when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, | bly certain a portion of the republican press more zeal than knowledge. An nppeal is made to the republican Senators to defeat it as contrary to the settled views ot the party, and it is attempted to be shown that Gov- ernor Tilden has, on some former occasion, committed himself against the principle of the bill. Both of these assumptions betray | profound ignorance or surprising forgetful- ness of the recent nistory of the State and of the action of parties and public men on this subject. In 1867 there was assembled in this State a constitutional convention, of which the republicans had a majority, elected the presiding offiver and controlled the organi- zetion and action. At ihe head of its large Committee on Cities stood Judge Ira Harris, who had just completed his term of service | as a republican United States Sen- | ator. A wajority of the commuitee reported, through Mr. Harris, and with his strong approval, an article giving the | Mayors of cities far greater powers than are | contemplated by the Costigan bill, including the sole power of appointment and the ‘power of removal ‘at his pleasure.’ That proposed article was debated at length in Committee of the Whole, Judge Harris advocating it with great ability, supported, among others, by Mr. Alvord, then, as now, a leading repub- lican. Mr. Opdyke, who had been a republi- | noisome quarters of the lower city, or to cross NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1875,~TRIPLE SHEET. | Rapid Transit. | The latest argument in favor of repid | | transit will be tound in the cold weather | | which has distressed us for the past few weeks. Of course, this is exceptionally se- | vere, but there is no reason why we should not have a repetition of it for many winters tocome. The conditions of our climate are | such that we are never assured against the coldest weather in winter and the warmest in summer. We shall never be able to meet these conditions with a due regard for the demands of civilization and the usefulness of members of society until we tortity ourselves against every possible contingency of nature. | No story will be stranger than the narrative | of the present day, as it ‘ill be read by our grandchildren fifty years from now. They will be told how suddenly there came a frost, | a severe stress of weather; how the ice came | rolling down the Hudson and surging to the bay, how it was swept up by the tides into the East River, how Brooklyn and New York were | divided by a mountain of ice, blocking up the ferries, embargoing the wharves; how | ferryboats filled with passengers—gay pleas- | ure seekers hurrying home from the theatre and the ball—were exposed to the discomforts | and dangers of a long winter night in the middle of the river. They will read how their grandfathers, when they left their Brooklyn homes in the morning, were not sure of being able to return at night; how discomfort and misery fell upon them, business men finding their affairs neg- lected, friends mourning for absent friends, families separated, a sudden rent and fissure in the whole social system, which made New Yor and Brooklyn as far apart as New York. and San Francisco. They will read further that New York was the city of the rich man and the beggar; that because of the impossibility ot traversing the island witbout too serious a waste of time—a waste thot the poor man could not afford—the | laborers and the ariisans and the great, worthy industrial class were compelled to live in tenement houses, to swarm around the the rivers and face the wintry perils which we have just described. They will read also that the history of New York—a proud history, showing how, step by step, it advanced from @ secondary position among our cities to be the metropolis of the continent—was arrested, how from this growth it suddenly tell away, how contiguous suburban cities drew from it | their sustenance and rose to metropolitan | prosperity. They will read also that, not- withstanding the common sense and interest | of the people pointed out the true remedy— the building of a rapid transit railway-- it was a long while before this could | be accomplished. First, there were corrupt can Mayor of this city, advocated an increase of the power of that officer, but thought the | plan of the committee went too farin giving | the Mayor the sole power of appointment; | but Mr. Opdyke was willing to give him the | sole power of removal, and in that respect his | views conformed to the present bill, A demo- | cratic member of the committee, Mr. Henry | C. Murphy, made a minority report requiring | removals to be for cause instead of at pleas- ure, but investing the Mayor with gxclusive | authority to judge of the sufficiency of the | causes and making his decision irreversible. | This part of the article, as finally adopted by the Convention, was in substantial accordance | with Mr. Murphy’s minority report, showing | that the most eminent men of the State at | that time of both political parties agreed in thinking it wise to clothe the Mayor with full power of removal for cause. The one or two republican journals that denounce the Costi- | gan bill with such unsparing violence would | gain some valuable instruction by looking through the debates on this subject in 1867. As to Governor Tuilden’s position, there is nothing in the Costigan bill inconsistent with | the language which has been reproduced from | bis Message, his power to remove the Mayor meeting every requirement of a wholesome | State limitation on loval freedom. In the | spring of 1870 Mr. Tilden went