The New York Herald Newspaper, April 15, 1876, Page 4

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR 7 THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per month, free of postage. a All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New lore Henavp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. i Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Lait PHILADELPHIA OF FICE—NO. 11250UTH SIXTH STREET. “LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD NO. 46 FLEET STREET, PARIS OFFICE—-AVENUE DE L'OPERA. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms AMUSEMENTS THIS APTERNOON AND. EVENING. BOWERY THEATRE, SGUNMAKER OF MOSCOW, ath P, M. THIRTY-FOURTH STREET OPERA HOUSE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M, Matinee nt2 P.M. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE. PIQUE, at © ¥. M. Fannie Davenport. Matinee at 1:30 GLOBE THEATRE. VARIETY, at SP. M. Matinee at 2). M. SA FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, at SP. M. Matinee at 2 GERMANIA THEATRE, DIE KARLSSOHUELER, at 8 P.M. | WwooD's IDE AWAKE, m8 P.M. SEBUM. jeorze France. Matinee at 2 LYCEUM THEATRE. BLACK-EYED SUSAN, at 8 P.M. Minnie Palmer. Mat- ines at 2 P.M. THEATRE VARIETY, at 8 P.M. M WALLA’ THEATRE. TWINS, at 8 P.M. Lester Wallack. Matineo at 1:90 P.M. | BOOTHS THEATRE. BENRY V., at 8 P.M. George Kicnold, Matinee at 1:30P. M. BROOKLYN THEATRE. THE MIGHTY DOLLAR, at 8 P.M. Mr. and Mra W. J. Florence. Matinee at 2: M. TONY PASTOR'S VARIETY, at 8 P. M. NEW THEATRE. JNION SQUARE THEATRE. FERREOL, at 8 P.M, G.I. Thorno, Jr. Matinee at 2 P.M EAGLE THEATRE, VARIETY, st SP. M. d.atinee at 2 P. M. PARK THEATRE. BRASS, at 6 P.M. George Fawcott Rows. Matinee ot 2 CHATEAU atSP.M. Matinee a M BILLE VARIETIES, CHICKERING HALL. | GORIEE CONCERT. New York Quartet. ACADEMY OF DESIGN, EXHIBITION OF PAINT PARISIA} SP. M. “FEW yonK, saTURDA p j IETIES, at2a our this morn ing the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cooler and clearing, Noticz to Country NxwspEacers,—For pt and regular delivery of the Hznap iM Jast mail trains orders must be sent direct to this office. Postage free. Apvenrtisrnrs would confer a favor upon us and benefit themselves by sending advertise- ments intended for the Sunday edition of the Henaxp at the earliest possible hour to- day. Proper correction and classification are impossible if our patrons fail to consult their own interest and ours by sending in their advertisements early. Sremnsencer’s Trovpres are not clearly defined, according to the reports so far re- ceived. The world is waiting for the truth in this matter, and in the interval the fate of Samoa hangs in the balance. Tue Lenten Szason closes to-day, and to- morrow ushers in the joyous festival of the Resurrection. Imposing preparations are making in the churches for the celebration of the joyful event. i An, tHe Reports tend to confirm the theory that Russia is encouraging Servian rebellion and promising the Servians protec- tion against Austria. If this is true it will not be long before the Eastern question will be again submitted to the arbitrament of arms, Snvez.—The Sub-Treasury in this city is getting ready to exchange silver for ‘‘stamps” as soon as the bill which has passed both Houses of Congress becomes a law. It will doubtless be a pleasure to many people to hear the old time silver pieces jingling in their pockets once more. Tue Suan or Pensta seems to have learned aomething from his visit to Europe, and itis now reported that he is undertaking an ag- gressive war to anticipate what Mr. Sumner would have called the annexation policy of Russia. This isa very bold thing for Per- sia, but it is not likely that it will stop Rus- sian aggression in Central Asia. New Yorx Crrx has suffered for many years from the inequalitics of State taxation, but no combined effort was ever made to correct the evils of which we have justly complained. Now, however, the Union League Club have taken the matter up, and we print this morning their memorials to the Legislature citing the numerous instances of unequal distribution and asking for this city a representative on the Board of State Assessors, We trust the Legislature will concede to the metropolis a right which is too plain to be gainsai Tr Is aw Avsprctous Crncuststance that the Brazilian corvette Nietheroy, which is to represent tho Empire at tho Centennial, should arrive at this port just a day before | the expected coming of the Emperor. This morning the party which is to receive His Majesty will go down tho Bay to await the arrival of the Hevelius, and it is possible that before night Dom Pedro II. will be among the forty millions of sovereigns who | rule the United States. Wo trust that his visit will be an agreeable one, and one thing is certain—he will find here more kings than it was ever his fortune to meet before, Tux Hartiax Revowtiox makes some | Fighting seems to be going on sll over the island, and Jacmeb is threatened with bombardment, Some years ago two hostile batteries at that place, equipped with | s gun cach, kept firing at one another for without anybody being hit. A | | itself. on one of the steamers which touch at that port secing the fruitless en- combatants went ashore, the guns, and, we believe, te only shot which took je. A like lucky cire NEW YORK HERALD. