The New York herald. [volume], June 19, 1875, Page 6, Image 6

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NEW YORK HERALD
BROADWAY AND ANN STREET.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT.
PROPRIETOR.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. ?On and
after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly
?ditiona of the New Yoiuc Herald will be
sent free of postage.
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, to subscribers.
All business or news letters and telegraphic
despatches must be addressed New Yobk
Hraii.n.
Letters and packages should be properly
sealed.
Rejected communications will not be re
turned.
LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK
HERALD?NO. 46 FLEET STREET.
PARIS OFFICE?RUE SCRIBE.
Subscriptions and advertisements will be
received and forwarded on the same terms
as in Now York,
VOLUME XI SO. 170 j
UtSHBiTS THIS APTERNOOS AM EVEiHG.
WALL ICR'S TUEATHB,
Broadway ?TIIK Lio.NOVANS.al8i'. M.: elosei at 10:U
V. M. Mcur?. harrtyau and Hart. Ma line* at J P. M.
BROOKLYN PAHK THEATRE.
aROCND THr. WultI.I) IN K'UHTY L'AYi, at S P. M. j
CloaC? ai 10 :ti P. il. il.iUnee ut 2 P. M.
ROBINSON IIALL,
W("?t sixteenth street.?EnfUsh Opera?GIR07LE
lilKOKLA. at & r. it. Matinee at 2 I*. M.
WOOD'S MLSECM.
Broadwar, comer ot thirtieth itreet.? LITTLE SCN.
*HINfc, at e J*. M , clute* at 10:13 P. SI. Matinee at!
P. M.
GILMORE'S SUMMER OABDEN,
lata Barnnm's Hippodrome.? liB.tND POPULAR COM.
CERT, at 8 P. M closet at 11 P. M. Ladles' and clill
ortn a matinee at 2 f. M.
METROPOLITAN XffSSCX OP AST,
Weit Fourteenth street?Op?n from 10 A. M. to S P. M.
PARK THEATRE.
Broadway.-EMER.SO.VS CALIFORNIA. JIINSTBELB,
at a P. * Vatinea at 2 p. M.
OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Xo. 04 Broadway ?VaRIKTY, at 8 P. M. ; closes at 10.-? ;
P M. Matinee at 2 P. M.
FIFTH AVENUE THEATBE,
Twentrelfhth street and Broad way.?T (IE BIO BO
NANZA. at S P. M.; closes at 10:10 P. M. Matinee at 2
P. M.
CENTRAL PARK ?AKDHr.
THEODORE TUOMA.V CONCERT, at 8 P.tfA
METROPOLITAN THEATRE,
Bob MS Broadway.?VARIETY, at 8 P. M. Matinee at I
P. M.
TRIPLE SHEET.
SEW YORK, SATU1DAI. JUNE 10. 1875.
from our report* thit morning the probabilities
ere that the weather to-day tcifl be cooler and
dear.
Persons govng out <4 town for the summer can
lave the daily and Sunday Hkbatj) mailed to
them, fret qf postage, for $1 per month.
Wall Street Teste be at.?Prices were un
settled end lower. Gold was strong at 117}.
The shipments of the week are large. For
eign exchange was firm.
Thz Psekdett yesterday visited the Cen
tennial Exhibition buildings at Philadelphia.
A New ErvoLrnos in Mexico, which our
despatches report, is like a shower of rain in
summer?about what we should expect.
Mil Beach has eloquently denounced Judge
Porter for his epithets. But those who believe
in epithets as an efficient quality in oratory
need not complain of Mr. Beach.
Osz Beasok why Green is so unpopular as
the watchdog of the Tre^ury is that no
watchdog, no matter how valuable, is of any
use after he has the hydrophobia.
Tweed is not at liberty. He complains that
he cannot make restitution because he has
been compelled to pay out his money to
blackmailing lawyers. Would this not be
worthy of the attention of the Bar Associa
aon?
