The New York Herald Newspaper, May 6, 1876, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD pit a an BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR 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. All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Herat. Letters and packages shculd be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHIA OFF FICE—NO. 112S0UTH 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 as in New York. _ NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1876,—TRIPLE SHEET. | Mr. Adams on the Political “Chaos.” / dent who represents BEPER SEES: memories | political ann, William H. Barnum, pig The interview with Hon. Charles Francis Adams, printed in another part of this paper, will be read with the respectful in- terest due alike to its source and its matter. ‘The communicative franknets of Mr. Adams will, perhaps, surprise many of his country- men who have had no opportunities of knowing him except by observation of his public career, and have somehow got an im- | pression that he is stiff and reserved in private intercourse. It is true that Mr. Adams possesses great dignity of character, but it is not the haughty and repellant dignity of mere pride, but the gravity of a mind which habitually occupies itself with serious subjects, A man of his robust structure of faculties may have engaging personal qualities, of which we have a signal illustration in the first of our Presidents, who, notwithstanding his weight and eleva- tion of character, was personally popu- lar—‘first in the hearts of his “NO. 17 ANUSENENTS THIS” APTERNWON AND EVENING. FIFTH AVENUE Spt yt ty MONEY, at 8 P.M. Pique Matinee at 1:30 P. HOWES & CUSHING'S rudy at2 P.M. ands P.M, GLOBE TH Aree onan VARIETY, at 8 P. bs he ‘M. Matinee at 2 P. M. NSTRELS, ROBBERS OF PYRENEES, SAN FRANCISCO waP. M. binuipre a2P. REATRE COMIQUE. VARIETY, wert M. Matinee at 2 THEATI * _Mitinee at1:30P. M. M. Matineo at 2: NEGRO MINSTRETS AM BARNUM’S SHOW, a TONY PASTOR'S NEW THEATRE. VARIETY, pet M. PARK THEATRY, He atSP.M, Mr, George Fawcett Rowe. Matinee at GERMANIA THEATRE, KREUGFEUR, ats P. M. KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, at 8 P.M. CHATEAU. P. (ABILLE VARIETIES at8P.M. Matines at 2 P. M. pai THEATRE. M. PARISL at8 P.M. Matinee at BOWE! ACROSS THE CONTI A ey a led __ EW YORK, TURDAY, MAY 6, 1876, Hon our reports this morn: are that the weather to-day wo partly cloudy. xt At probabilities be warmer and Notice to Counrny Newspgavers.—For pt and regular delivery of the Henatp pe fast mail trains orders must be sent direct to this office. Watt Stneer Yrsterpay.—Gold opened at 112 7-8 and closed at 112 3-4. Money loaned on stock collaterals at 3 per cent. Gov- ernment and railway bonds were generally firm. Investment securities were easier. Foreign exchange strong. Postage jree. Tre NAsaviLe Races were interesting yesterday, the winners being Fair Play, Belle Isle and Egypt. Equrraces. Elsewhere we publish a very interesting article on private equipages, showing how the leaders of fashion in the metropolis ride and drive. ‘Tne House Commirrer on Exrenprrvures has granted Mr. Davenport a rest till May 16; but, unless we are mistaken, the com- mittee is in more need of a rest than the witness. Tue Groroia Rervsrican Convention is as nearly equally divided between Morton, Conkling, Blaine and Bristow, and between the whites and blacks. It indorsed the administration of General Grant, and that was one of the boldest acts that has occurred in the South since the close of the war. Tae Cenrenniat.—Our description of the British department of the Centennial Ex- hibition shows that the manufacturers of Great Britain have not only made a splen- did display but that they have their goods in readiness. They have taken earnest in- terest in the celebration, and thus prove their enterprise and shrewtiness. Cononess will take a holiday of three days to attend the opening of the Centennial Ex- hibition. The railroads have offered the members the use of a special train, but we think that it would be dignified in them to decline that generous invitation. The com- panies mean well, but Congress should be careful of accepting favors from any corpo- rations. ‘Tur Reveations in the Chicago whiskey cases indicate a very desperate state of affairs. Ifthe testimony of Bergenthal, the distiller, is to be credited, the conspirators not only contemplated arson, but murder, to conceal their crimes. When we read of these monstrous offences we can hardly help ad- mitting that, ‘disguise the truth as we may, ‘we men are a little race.” M. Rovner is like President Grant—he holds fast to his friends, his particular friendships being for the ex-Empress Eugénie and the boy he would like to see Emperor, This fidelity to the Napoleonic dynasty is considered infidelity to France, and he is in danger of prosecution by the government because of his recent letter to the electors of Corsica, which is held by many members of the Assembly to be seditious. Tre Weratnen Isprcatioxs for the next few days are decidedly unfavorable, and we may expect rain in New York and the Now 4 States. Yesterday rain prevailed over the Mississippi