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1876.—WITE SUPPLEMENT. Free People and Their Governments— The Uprising in Chicago. The people of Chicago seem to be under- going an experience like our own with the Tweed-Tammany régime. The latest news- papers from Chicago bristle with reports of @ monster mass meeting held on Tuesday evening. According to the always accurate and conservative Chicago Tribune this meet- ing numbered forty thousand persons. It was composed of men of all parties, or rather citizens without distinction of party, united in a war upon corruption and misgovern- ment. The republican Tribune and the demo- cratic Times seem to vie with one another as to which will make the severest war upon the rings. Chicago, it seems, has fallen into the hands of “corrupt ring,” so organized as to perpetuate its power from year to year. This combination, like the infamous Tweed- Sweeny-Connolly cabal, ignores the pub- lic welfare and barters its votes to individuals and corporations, Its lead- ers seem to have learned the lesson of Tweed ; for, according to the resolutions passed at this meeting, they encourage job- bing at the city's expense, share spoils with contractors, farm out offices to friends and favorites, outrage the ballot and make the government disgraceful and corrupt. To satisfy the ravenous and ever increasing de- mands of these rulers taxation has been increased until it has become ‘‘a synonym for confiscation.” Worse than all, they tam- per with the financial credit of the city, which hitherto has stood high, by issuing “gertificates of indebtedness of doubtful legality.” All of this falls witha peculiar severity upon Chicago, as the inhabitants of | that devoted town, ‘while struggling to recover or lessen their losses by the fire and the panic, have been plundered through the forms of law.” In the presence of this deplorable condition of affairs the honest citizens, “irrespective of patty, nationality or condition,” form a league, pledging them- selves to “bury and forget all party distine- tions and to act as one man for emancipation from the thraldom of official corruption and misrule, and for the restoration of a pure and honest administration of municipal aftairs.” There is nothing so ennobling, nothing which shows so unmistakably the value of freedom in a government, as an uprising like this in Chicago. It shows that when- ever the voice of the people finds expression itis in favor of purity and economy. It shows that there can never be in any of our American communities such a deadening of the public sense as to permit these crimes against the Commonwealth to be in the small est degree condoned. It is the merit of our people that they are patient and slow to anger with their public servants. They do not hastily accept stories of universal corrup- tion. Newspaper license is one thing, pub- lic opinion another, and public opinion can read between the lines of the press. In New York our people hesitated long before they dealt with Tweed and Sweeny as dis- honest men. The people were accustomed to the torrents of defamation which ran from every hustings. As a consequence they were patient with Tweed—patient to a degree surprising to us now, as we look over the past seven years. But we must remember that seven years ago we knew nothing against the Tammany Ring. We did not know how deep into the system the poilut- ing disease had permeated. We did not | know that justice was bought and sold, that judges sat on the bench by degrading tenures and concessions, that even robbery had lost its caution as well as its shame. We did not know of Garvey and his thefts, of Ingersoll’'s robberies, of the transactions of the God- fearing Keyser. We did not know that ‘Tweed was squandering millions upon favor- ites and followers, that Connolly and Sweeny were putting away thillions as a prepa- ration for flight. When the truth came in tangible shape, when the evidence was made so clear that nothing remained for the pecu- lators but confession, defiance or exile, then New York