The New York Herald Newspaper, April 30, 1875, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ANN STREET. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yorx Hrzazp will be sent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- gua) subscription price $12. ‘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. PARIS OFFICE—NO. 3 RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. err VOLUME X1.- seseeeeneeeNO, 120 O-NIGHT, AMUSE) : PARK THEATRE, TY, at BROOKL: i avenue,—VAR P.M. RE. .; closes at 10245 FIFT av Twenty-eightiy street a: NANZAat SP. Msc Lewi THE BIG BO- Mr. Fisher, Mr. | M.; clo: is, Mins Davenport, Mrs 6 PARK way.—DAVY URUCK OP, MM. Mr. Mayo. BUWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—TRUE 48 STEEL, at 8 P.M. | i 8 YM; closes at BOOTH'’S THEATRE, eit, of Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue,—aMY SART, at Sf. M.; closes at il P.M. Miss Neilson. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fouve? street. near Sixth avenue,—LA JOLIE PAR- UMEUSE, at P.M. Mile. Aim SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, Rey: corner of Twenty-ninth street,—NEGRO INSTRELSY, at 8 P. M.; closes at lu P.M. TIVOLI THEATRE, Eighth street. between Se: VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; ciose nd and Thira avenues— ti P.M. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Pew TO RUIN. atS P.M; closes at 10:40 M. Mr. Momtague, Miss Jeffreys-Lewis, BIS HALL, TATUL IMAGINAIRE, at 8 OPERA HOUSE, Yr, ab 5 P.M; closes at 1005 wooo's M ‘TM, Beaters, cerner of Thirticth street-—BLACK-EYED AN. atl. M. THOROUGHBRED, at § P. M.; closes Bt 30:45 P.M. THEATRE COMIQUE. Fert Broadway.—YARIETY. ats ?. M.; closes at 10245 GERMANIA THEATRE, Pye street.—FALSOHE BIEDERMANNER, at 8 ROMAN HIPPODROM: Capiteline Grounds, Breoklyn.—Two P. seeds a METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, West Fourteenth street.—Open from 10 A. M. to5 P.M. ‘TR aod s P.M. IPLE SHEET. RIDAY, APRIL 30, 1875, From our reports this morning the probabilities tre that the weather to-day will be occasionally rainy, clearing aftericard with cooler temperature. Warn Serer Yesrenpay.—The changes in | the stock market were unimportant. Good investment securities were firm. steady at 115} a 1153, and money easy on call at 24 a 3 per cent. 4 Sronm rm THE Nortewest.—Considerable famage has been done in the Northwest | swept | by a violent storm, which has over a large extent of country. Tele- | praphic communication with many points is temporarily interrupted, owing to the dis- | jarbance of the elements, and consequently ihe commercial reports from many districts tave not been received. } Ovn Inate Covstys.—The refusal of the English carpet-makers to send their wares to | ibe Centennial Exhibition naturally attracts a | good deal of notice. Our cousins evidently | leel that their wares are not equal to the same | slass of goods made by American mannfac- | tarers, or they would never allow the tariff to prevent them exhibiting their goods. Long | before free trade was ever thought of in | France English goods were sent to Paris to be exhibited, and there was no question of tariff. John Bull is truly becoming over- sensitive. | ‘Tae Rarm Traxsrr Br makes no prog: | tess in the Legislature. On the most trivial pretexts the subject is again and again post- | pomed and there is but a slender prospect of | any legislation. The ring of horse railroad sompanies which goes every year to Albany | bo stave off legislation on this subject is as | ischevious as the Canal Ring, and it equally | merits the hostile vigilance of the Governor. | Under the new provision of the State consti- tution for punishing bribery he should be uble to counteract the influ¢nce of the street | railroad companies in blocking rapid transit | legislation. This subject, which was to have | ome up for deliberate consideration three days ago ip the Assembly, was postponed last evening till Tuesday of next week. One or two more postponements« will k1/l it for this Vession. Tae Pouce Precixcr.