Valley, from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Snow fell at Cheyenne, near the base of the Rocky Mountains, and also in Nova Scotia. The thermal and barometric gradients were very steer in| Illinois and Iowa, and we may, therefore, receive reports from those sections of strong Jocsl winds, which will also affect in their turn the southern lake regions. countrymen” as well as “first in wor, first in peace.” The only thing ever, said against the political availability of Mr. Adams is that he is cold; but he is not colder than Washington, who was the spontaneous and universal choice of his fellow citizens. Mr. Adams expresses himself freely re | ; The country is uneasy and everybody is specting the present condition of our pol- ities, and the characters, so far as he knows them, of the several gentlemen who are most talked of on both sides as candidates for the Presidency. ‘There are one or two of these candidates to whom we think he does rather less than justice; but the public will be glad to learn the opinions of so impartial and dis- interested a judge, even if they think his impressions require some correction. He does not desire the Presidency himself, and is so disconnected from party politics that he does not suppose that either party would think of him as a candidate, Nobody will doubt his sincerity in disclaiming such ambition, and we fear it is too true that he is quite outside the field of choice. It is to be deplored that the ablest, wisest and ripest of living American statesmen, the one man who is best fitted to bring order out of the existing chaos and restore the tone and spirit of earlier and better days, cannot be placed at the head of the government at a time when the highest order of ability and the firmest integrity are so much needed. The memories of the centennial year will have no influence on this Presidential can- vass. As we do not live in Utopia there would be little reason for either regret or disappointment if the sentimental order of considerations were in conflict with the prac- tical. It would be absurd to select a Presi- |. dent for no better reason than that his father and his grandfather had held the same office before him. It would not be an exhibition of sound sense to take up even a moderately good candidate because his name is associ- ated with the great events whose hundredth anniversary we celebrate if a decidedly good candidate were a competitor against him. But neither of these observations apply to Mr. Adams. Apart from his line- age, apart from historical associations, apart from everything not ¢onnected with the question of personal fitness, he is incomparably the best man who could be chosen President. With this solid ground of preforence, the country might safely indulge in the sentiments of patriotism so appropriate to the centennial year and elect as Chief Magistrate of the Republic a states- man whose name is so connected with the hallowed memories of the Revolution. If Washington had left descendants, and among them a man of the same order of qualifications as Mr. Adams, the choice would naturally fallon a man bearing that name; but Washington died childless. Next to Washington the two names which stand highest on the roll of our Revolutionary worthies are Adams and Jefferson, both brightly emblazoned in history and each shining with a lustre of its own. If the author of the Declaration of Independence had left posterity to bear his name, and among them a statesman almost as great as himself, it might be difficult to decide between the claims of two families whose heads were so illustrious and bore so distingnished a partin the events of the Revolution. But Jefferson has no surviving representative, and even if he had, every just estimate must rank the services of John Adams above’ those of Thomas Jefferson in the year 1776. True, Jefferson drafted the Declaration, but it was the zeal and eloquence of Adams that brought Congress up to the pitch of adopt- ing it. As Jefferson himself said, in a con- versation with Mr. Webster, at Monticello, in his old age, ‘John Adams was our co- lossus on the floor. Not graceful, not ele- gant, not always finent in his public ad- dresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and expression, which moved us from our seats.” Adams had done more than any other man to rouse the colonists to resistance when the troubles with the mother country broke out. In the Continental Con- gress he was the earliest, boldest, the most strenuous and unflinching advocate of sep- aration. Jefferson merely gave form on paper to the purpose which Adams had been foremost in kin- dling in the body which published the Declaration. The speech putin his mouth fifty years later by his eulogist no doubt represented his sentiments :—‘All that I have, and all that Iam, and all that I hope in this life, Iam now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off.as I began, that live or dic, survive or perish, Iam for the Declara- tion. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be ny dying senti- ment—independence now and independence forever!” It is an affecting link in the chain of association that Adams and Jeffer- son both died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration. Two remarkable sayings of Adams on his deathbed showed that patriot- ism colored his last thoughts. ‘*Thomas Jef- ferson still survives,” said the dying patriot, not knowing that his associate in the scenes of '76 was also passing through the portals of the unknown ; and, hearing the ringing of the bells and the cannon, he asked what they were for, and when reminded that it was Independence Day he said, with his dying breath, ‘Independence torever !” If it were possible for our people to make so great an exhibition of patriotic sentiment and public virtue as to hush party passions | there could be no room for deliberation as to | | iron protectionist, great absentee, adroit | the person. Charles Francis Adams is the | One citizen around whom such memories | cluster in abundance; and, by what would | be a fortunate, almost a providential coinci- | dence (if our people would so consider it), | he is the best man for President, irrespective of ancestry and historical associations. When it is thus in our power to pay a noble | tribute to the memory of our forefathers consistently with every present duty which we owe to our country, it is to be deplored that so bright a page cannot be written in our history for the admiration of those who are to come after us, But these expressions of regret are detaining us from the inter- view. Mr. Adams is impressed with the distrac- tion and confusion which reign in our pol- | ities, and ascribes the chaos to President | Grant's lack of forecast and steadiness. All the greater matters have been left to drift for the want of a firm hand at the helm and of a pilot’s knowledge of the channels. ‘The country,” Mr, Adams says, ‘‘is all unsettled. Grant has unsettled it. He had no perma- nent policy. He let matters take their own course, What has come is trouble and con- fusion. What is to come no one knows. looking tor a» man.” What Mr, Adams thinks is most needed is ‘a man with a head on his shoulders,” and he thinks such a man would be a contrast to President Grant. We cannot quite think so; General Grant has head enough, but it is not a head for politics. He has force of will enough, but he is out of his element, which is as bad as to set a reso- lute cavalry captain to navigate a ship. Mr. Adams expresses his opinion pretty freely ofthe prominent candidates for the Presidency. He speaks well of Mr. Conkling, but thinks he is too closely connected with “rings.” We cannot imagine what facts Mr. Adams intends to hint at. Mr. Conkling is an citizen of New York, and our interest in the public men of our own State have led us to watch his course. We has never heard even a surmise that Mr. Conkling had any complicity with the Whiskey Ring, or the Washington Real Estate Ring, or the Crédit Mobilier Ring, or the St. Domingo Ring, or the Canal Ring, or any other of the corrupt rings which make our politics #0 infamous. His faults, such as they are, are not of the sordid kind. He is a strenuous party man and has close associations with the Custom House politicians ; but Collector Arthur is reputed in this community to be an upright officer, and we believe the Custom House was never more honestly administered than it isat present. Nothing can be said against Mr. Conkling in 1876 which could not have been said with at least equal truth cgainst Mr. Seward in 1860, and Mr, Adams must not expect the country to forget his own eulogy on Mr. Seward delivered before our Legis- lature, and his strong expression of regret that Mr. Seward was not elected to the Pres- idency. It does not come with a good grace from him to condemn Mr. Conkling for the same kind of affiliations which he thought pardonable in Mr. Seward. The characters Mr. Adams assigns to other ‘ leading candidates show better knowledge and discrimination, but we think the shading of some of his portraits is not quite correct. He exaggerates Governor Seymour's lack of steadiness and does not sufficiently recognize his intellectual gifts and stainless purity. His estimate of Mr. Blaine is higher than ours, and we cannot understand how a statesman who rates Mr. Blaine’s intellect so high can say that Mr. Tilden Incks breadth. Mr. Blaine is a vig- orous debater and shifty politician, but Mr. Tilden is greatly his superior in reach of mind. Mr. Adams, however, gives Gov- ernor Tilden due credit for honesty of pur- pose and thinks he would make a very “politic” President, In all that he says of Mr. Washburne we fully concur; he evi- dently thinks that Mr. Washburne would make an excellent President. atorial Election in Connecti- cut. .: The democratic party in Connecticut, fol- lowing out the line of perversity which has characterized almost everything the party has undertaken to do nationally within the last ten or fifteen years, is busily engaged in sharpening a tomahawk that is capable of being used most effectually for the political massacre of the party in the coming Presi- dential campaign. We refer to the proposed election of William H. Barnum to the Senate of the United States, to fill the place made vacant by the death of O. 8. Ferry, and now temporarily occupied by James H. English by appointment. The office of Senator of the United States is