The New York herald. [volume], April 20, 1875, Page 8, Image 8

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NEW YORK HERALD
BROADWAY AND ANN STREET.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT,
PROPRIETOR.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.?On and
?fter January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly
editions of the New Yobs TTebat-q will be
cent free of postage.
THE DAILY HERALD, published every
day in the year. Four cents per copy. An
nual subscription price $12.
All business or news letters and telegraphic
despatches must be addressed New Yobs
Ebdulld.
Rejected communications will not be re
turned.
Letters and packages should be properly
sealed.
LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK
HERALD?NO. 46 FLEET STREET.
Subscriptions and advertisements will be
received and forwarded on the same terms
as in New York.
TOLUME XL NO. 110
AMUSEMENTS TOMGHT.
BARNUM'S HIPPODROME,
Fourth a?enuearni Twenty-.'enBb street?MUi LINDA
GILBEBIa CO.NCER 1. at s P. M.; Cluses at 10 -JU P. M.
SAN FRANC is O MINSTRELS.
Broadway, corner of Twontv-ninth utreet?NEQKO
Ml>Sl HELs Y, at 8 P. M.; eioses at 10 P. M.
Ft?bth ntTMt, between Second and Third avenues.?
?Aiiiar
TIV'LI 1HEATBE.
letween Second and
rAHlElY. at a P. >i. , c o?es at U P. M.
MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATftE.
THE two OKPHAN3. at 8 P. M ; cloaca at 10:43 P. M.
WAI.LACK'3 theatbe.
frnadway ?ROMANCE of a I'OOK YOUNO MAN. at
f. M.; clows at 10 :i0 P. M. Mr. Montague, Mis* D? at.
COLOSSEUM
?ronlway and Tbirtv.iourth streei ? PABIS BY NIOHT.
Two exhibitions daily, at 2 and 8 P. M.
BOWERY OPERA HOUSE,
VtvKU Bowary.-VARIETY, at 6 P. M.; closet at 10
WOOD'S MUSEUM,
Broadway, corner ot thirtieth *treeC?DON ALD Mc
XAY, at s P. M.; closes at 10 :45 P. M.
THEATBE COMIQUE.
Jfo^SM Broadway.?V A i: IE iY, at 81". M.: cloie* at 10 *S
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART,
V?ct Fourteenth street.?Open from 10 A M. to 3 F. H.
brooklyn PARK THEATBE
roltoa avenue?VAKIETV, at 8 P. M.; cIoms at 10 a
T. M.
robinson HALL.
Ftxtaen'h street, neir Broadway.?HIBEBNIC05, at 8
P. M. Matinee at 2 P M.
GERMANIA thv.atbe.
Fourteenth street.? I NDICiO. at 8 P. M.; oloses at 10:41
f. M. Mi* Lina Mayr.
OLYMi'IC THEATRE,
JCo^a< Broadway.?VABIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:43
FIFTH AVEVU". THEATRE
rwentT-etfTith Kfroet and Broatwav THE BIO BO.
tA>ZA, atS P. M.; c oses at 10 P M. Mr. Flsuer. Mr.
swia. Miss Davenport Mrs. Gilbert
PARK THEATBE.
Broad war.?D\VY CROCKETT, at S P. M.; cloaes at
luP. M. Mr. Maya
F.OWFRY TI1EATBE,
Bowery-abound THE WOKLD IN EIGHTY DAYS,
atSP.M.
GTtAND OPF.R* HOUSE.
Etshth avenue and I wentv-third stree t? AHMED, at 8
r M ; closes at 10:46 P. M.
BOOTH'S THEATRE,
corner of Twenty-third street and Sixth aveme ?
BENBY T..KSP. M ; closes at 11 P. M. Mr. BiguoM.
LYCEUM THEATRE.
Fourteenth street, near Mxtli avenue ?LA JOLIE PaB
f L'MEL'.-E. at 8 P. M. Mile Aimte.
ACADEvy OF MUSIC,
Foorte?nth street and Irvintr place.?TONY PATC1P3
Variety company, at? p. M.;cio-es at 11 p. m.
QUADRUPLE SHEET.
SEW YORK. TUESDAY. APHIL 20. 187J.
From our reports this morning the probabilities
are thai the veather to-day ieiQ be cool and cloudy,
mih possibly light rain.
Waxx Street Ykstzrdat.?An exceptional
td^ance occurred in Panama ; otherwise the
itock market was comparatively steady. Gold
opened and closed at 115. Foreign exchange
was firm and money easy at three per cent
on call loans.