-—The consolidation of police precincts in the lower part of the sity, proposed by the Board of Police Com- tnissioners, calls forth un earnest opposition from citizens who have interests in the locali- ties of the contemplated changes. It is in- Sisted by them that the plan, if carried out, Wil prove a danger to owners of property and wo advantage to thieves. The precincts, as at present formed, are claimed to be as large as the public interest and safety warrant. An wfficer who arrests a drunken man and has to | travel with him a long distance to his station | house necessarily leaves his beat unprotected asuflicient length of time to enable burglars to operate without fear of interruption; and im the extended precincts proposed it is elaimed that just such affairs will be arranged by the thieves when they have an important pioce of work on hand. The objections of the citizens deserve serious consideration, es- pecially as the present Police Commission is not supposed to know much about police matters, and, there are rnraors that o job lies covered up in the proposed consolidations. SPM; closes at 1015 | Gold was | NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, APRIL 80, 1875—TRIPLE SHEET, |The Real Danger of the Third Term. Our fond anticipation that the elections in New England would decide the question of tics does mot seem to be realized. We believed that the republican leaders, taking | courage from the strength of their organiza- | tion in New Hampshire and warning from | their unexpected and decisive defeat in Con- | necticut, would recognize, a3 the first duty toward the reconstruction of their forces for the campaign of the Presidency, an | explicit avowal that under no cireumstavces | would they support General Grant for a third term. This conviction was strengthened by the disposition of politicians like Mr. Blaine, Vice President Wilson and others, who did not receive their republicanism as a discharge from the army, and would not consent to sur- render their position as leaders of the party and their hopes of renewed triumpbs in the fature simply to gratify this stubborn ambition of the President, who only became stone of his ambition. There was every reason fora pronounced expression of opinion on tho part of republicans, without regard to had committed, there was something glorious in its record—a record that the country would | not speedily forget. There was the turther | hope that the democrats would be consistent with their own history and make blunders than | 60 much more dishearteving even their own that they might regain | power. But we find that the administration | papers and those leaders who ure especially in the confidence of the President do not re- | gard the third term as by any means an im- | possible issue in our politics, and that itis | far trom being dead. | ‘Two significant facts illustrate this. The | first is that no republican leader has, as yet, | become an avowed candidate for the Prés- | that idency. In Pennsylvania Governor Hartranft has been nominated by a convention. but a personal compliment. The other fact is that in considering the strength of the cif- ferent leaders in the party who might possibly be the candidates before a nominating conven- tion the constant argument is that no one of them, even now, has as much personal strength as President Grant. The reasoning { upon which this is based is worthy of serious | consideration, and in it we find the gravest who would, under ordinary circumstances, be probable candidates for the Presidency. In | New England we have Mr. Blaine, Mr. Wilson | and Mr. Boutwell. New York presents Gov- | ernor Dix and Mr. Conkling. Pennsylvania | has named Governor Hartranft—a figure of | speech for Senator Cameron. In the West we ' have Sherman, of Ohio ; Morton, of Indiana ; | Washburn, of Illinois; Carpenter, of Wis- consin, Each of these gentlemen is strong in his own section, with a wide personal follow- ing, incommand of the discipline and re- sources of the party, and who would enter the nominating convention sustained by strong political influences from the party of their States. Outside of their own | section what strength do they possess? Mr. Blaine isa Pennsylvanian by birth, and in | active sympathy with many peculiarly Penn- | sylvania interests. He might be the second choice of that State, but who of the West or in the South feels any special attachment for | Mr. Blaine? We question if Mr. Boutweil could carry his own State, divided os it is into factions and challenged as he is | in repubhean leadership by men as able as Butler, Dawes and Hoar. would fall before the same combination of | adverse circumstances; and although he would | have a large strength in the South, among the | negroes especially, in the memory of his devo- | tion to their cause during the war, Mr. Morton would probably lose every Eastern State on his financial record alone. Mr. Conkling is strong in New York, where he holds the machinery of the party completely in hand; but he is a man of wayward temper, of strong convictions and of haughty, | imperious nature, that has made him enemies more frequently than friends. Mr. Wash- | burn, if he goes into the canvass, would | have a national reputation as a legisiator and an international fame as a diplomatist. He would be strong with the Germans and the | free traders; bat Mr. Washburn, during a prominent career in Congress, arrayed against himeelf strong interests in finance, in