to Albany and made a speech against the then pending Tweed charter, a speech in which he main- | tained that our municipal government ought to be so organized that all the officers could be country the habeas corpus cannot be consti- | tutionally suspended. The constitution does | not permit its suspension in anticipation of a | rebellion of which there are no immediate | signs, or in anticipation of a fancitul inva- | sion, but only when rebellion or invasion | | has actually occurred, or is so imminent as to | | require strong measures. here is no rebel- | | lion now, there is no invasion now, there is no immediate prospect now of either ‘rebellion or invasion, and it would be an abuse of anthority for Con- | gress to unthorize the suspension of the | habeas corpus at a time when there is no | | threatened disturbance of the public peace. | The writ of habeas corpus is simply a guaran- | tee against illegal imprisonment—a security | that no citizen shell be deprived of his liberty | | without proof that he has violated some law. | | When this sacred writ is suspended the Presi- | | dent can arrest and imprison anybody he | pleases, with or without cause, and the most innocent man in the community, if the Presi- | dent chooses to suspect him, may be made a | perpetual prisoner. A President with the ha- beas corpus suspended is as absolute a despot | as the Czar of Russia or the Sultan of Turkey. If a man like General Grant is to be clothed with this absolute authority then he is evi- dently aiming at a thirdterm. It must be construed as a carte blanche to do anything | he pleases to keep himself in power. Tho | ease with which he gets a Congressional | | caucns to propose such a scheme shows how sagacions and foreseeing the Hrratp was when it raised the ery of alarm against Cesarism. Fronf the moment that this dangerous act passes we shall havo a Cwsar, because the anthority to suspend the habeas corpus at his pleasure makes him the absolute master of the liberty of every citi- Tf the eaucns bill should be enacted into a law the President can suspend the habes corps whenever he pleases in every part of the United States. He could suspend the writ in New York and immure Governor Til- | den in one of the forts erected to defend our harbor; be could arrest Senator Thurman and Senator Bayard and hold them in close cus- tody, and no judicial tribunal could issue a writ for bringing these persons before it for zen. nas cettain, therefore, that, if this bill passes, the | Governor could not veto it without a flagrant | violation of consistenc: The Water and the Frost. The expense and inconvenience to which the | citizens of New York have been put by the freezing of the supply pipes leading from the Croton water mains to the houses will direct | attention to the necessity of a law in relation | both to the laying of water pipes and to the work of plumbing generally. The pipes should | be laid a sufficient depth to be secure against | frost, and the connections should be made in | asimilar manner. The prevailing system of tinkering on the part of the plumbers should be put a stop to by the lew. People know but little about plumbing. The work is out of sight, and in (oo many instances i done in | an insufficient and dishonest manner. The plumbing work in houses and the pipes in | the streets should be subject to inspection by | duly qualified officers, and severe penalties | should be imposed whenever it is discovered | that imposition been practised by plumbers or that the provisions of the law | has have not been properly complied with, Tho | inclement weather has also nad « deleterious | influence in regard to our excellent Fire De- partment. A few alarms were sounded yes- | terday, and the hydrants were found to be frozen. According to the present laws fire- men cannot interfere, unless in the case of | actual fire, with these hydrants, and the De- | partment of Public Works is alone respon. | sible, There ix vital necessity for providing | against the terrible effects of such a winter as have at present. Frozen hydrants, ex- ploding kitchen botlers and flooded honses we render the question one of interest to every person living in this city. Yesrunpay the resolution to admit Mr. | Pinchback as # Senator from Louisiana was | taken np in the Senate and discussed at length by Mr. Sargent. He reviewed the whole Louisiane question and had not finished | when the Senate’ adjourned as. a mark of | respect to the late Mr. Samuel Hooper. There are indications that Mr. Pinchback’s fate will | be decided without much further debate. | York, for this paralysis of the metropolis, the | ‘the simplicity of nature | the service of the revelry of Comus, rings, combinations among politicians, who allowed no measure to become a law which did not yield them a large share of: gain. There were then sordid, rich men, large owners of property, who, with the conserva- five timidity of the rich—like the English landowners who opposed the railways because | they scared the pheasants—opposed rapid | transit on the strange plea that it would re- | duce the value of the property on Broadway by enabling people to live in Yonkers. So powerful were these rich men that they were enabled to paralyze this movement. They will read also that with the revolution of 1875 | agreat party came into power, a disciplined party, well centrolled, under complete drill, | powerful, ambitious, eager to win public fame ; that instead of devoting themselves to a remedy for this evil, for this stifling of New leaders of this party devoted themselves to “statesmanship,” to the consideration of | affairs