Now for seven years of Centennials.
The Cocstt or Mzatb, Ireland, has re
toned Mr. Parnell, a home role champion,
to Parliament
A Bectaj. Wot Mcedes in Jersey City is
reported in our colnmns to-day. Rum or
jealonsy seems to hare been the exciting
cause.
The Lodgement of a fish bone in the throat
resulted in the death of a citizen under rather
peculiar circumstances, which are elsewhere
detailed.
Ex-Governob Hoftmjln has given his opin
ions upon the Canal question in an interview
elsewhere published, and bestows his approval
*n tLe Message ?nd policy of Governor Tilden.
The Pbopositio* to call Mrs. Tilton as a
witness in the Beccher trial meets with gen
eral approval. Her story will be a strange
one. no doubt, bnt cannot fail to throw light
Upon the mysteries of the case.
Escapes from Sing Sing Prison have been
bo frequent of late yearn that the baffling of
?n attempt to seize a vessel yesterday by
rn4 of the convicts will give general satis
faction, even though it was attended with
probable loss of life. The gnard displayed
much presence of mind and courage, aDd de
serves commendation for his prompt action.
The Beecheh Trial was resumed yester
day, ?nd Mr. Full^rton, having recovered
from his own vertigo, undertook to make
iizzy the head of the defendant. There was
sather a lively scene, caused by the counsel's
tomplaints that Mr. IWr-her did not give
lirect replies to the questions. Some strong
points were made on both sides, and it is
iikely the cross-examination is drawing to an
end. Would that the trial were!
The Meanest of thieves should be ashamed
)o rob tbe poor-box of a church. But a
foung man who has 1 or some months be^n
engaged in such contemptible larceny was
yesterday arrested at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Ha ia supposed to have stolen about five
hundred dollars, all of which was taken lrcm
arphnos and widows, whose distresses the
?heritable supposed they were relieving,
while, in fact, they were sustaining this
rabbcrly scamp, too lazy to work, bat indus
trious encugb id theft.
The C??tcn?4?I e?Ubr?H?i?" Y?stef
day.
The one hundredth anniversary of Laxing
ton and Concord has come and gone. No
patriotio American has reason to blush for the
manner in which it was observed. The emu
lous feeling between Concord and Lexington
is a more than pardonable rivalry, since it has
had an excellent effect in enhancing the inter
est of the occasion. No lover of his country
would wish anything undone which has taken
place in either town, whether in the prepara
tions or the observances. The celebration in
each town has been more splendid and attrac
tive than if that town had been the sole scene
of the commemoration, and the occasion has
differed from ordinary celebrations of the
kind like a natural day in which two suns
should rise in the east and diffuse their joint ,
splendor in the firmament. Nothing occurred
in either place which we could wish awny.
Each town was thronged with as great a mul
titude as if the day had not been celebrated in
the other, and nothing occurred in either
which was not consistent with perfect good
taste and with tho generous patriotism
which befits so remarkable an occa
sion. The oration of Mr. Dana at
Lexington and that of Mr. Curtis >
at Concord were alike admirable, and we ,
should sincerely regret to have missed either.
Had there been but one celebration instead
of two the country would have lost some
thing which it will delight to bear in memory
for tho next hundred years. The statues of
Hancock and Samuel Adams which were un
veiled at Lexington, with tho truly admirable
remarks of Mr. Charles Hudson, were sin
gularly appropriate for that town, in which
those distinguished patriots slept during the
early part of the night of the 18th of April,
and whose capture by the British troops would
have been infinitely more important to the
British cause than tho destruction of the
stores at Concord. Had tho celebration
taken place at Concord alone the honor paid
to these great patriots would not have been in
snch perfect keeping, and would probably
have been omitted altogether. If, on the
other hand, the celebration had been at Lex
ington alone, the statue of the typical
minute man, which was unveiled
with the exquisite remarks of Mr.
Emerson, would very likely have
been left out, which would have been
a great loss and omission, involving a failuro
to recognize the sturdy virtues of the Massa
chusetts yeomanry, whose uncalculating
valor made that great occasion what it was.