one of the most important under our gov- ernment. It is capable of being made also one of the most useful. It is more impor- tant now than ever, when grave and compli- cated questions are continually coming be- fore the Senate for consideration; questions the proper determination of which will in time determine whether there shall be prosperity and comfort to the laboring men of Connecticut or idleness and dis- comfort. And yet, just at this time, the democratic party of Connecticut pro- poses to elect to represent its State in the Senate a man who, during a long experience in the House of Representatives, has never by act or word, or decent attention to the trust that has been confided to him, given one particle of evidence that he cither un- derstands or takes any interest in the great questions of the day—the bread and butter questions—more important than ever before to a very large number of his constituents, Again, the democratic party in Connecticut has year after year affirmed that as a party it disbelieves in the doctrine of protection, and through resolution has demanded that taxes should be raised for revenue purposes only. | And now it proposes to put forward as an earnest of what these resolutions meant a man who is of the meanest tribe of protec- tionists, because he supports protection by reason of his pig iron interests, and not from the acceptance or fancied understanding of any involved principle. If we were not positively assured that the matter is settled we would not believe that madness could so enter into and rule the councils of the Connecticut democracy to such an extent as to induce them to put for- The eminent | politician, railroad and corporation manager in all departments. “Iam for temperance at all times and under all circumstances,” said a loud-mouthed man, with a very red and rum nose. ‘You are that, are you,” responded a bystander; ‘then I'd hnrry and take in my sign, or maybe folks won't be- lieve you.” We commend ,the inference to the Connecticut democracy. President Grant’s Reply to His In- quisitors. The investigating busybodies at Washing- ton “waked up the wrong passenger” when they called the President to account for his absences from the national capital. These noodles are doing » great deal to make all their labors ridiculous by their headlong zeal to arraign persons in positions of trust. They blunt the effect of the most necessary investigations by bark- ing like unruly curs at the heels of every passer-by as if he were athief. If they had known anything of our history they would not have set upon President Grant and have sent him a resolution which was an arraignment for doing things which his predecessors, from Washington down, have done without blame or question. They did not need to know any history, but only the plain text of the constitution, to have saved them from so unsecmly a blunder. By the constitution the President is made Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which he can command in the field in per- son whenever he chooses and still exercise the civil duties of his office. There is no part of the United States in which he may not perform any executive act without im- pairing its validity. When Congress is in session our Presi- dents, Grant included, have always remained within easy reach of that body for the con- venience of official intercourse. In the recess of Congress they have always felt at liberty, in time of peace, to be absent trom the seat of government for health, business or recreation, and nobody thought of accusing them. Washington spent much of his time during recesses of Congress at Mount Vernon, when the seat of government was New York and Philadelphia, although the journey was formiduble with such facilities of travel as then existed and communication by mail was tedious. President Adams used to leave Washington in May or June for his home in Quincy, where he stayed until September or October; and Jefferson, in like manner, spent his summers at Monticello and Poplar Forest. Before the establishment of railroads and the telegraph such absences might sometimes cause inconvenience, but the heads of departments conducted the routine business, and in graver matters waited until they could hear from the President by post. At present the absence of the President in the recess of Congress is not even attended with inconvenience. He can hold instant communication with the capital at all hours of the day and the night, and there is no more difficulty in referring matters to him and getting his decision than if he never stepped outside of the executive mansion. President Grant's message'on this subject iso very telling document, and his over- whelming array of facts and precedents should make the authors of the resolution of inquiry blush, if they are capable of blush- ing. The Reform club. The Republican Reform Club, just started in this city, is the pioneer of a timely and useful movement which may lead to very beneficial results. The enrolled members are gentlemen of established character and position, and their association together fora common object will give directness and force to the influence they individually possess. Such an organization in a