The New York Herald Newspaper, May 13, 1875, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and aiter January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yone Hxnarp will be | pent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- pual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic | despatches must be addressed New Yorn Bnav. 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—RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be} received und forwarded on the same terms | as in New York. ZOLUME XLevee +e0eN0, 8 eae AMUSEMENTS TO- NIGHT, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. West Fourteenth Srest—Open from WAM 5PM ouymPic HEATR: Boe Broadway.—VAllilY, ats P. Fie ; closes at 10:65 | street, ond Pa i te BIG BOS Bloses nt (i080 BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, Baye avenuc.—VAKLETY, at § P.M; Closes at 1045 METROPOLITAN THRATRE, No. $85 Brondway.—FE MAL’ BATHERs, at 8 P.M, ROB West Sixteenth street.— BOOTH’S THEATRE, er of Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue,— Biba at § Fo M.; closes at 1k P.M. Miss Clara are LYCEUM THEATRE, ‘ourteenth | street, SI avenue—LA PERI- Ou at SP. Maile, Amoe. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, rner * Twenty-ninth street-—NEGRO SIMSTRULSY, ars vw. % BROOKLYN THEATRE. ats P. loses at 10 P, ibd ORPHANS, at § P.M. Misses Minnie and Conway. fi a Pr ‘Misa Ada Dyas, Mr. Montague, BOWERY OPERA hay Hom Bowery. Valery, at 8 P.M. MT eloece at'i0 43 P M. MANIA TREATRE, GER Fourteenth street.—su( TTENSTREICHE, até P.M. GREAT SOUT AM ew street, East River. TALLAOK’S THEATRE Lama, TRIG HEIRESS, ats’. ‘M.; closes at j' closes at 10:45 Woop’s MUSEUM, , Corner of Thirtieth street.—MAZEPPA, at TCAN CIRCUS, ertormance at 2 and 7130 HE Le (a m4 Broadway. VARIE 4 closes at 10:45 TRIPLE re From our wr reports “this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day till be clear and cool, the temperature rising later in the day. Wart Sraezt Yestexpay.—Stocks were feverish and unsettled. Gold ended at 1155. | Money was easy and foreign exchange dull. Tae wounded mutineers- ot the Jefferson Borden are recovering and will soon be re- | burned to the United States, Tasmaxy Harn, by its failure to give us | rapid transit, has shown itself unfit to lead | the destinies of a great party. Tae Newarx Detectives succeeded in | arresting a person charged with murder. This startling achievement should not be lost | tpon our detectives or in Tne Senators from New York remained | silent when the amendment to exempt Fourth avenue from the provisions of the Rapid Tran- sit bill were passe Has it not been written that silence is g Tue Taso elected sachems these sachems wonld only see theis ir pranks and Indian nonsense give us rapid transit they would do something worthy of Tammany ig its old days. John y's place is in Albany looking after the Tammany Senators, and not walking around a room in Four- teenth street in Indian fashion. ‘Tue Sarery or tHe Mernoporis.+-The an- wouncement that the s r Metropolis, running from Bermuria to New York, has at last come safely to port, will be a grati- fication to many who had almost given op all hope. The story of her adve: es will be found in our despatches. From her reports the accident which befell her was one which her officers could The weather which she encountered was of an apusually severe and distressing character, and the fact tuat she came well out of her perils is s matter for congratulation and thanks. Germanxt Proctarms Prace.—The German povernment evidently feels it owes som ething to public opinion, and that the general senti- ment of the world resents the policy of blood and iron. Consequently the official organ of Bismarck announces that the tween Germany and France have not been as friendly as they are now since the close cf the war. A semi-cfficial newspaper adds that Germany desires peace, and feels that she can tely on Russia to preserve it. We trust these last and over have no control. reiatious be- assurances will not be mnded. Enrope has had enough of “blood aud iron’’ for this generation. If this is the result of the Ozar's visit it will pl the world under obligations to His Majesty. Tr Is Svcorstive to those who voted tor Wagner, of V empting Fourth « of the Common ( the names ot Fox, Ledwith These Senators were aii among oft Pretorian guards of the old Tweed empire, and this gaine Fourth avenue, whose interest they so gladly served, is that for which the taxpayers of New York have paid already tour million | dollars to improve for the benefit of large | failwoy corporations. | General Grant, There has been an idea that | perhaps