arose as one man. Some of us perhaps will carry the recollec- tions of the present into the next century, but no tale of fury or courage or majestic expression of the people's will can compare with the uprising of New York against Tam- many. The courts -were against the people until one intrepid judge joined them. All the patronage of the government, all the power of the party, all the money in the Treasury and the right to create as much money as was needed—all of this, and more, were arrayed against the people. But they won, as they will win in Chicago. It would be a sad day for democracy if they failed. As we have said, we are convinced that the friends of reform will win in Chicago. It is not in the nature of things that they should lose. We read with pain, but we are sorry to say without astonishment, the prop- ositions in some newspapers and in certain speeches at the meeting to give power to a mob, to have committees of ‘‘vigilanco” and ‘public safety.” These are names of evil omen. Committees of public safety recall the times of the French Revolu- tion, when the guillotine superseded the ballot box and when Terror reigned in the place of Justice. Vigilance committees re- mind us of what was done twenty years ago in San Francisco. Bnt that chapter in the history of the California metropolis in no e We can understand take up arms and become a law to We can understand how even conser- vative Naw York might have taken the Tam- many thieves by the throat and strangled them. But the lawfal way was the just way. New York, plundered as she was, is moro respected to-day because of the patience and forbearance aswell as the courage she dis- played in her war upon the Ring. What was done was through the forms of law ; and the night, ‘1esson of the rise and fall of Tammany is that if in the beginning we were complaisant enough to permit men like Tweed to gain power, in the end we did not seruple to destroy them. We cannot too earnestly urge this upon our friends in Chi- cago. Their victory, to be enduring and honorable, must be stainless. One Com- mune revolution in Paris did more to harm republican government and deaden the con- fidence of society in the people's capacity for self-rule than could have been done sens@ does it honor. how incensed community could rise in a | Chicago would do the credit of the city more injury than the operations of a dozen rings. The value of our victory over Tammany was that it was the triumph of truth over crime, of law and order over jobbery and revolu- tion. Therefore our whole heart goes out to Chicago in the noble work her people are doing. Above all we rejoice in the attitude of her independent newspapers. In those higher essentials of journalism, courage and integrity, Chicago may well rejoice in her press. And why, to broaden the theme, why would it not be well for those in the highest stations, for rulers like Grant, to listen well to the voice of the people as expressed and to anticipate a summons that may soon be addressed to them? So faras this adminis- tration is concerned the people are rapidly becoming as angry as the citizens of Chicago with their rulers, The revelations of Bel- knap's crimes, the gathering clouds that darken the Navy Department, the dis- honor of Delano and Williams and Babeock, the influence of a crony like Shepherd and a brother like Orville over the President, the want of tone in the administration, the degradation of the Senate, ambassadors selling worthless min- ing shares to women and children in Eng- land, the treatment of the Indians and the soldiers, the mania for jobbery, petit lar- ceny and defiance of law which spreads through all departments—all of this pro- foundly affects the country, and we may see such an uprising as was seen in New York five years ago and as is seenin Chicago to-day. We hear the signs from all quar- ters. While we are a patient people we are capable of terrible anger. This anger is fostered by a President who has no respect for public opinion, who protects every scamp and vagabond until the constable carries them into court, who even makes a merit of doing these things, as a duty he owes to “friends under fire.” Well would it be for the Presi- dent, well for his fame and for the country’s peace, if he would rise to the dignity of com- prehending the popular mind. Let him an- ticipate the wish m the heart of every true American—the wish that he would purify his administration, elevate the party and give us peace; for we are not at peace. The storm of war has given place to the plague of corruption, The President did much to allay the one; he cando much to remove the other. Let him listen to Chicago and be wise while it is time, wise