in Louisiana and to the actions of President Grant, and they drifted on and on and on into high speculations for the | Presidency and schemes about the national | finances, neglecting the one plain duty they | were called upon to do, and, finally, it | will be told that nothing but an absolute up- rising of the people, putting down corruption, partisanship, avarice and obstinacy, com- pelled the adoption of a rapid transit measure | | improper like “La Timbale d’ Argent,” as played in New York this winter, is little more than the can- can disguised in a higher form of art, and perhaps for that reason more offensive. Re- corder Hackett, in his charge to the jury, forcibly made the distinction, which shows that intrinsically unobjectionable acts may be made odious by their display, ond there is no stronger illustration of bis argument than the cancan itself—an exhibition whidh has been only introduced ‘recently to our stage, but has in its brief career done more to cor- rupt the standard of music halls than any otber innovation. He warned the jury that its verdict might be regardad as the prevailing sentiment of our community on the subject,’ and the result of the trial is important to public morals. It is not required, however, that the particular performance in question should be criticised in order to decide the merits of the general question. We have only to say that if this dance was not indecent, disgusting, lewd and immoral, that then it was not the cancan. On the other hand, if it was the cancan, then tho lewdness, indecency, im- morality and illegality are proved without the necessity of any further argument, A New Method Grant. to the Bar of that city in 1809, leaving another gap between Mr. Horace Binney and the younger generation of the profession of law. But our regret at the departure of each of the venerable men called away within the last few weeks is relieved by the presence of the many old men who remain. While we honor the dead we may hope that for the living there are still many days. The Charitable Institutions. The Corporation Counsel has written an elaborate and carefully prepared opinion as to the effect of the recently adopted constitu. tional amendments on the appropriations made in accordance with existing laws to the charitable institutions of the city. He holds that the amendments do not prohibit the city from making provision for the aid and sup. port of the poor through any agencies o instruments heretofore created or sanctioned by legislative act for the relief of the desti- tute. He holds, further, that the appropria tions for the present year, having been made before the amendments came into operation, could not be affected by those amendments, The first position, if correct, obviates the ne- cessity for the consideration of the second. We have always held that the constitutional of Dealing with | amendments leave untouched the power of the city to make such appropriations to institu- We present this morning rather striking | tions for the ‘‘aid and support’ of the city communication which suggests a new method of disposing of our American Cesar. The only value we attach to this really clever letter lies in its @emonstration of the promptitude and ease with which the federal constitution may be amended in an emergency. The greater part of the State legislatures meet in January of each year, and as Congress is always in session at that time our corre- spondent presents in a clear light the extreme facility of amending the federal constitution in any exigency which brings the people into substantial unanimity. He shows that a single month may suffice for changing the fundamental law on any great question upon which the people are agreed. If Congress is in session and three-fourths of the State leg- islatures in session in January or February of any year our correspondent shows that any alteration of the constitution could be accom- plished at once. A two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress could propose an amendment, and if three-fourths of the State legislatures happen to be in session their ratification could be given without delay and our whole frame of government be changed at once. But while this is true in theory we think it impossible in practice. If we were 10 test it by the scheme which our correspondent pro- poses it is obvious that it could lead to no practical result, Certain it is that neither | two-thirds of both houses of Congress nor three-fourths of the legislatures of the States could, at present, be brought to sanction an | amendment ot the federal constitution which would put Grant out of office and provide for the election of his successor in November next. We print the communication, not be- | cause its practical suggestions have any value, 4 | but because it shows, more clearly than has | ever been shown before, how quickly and easily the federal constitution might be amended, if the people, as represented in Congress and the State legislatures, were practically unapimous. It isan advantage to know how perfectly our institutions are within the immediate control of the people. But in other respects we find little to indorsein the letter of our correspondent, who is evidently an able lawyer. Our Old Men. A curious and tender interest attaches to old age which makes glad the heart of the younger generation when contemplating the venerable men who have lingered long past the three score years and ten that are accepted as the space of human life. In looking back over the history of the country we are astonished at the very small number of our very old men once eminent in trade, in