metrop- olis like New York, representing its com- mercial interests, its wealth and intelli- gence, cannot fail to have weight with politi- cal parties and with the people at large, and to command attention for its views. Politi- cians are powerful because they combine for a common object and act with singleness of purpose; but as they are generally con- trolled by selfish interests their strength is a public evil. There are plenty of honor- able, conscientious citizens among us who earnestly desire to reform our public affairs and to purify the political atmosphere. But without unity of action they can accom- plish no practical results. By combining their efforts and acting in harmony they can make themselves as powerful as the politi- cians. This advantage promises to be secured by the Reform Club, and General H. L. Burnett, the chairman of the Execu- tive Committee, deserves praise for the energy and zeal with which he has pushed the movement to permanent. success. Similar clubs should be started all over the country, and as far as practicable should correspond and consult together. . Their in- fluence would then be great, and would be felt in nominating conventions. At this particular time, when reform inside the re- publican party is so much needed and so desirable, they should be represented as liberally as the political organizations will be represented at Cincinnati. But it is es- sential to their success that they should be free from political intrigue. If they should suffer themselves to be used to aid or sup- port any pet candidate their influence would be destroyed. They must be reform clubs in good faith, steadfast in their work for the purification of political parties and of the public service. Then they will be a power, not only in conventions, but in elec- tions, forcing the nomination of acceptable candidates upon the politicians, destroying corrupt bargains and combinations and car- rying reform into national, State and mu- nicipal administrations. Taene Is a Propapirry that the State of Maryland and the Consolidation Coal Com- pany will go to law about the validity of the charter ofthe latter. Large interests are in- volved in the case, and many of the officers and stockholders aro residents of this city. A Cvunrovs Case of bigamy is narrated in a despatch from Poughkeepsie to-day. It is one of those romances of domestic life which form the staple subjects of so many modern on this great anniversary and elect a Presi- | ward as their figurehead, in this year of | novelists, Presidemt Grant's Latest Mistake— Custer Punished. It is now quite evident’ that President Grant does not intend to abandon his favorite theory that it is his duty to stand by his friends. This is clearly shown by the extraordinary action of the President in relation to General Custer, as described in the special despatch from Chicago, printed in another column. It will be remembered that it was asserted a few days ago that the President intended to punish General Custer for appearing as a witness against ex- Secretary of War Belknap by taking away his command of the Seventh cavalry. The plea for this was that Custer could not remain in Washington and fight the Indians at the same time; therefore the command of one of the expe- ditions must go to some other officer. Gen- eral Custer, however, was relieved from further attendance before the Clymer com- mittee and at once started to rejoin his command, In doing this Custer hoped, no doubt, to retain his command and go on the warpath, as he has so often done in the Indian country. But in this he was mis- taken, for the President ordered him to be intercepted by General Sheridan and de- tained, in order that he might not reach his regiment. It appears that the only reason given for this step was that General Custer had left Washington without first paying his re- spects tothe President. No formal charges are preferred against Custer, and he is dis- graced simply because he did not ‘‘crook the pregnant hinges of the knee” to this modern Cwsar. At least such is the excuse, though the fact was that Custer danced attendance on the President for several hours and was refused audience. Being repulsed, he pro- ceeded on his way to his command only to be overtaken by the telegraph like & common fugitive and humiliated by being ordered out of his train to ‘‘await fur- ther orders,” These orders finally came from the commanding General of the Army for Cus- ter to proceed to Fort Lincoln, but not to go with his resiment. In other words, a gal- lant and brave officer is kept in a frontier barracks with a corporal’s guard while his regiment proceeds on active service. What could be more humiliating than this? Dis- gracing aman in the very presence of the euemy without proper cause is not the way to preserve the morale or efficiency of the army. This latest mistake of General Grant shows clearly how ill-conceived are his ideas of the duties he owes to the nation as its Execu- tive. Officers are to be punished for doing their duty and 6beying the commands of Congress, simply because the President finds that such action is likely to injure a per- sonal friend of his own. ‘The public service and the exigencies of the day