before it is too late, not alone for his own fame, but for the discipline of his party and the honor of the Republic, Mr. Stewart's Will. Scarcely any feature in the news of the day will bs scanned with moro eager inter- est and curiosity than the column which gives the last will and testament of the rich- est me:chant ever yet known in the history of our city, or perhaps in the history of any other city. It is, indeed, a subject some- what attractive to the speculative fancy, how a man of recognized inte‘ligenc>, of great methodical habits, with a disposition judiciously charitable, and without heirs in the ordinary sense, is likely to dispose of twenty millions of doll:rs—a wealth almost fabulous, even as fortunes go. But if the speculation was widely indulged the answer comes early, and it will disappoint the many friends of Mr. Stewart as well as the pub- lic, in so far as it practically does not make that disposition of his property which by his will he declares he wishes to have made. For the first time he appears in the light of one who hesitated till the opportu ity was gone. He dreamed over magnificent schemes for the benefit of the city—public charities doubtless of a very practical nature—but he could not decide, and life passed away ere he could determine how to act or decide which of many schemes was most to his satisfaction. The loss of his ideas on this subject, if they are lost, is no small concern ; for the man whose judgment and perception of details organized that human hive of a shop in which this great fortune was made was above all others the man who might have conceived and planned a public charity that would have been a benefit to the needy rather than an encouragement to the idle, and where the poor would not have been defrauded by the expenses of the organization. But all that grand opportunity, all the luxury of doing good onascale not often afforded, is be- queathed to the millionnaire’s wife asa holy duty, with his whole fortune as the means to carry out his wishes. In so far as the will is definite it shows the nature of the man. He remembers handsomely the friends of his early youth and repays amply the hospi- tality extended to him in early life, and to his constant friend and adviser, Judge Hil- ton, he is more magnificent than princes ever are. Few men get legacies of a million dollars, even with prospective services in view. Some thirty persons get legacies of from five to twenty thousand dollars, and the legacies directed to persons in his em- ploy will certainly exhaust over a hundred thousand dollars, and it may even run toa quarter of a million. Insanity and Divorce. It seems to have been decided in Kentucky that aman may legally have two wives in that State; for it was held by Chancellor Bruce, in the Newcomb case, that at the time of the death of H. D. Newcomb, in 1874, Mrs, | Cornelia W. Newcomb was his wife and | entitled as such toa right of dower in his estate, and that Mary C. Smith or Newcomb was also his wife as far as was necessary to secure the legitimacy of her children, of which Newcomb was the father. Mrs, New- | comb the first became hopelessly insane in 1852 and is insane now. Many years after his wife becameinsane—nearly twenty years, apparently—Mr. Newcomb obtained a divorce {and marred again. Insanity was a ground of divorce by statute in Kentucky at the time; but a statute would hardly seem to be necessary in such a case, inasmuch as in- ground for divorce under the laws of every civilized country. By Neweomb's will the nsane wife was well provided for and a large csiate was left to the second wife and her | children, But a son of the first wife, on the | ground that the divorce was irregular, has | ] had the will set aside, and thus the insane is about the only thing which | by a dozen empires, with a Napoleon at the | woman, whose only heir he is, secures tho wer Paine the present revotatica toa close head of each. Ono vigilance committee in | dower—about half a million dollars, For that sum this Kentucky gentleman assails his father’s reputation and besmirches the name of his younger half-brothers and sisters. But this decision—that involves the posses- sion of two wives by one man anda man’s incapacity to obtain divorce for insanity— looks very like a decision destined to be set aside. President Grant and the Succession. The opinion that the President favors the | nomination of Senator Conkling is supported by evidence which has appeared in the Washington correspondence of leading newspapers in all parts of the country, and is confirmed by strong intrinsic probabil- ities. Supposing him to have a choice it would be more likely tu fall on Mr. Conk- ling than any