rail- roads, in subsidy grants and in the general development of legislative corruption, which would pursue him with unrelenting anger both before the Convention and the people. Mr. Washburn and Governor Dix, perhaps, have more elements of national strength than any of the gentlemen we have named ; but Gover- nor Dix is now almost too old a man to bea | serious candidate for the Presidency, and, as we have said, greatas the strength of Mr. Washburn would certainly be, his antagon- | isms woald deter a timid convention from ac- cepting him. Testing these men by the republican standard, which of them, after all, is stronger than Grant himself? He has his military record; whatever faults he has committed during his second term are only the repetition of the errors of his first. The country forgot St. Dommgo and nepotism and Cwsarism and his violent changes in the forms of eunstitational government, and condoned all of bis mistakes when they chos: him President a second time. Why may he not sud feel that the same generous consideration of his mistakes as ® President from 1968 to 1872 | would be extended to him in 1876? Is not General Grant, with ail his blunders, as strong before the party as he was during the second | year of his first term? If he were considered as a candidate for a second nomination instead of a third, would any of these leaders be seriously mentioned as his rival? We must consider, also, that during all these years of his government he has been steadily disciplining the party as though it feel, were an army, and regarding these leaders as | in former times he regarded his staff and his body guard. There is not a State in the Tnion whose republican organization would | decline to obey his orders, because these organizations represent notuing more than patronage and public service. The men who lead them are in nearly all cases the creatures | of his friendship or his ambition. | The fact that no republican leader has, | with perhaps the exception of Washburn, the third term as a current issue in our poli- | a republican when it was the stepping | State or section. Whatever faults the party | This | | is understood not as a serious venture, | aspect of the third term. Let us take themen | Mr. Wilson | | mo time or taste for the proper duties of justly, | able candidate for the Presidency is an ex- ceedingly grave one. Where are the men who, in the olden times, led the party against | slavery and disunion, who compelled Lincoln to grant emancipation and who drove Johnson to the verge of | impeachment for daring to question their will? No one of them has ventured to protest against General Grant. A few inde- pendent men made the effort some time since, and what has been their fate? Mr. Greeley | was driven out of the party and died a dis- appointed and unbappy man, Mr. Schurz has gone into exile, Mr. Sumner was dethroned from his seat as chief of the Foreign Relations Committeo in the Senate, Mr. Trum- | bull has been banished from public life, Mr. Cox, of Ohio, leads a precarious politi- cal existence in the lobbies of democratic conventions, Vice President Wilson ven- tured on one or two oceasions to mildly pro- test against the tendencies of the President and his party management, but he was swiftly | brought to terms and is now an obedient fol- | lower of the administration, Governor Dix | isthe only prominent republican politician | | who has publicly pronounced himself as ir- | | revocably opposed to a third term. Gov- | | ernor Dix is so much out of favor with the | party leaders that he could not command five electoral votes in the republican party of New York. His defeat for the Governor sbip was as much the work of his own “friends” and comrades as of the democrats. | | Wherever there has been the least evidence of | independence in the republican organization | it has been promptly and constantly re- pressed, | ‘Therefore, the real danger of the third term is in this fact that to-day President Grant | holds in his hand the strength of the repub- | lican party. Venturesome newspapers have | | here and there occasionally whispered | | it might please His Excellency | | to deign to express « resolution | not to run for the third term. But we have | no such expression. President Grant has said nothing, nor have any of his friends given utterance to a word inconsistent with his being a candidate before the next Repub- lican Convention. Toe third term, therefore, is as much a part of the policy of the republi- can party as itever has been. If the mem- bers of the party would have the sense of | quickening or mutiny they might com- pel from these leaders repudiation of | the President and his ambition. They | are dormant, and there is no reason why the leaders of the party