politics, in litera- ture or im science who are spared to us. There are only two of the graduates of Harvard Col- and the building of a road that renewed the H prosperity of New York. * | This, we take it, is what our grandchildren | ware, who was born in 1780 and graduated in | will most likely read when they come to the | nistory. of 1875. Is there no person in the | government of New York who can take this | rapid transit business and bring it to a con- clusion? Nothing is simpler than to build a | | railroad which need not cost, at the utmost, | more than half a million dollars per mile. We have the power, the money, the energy, | the will, and we have an argument in favor of | it in every movement of the thermometer. The Apology for the Cancan. The cancan question came up in court yes- terday, in a suit brought against the pro- | Hackett to the jury are published in our col- | wans. ‘There is no question, in our opinion, as to the character of thecancan. Itis necessa- rily indecent, and without indecent exposure | conld not exist. The ordinary costume of the ballet, which is intended to display beauty of | carried away by the same discase—pneumonia. | | form and grace of motion, is discarded in | this notorious dance, in which the dress submits to tho modesty of society only to | outrage it the more effectively. It was | invented by a people unrivalled in the | refinements of vice and has been vulgar- | Richard, William and Rufus departed ; and | ized by American coarseness. We say that | there is no question about its indecency, be- | cause it isa matter of common knowledge | Edward on Sunday and Henry yesterday. | that ihe cancan owes all its unhappy popu- | | Jarity to its lasejvious gestures, and that a | decent cancan—if that were possible—would | be the tamest and dullest exhibition on the | stage. ‘To attempt to justify it by the “Black | Crook’ is impossible. The ballet known by that title is liberal in its display of the female person, but for that precise reason is destitute of the opportunities for those lewd revelations in which the cancan delights. There is nothing obscenein nature. Obscenity exists in the vagne, indefinabie realm between | nd the customs of artificial society, and this is the realm in wineh the eancan rules—the debatable ground between the purity of the Venus of Milo and lege in the last century who are still alive— Horace Binney, of Philadelphia, now in his ninety-sixth year, and Willard Hall, of Dela- 1799. These are the oldest living citizens who sat in Congress both in years and in the date of service. In our own city we have no | men of equal character and prominence who | approach them in years. Mr. Binney was at | Power by the English beer barrel and the Scottish college when Mr. Bryant was born. Peter | its head should be Dizzy.”” Cooper is ten years younger than the younger of these old gentlemen. The Delafields, who are now all dead, were lads compared with them. When they die we shall grieve for them as we should scarcely grieve for younger men. It is a solemn thing to stand by the open grave of a man who had nearly completed a century of existence. It | eds aterandous OF tle buAAbibte prietor of the Metropolitan Theatre, and the | is much more solemn to stand by the graves |}. er seg evidence taken and the charge of Recorder | of three venerable men, brothers to each other, | eminent exh 1 his own sphere, beloved and honored, ail of them, and consign them to the earth together. viving brothers of a noted family—Joseph, Henry and Edward Delafield—have died, all Seven in all, these brothers Delafield were well known men in their day, and all of them reached a ripe old age. John Delafield was the friend of Washington Irving, and he was | the first to die. It is only a year or so since now these, the oldest as well as the longest lived, follow them, Joseph dying on Saturday, They will all be buried on the same day, in the presence of the same mourners and to the grief of a whole city. In their death another link with the past is severed; but they have lett a lesson of life worth learning. They all comributed toward making the name of Delafield respected in their lives and honored after they are dead. Each of them served well his fellow and mide us regret them the more because years could scarcely impair their usefalness. That the three eldest of the brothers should die to- gether and be buried together has in it some- thing of epic and idyllic grandeur that cannot fail to touch the heart. On account of their years we regvet them more than if they had Withi sur- | ithin three days three sur. | quaintance on the voyage hither of the lovely | | poor as are or may be authorized by law, and we are glad to find that the Corporation Coun- sel arrives at the same conclusion. It would be a deplorably short-sighted policy to strike down institutions that call forth a liberal sup- ply of private charity, and thus throw wholly upon the city the thousands of suffering and destitute beings they relieve. Tue Brooxtyn Scanpau never loses its in- terest across the river. The plaintiff's cross- examination by Mr. Evarts closed yesterday and he then underwent a redirect examina- tion from Judge Fullerton. There is suffi- cient excitement among our neighbors to thaw out, toa certain extent, the icy fetters in which both cities are at present encased. Tae Cenrenstan or Amentcan INDEPEN pexce.