he would be an available candidate | ment to St. Louis is understood to have been | acrimony has spared him. |g NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY | MAY 13, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET, | The Momoirs of Sherman—Who Con- quered the Rebcllion1—Was It Shere man or Grant? The review we elsewhere print of the sec- ond volume of Sherman’s ‘‘Memoirs”’ will give our readers an idea of the exact value of this recent and remarkable contribution to the history of the war. It is almost too soon for us to think of history in connection with our tremendous strife. The echoes of the war have hardly died away. All the paesions still live. There are hundreds of thousands North and South to whom the war is still a remem- brance of woe and deep personal sorrow. It is too soon for us to estimate the exact stature of tbe men who conducted the war or the statesmen who controlled ils policy. One solemn figure stands out from the others, with a fame already as mystical and enduring as that of Washington, But it may be well asked, How stainitess would the fame of Lincoln be hed he lived to attempt reconstruc- tion, and had he not died with some of the glories of martyrdom? Lincoln and Lee and Stonewall Jackson—with, perhaps, John Brown—are the figures that have attracted the world’s widest sympathy and atten- tion, General Grant’s position must be decided by the next generation, Whether he is a great or simply a successful soldier, whether he has the highest military genius, whether his victories came from strategy and knowledge of war, or from mere | attrition, the larger force rubbing against the smaller and in time grinding it into pow- der, are questions ws cannot answer now. General Grant has a relation toward us of too immediate a character for us to weigh him fairly. His friends overrate and his enemies underrate his merit. We shall have to wait a generation before we can decide between the estimate of enemies or friends, General Sherman is regarded as the greatest soldier of our war by foreign critics, or, rather, he shares that honor with Lee. At home his reputation is steadily grow- ing. The country has been wayward in its treatment of him, At first he was suspected of disloyalty, because he did not take extreme views on the slavery question. Then he was regarded as a crazy man, because he insisted upon an army to hold Kentucky. Then the country became rapturonsly in love wita him, | because of the capture of Atlanta and the march to the sea. Then came another frenzy | ofanger and suspicion and intimations that he might sell out to Jefferson Davis, because he made a truce with Joseph E. Johnston on the basis of his conversations with Mr. Lincoln. When the war ended we came to look upon Sherman as an interesting, | slightly eccentric, brilliant man, who wrote well and made good speeches, with execu- tive qualities, and who, during the war, was the brilliant exponent of the sounder views of the wise and sitent Grant. Some in- terest bas been attracted to his opinions and | character by the belief that he has become soured with Washington, the Cabinet and for the Presidency on the conservative ticket. | He has had difficulties with the War Depart- | | ment, the &. etary of which was one of hi colonels in the Atlanta campaign. His retire- a desire to withdraw from the malarial social and political influences of Washington. All this time his fame has been growing. He has | not been made responsible for the misfor- tunes and errors of the administration. He has none of the burdens of politics. Party In the meantime the public opinion of foreign nations has been | throwing 1 new lustre upon his name. With | all of our independence of thought we are keenly alive to the judgment of other nations. | Since the war foreign critics have been steadily | | advancing hum to the first place in the roll of generals) His Atlanta campaign and his | ppeeaiers to the sea are regarded as among | the finest conceptions in modern military his- ry: The question has often heen asked, How | tar does the merit of these movements belong to General Sherman? Was the march to the sea his own conception or that of Grant? The opinion has been steadily fostered that General Grant conceived the daring plan of | swinging loose from Atlanta and marching to the that he gave his ideas to Gen- era! rman at Cincinnati, and that Sherman in time elaborated taem into the brilliant result which followed. In the adulation with which we are apt to surround success this | opinion has taken root, and the friends of Grant have sturdily contended that there was no ground for the extreme praise bestowed by coast 