All honor, ther, both to the people of Lex
ington and to the people of Concord, whose
noble emulation has made this interesting
celebration doubly resplendent
The contest between these ancient and
honored towns is something very different
from the petulant, carping spirit which would
fix a different date for a centennial celebra
tion of the first resistance to the British
Crown. The priggish assertion of other
dates for those memorial observances evinces
a spirit sadly out of harmony with the pa
triotic sentiment of the country. If the views
of these carpers had been adopted there
would lnve been no celebration at all. They
have merelv evinced their inability to discrim
inate between the substance of history
and its frippery. Tho importance of his
torical events, in any just estimate, is meas
urtd by their frnitfulness in important con
sequences. The occurrences wtiich shallow
sciolists put in competition with the resist
ance which took place with those of April 19,
1775, w*re followed by no consequences
which weighed a leather in the struggle for
independence. But the events celebrated
yesterday electrified the country and brought
the controversy between the colonies and the
mother country to a swift crisis. As a conse
quence of the affair at Lexington a Conti
nental army was promptly gathered in the
vicinity of Boston, and within sixty days the
battle of Bunker Hill attested the resolution
of the colonists to resist to the utmost It
was a direct sequence of tho events com
memorated yesterday that Washington was
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Conti
nental forces and the Revolution put on a
stable footing. How idle and impertinent,
then, is the petty, carping spirit which, in this
hour of commemorative rejoicing, tells the
country that it has made a historical mis
take, and that this great act of patriotism
should have been done st a different date, and
in commemoration of some petty and forgot
ten affair which had no influence on subse
quent history! Men who are in full patriotic
sympathy with this interesting occasion could
not descend to ?uch cavils. The honorable
rivalry between Lexington and Concord is not
exposed to this censure, because both sides
alike recognize the just historical importance
of the day which virtually dissolved the
colonial tie. It would be wonderful indeed
if Jefferson, if -John Adams, if Washington,
if nil the chief actors in the Revolution mis
took the supreme importance of the events of
April 19, 1775. It is because that day was so
pregnant in great consequences that emulous
townships in Massachusetts contend for their
respective shares of the honor.
It is a just topic of congratulation that no
speaker yesterday, no set orator, no poet,
whether at Lexington or Concord, uttered
one word which tended to revive the ancient
feeling of animosity between America and
England. The foremost of them all, Mr.
Emerson, the one man whose every utterance
is f-nre to cirenlate as far us the English
tongue is spoken, was careful not to impli
cate the English people in the oppression of
?he colonies. Mr. Emerson's wisdom is equal j
to his knowledge of the facts. He fixed the
blama where the Declaration of Independence
put it, on the misguided King, whose blind
obstinacy prevailed over the better sentiments
c t his Ministers, liis Parliament and tho
wisest of his subjects. "We had mnny ene
mies," said Mr. Emerson, "anil many friends
in England, but onr one benefactor was King
George III. I" tlie resistance of the colo
nies "he alone was immovable on the
question of force. Parliament wavered,
nil the Ministers wavered. Lord North
wavered, but the King had the insanity of
one idea.'' Had the English people been
blest aVfhat time with a wiser king the great
strife con;d not have arisen. The roost illus
trious of English statesmen were mainly cn
our side. Lord Chatham, Bnrke and Fox,
the three greatest orators who ever spoke in
Parliament, ktrenuously opposed the mistaken
policy of the pig-headed King, and even
Lord North, his pet Mmiiter, stood by his
sovereign only from a smtiment of loya'ty to
which he subjected his better judgment Our
own statesmen drew their most effective
weapons from the great armory of English
rights and English freedom. Their cardinal
principle, that taxation and representation
went hand in hand, nnd that a free people
could be taxed only by their own representa
tives, was a principle imbedded in the very
foundations of the English constitution.
Their resistance to illegal taxation proceeded
from the same spirit that stood out against
benevolsnces and ship money under the
Stuarts. Our fathers were imbued with the
sentiments of Sidney and Locke. The Declar
ation of Independence repeats the views and
even borrows the phrases of Locke s cele
brated treatise on government We stood in
onr great struggle on the habeas corpus, on
the trial by jury, on tho English common law,
on the great bulwarks ot English freedom.
We fought English oppression with English
ideas. Tho most illustrious of English
names?Hampden and Pym, Sidney and
Locke of a past generation, and Chatham,
Burke and Fox of the generation then living
were the authorities which our fathers con
stantly cited. The whole body of the Eng
lish whigs svmpath'zed with us, and we were
really fighting an English battle against the
torics. We borrowed the phraseology of
English party contests, and stigma
tized as tories the recreant Ameri
cans who sided with tho mother
country. It was not a contest again?t
English ideas, but a contest against the tory
party and a tory king. The enlightened
public sentiment of modern England long ago
decided that the colonists were in the right
and George III. in the wrong, even on sound
English principles. We rejoice that all the
orators at Lexington and Concord yesterday
recognized this truth, and that no word was
spoken which would obstruct a full and free
participation of the British people in our
great Centennial next year. The whole
British people long since indorsed our resist
ance to the British Crown, as they are logi
cally compelled to do by their pride in the
great statesmen and orators who took our
side in that struggle. Our centennial cele
brations are, therefore, not a reproach to the
English nation, but a justification of the con
fidence and admiration it unanimously be
stows in this age on Hampden and Tym, on
Sidney and Locke, on Chatham. Burke and
Fox, the most illustrious names in British
history. Wo therefore hope to see a full
British representation in tho great Centennial
at Philadelphia next year.