—All the States are expected to con- tribute to the success of the Centennial Exhi- bition, for all are interested in making it a thorough representation of American progress, New York should be among the first, and in the work of organizing her own display cannot wisely lose time. The subscriptions to the Centennial stock have begun, and we trust that in a few weeks the shares taken by our citizens will prove that we are neither unpatri- otic nor neglectful of this great opportunity Elsewhere we give a report of the proceedings at Governor Bigler’s headquarters, where all information concerning the national Exhibi- tion can be obtained. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. It isn’t a Polar wave, but a Polar ground swell. General 8S, M. Bowman, of Baltimore, is stopping at Barnum’s Hotel. Mr. J. L. Toole, the comedian, has taken up his restdence at the Westminster Hotel. Rey. Dr. Carmody, ot New Haven, is residing temporarily at the Metropolitan Hotel. Paymaster John F. Tarbell, United States Navy, is registered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. In the coming chess tournament between Paris aud London the stakes will be $20.000, Very Rev. James Hughes, of Hartiord, is among the late arrivais at the Grand Central Hotel. Colonel Eugene 8. Beaumont, United States Army, 18 quartered at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Lieutenant Governor H. G. Knight, of Massachu- setts, is sojourning at the Fi/th Avenue Hotel. Begios to feel as if astronomers were rigat in the supposition that the sun is nearly burnt out. Mr. N. ©, Stevens, United States Vice Consul at Awmoy, China, arrived last eventng at the Fiftp Avenue Hotel. Calcutta papers announce the disastrous sus- pension of alaundry company. No proper respect for clean sbirts out there. . In India they complain that since the opening of the Suez Canal they are overrun by a “class of low Europeans.” Glad they know how it is them. selves, Sir William Vernon Harcourt is said to be re. tained as the counsel of tne claimant, Orton Tichborne, 1n @ motion ‘or writ of error, He 1s jealous of Kenealy, Earl Russell, in his “Recollections,” feels that it would be disnonest and unjust oot to let the world know that after an impartial consideration he fully approves of himself and his career, ‘The Society of St. George’s Uatn at Ghent has sold, for 25,000f, to Baron Alphonse de Koth schiid, @ magnificept cup of silver repoussé, tor- meriy given to the Gutld by Albert and Isabel. ‘The British liberal Jeels as bad as this:—‘seeing that the present government was foated inte cag 0’ whiskey, itis motto be wondered at thas For the first Russian conscription under the new military iaw 693,736 men were called upon to pre- sent themselves, and only 24,000 latled—these were mosily Jews, Of the whole number calied for only 144,934 were actually enrolled, M. Louis Blancis a republican, He says, “Perish the Republic rather than @ principle.” The par- ticular principle in issue ts Louis Blanc’s theory that republics are better without than with Bx- He loves bis theory better than his country, and nearly all the other krenchmen are like bim. Mr. Eaward Thomas Leiroy, the special corre Spondent of the Dubiin Freeman, who accom. panied the Irish team to America, made the ac blonde, Miss Brooks, then Laay Mayoress of Dab lin and dauguter of the Lord Mayor. This ae quaintance has blossomed into matrimony. Lucky mano! He made the best shot at Creedmoor, Rev. Mr. Haweis, of Marylebone, London, be eves in the dignity of labor. He said in a recent sermon :—“‘If aught snould happen to prevent me from retaining charge of this congregation I should take to literature. if [found myself undt for literature I should trade. If I na@ not sumc tent capital to trade I should black boots.” As His Majesty Louis Philippe once blacked boots, the rector would have a royal example. ‘The Paris Univers in arguing for religion against science, takes a shot at the “transit of Venus ex- peditions.” It says that “im the recent wild esca- pade of our scientific enthusiasts to catch a glimpse of Vents crossing the disk of the san they have been indulging in & wild goose chase. Those wiseacres ought to have known that to de. termine the earth’s distance irom the sun is im- possible, bevause the central orb always keeps steadily diminishing.”” Was the Univers indedt to religion or to science for the knowledge of the facu it states ? Mr. John Banvard, the artist, has issued a circu- lar announcing the early publication of a. volame entitied “The Private Lite of a King.” The work | 1s understood tobe @ volume mentioned in the suppressed edition of Huish’s “Memoirs of George IV.” for another copy Of which a reward of £1,000 | was recently offered. The coptes reported in the the silks and ronge of a splendid strumpet. | died in the fulness of their strength and their | If the apologists for the cancan desired a re- spectable precedent or excuse they should | rather have sought it in the opéra bouffe, in | which obscenity has been raised to the dignity | of a fine art and music has been degraded to youth. cause they were old, and we honor them be- cause they were useful. This winter has been one particularly fatal to age: Yesterday died Mr. Henry G. Freeman, of Philadelphia, at Wo reverence their open graves be- | possexsion of $0 many people were copies of an expurgated edition of Huish’s book. The work from which the reprint is to be made ts claimed as the only one o! the kind in existence, and it came into Mr, Banvard’s possession in i849, turough the Chartists, Who gave it to him to be published it the United States at the time of the next Chartist rising. That event never occurred, and the Chartist societies being dissolved, it is proposed An opera | the ripe age of cighty-wix, who was admitted | to make the suppressed work public, } ) a