other republican statesman. President Grant is influenced more than most men by his personal attachments, and no other friend has stood so faithfully by his side and defended him with so much courage and ability as Senator Conkling. The President, notwithstanding his imperturbable demeanor, is keenly sensitive to assaults on his character, as he virtually acknowledged in those almost passionate sentences of his second inaugural address, in which he spoke of the abuse which had been heaped upon him and alluded to his re-election as a vin- dication. He naturally feels more gratitude to Mr. Conkling than to Mr. Washburne, not 80 much because Mr. Conkling’s services are recent as because they were rendered under more difficult circumstances. From the time General Grant began to mako his mark in the army until his election as President he was the most popular man in the country, and Mr. Washburne hazarded nothing by supporting him. Mr. Conkling, on the other hand, has not been a fair weather friend, but has stood by the Presi- dent through all the pelting of political storms, and has never flinched. Besides, he is more able and straightforward, as well as more steadfast, than any other supporter of the administration. President Grant's prefer- ence therefore accords with the fitness of things and is no enigma. It is perfectly natural that the President should have a decided choice as to who shall succeed him. This desire may not be quite so strong as it is in hereditary governments, where ties of blood come into play, but still it is a strong motive with our American Presidents. Jefferson virtually designated Madison as his successor; Madison desig- nated Monroe; Jackson designated Van Buren; Buchanan actively supported Breck- inridge, who was nominated but not elected; and if Polk and Pierce had no influence on the succession it was because they were too feeble to cherish this kind of ambi- tion. Harrison, Taylor and Lincoln, who died in office, had no opportunity to express such preferences, and Monroe and John Quincy Adams relinquished all power of the kind by tolerating in their Cabinets several men who were actively intriguing for the succession, None of our réally strong Presidents has kept aspirants in his Cabinet except in those instances where they have fixed upon one asa successor, and in such instances they never permitted their favorite to have a rival in the Cabinet. The famous breaking up of President Jackson’s first Cabinet, in 1831, was forced by him because it contained two or three covert supporters of Mr. Calhoun, and he in- sisted that on the question of the succession the Cabinet should be a ‘‘unit.”. Two mem- bers anticipated his wishes and resigned voluntarily, and three others were forced out, the President writing them letters prais- ing their official conduct, but insisting on the necessity of complete harmony among his counsellors. President Lincoln, in like manner, forced Secretary Chase to resign when he found that Chase was aiming to be his successor, and Mr. Seward once ex- plained that he made his position secure by utterly renouncing all Presidential ambition and making his purpose known to Mr. Lin- coln. President Grant has great examples enoughto keep him in countenance if he should dissolve his Cabinet for the same reasons on which Jackson acted in dissolving his and on which Lincoln acted in getting sanity of twenty years’ duration is a good | rid of Chase. President Grant will be thwarted in his attempts to give the Cincinnati nomination to Senator Conkling so long as he keeps at least three men in his Cabinet who are can- didates themselves or are industriously favor- ing one of Mr. Conkling’s rivals. If this idea has not already occurred to the President it will be suggested to him by Senator Cameron, now that the two are understood to beactingin concert. The political shrewdness and dexterity of Mr. Cameron will be a great assistance to the President in so shaping the canvass to promote the chances of Senator Conkling. The first thing to be done is to make the Cabinet what President Jackson insisted that his should-be—a ‘‘unit.” Sec- retary Fish, a wise, cautious, politic man, who knows how to wait and when to act, is likely to loom up as a candidate, and a strong one if he remains in the Cabinet. Secretary Bristow has long been an avowed candidate, and he is actively at work in his own interest with the immense patronage of his department. Postmaster General Jewell has not been much talked of as a candidate, but if he has entered into a league with Mr. Blaine he will be a powerful and effective co- worker by means of the vastly ramified postal service, which comes in more imme- diate contact