Ttoe Herald's Centennial Extra.
The fac-simile reproductions which ap
peared in the HiiiALD yesterday morning
were only a part of the contents of a special
sheet, "A Revolutionary Extra,of which we
sent an immense number to Boston on Sun
day night They were sold out early in
the day and the Boston dealers tele
graphed f?* largo additional supplies.
Copies of tho newspapers which first pub
lwhed the news of the stirring events of the
ever-memorable 19tb of April, 1775, have be
come so scarce and so rare that they hardly
exist outside a lew great public lioraries and the
collections of two or three eminent historians.
A single copy of any one ot those papers of
that particular date would sell for a fabulous
price, and the purchaser would think himself
fortunate in procuring it at all. This extra
sheet, as well as our regular edition, con
tained facsimiles of several of these American
newspapers which printed the events as news,
witu the very form of their antiquated type,
their head lines and their devices and em
blems, thus conveying a lively imprcs-ion of
the news a< it first struck tho eye. of Ameri
can readers. As a contemporary remarked: ?
??No spcech or poetry or parade at Concord
or Lexington to-day can at all compare, it
seems to us, with the effectiveness for good of
the matter which tho Hep-abds enterprise h.i?
set before the country in so striking a form.
We preserve the plates a day or two at some
inconvenience. Tho "Revolutionary Extra"
will be sold to dealers at the same price as the
ordinary editions of the Heuald. Wo have
to thank Mr. Moore, of the Historical Society,
for the fac-similo of Rivington s Gazette. Wo
are indebted to the Massachusetts Historical
Society lor copies of the Massachusetts Spy
and the Essex Gazette.
Tin Bbta-vt Testhkhou-?The arrango
menU mada by ihe managers of the New
York theatres for the forthcoming per
formance for the benefit of Dan Bryant's
family are such as to secura an overwhelming
race, ss. The series of performances will be
something phenomenal. It only remains for
the public to do their duty toward tho de
ceased minstrel, to whose genial nature they
are debtors for so many hours of honest
mirthtulness. It is something to remember a
man who often made us 1 nigh, yet never
caused a blnsh. What is a?ked from the
public is not so much charity as
patronage. The members of the dramatic pro
fession have pledged themselves to give the
public more than the value of their money,
and we hare no hf citation in ?aying that tbst
promise will be redeemed right royally. Bos
ton and Philadelphia have resolved to contrib
ute their quota to the Bryant testimonial. It
would be adiagrare toXevr York if the people
among whom Dan Bryant made his home
failed to mark their appreciation of his m< rit
as on actor and his worth as a man.
Avnttebsaetm.?This is th? hundredth
anniversary of the assembling of the "Pro
vincial Congress" of this State, which body
was made np of delegates from the counties,
and which named the r preventatives of the
colony in the Continental f'ongress that
Hat at Philadelphia in the neit month.
This day is also thr me hundredth anni
versary of the seizure at Williamsburg, Va.,
of ;v quantity of gunpowder stored at Rich
mond for rebel ui", for which gunpowder
Governor Dunmore shorily after paid its full
value to Patrick Henry, who demanded it at
the head of a company of armed men.
Jcdo* Lawmehc* yeatatday granted a mo
tion requiring the plaintiffs to file a bill of
particulars in the two suit* brought by the
city against Marrener, MilleT and Tweed to re
cover a million of dr,liars paid for materiala
furnished to the 8tre t Department during the
Tweed regime, on the ground of fraud in the
bills. It ia evident that the lawyera are likely
to reap a most profitable harvest out of theae
Ring auita.
The German V?t? to *Belglam#
The relation* between Germany and Bel
gium will find a new illustration in the very
important cable despatch wbich we print thi?
morning. There has been an impression,
largely gathered irom the tone of the Conti
nental newspapers, that these notes of Ger
many to Belgium have been harmless commu
nications in the interest of peace and comity.