5 | foreigners upon Sherman; that the true | hono after all, belonged to the silent Ulysses. It is undoubtedly this opinion that has led General Sherman to print during his own life his memoirs of the war. In doing ws illustrious examples. Cmsar’s es on his wars are o military erick the Great wrote about his Napoleon dictated to Las Casas and Montholon military and political history of his life. General Scott reduced his experiences into a book, which has long since been forgotten. There have been a multi- tude of books on our war, controversial, nar- historical ; nda s0 he follo cla campaigns. the Tativ¥e, for we are a writin reading people. only one of the great generais of our war who has felt called upon to be his own historian, and in reading his work we cannot deny that he could not have done better. He writes in an irregular, at times careless and rushing, but, in most cases, a brilliant and clear style. Sherman's character stands out in every egen- and it is the chara of a man gentle, brave, firm and fr: has much to say about himself and other people and means to say it. His judgments of his colleagues and tagonists are frank He does not value Hooker's courage or genius. He thinks Logan and Blair were ‘pc nerals, brave enough, but fighting for ad- great merit to MeCiellan in not going iuto camp tence, nk, litical” van ‘Thor made and studying slow. a fatal mistake his army instead of remaining in the unhealthy 1} y of Washington. He Joseph E. Johnston, but actually Davis cape having coln’s a nation. His opinion severe and deci esteems thin planned Lin of Mr. Stanton is going 80 far os to intimate that he was o party to o fraud upon the Treasury by removing the marks from some captured cotton. The courage of ex- | | pressing these opinions now no one will aucs- Jefferson of ive, | capture of Savannah, were | to see that General Sherman feels that he, | such jobs, says :— | duct toward his associates on the Board of | oceasion to say:—‘‘In the hands of every one But General Sherman is the | tion, no matter what we may think of the wisdom. They will certainly lead to discus- sion and acrimony. No harm will result in the main forus. It is better, afterall, that the truth be known, General Sherman had much better say what he thinks now, when the men he criticises can answer bim, than to leave 1t for fifty years, until all the parties are dead and the truth beyond discovery. This work decides who planned the march to the sea, the capture of Savannah and the fall of Richmond. Incontestably the honor belongs to Sherman. When his mind was revolving around the idea Grant himself was really at a loss to know what to do with Sher- man’s army, and had some vague notion that it should raid around Georgia and find Hood Even when Sherman developed his plan Grant still thought he should first destroy Hood. But finally Sherman had his own way, and was allowed to plunge into Georgia, making for Savannah, and keeping in view the alternative of Pensacola. The capture of ‘Savannah was Sherman’s -idea. When his | army reached the seacoast Grant sent him orders to park his artillery and come with the main body of his troops to Richmond, leaving Savannah in the hands of the enemy. Evidently Grant did not even then wish to risk a blow at Lee until he had every man he could find. This Sherman op- posed, showing that the true way to attack Lee was to march along the" coast, and that the capture of Savannah would be a material blow at the rebellion, only second in value to the capture of Richmond. If, as military critics now generally concede, these two achievements, the march to the seaand the the most bril- liant achievements of the war, -the honor of conceiving them belongs to Sherman, and in awarding him that honor how can we deny him a large if not tbe largest share of the merit of capturing Richmond? General Sherman in his work expressly says that when he swung away from Atlanta his objective point was Richmond. In ad- vancing this claim now he presents a unique and most interesting question, Who captured Richmond and forced the surren- der of Lee? The honor and the credit have generally belonged to Grant, but it is easy too, largely if not decisively aided in that result, and that if he had not crushed the resources of the Confederacy by the march to the sea Lee might have been able to have escaped from Grantand made a long and irri- tating war in the cotton States, Comptroller Green Called to Order, Governor Tilden does not seem indisposed to administer a ‘rap over the knuckles to Comptroller Green in his Message on city charters. Mr. Green has had an impudent lobby force at Albeny all the session, intro- ducing