with the whole body | of the people than any other branch of | the officeholding interest. ‘there is not a city, village or township in the United States where Mr. Jewell has not an agent in the local Postmaster, and if the President leaves this huge network of influence, which is spread over the whole country, in hostile hands, he will be frustrated in all his at- tempts to strongthen Mr. Conkling. Nobody should be gurprised if we witness a dissolu- tion of the Cabinet within the ensuing two weeks. Ir tue Atronsist Government succeeds | in placing the Basque provinces on the same | footing as the rest of Spain, allowing them | to retain only their democratic municipal | organization, it will be an achievement which will do much to strengthen the young | King’s throne; but failure will be the first | step toward revolution. Let us hope, forthe sake of peace in the future, that success is to crown the effort, | servience to the will of one man and Wall Street Sales in Court. With all that is said year in and year out on the subject of Wall street gambling and of the knavery that is popularly supposed to be the great attribute of all men in that centre of financial activity, it is remarkable how seldom, on the whole, the bargains made there come into court; how seldom the losers compel a resort to thé law by their re- fusal to pay. Yet, as now decided, all the bargains of Wall street rest strictly on the honor of the men who make them. Except as to those inconsiderable transactions in which brokers purchase for their customers “on a margin,” losers in ‘Wall street are under no other obligation to pay than that of regard for their credit, their standing among their fellows, their pride—in short, their honor. Millions in value are bought and sold, hour by hour, and one man gives, another a loose memorandum of the trans- action—a paper without legal value—yet scarcely any one shirks his responsibility. Fortunes are lost in a moment; ruin im- pends and may be averted by the mere re- pudiation of the memorandum; yet it is the rarest of facts for such a repudiation to bring the parties into court. In the case of Taylor against Jay Gould, Taylor is non- suited on the ground substantially that his contract has the defect common to Wall street contracts—that it did not meet the re- quirements of the law and is therefore void. It was doubtless thought that the Court might contemplate this case from that gen- eral standpoint of the law of contract which takes into consideration the usages peculiar to certain trades. In Wall street, for in- stance, where five minutes may be worth a million, the economy of time has been pushed to the utmost conceivable point. Should men stop to put in superfluous words, or to sign their names, they would lose great opportunities ; and as mén reduce the form of their papers under a pressure like this they push to an extreme degree their views as to what words are superfluous or may safely be dispensed with. They eventually, therefore, leave out what is necessary to make their memoranda legal contracts ; but as it is done by consent and for mutual con- venience no one takes advantage of the pos- sibilities till there comes some person quite unlike other men in his views of honorable obligation. In the theories of the common law this view of the usages of Wall street would be of some value in the enforcement of such a contract, but the statute bars the way to its application in our courts. The words of the statute are :—‘Every contract for the sale of any goods, chattels or things in action, for the price of fifty dollars or more, shall be void unless a note or memo- randum of such contract be made in writing, and be subscribed by the parties to be charged thereby.” In every sale where part of the money is not paid down, or part of the goods are not delivered, a memorandum meeting this description must be méde, or the courts will not recognize the transac- tion. It is doubtful, however, whether Wall street will change its habits, or whether it will go on as usual, and simply ignore a difficulty that can only arise on exceptional occasions. Monkey Tricks on Fourteenth Street. We copy from the official organ of Mr. Kelly, the Tammany boss; the following poetical announcement :— OCIETY OF TAMMANY OR COLUMBIAN OR- der. —Brothers—Tho annual meeting of the Insti- tution will be held in the Council Chamber of the great Wigwam on MONDAY, the 17th instant, at half an hour after the sctting of tho sun, General and punc- tual attendance is requested. By order of AUGUSTUS SCHELL, Grand Sachem. Joxt 0. StavENs, Secretary. Manhattan Season of Blossoms, Fourth Moon; Yoar of Discovery, 384th; of Independence, 100th, and of