In the latest Germany calls upon Belgium to
revise her laws so that ber territory shall not
be used as a basis of war upon friendly Pow
ers. We do not know how far any Belgians !
have declared war upon a Power as friendly
as Germany, but it seems that there has been
a plot or conspiracy against Bismarck?a
Jesuit ultramontane plot The health and
Bafety of the great statesman would j
appear to be the aim of modern
German diplomacy, as we find that
Bavarian editors are arrested in Austria and
returned to German justice for libelling the
Chancellor. If Belgium or Austria were really
menacing Germany we could comprehend the (
rigor of Bismarck But no one for a moment
supposes tbat the arrest of the Bavarian
editors or the harsh demand upon Belgium do
not represent a deeper purpose than appears
on the surface.
Take the demand made by Germany in its
lightest sense and what is it ? Let us snp
pose that after the St. Alban's raid, when
armed rebels invaded Vermont from Canadian
soil, the United States had addressed a note
to England in the terms of this Ger
man note to Belgium, what would have
been the answer? And yet we had a
case against England a thousand fold more
important than tbat of Germany against
Belgium. Our soil had been invaded. Our
citizens had been killed and their homes
destroyed. Property of great value had been
carried away. A plot had been matured for
the assassination of Lincoln, which in time suc
ceeded. Tho men who did these deeds rode
to Canada in open day and were discharged
by a Canadian judge. When an American
general threatened 10 pursue them, should
they repeat the offence, his order was recalled
and an apology made to Great Britain. No
one believed that we did not deal with i
England in the highest spirit of international '
law. England herself showed a similar case
during the time of Napoleon IIL After the
failure of the Orsini plot to destroy him, and j
the escape of some of Orsini's confed- !
erates to England, a demand was made
by Napoleon for their return. Lord I
Palmerston was in power. He had had
close relations with the Emperor and was anx- I
ious to oblige him. Ho was the undisputed ;
master of the House of Commons and the gov
ernment. He was in the flower of his singu
lar popularity. It seemed as if he could do
what he willed with England. He had driven
it into a French alliance and a Russian war,
and what was easier than to modify the laws ;
of the Empire to prevent it irom becoming
the refuge of conspirators against the peace
and fortune of Napoleon ? But this matchless
Englishman, who had fathomed every phase
of his countrymen's character, found out that
he had blundered. Even Palmerston could
not touch the right of asylum to oblige an
Emperor of the French. He was beaten in
his own House of Commons and driven out of
power.
The demand, therefore, which England re
fused to Francs and America, Germany virtu
ally makes npon Belgium. No one will doubt,
we think, that England was right in protecting
the integrity of her foil and the sanctity of
her laws. No one knows better than Bismarck
that what was right for England cannot be
wrong lor Belgium ; that what a ?reat Power
did with the applause of the world, a small,
modest, harmless po?er like Belgium must
necessarily do. Why, then, address this note
to Belgium when he could have done so to
Russia or Englind? "We except France,
bccausc he has been sddrossing that patient
country in the loftiest and most
insolent style since Sedan. The reason
is that he means to make Belgium an example.
President Lincoln was wont to say whenever
the war Congress would pass an unusually
radical bill that it would be tried upon the
District oi Columbia as an experiment, and
afterward, if need be, upon the country at
large. Bismarck would seem to be dealing
with Belgium in the same manner. He tried
diplomatic experiments upon it, and can thus
judge of their probable effect npon Europe.
Belgium is a safe country to tease. France
cannot defend it England will not, nnless
driven to it by a public opinion which
already looks kindly upon Bismarck
as the enemy of tue Pope and the
delender of Protestantism. This religious
controversy has given Bismarck a party in
England which will defend him if he takes
Belgium and Holland in the bargain. May
it not be a test of the fealty oi England to the
tradition that Belgium's independence is Eng
land's duty? Iu this light we can understand
the meaning of the German note. Nothing
would be more important to Bismarck than
the exact attitude of England in the event of
that general war he has been expecting and
predicting since the battle of Sedan. Great
Britain is the party really addressed in these
notes to Belgium, and the peace of Europe
will more largely depend upon the response
made by England to their letter and spirit
than upon any other contingency.
The Streets or New Yobi.?The messen
ger of an iron company was robbed yesterday
afternoon of three thousand five hundred dol
lars. He had been to the bank, drawn the
money for the payment of the employes, and
on his return was seised and stripped of the
amount by men, who, after committing the
daring act, jumped into a wagon and escaped.