and working through the Senate bill after bill, tinkering the city charter so as to give him power and patronage not belonging | to his office. The Governor, in alluding to | ‘At the present session | various propositions have been introduced | and others have been suggested for changing | the powers and patronage of the city govern- | ment. None of them have come before me for official action. No comprehensive or well considered system has been proposed. Hasty and partial changes by laws which, however plausible on their face, cannot be judged of except through an acquaintance with the whole mass of preceding legislation upon which they operate, aud likely to produce re- sults not foreseen by their authors, were not desirable.’ The Governor also gives Mr. Green an un- mistakable hint that his assaults upon other heads of departments and his abusive con- Apportionment are out of place. He alludes to the power to levy taxes, spend money and contract debt, invested by the charter in the hands of ‘the Mayor, Comptroller, Commis- sioner of Public Works and the President of the Department of Taxes." The Governor, no doubt, refers to the Board of Apporiion- ment, and erroneously piaces the Commis- sioner of Public Works on that Board instead of the President of the Board of Aldermen | But in mentioning these officials he takes the of the presen incumbents we have the satis- faction to believe that the interests of the people are perfectly secure.’ This is clearly | intended as a rebuke to Comptroller Green, and as a reminder to him that his associates on the Board are, in the opinion of the Gov- ernor, just as honest as Mr. Green himself and just as deserving of respect. We may, perhaps, attribute this quiet reproof of the action of the Comptroller to the influence of Mr. John Ketly azd other prominent Tam- many leaders, who have recently urged upon the Governor the necessity, in his own inter- est, of checking Mr. Green's insolence and insubordination. The State Census. Secretary Willers has written a letter, printed in our news columns, inviting the volunteer assistance ofecitizens in securing fulness and accuracy of the population re- | turns for this city in the census about to be | taken. The reason ot is the ire of the State Cenens law to provide a | sation for super office The only persons the S« te is autho- | rized to pay are nerators appointed | for each election district. If they should be | yeut or inefti t there is no iramedinte superior to hold them to the per- formance of their duty and insure thorough- this request crotary ness. The Secretary can appoint supervising agents, but has the disposal of no funds to poy them. He, theretore, offers to appoint suitable men of and Jeisure who may be willing to look atter and assist the | spirit and to serve stunding enumerators from put without compensation. vnity will approve of the but the difficnity lies in finding a sufficient number of volna- suggestion, the complaints and the State census of 1865 was assailed by the democratic party. “Depew's census,’ as it was called, was held up to wneasured scorn, Secretary Depew probably did the best be could with the imperfect machinery the law allowed him. Butas he happened to be a republican, and asthe returned population of the city fell | short of public expectation, it was fiercely charged that the census had been made | convention yesterday State, The decennial State census is the basis of apportionment for Senators and members of Assembly for the ensuing ten years, and if the population of the city is not fully returned there is a corresponding diminution of its representation in th» Legis- | lature. If this should happen in 1875, as it doubtless did in 1865, it eannot be ascribed to party motives, inasmuch as. Secretary Willers is a democrat. But it is quite pos- sible that this year’s census may be as im- perfect and unsatisfactory os that of ten years ago, and from precisely the same cause. It isto be hoped that Mr. Willers may be able to supplement the imperfection of the logal provision with the services of unpaid volunteer agents, so that the enumeration of the city may be, as far as practicable, com- plete. The Success of Corruption, We believe no citizen of New York outside of the insane asylum will doubt that the av- tion of the Legislature in Albany on the ques- tion of rapid transit was prompted by delib- erate corruption. We have been told ever since this question vas brought before the Legislature that the lobby had been organ- ized so strongly that rapid transit could not pass; that money had been sent to Albany by various combinations to de- feat any measure, or, if