in their State conventions may not find it expedient to indicate General Grant as a candidate in the hope that with his tremendous power as the head of the govern- ment he could compel an election. The satety of the country from this danger is in | the people, in that small fraction of independ. | ent voters who, after all, decide the Electoral | College, and whose higher sentiment may be | roused by the danger of Cwsarism into the ; same activity that was inspired by the dan- gers of secession and slavery, and who will strike as manly a blow for the constitution as in times past they did for the Union. Misgovernment in Louisiana, Our special correspondent in the South, Mr. Nordhoff, gives, in a letter we print to- day, an analysis of the government of Louisi- ana, which shows that it isa very surprising | thing indeed. The Governor appears to be an autocrat. The last Napoleon was hardly more so. With the powers which the cousti- | tution and laws of Lousiana give the Gover- | nor he certainly ought to be abie to maintain peace and order in the State; but the rulers of the unhappy State appear to have given | | their whole attention to plundering the people, and have, as is usual in such cases, | been so busy with corruption that they have | government. It is story, a part of which this letter—a story of Legislatures made up of adventurers; of representatives who repre- sent nobody; of the courts used for political purposes, and created and abolished as they served or did not serve the ruling politicians; and of a government kept in power in spite of the people's will for six long years, whose corruption was only equalled by its ineffi- ciency. Such a story demonstrates the injury which | is done by federal interference in the local political affairs of States. The present State government in Louisiana could not have stood at any time against the popular will, during the last two or even four years, had it not been bolstered up by the federal power. And | to what base uses has the federal government thus been prostituted—the defender of un- scrupulous and apparently shameless public robbers. a very astonishing | is disclosed in | The Oshkosh Fire. Another American town h4s been well nigh Gestroyed by fire and immense loss in- flicted on the inhabitants. The extent of the damage sustained by the town of Oshkosh can be estimated by a glance at the map we pub- | lish in another column. We have not the con- | solation, even, of thinking that this calamity came unexpectedly and unlooked for, lke one of those strange scourges that fall | upon communities and individuats. It is | evident that the danger of just such an event has been long well known, and yet | no effort was made to avert it. Our go-ahead | theories have carried us into the mistake of | accomplishing work without giving a thought | to its durability. What at is immediate usefulness, and as a resalt the . work we accomplish is for the most part | badiy done. Until the people who build towns make up their sinds to erect solid and sabstantial buildings, instead of fire-inviting shanties, calamities like this that has fallen on we aim Oshkosh must constantly occur, The cause | of this evil and its cnre are snf- | ficiently apparent to strike the least | thoughtful person. The present system of erecting buildings that ave mere shells is a foolish as well as a dangerous policy. The | | losses suffered yearly in America by fre would, in ten years, probably more than pay | the difference in the coxt of ¢ solid and | fireproof buildings and the of erect. | | ing structures that crumble as fast as they | are put up. Taz Brack Hitis.—The want of sufficient force will prevent the expedition ordered by | General Sheridan moving inte the region of the Block Hills. General Custer shows com | mendable prudenee in not risking the lives of | given him ‘a crowning mercy.” | credible. | others. without sufficient force to resist any attack that may be made on the expedition by the suspicious savages, A Voice from the Confederacy. ‘We print this morning a letter from Gen- eral Beauregard, addressed to the Governor of Tennessee, which will be read with curicus interest. Our readers will remember Gen- eral Beauregard as an eminent commander of the Southern forces during the war. He be- | longs to that class of generals in the re- bellion whose career began in a blaze of glory and slowly ebbed away. The war, which found him a famous | commander, left him a disappointed and unsuccessful general. Like officers of this | class be has spent good deal of his time since the war in explaining why it was that his career did not justify his fame. This letter is wmtten to express his annoyance at a charge that he was in favor of extreme measures, and that he carried