A Decision of much interest has been made
in the courts relative to the ownership of cot
ton seized or destroyed during the civil war.
The dec ision will be found at length in an
other column.
The Pope thinks there are Cardinals enough
to minister :o the wants of his flock upon
earth, and has reconsidered his resolution to
declare the five others who have been ap
pointed in petto.
Fbom the Views of men prominent in the
financial world, published in another column,
we may judge that the financial crisis in Eng
land is not likely to exercise any bad effort in
this country. The extent of the English fail
ures is scarcely sufficient seriously to affect the
local market, as money is plenty and the
firms that have gone to the wall were known
\o have been unbound.
Cornell has gone ptuckily to work to re
trieve the nnlooked for defeat her oarsmen
suffered last year ot Saratoga. Our interest
ing letter from Ithaca details the radical
change.?that have been effected in the com
position of this year's crew. Mere bulk has
been thrown aside, and men combining ac
tivity with thews and sinews have been
selected, in the hope ot regaining the lost
prestige of the Cornell.
A PmECBDEsrr.? In the diary of John Quincy
Adams, under the date of November 28, 1823,
there is a conversation between the ei-Presi
dent, as Secretary of State, and a New York
]>olitician, in which it was said that "after
eight years of service it was common law that
the Vice Presidency as well as the Chief Magis
tracy should change hamls." The opinion of
Mr. Adams that this had become common
law will be interesting in debating the ques
tion of the third term.
Sitfposf Goant should be renominated for
fco Presidency, is there any point in his let
to that would compel him as a man of b?a?r
tn ?1#cliw this nomination!
?>Tkt Etk tf Good ye*!!?#*
The extended review of the sixth volume of
tbe diary of John Quincy Adams which we
print this morning lorms an interesting chap
ter in the history of American politico. Mr.
Adams had the habit, which in some pnblic
men ia an advantage", in others a misfortune,
of keeping an elaborate diary of the events ot
his life, with his comments upon his time anil
the mtn who surrounded him. There \w\s
nothing in the drift of Mr. Adams mind to
give his notations the value we attribute to
Pepys or Evelyn or Greville or Walpole.
He was not a scandal monger. He was not a
man of absolute prejudices. His intellect was
cold, unsympathetic, and, except when under
the influence of apparent injustice or am
bition, of a judicial quality. He was a
sincerely honest and extremely able man,
and perhaps, taking him all in all, the
most accomplished of our Presidents. His
life was rich in opportunity and service.
He entered upon diplomatic functions when
scarcely through his teens. He died in
extreme old ape on the floor of the House
of Representatives, in the active fulfilment of
his duties as a representative of the people.
Fifty years have pa3sed since this diary was
written. Scarcely one of the figure* who
move through its pages are now alive. We
have a glimpse of John A. Dix as a bustling
young politician, serving the interest of
DeWitt Clinton and John C. Calhoun,
and of Rbverdy Johnson as a man too
young to be appointed District Attorney in
Baltimore. John A. Dix and Reverdy John
son still live, illustrious and venerated, long
past the period assigned by the Psalmist as
the limit of human life. But with these two
exceptions there is scarcely one of a long
array of distinguished and gifted men who
form a part of Mr. Adams' diary who have
not passed to their final rest
Therefore Mr. Adams' diary has all the
merit of history. Its publication can do no
harm to the feelings of any one now living.
Its value to us is in the lessons it teaches us.