We have no intention to hold the police re
sponsible for all the robberies committed in a
l:irge city like New York. If wc had a really
efficient and well managed police force a
pocketbook snateher might occasionally ply
his vocation and escape. A policcman cannot
be omnipresent. lint this bold highway rob
bery in the busiest time of the day was evi
dently prearranged, and if thieves had not a
shrewd knowledge that our "best police force
in the world" is utterly demoralized and inef
ficient they would not venture on such ex
ploits. Criminals have not now much fear of
detection. They mav occasionally oblige a
police commissioner by restoring a watch
stolen from one of his friends, but otherwise
they feel tolerably confident that they will be
lett in peaceable possession of their share of
all the spoils their nimble fingers can secure.
The Women and the Concert! Centen
nial.
The Centennl.il celebration at Concord and
Lexington yesterday did not five universal
satisfaction, the female suffragists resenting it
as a commemoration of a century's wrong to
woman. The ladies who met last night at
the Union League Theatre were particularly
ingenious in finding in this patriotic occasion
proof of the injuries they endure. It was
eloquently pointed out that our fathers, the
heroes of the Revolution, fought for the grand
principle tnat taxation without representation
is an outrage upon human rights. Then the
t-tartling fact was cited that of the money
raised by taxation to pay the expenses of the
Concord celebration one-fifth was paid by
women who had no voice in the disposition of
their property.
That there are grave questions involved in
this complaint must be admitted, lor taxation
is not a matter of sex, while representation
is. A woman may not vote a tax, but she
must pay it. It would open an endless field
of discussion were we to inquire how far re
sponsibility to the State is equally imposed
upon the sexes and how far a prop
erty owner is disqualified by being a
woman. But did it ever -strike theae
fair Indies that their aex, in being
deprived of the ballot, is really paying tin
penalty of its greatness? The female sex
already possesses too much power, and if it
were allowed to vote would be irresistible.
Man, desirous of retaining some privileges,
has seized upon the ballot box, and in this
tyranny pays woman the highest compliment
in his power. He palpably admits that he is
afraid to give any additional opportunity
of reducing him to utter subjugation.
The ladies who spoke last night at the meet
ing, and compared their effort to obtain the
ballot with that of the brave men who fought
in the Revolution, should remember that
this makes some difference. We do not
regard Mrs. Blake as a slave, though
she seems willing to be considered one,
nor Mrs. W'estbrook as a victim of
oppression. One thing is encouraging, that,
although the ladies have resolved to urge
their claims and to resist taxation without
representation, they have agreed that this
shall not be done by an unnatural resort to
the cruel sacrifico of war. They intend to
depend solely upon reason, which has always
been the favorite and the most effective
weapon of the sex.
Oar Dirty Lines Abroad.
The London l"mts sends us an interesting
homily upon our national characteristics,
based upon the Menage of Governor Tilden
to the Legislature on the canal question. The
Times attributes the rise of the corruptions
thus exposed to the indifference of Americans
about local politics. "They hare," says our
contemporary, "their own private affairs to
look alter, and unless the nuisance becomes
excessive" it is allowed to run its course. It
informs us that "the solemn league" which
our citizens at one time formed for "the effec
tual reform of New York" "was first neglected
by its most trustworthy members," and
"finally betrayed to the enemy by its own
paid officials." It is difficult to understand
what this means, unless it it* that the majority
of the Committee of Seventy were glad enough
to steal when they could do so with impunity
in quiet days <*nd are seeking new opportuni
ties. The Times thinks the exposure of the
Canal Ring will do some temporary good, tut
that it will not be permanent. At the same
time it cannot fail to remark "the quiet cyni
cism" with which Americans regard pecula
tion, and we have the assurance that these
Tammany and canal frauds will be perennial.
But all this time the Americans are a great
people, and aro not to be judged by the
wickedness ot New York.
It is not pleasant to read these criticisms in
a foreign journal, especially when we sec
their injustice; but this is one of the troubles
of our exc;s-uve frankness in dealing with
public affairs. An American writer reports
Wordsworth, ths poet, as expressing his won
der that in America Congressmen were charged
by the journals with actually stealing spoons.