out his feeling | by acts of cruelty to his prisoners, and | | made an effort to introduce into the contest an element of ferocity which we hoped no longer had a place in our modern civilization. We are surprised that a man of the culture and discernment of General Beau- regard would take the trouble at this date to seriously controvert any of the slanders of the war. The general belief is that the com- mauders of both armies, North and South, were humane men; that they did their ter- nible work, as far as was possible, with cour- tesy and humanity and frankness, and they endeavored to alleviate, and not stimulate, the horrors of their campaigns. Beauregard, in the beginning of the war, like some other commanders, wrote a wild proc- lamation or two, but no one has remembered it except as an evidence of indiscreet fervor which sober second thought would regret. Our hope has been that every succeeding year of peace would eradicate these unpleasant memories and preserve nothing of the war but the recollection of the valor of the sol- diers and the patriotism and courtesy of the commanders on either side. General Beauregard informs us that after the first battle of Bull Run he, in company with the illustrious Stonewall Jackson, was in favor of a campaign, no quarter to either side, that the prisoners were all to be killed, His reasons for this opinion are logical enough, but we read them with pain and regret. The quoting of General Jackson as an authority will not relieve General Beauregard from the criticism which his letter will inspire in all civilized nations. General Jackson was a great commander, with some of the highest qualities of genoralship, and in | his death took with him a reputation that proba- bly will survive that of any commander of the rebellion. He was a peculiar, favatical old man, with the sternness of Cromwell, given to strange moods, and now and then under | influences that his enemies regarded as in- | sanity and his admirers as an excess or in- firmity of genius. General Jackson would have conducted the war against the North as Crom- | well did his campaigns against the Irish. It | was his temper to have put a garrison to the | sword, to have razed every house, in Washing- ton City, for instance, to the foundation, and to have written, like Cromwell, that God had General Beauregard is not a manof this stamp. He did not have Jackson’s genius tor war, nor did | he ever show that fanatical belief in nis cause | which inspired the great Southern chieftian, Aman of the world, he had not lived like Jackson most of his life in the seclusion of a country village, his time given to meditation and prayer and a rapt contemplation of the sterner phases of Calvinism. But he was a man of society and of wide acquaintanceship | North and South. For such a man to seriously consider as proper war measure the shooting of all the Northern | prisoners who came into his hands is im- If he ever did so it wasin his anger. However much we might have con- demned it then we must still more strongly condemn it now, that in his cold moments ot reflection and criticism he should avow his belief that the policy was 4 just one. General Beauregard’s opinion is not strengthened by what he says of the cam- paigns of Sberidan and Sherman and We have no doubt many things were done by General Sherman and General Sheridan which could, and, per- haps, should, have been avoided. The deso- lation of the Valley of the Shenandoah was a hard measure, but it had become neces- sary by the fact that this valley was the base of the operations of the Southern armies, and 80 long as it was undisturbed it enforced upon the federal troops a new campaign every year. | Therefore, the ravaging of the valley, which General Sheridan accomplished in obedience tothe orders of General Grant, was a war meas- | ure, to be regreited, of course, as we regret all ‘war measures, but executed without resort to any of those harsh extremities of war which General Beavregard was willing to invoke after the battle of Bull Run. General Sheri- dan shot no pmisoners, refused no quarter, confined himself simply to destroying re- | sources that might have strengthened another hostile army and compelled several tresh battles. General Sherman's campaigns through the Carolinas, harsh as they were, may have the same justification. It was the purpose of these commanders to shorten the war by depriving the South of the means of continuing hostilities. This is cer- tainty a war measure, what we have seen in all countries under all captains, but it does not justify the avowal by General Beanregard, at this late day, that the Southern canse could have been saved by a teasure of war revolting to every sentiment of humanity and fraternity. ‘There were many