Wo have an inside glimpse ot that sunny,
golden period of American history which we
call ' 'the era of good feeling,'' and which tinges
with romance the earlier years of our Repub
lic. The "era of good feeling," as we under
stand it, is that all men were just; that all
politicians were pure ; that public life had no
rancor ; that ambition was dormant in the
presence of the country's need, and that the
great men of those dajs?the Jeffersons and
Madisons and Monroes, the Adamse?, the
Rufus Kings, the Calhouns, the Jacksons and
Clays and Websters and Bentons?all stood
hand in hand around the altar of their
country, animated by but one hope and
one feeling?that of patriotic sacrifice
and devotion to the interests of the
Republic. In "the era of good feeling," as we
understand it, thero was no corruption in
public life, there was no straiuing for office,
the simplicity of tbe republican institutions
had not yet been deadened by luxury and tbe
influence of European habits. Wo were
within the influence of the Revolution, under
the spell of Washington, with Carroll and
Adams and Jefferson still living, the monu
ments of a monumental past to warn and
admonish and instruct us. And thero is
scarcely an orator of our time who. when he
reviews the political situation, does not
go back to this enviable time and pray for a
return of that spirit to our people and our
leaders which made the administration of
Monroe the golden age of the Republic,
and which now seem to have been the end of
that simple, pastoral ingenuous era which
marked our earlier days.
And yet when we lift the curtain and see
behind the scenes we find it is the old story
after all; that "the era of good feeling" is as
much a romance as the enchanted tales of tbe
Arabian Nights or the romantic valley of the
Rasselas. We see that tbe great men of those
days were very much like the men of our own
day; that there was the same plague ot defa
mation in the atmosphere, the same averment
oi corruption in public life, the same restless,
unholy, sordid ambition; the same license of
the press, the same absence of high control
ling character in public life. There is scarcely
a public man of the time of whom Mr. Adams
speaks without some criticism that would, if
uttered now of our living state?men, be re
garded as a censure. Rufus King was the
??wisest and the best" of men, according to hie
estimate; yet Ruiu* King was not above a
morbid hunger for the Presidency. John C.
Calhoun, who was at one time Mr. Adams'
ideal statesman, tho ono man of the Repub
lic to whom he looked forward with more
pride and hope than all others, rapidly be
came a scheming politician, controlling the
War Department for its patronage and en
deavoring to force his friends into office to
make himself President. Henry Clay falls
from the ideality which surrounded him into
about the same measure of a man as aa
irritable, shallow, desperate adventurer.
Daniel Webster is not above intriguing with
one party and with another, looking only to
his own advantage, while the imperious spirit
of Jackson i* sbowu as covering a subtle,
restless f.nd not always scrupulous political
character. Even Mr. Adams himself, who ha*
gradually become one of the gods in our po
litical temple, is shown to have been a peevish
man and to havelieen as much under the con
trol of ambition as any of his rivals, and,
while endeavoring in his efforts to serve ttie
country in whichever position it placed him,
as keen in the race ot political distinction, as
willing to enter into an alliance and combina
tion as any of his rivals.
All of this may seem like a disenchant
ment, the overturning of onr gods. It is
hard to deal with these venerated leaders of an
earlier and what seems to he a nobler period of
our Republic as though they were mon like
oursolvet, like the leaders of onr own partiea,
whom we are accustomed to criticise lrom day
to dny as adventurers and achcming politi
cians, who care nothing for the public welfare
except so far as it contributes to their own
advancement. The truth is thnt we aro
neither lair to the men of the past nor to tho
men of the present. A generation will pass
away, and mat;y of the men who aro
the leaders of onr politics now will
be remembered with the romantic
affection which is ' bestowed upon
Clay and Jackson. All their weakness, their
narrowness, their petty, selfish strifes, will be
forgotten. All the scandals which cloudcd
their names will waft away. Oar children
will think no more ot the nepotism of Grant
and the eccentric Audacity of Sherman th?n
w? ao now ot the duels of Jackson or the in
trigues of Clay. The truth, we presume, i?
this?and no book teaches it to us so em
phatically as the '?Diary" of Adams-that the
statesmen of "the era of good leeling wore
in no 6ense heroes of romance, just as t it
statesmen of our own time are not mere ad
venturer* who Beek politics, just as Clause
Duval and Jack Sheppard sought careers on
the highway. Above all is the higher trut 1
that the nation is much beyond the men
who rule it; that our destiny does not rest
with the leaders of our politics, but with our
selves. America will never owe her greatness
to her Websters or her Calhouns, to he r
Johnsons and Grunts. These men, even the
best of them, whose brows are laurel laden
and whose genius is "necessary to the salva
tion of our country," are men nftor all.