That was in another generation, when Marin |
Van Bui en was President But wo have not
tempered our criticisms. Suppose upon the i
next Centennial of Lexington one of our de- ,
scendants was to open a file of the journals of
the present day. What would be think of our
soc ety, our politics, our municipality, our
President? He could not but blush for his
ancestors. And yet we know that this fury
of criticism and defamation is not sincere,
that it is meant to serve party ends nnd per
sonal malice, and that many of the best men
now in public life are among those who are
most severely assailed. How, therefore,
can we expect a different opinion from
the London press, whose editors look at us
with something of the eye of posterity? They
only see the surface of society here and hear
its clamor. They see many things that we
wish were otherwise. They see the chief of our
city power a prisoner in jail, like a common
vagabond. They sec at the head of Wall street
a financier who, after he had been ousted from
the control of a large railway, returned nine
millions of its money, which he had taken for
his own use*, to avoid a suit It is hard to
expect much eommendation for a city which
has produced th? two men who have brought
more discredit upon the American name
than any o'ber two since Aaron Burr and
Benedict Arnold. American credit has been
imjured to the extent of hundreds of millions
by their practices.
But ther" ars other influences in America.
It is unfair for the Times to select
men of this stamp and their confederates as
representatives ot' American character. Ws
might as well take Walpote and Pelbam as
types of purity in l'.nglish puMic life, and
George IV. as a model King. The Tammany
conspiracy was sad enough. This Canal Ring
is not much better. But when we find these
corruptions we expose them. How long could
there continue Mich a system of bribery as
was known in the Parliament which glories
in the presence of Pitt and Bnrke ? How
much corruption attended the union of Ire
land and England? How many members of
Parliament an unseated from time to time,
oven in the pr ?>nt day, tor bribery and im
proper practices in the lraachisc? How long
would America submit to a king like George
IV. ? What picture of American life, even if
painted in the darkest colors of oar partisan
press, will rival the "Memoirs" of Greville ?
Even in our own profession there has been no
nan revelation of shameless corruption as th?t
which marked tho carcor of a leading editor
of the great Times. We have our faults, but
we talk about thorn and correct them. When
a creature like Tweed gains power we send
him to jail as soon ar, wo find him out When
a creature like George IV. gains tho throne he
is sheltered, protected, worshipped in his in
famy and buried like a real king. George IV.
robbed the treasury of England of far more
money than Tweed. He diod full of yeari
aud honor and now rests in the tombs of
English kings. Tweed is in jail.
Nothing could bettor illustrate the two ays
temg. Wo do not claim to bo purer than oui
English cousins, but wo are cortainly no
worse. The difference is that wo say what
we think from duy to day. In England it ia
written in a journal which will only appear
in the next genpration.
The Aehul Fire Escape Job.?Now that
tho connection of tho Secretary of the Fire
Department with the aerial fire escape job haa
been exposed the Fire Commissioners have
callcd upon him for an explanation. The Sec
retary will, no doubt, comply with the request
of the Commissioners. But will the Commis
sioners, on their part, explain what share in tho
transaction was taken by any member of theix
Board? Did a Commissioner interest him
self in securing the purchase of the patent by
the city? The Board of Aldermen should
order a full investigation of this particular
transaction. Probably Governor Tilden will
now recognize the propriety of taking some
action on the charges already on record
against this department, and which have
been established to the satisfaction of tho
Mayor.
The Tammany Election.?The "boys" stand
by Mr. Kelly, as the result of the great Tam
many meeting last night will prove to even
the most incredulous. He is the most infla
ential Sachem now, and all tho chiefs electcd
are his friends. Tammany seems to bo su
preme in the party.
PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.
jaejee-boy Daddy-boy has ma^f the tour ?
Commander John w. PM'lp, United Statu Navy,
Is at the S urtevant House.
Tne progressive Shipbuilder. By Joan W. GUI
flths. New York: J- W. Griffiths.
air melon Bobinson, of Elmlra. ts among
late arrivals at tne St. James Hotel.
Colonel Charles Tracer, or Governor Tl.den I
staff, is stopping at the Hoffm .n House.
Hero is ue Lexlrgtou Centennial, and Wendell
phltllps unable to get. in a single screa n.
Congressman Cuatles H. Adams, of Cohoas,
N y., is staying at tne New York. Hotel.
Alice Brand; a Romanes or tiu Capital. By A.
G. Riddle. Now Yor*: 1). Appieton & Co.
There is some dissatisfaction in tngand ovet
tne organization 01 the Ar no Expedition.
Naval constructor w. L. Hanacom, United State#
Haw Is quartered at tn? St. Nicholas Hotel.
* Mr Ro ncv W. Daniels. Collectors th? Port of
Buffalo, is ri-gistere 1 at the F1 th Avenue HoteL
Days Near Home. By Augustus J. C. Hare. Illu?
trailons. l'wo volumes. Philadelphia: Porter 4
? AnVtarchl Bey, the Turkl-b Minister arrive*
irom Washington yesterday and is at the A^be
"i'r.6 Henry Howard. Secord Secretary of ttt?