are to go for nothing so long as the President is able to wreak his petty vengeance on those who happen to find themselves compelled to run counter to his wishes. Have we, indeed, come to this? Is despotism like this to remain unheeded in a free repub- lic? Are officers holding commissions in the army to be dragged from railroad trains and ignominiously ordered to stand aside, until the whims of the Chief Magistrate of the nation are satisfied? If so it is about time the people understood it, else we are, indeed, in a state of political chaos. Nothing that the President has done of late proves as this ‘‘disgracing” of Custer does how utterly committed he is to the pro- gramme of standing by his friends, and it also shows how unfitted he is for the trust reposed in him by the people. That he will see his error when it is too late there can, of course, be no question; but, being too late in the discovery, he will be unable to regain even the small share of confidence he has of late enjoyed. While General Custer is to be pitied he may console himself with the re- flection that his implied disgrace cannot tar- nish his reputation or injure his standing in the army, however much it may humiliate him personally for the time being. He will be considered a victim, and not a delin- quent. Tue InrzacuMent Questiox.—It would be an anomaly of political ethics if a high officer of the government could commit a crime, confess, resign and escape impeachment. Yet this is what Mr. Carpenter contends is the right of General Belknap. It certainly was not the intention of the framers of the United States constitution that this evasion should be possible, even if in their careless- ness they did not forbid it. . The ingenious theory which is advanced by General Bel- knap's counsel is dangerous, for it tends to- ward the encouragement of collusion on the part of officials. Grant madea mistake in accepting the resignation of a member of his Cabinet without properly investigating the attending circumstances, and if Mr. Car- penter’s argument i& sound some future President may profit criminally by the ex- ample inthe event of the dismissal by the Senate of the articles of impeachment for the want of jurisdiction. It will be clear that there is a very great difference between the law as it is and as it should be. Tue Samoan Trovnies.—The East and the West are at war. If the story of the persons who have just arrived at San Francisco from Snmoa be true—and we see no reason to doubt it—Great Britain has got into another of those little wars in which she is so frequently en- gaged. There has been a battle between English marines and the Samoan tribes, and a number of the former are reported killed. Several of the native chiefs were made pris- oners, The redoubtable Steinberger had no part in the affair, but he demands satisfac- tion. His attitude is like that of the hero in the burlesque who insisted upon ‘‘Anas- tasia or death, with a decided preference for the former.” Loxpon Stnzet Traver.—How rapid tran- sit is obtained in London is the subject of an entertaining letter to the Henatp which we print to-day. Of course an underground railroad would be difficult here, but we may take » hint from the other methods of con- veyance the Londoners have adopted. Their problems may be easier to solve than our own, because of the peculiar configuration of the island of New York, yet it is evident that both in cheapness and speed our cabs and stages are far inferior to those on the other side of the Atlantic, ‘The Ratiroad War. It seems somewhat common for the people to regard railroad companies as the common ene- mies of the human race, but the habit is based on @ very superficial view of the relations of these great corporations to the public, They are the grand sources of general pros perity and local improvement, and the money they earn for their owners, even where they earn most, is trivial in amount by com- parison with the value they give to the dis- tricts through which they run and to the property in the cities to and from which they transport passengers and the products of industry. In any right view of the case, therefore, the public has the liveliest in- terest in their welfare, and should see ‘with regret the oceurrence of auy event likely to cripple them for future usefulness. If the present so- called war between the great lines that carry freight tothe seaboard is of this nature it is a public misfortune; but competition be tween the lines is certainly not to be de plored if it can be kept within reasonable limits. If it goes beyond this the weaker parties break down, the stronger ones have the field to themselves and are apt to compel the traffic of which they then get a monopoly to indemnify them for previous losses. This is the evil of the kind of competition that re- sults from disputes, It has an animus and a passion behind it that drives to extreme results, and the merchants are the ultimate sufferers. Indeed, accidentally or tempo- rarily, low prices are never advantageous to legitimate trade, Instability is a great evil in every element of commercial transac- tions. It is now a cause of the stagnation of our industrics simply because the future value of