the Institution tho 87th. The meaning of this notice is that the members of the dark lantern Know Nothing lodge which now controls the democratic party in this city will meet at the Tammany “Wigwam” and elect officers for the ensuing year. The “Wigwam” is a hall on Four- teenth street. The officers are known as “sachems,” ‘wiskinskies” and ‘‘sagamores.” They will ‘smoke the pipe of peace” and have ‘‘council fires” snd indulge in many fandangoes. Whether they will yell and jump and brandish tomahawks and whoop we do not know, but we take it for granted that, as true Indians, they will go through the ceremony. It is to be regretted that this ceremony is not in public. The suc- cess of Moody and Sankey would be slight, indeed, compared with what would occur if it were only known that Mr. Schell, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Kelly, Mayor Wickham and their colleagues were to appear as Indians and give an exhibition of their tricks and games. What would be more at- tractive than our handsome Mayor going through an Indian ‘‘walk around” and swinging the threatening tomahawk? How enjoyable world be a speech from Mr. Schell on ‘The Season of Blossoms” and the fourth moon! This would be harmless if the meeting did not go beyond these monkey tricks. There is no reason why the members of the Colum- bian Order should not meet in a dark lodge room and call themselves Indians or snakes. or grasshoppers or whatever they please, There are minds who find a stimulus m these harmless amusements, and we do not grudge them their fun. If it were only a little nonsense no one would care. Under this mask of Indian talk about “‘mvons” and | “blossoms” there is hidden a desper- ate political ring, whose motives are to keep the democratic party in sub- an oligarchy of men who have no aim but their own advancement. Tammany Hall is under the absolute control of the men who will go skipping and whooping around this lodge room on next. Monday evening, These “gachems” who are to be elected have a con- trol that makes any independent expression of democratic opinion impossible so long as they are in power. By their aid the Young Democracy were defeated six years ago, and | Tweed ‘was sustained in his usurped au- | thority—an authority he used to rob the treasury of millions. But for the influence | of these sachems Tweed would have been overthrown. ‘The city would have been saved millions of money, not to speak of the scandais which came with them and which | have dishonored the American name all over | the world, ‘This system still flourishes. | Tweed has gone, but Kelly reigns in his | stead, The policy of Tweed finds oxpres- sion in the councils of the democratic party, so far as that policy stifles every honest expression of democratic judgment. We do not say, because we are far from thinking, that Mr. Kelly would use his power to plunder the city. But the system which built up Tweed can break down Kelly and lift up another Tweed in his place. So long as the Tammany system continues Tweedism is not only possible but probable. The true way to make the democratic party in New York powerful and respected is for the leaders to dissolve their monkey show of an Order and throw open the government of the party to a convention of the members representing all who believe in democratic principles and desire to see them triumphant. As it is no interest is served by the Tammany Order but that of the “boss” who happens to have power— Tweed yesterday, Kelly to-day—and it may be a much worse man than even Tweed to- morrow. If Kelly had done this last autumn he would not have met with his and disastrous defeat. If he does not do it now he will invite another defeat, which may cost his party not only the control of the State, but of the Union. Politics promise to run so close this fall that the vote of New York may decide the election in the country. If the democrats go into the fight with this tomfoolery of Tammany on their shoulders they will be beaten as ignominiously as they were beaten last November. A Lost Opportunity. The lecture of Mr. George William Curtis at Chickering Hall on Wednesday night was & fine example of Mr. Curtis at his best The theme was ‘‘Woman,” a theme that has in- spired the noblest utterances of the human intellect. Mr. Ourtis came into beautiful prominence as a teacher of virtue and man- ners and fashions and ‘how to behave.” Listen to his soft, tender, wise words:—“We bewail our society—so giddy, so gross,” ‘Young men content to drive fast horses and play billiards; young women in the finest dresses hobbling on high heeled shoes that pinch their feet into Chinese deformity, in bonds that squeeze their waists.” After