one should pass, te strangle it in the future by some hid- den clause that would make it unconstitu- tional, We have never underrated this dan- ger; but our hope was that the parties in | power—Governor Tilden, Mayor Wickham and Mr. Kelly—would by the force of their superior influence compel the Legislature, in spite of the lobby, to grant this needed reform. It now seems that the rail- road men are stronger than the democretic party. Rapid transit has been struck a fatal blow. There is a hope that it may still be saved, but we have little confidencs iu it. Men who should have done this must answer to the people for their vote. They must explain the reasons that led them to take upon themselves the responsibility of denying to New York the measure so absolutely neces- sary to its existence. ‘They come back to their constituents with every presumption in favor of their having criminally sold out the city of New York to corrupt and selfish interests. We do not say, because we do not know, that every man who voted against rapid transit re- ceived money for his vote, but it would bea safe thing for the people to regard them as having been openly purchased like cattle in the shambles until they prove the contrary. There can be no explanation of these votes upon any other theory than that of absolute and shameless corruption. Here was @ measure demanded by the general voice of the people; all the statistics went to show that for ten years New York had been receding in the march of metropolitan greatness, while the cities around it have been advancing with tenfold rapidity. It was shown that the future growth of New York had been diverted into other cities, and that from day to day we were driving out of our midst men who earn | | their money on these streets and who would be glad to spend ithere. We endeavored to show that the fear of the street railway corpo- | rations that the completion of a system of rapid transit would diminish their franchises | was based upon an error; to show that in | London and Varis, where there is a complete | railway system, the local traffic by omuibuses | and cabs was still a profitable and large busi- | ness, butallin vain. Rapid transit was post- | poned and neglected and ignored by the lead- ers of both parties, and finally, now, in the last days of the session, is strangled at the bidding of men who have no interest but their | own to serve and who care little for the | benefit of the people it they can make money | out of their mffortunes. | We repeat, therefore, that the defeat of | rapid transit is to stamp upon the brow of the men who voted against it the stigma of | corruption.» At the samo time we think that | the responsibility falls largely upon Gov- ernor Tilden and Mr. Kelly. We know that | the Mayor has written an earnest letter and | | | | | | | | | | has undoubtedly done his part. But the other | gentlemen held in their hands the democratic | party. They control its organization and they | had the power to compel the passage of a just | and wise measure of rapid transit. They have neglected their opportunity. Gov- ernor Tilden 1 been too anxious about the Presidency, and has been too deeply immersed in schemes of elaborate statesman- ship. Mr. Keily has been too much con- cerned with the petty quarrels about rings and | patronage, about the State Committee and the | organization of Tammany Hall. So the great | duty bas been forgotten, neglected and de- | stroyed. The two lessons we learn from it are that under our modern system of legislationin | Albany the will of the people is nothing in the presence of a lobby with one bundred | thousand dollars in its pocket, and the demo- cratic party, which came into power with so many assurances of reform, is helpless to attain any measure of genera! welfare and is simply what it was in tho past, a machine in the hands of selfish and trading liticians, Wovurp Ir Not Be Wei. for District At- torney Bayley, of Albany, to investigate be- fore the Grand Jury the truth of the reports in | cireulation at Aibany to the effect that owners of certain railway interests have taken their own way of defeating rapid transit in New York? A Conrrsporpent, who evidently has some information which he is not willing to divulge at present, asks us if we know whether any member of the Senate or Assembly, or | any partner or relative of such member has | been retained or employed as attorney or | counsel for any railroad interest this winter, and if so, whether such member has voted for or against rapid transit in the Legislature? We have no information, but ask the ques- tion, and we really wish it were in our power | to answer it. 