things during the rebellion | which we mourn, but we thank God that it was never marked by acts of deliberate inhu- manity. We believe that history will show that the men of the South as well as the men | of the North never forgot that they were | Americens, that they lived in this nineteenth ceutury of civilization and light. It is a rev- elation of most painful character to us to find that among the Southern generals there was one as accomplished as Beauregard who be- lieved that he could serve his cause in any campaiga by introducing into the war against the North, against his friends, associates and brothers, that spirit of combat which belonged ‘to the feudal ayes, and which, for two centu- ries at least, has only existed among the wild ans of North America and the savage | assumed really @ national position as a prob: | Lis woops by entering on a distant expedition | tribes of Africa, General | Mr. Tracy's Testimony im the Beecher Case, Mr, Tracy's relations to this case are pe- culiar, His connection with the scandal dates back to the period when it was first divulged to the public by the publication of the Woodhull article. He was then brought, into consultation with Tilton and Moulton in contriving devices for its suppression. He was an avowed friend of Mr. Beecher, and Mr, Tilion refused to communicate the nature ot his grievance except on a pledge by Mr. Tracy that he would not, in any future complications, actas Mr, Beecher’s counsel. The required pledge was given, and on the strength of it Tilton unbosomed himself to Tracy. At the opening of the trial Tilton’s counsel sharply objected to Tracy's participa- tion, on the ground that it violated his pledge and was inconsistent with professional honor. Tracy justified himself on the plea that the charge against Mr. Beecher at that time was only improper proposals, and that the change to actual adultery absolved him from his promise. To the unprofessional mind, which looks merely to the observance of good faith between man and man, this excuse does not seem satisfactory. The pledge was given be- fore Mr. Tilton would consent to state his grievance atall to Mr. Tracy, and, therefore, before Mr. Tracy was informed of the breadth of the charges. Being given in ignorance of | what Mr. Tilton would communicate the pledge would seem to cover every possible contingency. As ‘Tilton refused to open his mind to Tracy in advance of the pledge, and | as Tracy could not have known when he gave | it that Tilton would not make a charge of | adultery, it would seem to persons who do | not draw nice distinctions between personal and professional honor to preclude Tracy trom acting as Mr. Beecher’s counsel in every possible contingency. The pledge was not made between a charge of improper pro- | posals and a charge of adultery, but before Tilton would consent to state his case to | Tracy atall. It was given for the purpose of | breaking ‘Tilton’s silence, and could not have been conditioned on Tilton’s adherence to a | statement which he had not yet made. Tracy's excuse assumes that — the | pledge was made after Tilton had com- municated his complaint; whereas, in point of fact, it was given before Tilton would consent to open his mouth to Tracy at ‘all. It seems absurd, therefore, to claim that he was released from it by a violation of the condition on which it was made. As | Tracy did not kuow, when he gave it, what the charge was to be, he could not, as a man of honor, release himself on the pretext that the pledge was made in view of an accusation | which was afterward changed. At the time | he bound himself there was nothing to be | changed, because at that stage of the transac- tion nothing had been communicated. The ; public, which judges by the principles of | personal honor which prevail among gentle- | men, will be apt to regard Mr. Tracy’s-excuse | as a subteringe. | It Mr. Tracy intended at the time that his | pledge should only cover an accusation of | | improper solicitations it was deceptive on its | face, because he must have known as a | lawyer that no suit could lie against Mr. Beecher for improper proposals. Every | lawyer knows that such proposals are not | actionable, This was clearly brought out by | Mr. Beach yesterday in the cross-examination of Mr. Tracy, who could not deny that the | pledge was holiow and empty unless it ex- | tended to the case of criminal conversation. | It is difficult to understand why Mr. Tracy | | should have consented to have this question of | | professional honor raised against him by act. | ing as counsel for the defendant. On the | presumption of Mr. Beecher's innocence | his ability to clear bimself did not depend on | | the employment of Mr. Tracy as counsel. | Any other lawyer of equal ability