money is so uncertain that no one knows on what basis he can count with safety. In the price of freights it has prac- tically the same application. At present a bushel of wheat is carried from Chicago to this city for twelve cents, but a contract for a very large quantity might scarcely be made before the price would be double or treble this sum. Even if the wheat were delivered at the lower price the consumer would re- ceive no benefit, for the difference would go into the pocket of some speculator between producer and consumer. Freight ‘‘wars,” therefore, are to be regretted, inasmuch as they do not directly benefit the public and do indirectly injure it by injuring the cor- porations in whose prosperity it hasan in- terest. But since there is a war it is fair to note that there is aright and wrong in it, and that on one side we find the interests of our city protected, on the other side assailed, Right seems to us in this dispute to be on the side of the New York Central ; and it is very clear that that company sustains in the quarrel on foot the interests of this metropo- lis against our would-be rivals on the sea- board. Empress on Queen.—While the American Congress is busy in the investigation of Cab- inet members, Ministers and the cxecutive departments generally, the British Parlia- ment is quite as active in examining the ac- tion of the Ministry and Crown. Mr. Dis- raeli has accepted a challenge from the oppo- sition in the House of Commons to discuss an alleged breach of faith by the government in regard to the new title of Empress which has been given to the Queen. He has staked the continuance of his rule upon the issue, and ought to be very sure of his support to run the risk of defeat. That the people of England do not like imperial titles is cer- tain, but Parliament is unlikely to expresa that feeling by a formal vote. Tuer Broxen Casies.—The fact that there is now only one cable between Europe and the United States in working order is sug: gestive of what the state of affairs would be if there were none. With a single cable working night and day it is impossible to meet the ordinary wants of the business community, and the superintendent has been forced to ask the public to condense its despatches—a request which is rare enough. Suspension of tele- graphic communication between the Old World and the New, for one day only, would be a calamity to every leading business. Tux Oxp Drrenpers.—Our interviews with three of the “old defenders” of Baltimore, published to-day, will be found very inter- esting, These distinguished patriots are Col- onel Brewer, Major Dryden and Mr. Hiss, respectively aged ecighty-seven, eighty-six and eighty-eight years. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Kentucky wheat is a foot high. Parson Brownlow is figuring for Congress, A majority of Nevada’s republican delegates are for Bristow. Ben Butler has not yet decided to run for Congress this year. The South stickles for the two-thirds rulein the democratic Convention. The Binghamton (N. Y.) Republican calls the Sage Seymour “the Yarb of Oncida.”” Attorney General Pterrepont lives in the house for- merly occupied by Quartermaster General Meigs. ‘The social question in tho South continues to be whether a man shall starve on cotton or live on corn. Senator Bogy occupies in Washington the place once held by Cari Schurz, We hope Bogy will keep it up to its old reputation. Tho Albany Knickerbocker is authority for the belief that there is reason for the Reform Club confining itsel: to the republicans The South crows because her cotton spinning mills make more money tban the Northern mills. As yet the South is only experimenting. Of the amount which ox-President Johason received from his private estate it appears that if his heirs re. ceived sixty per cent they did well. Califormia newspapers are very anxious about tho ef- fect of Silver Jones’ speecn, because they do not know whien of them he will bring up last. From a careful reading of California sentiment it seoms that while partisan California is in favor of Blaine the undercurrent is in favor of Bristow, Lynchbarg (Va.) News:—"‘Mr, Valentine is engaged on & bust of General Albert Syduey Johnston, ordered by Colonel William Preston Johnston, a son of the illas trious soldier, The modelling is being done from pho tographs." Ex-Congressman Roberts, of the Utica Herald, says, in roply to ex-Governor Seymour's lettor, that it is true that the near friends of the latter are working for his nomination at St. Louis, and that Soymour no where advocates the nomination of Tilden. Mr, Roborté hints that Seymour's unwillingness to be a candidate may be overcome by the zeal of hia friends, ‘The San Francisco Bulletin, the most influential pa- Per on the Pacific coast, is of opinion that if Mr. Blaine is nominated on tho republican ticket Sonator Sargent ‘Would not be an unacceptable candidate for Vice Prosi- dent, Senator Surgent is the most popular republican west of the Rocky Mountains, aud since the Viee Prosie dent is to come trom that side there is no reason why his name should not be anti-Chinese Sargent. He has ia his recent speech crystalised the sentiment of the Pacific cosas, | 1 ' | |