1 Socrmty held a triennial in Delmonico’s, under the presidency of Hamilton Fish, This so- ciety is ninety-two years old and is composed of lineal descendants of the officers of the Revotution, We do not know whether the descendants of the common soldiers are ad mitted. The society is a pleasant remem. | brance of the Revolution. Tax Crxcix Senators and Assemblymen in Albany | should remember that rapid transit is de- manded by the people. How much bttter | | Not even the single merit of profound sensa- | in | ghost. | on the other side of | a snecinct presentation of the grounds for be- | ¥ in Stata Quo. Very few compensations are connected with this slow moving and sliny trial in Brooklyn. It has grown to be tedious and unprofitable. tionalisin is left, and its wearying length has surfeited the public appetite {or that peculiar kind of news. Even the admirers of the two contestants—those of the Apollo, who sees his hundred thousand dollars’ damages retreating to a dim distance from which it is hardly visible to the naked eye, and those of the jocose Jove, who seems to be able to throw a smile into the very grave of a vast reputation— are turning away from the heaped and daily dish of scandal with something like disgust. The general interest in the matter has per- ceptibly waned withia the last few weeks. Of course everybody wanted to take a single look atthe distinguished dead to find out whether the features were those of Tilron or Beecher; but the truth is the weather is getting warm and it will be just as well to have the funeral at as early an hour as can be made convenient. ‘This great trial has been chiefly remarkable as a series of surprises and disappointments, and if the jury should happen to disagree at the end of the conflict we mignt not be exactly surprised, becanse we have been taught in the progress of affairs that we should be sur- prised at nothing; but our disappointment would reach o climax. If tho trial shall thoroughly vindicate the honor of either party, and put his innocence beyond a per- adventure, it will, perhaps, compensate for the subtle and far-reaching demoralization it has caused. But if it results in Tilton’s swearing that Beecher did and Beecher’s swearing that he didn’t, then we are and have been wa'king knee-deep in moral filth for no purpose whatever, First, we were disappointed in Tilton’s revelations. He hed thrown out so many dark hints, had shaken his head so wisely, as though he would say, ‘I could or I would,” and had pledged himself so many times to tell secrets horrifie enough to cause each particular hair on the universal American cranium to stand on end, that we rather ex- pected when he took the stand to hear from his parched lips of deeds and purposes bloody enough to eclipse the sun and send every hen on the Continent to its roost, under the im- pression that night had come. But from the moment when he swore to tell the whole truth, he was taken with ao kind of apolepsy, and ouly reaffirmed the identical story which had been given us in abridged and unabridged editions again and again. Then came Moulton, who has immortalized friendship. He has made us all feel that it is very desirable to have a third party securely hidden in some unexpected corner, whose business shall be to listen to odd bits of con- versation, to take note of any kisses that may be given, and to keep a sharp lookout as to their facial topography—that is, whether they are bestowed on lips or forehead. We were sure that he would sound the depths of the marsh, We were on the very tiptoe of excitement, certain that the walls of Jericho would tumble when he spoke. Day after day passed, but the truth—tbat will o’ the wisp, that ariful dodger—was us far off as ever. We were as close to it as Macbeth was to the fabled dag. | ger. We cried in vain, ‘Come, let me clutch thee !"’ and were compelled to soliloqnize, “I have thee nol, and yet I see thee still.”’ The third and great disappointment occur- red when Mr. Beecher himselt took the stand. All sorts of rumors were afloat abont him. Some thought he would borrow the mutual triend’s pistol and end the tragedy with a first | class funeral; others believed that the mys- terious package of poison which lay un- touched on his study table would be called into requisition ; others still watched the flush his cheek and whispered under their breath, apoplexy. Mr. Beecher, however, re- sorted to none of these expedients. When his name was cailed he came to the witness | stand with a bland smile, as though he had | done nothing worse all his life than preach | funny sermons. He e the lie direct to the acensations of the prosecution, and