would have | answered as well. It is difficult to see why | he should have exposed himself to those | doubts as to his professional honor and bis | | fair dealing as a gentleman, { Mr. Tracy’s testimony as o witness is of | | more value to Mr. Beecher's side than his | services as a lawyer. Perhaps he absolved | himself from his pledge to qualify himself to | | testify. A client's confidential communica. | | tions are privileged, and it may have | been thought necessary to abjure that | relation in order to bring Mr. Tracy on the | stand. The essential point of his testimony, | as bearing on the merits of the case, is his as- | | sertion that, under circumstances which | entitled him to Tilton’s confidencee, the lat- | ter accused Mr. Beecher of nothing beyond | | improper proposals. If the jury can be made | to believe that that was the full extent of Mr. | Beecher’s offence the law will compel them to give a verdict in his favor, even though every man of the twelve should believe that improper solicitations were actually made. Mr. Tilton has no case at ail unless he can | prove actual adultery; and if the jury can make Mr. Beecher’s remorseful letters’ con- | sistent with the lighter offence the case of | the plaintiff will utterly break down. Morally, there is little difference between attempts to | seduce and actual seduction; but legally the first is no offence at all and the latter isa very grave one, | The Reduction of Canal Tolls. Governor Tilden took “strong ground in his annual Message against a reduction of canal | tolls, but it seems pretty certain that the Leg- | islature will overrule his judgment, with the approbation of those who best und nd the | subject. The Canal Board is against him, the Assembiy is against him; and there is no | | reason to doubt that the Senate will pass the | bill which has gone through the Assembly in pursuance of the recommendation of the Canal Board. Even the democratic Assembly does | not consider Governor Tilden an infallible | authority on canal questions, Although in | the course of the debate his Message was quoted against the proposed reduction of tolls the bill passed the Assembly by the decisive | majority of 73 to 27. As the redue- | tion was made on the motion of | Mr. Seward, and as a large portion of the | democratic members supported him, the | republ Senate is not likely to treat the Governor with more tenderness and in- dulgence than the democratic Assembly. This noteworthy revolt against gubernatorial infal- libility on canal questions is supported by very good reasons. It is stated that now, when the canal is closed, and ics competition can have no effect on the price of freights, the railroads are cazrving | dare not engage crews for the season. \ wheat at lower rates than were chargedon the | canal last year. In such a state of things | the canals can expect no business at all. Quick transportation by rail is better than slow transportation by canal, and when one is as cheap as the other the canal boats will have little employment. High canal tolls can bring no revenue when the canals have no business, Unless the disadvantage of slowness is offset and compensated by lower rates the railroads will monopolize transpor- tation. When railroad freights are cheaper than canal freights were last year it is obvious that the canal tolls must be reduced to retain any business. It is idle to protest against the relinquishment of revenue by a reduction of tolls. If the canals get no busi ness they can yield no revenue; and their only chance of getting business depends on their ability to compensate for slowness by cheaper transportation. There is another consideration which must not be overlooked, The business of the ca nals is dependent on the business of the lakes. Grain started from Chicago by rail is certain to come through to New York by rail. The canal boats are fed entirely by the lake ves sels, and lake navigation never had so gloomy ® prospect as this spring. A considerable portion of the lake tonnage is likely to be laid up during the summer. The railroad rates are so low that the owners of lake vessela Unless they are encouraged by a reduction of our canal tolls they will not enter into competi- tion with the railroads until the great pressure in autumn, after the grain harvest. The re« | duction of canal tolls, against the views ex- | pressed by the Governor in his Message, is therefore a necessary measure of self-preserva tion, Unless the canals underbid the raik roads in freight charges they can do no busis ness at all, and will yield the State no income at all, The Caban War. The growing proportions of the Cuban war are well indicated in our despatches from Hae vana to-day. It is now several months since we were informed that a