this, according to the report, Mr. Curtis gave ‘‘a very lovely and very graphio” description of a supper af which men half intoxicated toasted women, and then sung ‘‘We won’t go home till morn. ing.” After this “lively and graphic” descrip. tion Mr. Curtis rose into ahigherstrain. “In this audience before which J stand,” he said, * “there may be some Romeo sitting some where, his hand gently stealing where hia hand ought not to be, and whispering, ‘Ah, Juliet, Juliet, let that man on the platform say what he chooses ; I know what you ard made for—you are made to eat strawberries, sugar and cream.’” In conclusion, says the eloquent orator, ‘‘We have left the painted doll with Chesterfield and-the club, and go forward, God helping us, to find the true woman in the free American home.” As our readers will observe, these bewitch- ing extracts justify the praise we have bes stowed upon Mr. Curtis as an authority om fashions and manners. When we read such a lecture filled with these noble sentiments; when we see a master of all that is good and fasionable and proper delighting to instruct the men and women of the day, we cannot but regret that he should have thrown him- self away on a mere political convention at Syracuse. If Mr. Curtis had delivered this enticing essay to the Convention instead of his political harangue it would have been better for his fame, better for the harmony of the party. This is the aspect in which we delight to view Mr. Curtis. He is too fine a soul to be dragged in the mire of politics. He should go to the Convention at Cincinnati and deliver this lecture before it, teaching that rabble of schemers and politicians ‘show to be- have.” Then let him obey the will of the Convention at Syracuse, and vote for Conk. ling. This will have the effect of pleasing all parties—the sincere republicans of New York who desire the nomination of Mr. Conkling and that large body of delegates who will rejoice to hear this exquisite essay« ist dilate on the good, the proper, the beaue tiful and the true. Our Navy.—Some idea of the weakness of the American navy may be formed from the review of its condition which we print this morning. Some light is thrown on Chief Constructor Hanscom’s unpublished report to the Navy Department, and the whole sub- ject will be found of great interest and ime portance. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Billiardist M. Daly is in Savannab. Drummers in Alabama must pay $50 license, In China a very rich man sometimes spends a8 muck as $500 a year. The Jersey City Argus says that William Walter Phelps has declared in favor of Blaine, George Eliot, in the latest and best instalment of “paniel Deronda,” spolls d——n damn. ‘The dootblacks now cry, “A centennial shine, sir?” Afterward you find that it isa ten centennial shine Senators William Sharon and Joho P. Jones, of Ne« vada, arrived from Washington yesterday at the St, James Hotel. Dr. Von Bulow believes that Massachusetts people Dreathe music. He was convinced of this by bearing Nat Banks snore. When it ts so stormy in Boston that it would not be right for scholars to attend school a moraing signal ts given on the fire alarm bells, Mrs. Dr. Walker says that men havo not succeeded {n magnanimously shaming her out of wearing @ bivalve dress. She says she 1 not one of those sick. o'-pants. Alexander H. Stephens has no hope of getting well; but he has a Iittle of the old politician strength left, for he warns the state of Goorgia against “‘newspaper nominations "” A Washington correspondent says that Grant ha: never made a mistake inthe size of the men ho ba chosen for office, but that he has ran to meat and bona rather than to brains, The Boston Transcript recommends everybody t¢ take two oranges every morning before breakfast. ‘This ts extravagant. Everybody knows that one slice of orange and one little sliver of lemon peel and plenty of tee are enough. Secretaries Alphonso Tait, of the War Department, and George M. Robeson, of the Navy Department, who ure to receive the Emperor Dom Pedro on behalf of tht United States government, are at the Fitth Avena Hotel awaiting the arrivai of His Majesty. The first day Artemus Ward entered Toledo, travel worn and seedy, he said to an editor who was on the street, “Mister, where could I get a square meal ion twenty-five cents?’ He was wold. ‘*l say, Mister,” sand he, ‘where could I get the twenty-five cents?" The Wheeling (V. Va.) Register elaims that the old Southern leaders havo learned too sada lesson to try misrule; that the largest class in the South is of young men who have no slavery traditions, and that the ol¢ fellows talk emotionally, whiie the young South & Practical and sensible, “j ‘