fairly took our breath a t the jocose and pleas- | ant way in which he disposed of the gravest | charges. And yet he settled nothing, neither did be bring to the subjecta single new ray of light. The fourth disappointment has been the | powerlessness of a severe cross-cxamination | to elicit the truth. That there is the most | fearful amount of lying somewhere no one will be bold enough to deny. No ordinary, incon- spicuous lies have been told. They are to the level plain of our common life about what ] the Himalayas are among mountains, They are snow-capped with the sublimity of audac- ity, and yet they have been so well learned that ali the skill of the most acute lawyers has not been able to uncover them to public view. Witnesses have been caught and trapped in slight discrepancies, but no one has been fairly enmeshed and compelled to give up the This is pity. It would have } added very materially to the dramatic effect of the trial if some witness had been turned inside out, like an old glove ; but that delight | has been denied us. And now we wait impatiently for the end. We are, however, lke a traveller on an old- fashioned country road. He expects at every | turn to catch a glimpse of the inn, but, alas! | only sees the same dusty highway stretching | its lazy length in the distance. And yet we have a single ray of hope. It is based on the | law of contraries. 8: we have been dis- | appointed all along, it is just possible that ther trial may end xpectedly, and so the last ge aaa shall be be!ter than the first, The Mecklenburg Controversy. We print this morning two new North | Carolina letters—one from ex-Governor | Vance, maintaining the authenticity of the declaration of May 20; the other a second and supplementary argument of Mr. Daniel R. Goodloe, # di uished citizen of that State, the qnestion. Ex-Goy- r Vance merely states his points withont but his letter is valuable as ern argu sg them; lieving that there was an actual declaration of | independence at Charlotte May 20, 1875. We have no doubt that this is the fixed belief of a | majority of the people of North Carolina—a belief that has been transmitted from sire to son for a hundred years, and is so entwined with the patriotic sentiment and pride of the | State that adverse argument is not likely to purposely inexact in order to diminish the | the love of the people than the gold of the | eradicate it. volitical weight of thie democratic nart af the lobby ! Mr. Goodloe, though his second letter is | reasons. Oe eeenns Aenean a: i vot long, goes more into specific facts an@ details with a view to refute the hypothesis that a declaration of independence might have been made on the 20th and its im- mediate publication suppressed for prudential Mr. Goodloe’s arguments seem strong on their face, but they do not meet all the difficulties, How did it happen that many different persons who were present at the meeting and witnessed the procecdings, but were subsequently scattered to differen( parts of the State and into other States, testi fied positively many years afterward to the fact that the paper then produced was 4 declaration of independence, if it was not so in fact? How did it happen that they, one and all, without any concert or communica tion with one another, gave the 20th of May, if that was not the true date? According te Dr. Hawks, they made these statements under oath. Ho says, “No less than seven witnesses of most unexceptionable character swear pos itively that there was a meeting of the people of Mecktenburg at Charlotte on the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775; that certain resolw tions distinctly declaring independence of Great Britain were then and there prepared by a committee, read publicly to the people by Colonel Thomas Polk and adopted by acclamation. These seven swear positively to the date, the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775. In addition, seven others, equally above suspicion, swear that they were present at precisely such a meeting as that deseribed above.’’ There is another difficulty which requires explanation. The undisputed resolutions of May 31 make no allusion to the battle of Lexington, which seems unaccount- able if we discredit the previous meeting on the 20th. An event which so electrified and in- consed the country would hardly have been omitted from a series of resolutions adopted ata public meeting when the news of it was so fresh, unless the people had expressed their sentiments respecting if on a previous oc- casion. The resolutions purporting to be of the 20th do express in becoming terms the public sense of indignation at the “inhuman shedding of the blood of American patriots at Lexington.’’ The absence of all allusion to Lexington in the resolutions of May 31 is easily accounted for if there had been a meet- ing on the 19th and 20th, during which the messenger arrived who brought intelligence of the battle. As we have repeatedly said before, we prefer to express no decided judgment on the ques- tion of these rival dates until the discussion shall have run its course. Itis no deviation from this purpose to indicate points on one side or the other which we would like to see more fully handled by the historical critics, Thore is a host of them in reserve, some of great distinction and ability, whose communi- cations we have preterred to hold until a(ter the North Carolina disputants heve had a full hearing. Writers who are without any local bias derived from residence ur association may be expected to approach the question in amore judicial temper, and the final summing up will come appropriately from able histori- | cal inquirers outside the State. Acconpinc To Josepuus it was the law of the Jews and Egyptians that whoever without | sufficient cause was found with a morta! -poison in his custody was compelled to swa= low it. Let the legislators who have defeatd rapid transit be forced to swallow the railrad gold which has corrupted them. Ovr New York policemen do not seen. ine clined to look after the Horseshoe mu:deror unless there should be some moneyin it. The police are good business men, and do not waste their time over trifles. Riussta bas made another gain im terrilery, this time from Japan. The Japanese inve ceded the Czar a portion of the islanc of Saghalien, The two Powers which seem te march steadily on in the path of empire md territorial acquisition are Russia and England, PERSONAL I NTELLIGENCE, It was a mild winter in Iceland. Vice President Wilson left Littic Rock yesterday afternoon for St. Louls. Professor Marsh has really made @ ratting among those dry bones. Rey. John PF. W. Ware, of Boston, is sojourning at the Grand Central Hotel. guage L. Q. C. Eimer, of New Jersey, is staying at the Westmoreland Horel, Mr. John La Farge, the artist, is among the laté arrivals at the Everett House, Colonel John D, Kartz, United States Army, & quartered at the Hofman House. Professor L. EH. Atwater, of Princeton College, is registered at the Evere.t House, Senator Justin §, Morrill, of Vermont, arrived last evening at the Filth Avenue Hotel. Rear Admiral Henry K. Thatcher, United States Navy, bas apartments at the Windsor Hotel. Professors William P. Blake and Jonn F. Weir, of Yale Coliege, are stopping at the Atbemarie Hote’. Captain Charles B. Phillips, of the Engineer | Corps, United States Artay, is at the Metropolitam Hotel. United States District Jadge Jonn T. Nixon, of New Jersey, is residing temporarily at the Everett House. Commander L. A. Beardslee, United States vy, Nas taken up his quarters at the Gilsey House. Chaplain James J. Kane, of the United States Navy, satled for Europe yesterday in phe Scotia, on | sick leave. ‘The state of Antigua, Central America, offers am asylum to all Sisters of Mercy who may be expelled from other countries. Judge Joseph P. Bradley, United States Supreme | conrt, arrived at the Grand National Jiotel, Jack: sonville, F.a., om the oth inst. Congressman William D, Kelley, of Philadelphia, arrived in this city last evening, and took up hir residence at the Everett House. Since Serjeant Ballantyne went to India to de- fend the Guicowar the native scholars have noted the existence in the Sanscrit of the word “Ballan- tine,” which there signides “a person of mighty strength.” AS they continae 10 want a hermit at Notre Dame de Pene, tu France, it may be worth reflec- tion on the partof Henry Ward whether or no that would not be a good place to go to in case the result of the trial displeases him. General Schofield is said te have bagged $120,000 on the Big Bonanza. Giad ol it. Me would make about as good @ President as we ever hoc, and, if tke onanza story is true, he would not ba tempted to sell out by accepting gilts, France, Austria, Italy, Belgium and Denmark are ail ja the same boat with regard to Pr ry Each ope has @ quarrel against her, and each one good reason to apprelend the continuance of Prossian supremacy im Europe. Untied these Powers can whip Prussia even with Russia bee hind her. Mra. Jane Gray Seaver, a beautifal widow of this city, pot unknown to literary fame, was re- cently married at All Souls’ Church, Langiom place, London, to Edward A, Crane, editor of the American Register, Paris. The vride wes given away by Colonel Hoffman, and the Americau colony was there to sce,