body of Cuban rebels had burst through the famous trécha and were marching westward, hotly pursued by Spanish battalions. According to the official accounts received from Havana they were flying before their pursuers; for so the Spanish reports have constantly represented the Cuban patriots since the beginning ot the war of independence. But now, after rum ning away from the Spaniards for six years, they seem suddenly to have formed the curi- ous notion of taking refage in Havana, and in order to prevent them adopting this des- perate course the great Valmaseda has hastily gathered a force of thirty thousand men to block the way. What is most curious is that an enterprising general like Valmaseda finds it necessary to fortify his position at Colon against those fugitive bands the Spanish soldiers have been so long pursuing. A glance at the map will show the importance of the change that has taken place in the condition ot the Cubans. Two years ago the insurrection was confined within the limits of the Central and Eastern Departments. The few scattered partisans who disturbed the Cinco Villas district were no longer important and were wholly unable to make head against even the weakest Spanish column. But to-day an immense army, almost under the gates of Havana, is | compelled to fortify itself to stop the proge ress of the insurgent forces. It is evident that the struggle is rapidly coming to a close, for the tactics adopted by the patriots must soon render Cuba untenable and Spain will be compelled to relax her grasp—just as she was compelled to abandon the attempt to reconquer St. Domingo. The Cuban torch is rapidly settling the question. Every plantation destroyed cripples Spain and lessens her power to continue a struggle that must end in the freedom of Cuba. Arsenic i Satt.—It must be rather an- pleasant to use salt and discover that it is ime preguated with arsenic. A large number of people have just escaped from such un ex- perience by the lucky discovery thet a cargo of English salt had been poisoned in this + way. The discovery was happily made be fore any one was injured, but it suggests an idea that captains and shipping agents are scarcely so solicitous about the satety of the public as they might be, else the salt in question would never have been distributed without proper inquiry as to its condition, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. pn General F. J. Merron, of Louisiana, is staying et the St. Nicholas Hotel. Seflor Don Jaan dei Valle, President of the Bank of Havana, is at the New York Hotel. Pay Director J. George Harris, United States Navy, is quartered at the Everett House, Ex-Govervor Jono T. Hoffman arrived from Albany laet evening at the Clarendon Hotel. Congressman George M. Beebe, of Monticello, N. ¥., has arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Some il-patured people say the cold the Prest+ dent got at Concord was only—a cold shouider, The Beecher triai has wonderfully enriched the English ianguage with new words and phrases, ir. Alexander G, Cattell, of New Jersev, hes taken up his residence at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Cougressman Elias W. Leavenworth, of Syrm cuse, is among the late arrivais at the St. Nichoias Hotel. Mr. James A. Bayard, formerly United States Senator irom Delaware, is sojourning at the New York Hotel. ‘To think of tt—the young man who spelled buz- gard “beu-doubletzzard-a-ral” was asked to step aown and out, Cardinal McCloskey's elevation is already resnit- ing in great good. All the young ladies want him tw marry ther. Proiessors Theodore YW. Woolsey, of New Haven, and tH. B. Hackett, of Kochester, have apartments at the Everett House. It is doubtiul whether the President will be at Bunker Hill on the i7th of Jane. Well, he wasn’t tnere in 1775 and yet the affair camo off. . Vice President Wilson arrived at Clocinnati yes. | terday, and afier staying a few hours departed for Louisville, whence he ,will go to St, Louts and Denver. ‘They are not sanguine over the results of the trinl trip of the Bessemer steamer, by which peo. ple were to cross from France to England without seasickness, he jiocomotive “Andrew Johnson,” on the Chattanooga Railroad, bas painted on it a huge pair of shears with an accompanying inscription, “Prom Tailor to President.” The Philadelphia Press says Vice Prestaent Wil- son was “recognized bya number of gentlemen in this city fecentiy.”” The Vice President ougat to know better thaa to so expose himself, In & Baltimore theatre vill for 1807 appear the names of Mr. Warren, the father of Willtem War ren, Boston’s favorite comedian; Mr. Cone, Kate Claxton’s grandiatuer, woo lett the stage to bee come a clergyman, ond Mr. deGersou, tae grand fawer of dosevk Jederson,