British Legation at Washington, ts residing at th<
Krevourl Iloise.x
Lieutenants Robinson and Eden, or the Brttlsl
jjavy. have taken up thctr quarters at the St.
Nicholas Hotel. . _
Bear Aflmir 1 CharlenS. Poygs and Captain K.
R. Brecse, Cnlted States Navy, narb apartmenta
at the Everett Hous?.
Mr. Ronert Grant Watson. First Secretary of
British Legation at Washington, ts sojourning at
the Westmoreland Hotel.
General snerldan and staff passed np on the St.
Louis. Iron Mountain and Soutimn Railroad last
evening. ?T% voutc to Clucmio.
Ab'C Lt-zt has beea named t>y the Emperor 01
Anuria president o: an Academy ot Music i.ow in
process of < rgsnixition at Peatb.
How to Write Clearly; Rules and Excrctus oa
English Composition. Br the. Rev. Edwin A. At>
bott, M- A. Boston: Robert* Bros.
Mr. Julius Morgan, tne American banker, U
?ncd" in the British cour>s m regard :o dispute*
accounts in the Frencn Morgan loan.
Toere is some teason to believe that the boaste*
benevolence ?r California miilioonaires Is on'.y war
plain people call "a Lick an I a promise."
Grand Tran8f"rm.ition Scenes in the Unite*
states - or. Glimpses o! Home Alter Thirteen Yeari
Abroad. By n. Fuller. New York: G. W. carlctoc
* Here is a first rats Pennsylvania connnd.nm
??Does the Lord love a man who spenua at I
courcb festival the money he owes ht? washer
They say that ths old tree on "htch Farmer Lyueh
first illustrated hl? law U still In good conom n.
Time enough yet. taereiore, to get a few slips for
' A book from the pen of the late Mrs. Henry 1L
rt*ld entitled "Home sketches In Fraiee," 1* ta
Putnam's press. Tne accomplished writer was ?
native of tnat conniry.
Count von Arntm's latest appearand is in a duel.
He acted as second to the Hungarian Uaroa
AtzeL Tlis Baron's adversary. Count Jarvezewa.
was wounded by a snot In tna hip.
The popular autaoress, Marion Harland, has a
aecond cookery book In Hcrtbner's press, to be a a
titied "Breakiast, Lunch and Supper." It will if.
uore tne tocsin or the aiul?tne dinner bell.
Captain H. W. nowgate, who is prominentia
connected with the Signal Bureau at Washington
was recently ttarjwn trow his buggy. w,lch camt
in contact with a street car. and was severely in
J Atthe trial of the Gulcowar of Baroda a man te?
tided that ne was a punkawnlan. In all the hard
names called tn Brooklyn no one Has equ tied
tnis. Neither Beecuer nor T.lton has called taa
other a pnnka walla a.
it is the opinion ot a French punster that Mosas
was a usurer, because he autnoriz^d fang pour
tana wnicti, translated by the sensr is blood tor
blood; but. translated by the sound, Is neat
enough to cent per cent.
The History ot the Relgp of the Emperor Chariei
the Filth. By William Robertson, D. I>. With ao
Account of the Emperor's Life Alter his Abdica
tion By wlinam H. Prcfo-t. edition. la
tnree volumes. Vol. IL Philadelphia: J. B. L-p.
aincott A f'o.
There Isa telegrapher's palsy. The operators kept
verr busy On1!thnt aller HOm8 ye,ir* ttiej arc u0*
at>le to signal eeriatu Msrn* dlsunctly. They
change their fingers and get rid of me iroiiblr-roi
a time; but the?e Angers fail, and, If the labor it
persisted in, the whole arm gives ont and the
brain becomes artected.
??There Is a dog." This trivial phrase was used
by an instructor of actors in Paris as the volitcla
ot an important lejson. Ho taught trem to give
it in the sense of various impressions, as, tear o
tne dog - lose of the dog; contempt -or the uog
astonishment, regret, AC., and so exhinued tha
it mattered ices wnat words an actor had to giv
than how he gave them.
in case tno needier jury snnu'.d want fc
Know how to get at tu?s sum o
damages due to Ttlton they may tin.
a hint in tho olan adopted by the Jnrr u
the recent cans tn Scotland, in *nu tt a verdict
was given against the London AfVnau?*. CieveR
ot tho jury lavoied damages, but c uld not agree
on the sum, so they each one wroto down prl
vately nis own Idea of the sum. They added all
these suma togetbor, dtvldoa by eleven an 1 gav#
the result as the amount of damage*.