They seek to do their duty with all of its cir
cumscribing influences. Their direct effee
upon the national welfaro is fimited. Com
pared with the people, with the mighty
spirit of nationality and patriotism
which animated us yesterday in onr
war, which was so beautifully expressed
at Bunker Hill, when North and South vied
with cach other in fraternal emulation, tho
mere men are nothing. The greatest of a
generation are those only who represent tho
spirit of the time. The noblest lesson we can
learn from the pages of Adams, from the en
thusiasm of Bunker Hill and the hourly mu
tations of politics, is that no man, however
gitted or renowned, is greater than the 1 e
public, and that when we speak with raptures
of "the era of good feeling" it is nothing
moife than the tribute which the candid gener
osity of one generation always pays to the
real merit of the generations w hich preceded it
Mr. Green's kittle Acrounti ?? ?
Park Commissioner.
The popular belief in Comptroller Green's
vigilance and disinterestedness as a guardian
of the city treasury will be rudely shaken by
the report of the Commissioners of Accounts
on tbe resolution of tho Common Couucil
ordering an inquiry into the amount of money
received by auy Commissioner of the Central
Park or of the Park Department up to Janu
arv last The fact is now officially disclosed
for tho first lime that Mr. Green while acting
as Park Commissioner drew for salary and
expenses in eleven years nearly one
thousand dollars out of the Park funds. The
management of tho Central Park for many ;
years was conducted after a Star Chamber (
fashion, none of the financial proceedings of !
the department having been given in detail to
the public. Behind this cloak of secrecy
many questionable acts appear to have been ;
indulged in. The office of Park Commissioner
has always been an unsalaried one, but by
acts amendatory of the original law the Board
has been authorized from time to time to pny
such a compensation to such Commissioner
as might act as President or Treasurer as tho
extra services performed might warrant. As
the total amount allowed to any Commissioner
for bis personal expenses in "visiting and
superintending" the Park was three hundred ,
dollars a compensation ot one thousand dol- I
lars to the President or Treasurer would have
seemed ample to compensate for their extra ,
duties. Yet Mr. Green has drawn in those
capacities, for many years, nearly ten thou
sand dollars a year, a gTeat portion of tho
amouot having been paid him on resolutions
introduced by Thomas C. Fields, of "King
notoriety, as "back salary" lor services
already performed and once pud for in full.
In a'l these transactions Mr. Green dis
played very little regard for the strict prin
ciples he now professes. While absent from
the city, in Europe or in Albany, he not only |
drew his salary but received his expenses out
of the city treasury. While pocketing an
enormous salary he drew tbe lull amount of
three hundred dollars a year for every year
of his service on constructive "expenses" in
curred by him in "visiting and superintend
ing" the Park. At the same time he made the
park funds ray tho cost and expenses
of a horse and carriage, used wholly by him,
and the wages of his coachman were a public
charge 1 Such a record as this is certainly
open to grave criticism, especially when at
tached to a public officer who deducts half a
dav's wages from scrub women who happen
tn be detained from their duties by sickness,
and who is constantly keeping city laborers
out of their pay through some affected "strict j
construction" of the law.
The Loxpox Spectator affirms the view of
the President's letter on the third term taken
by the Hebald.
The Potatoes and the Beetle.
Several days since we printed a descriptive
article on the Colorado beetle, in -which was
given an account of his origin and his habits,
and also indicated the only tffective remedy
against his ravngis. There nro farmers, we
believe, who hare treated the subject with in
difference, and who have even looked upon the
beetle, because he appeared in print before he
did in the fields, as a branch of fancy farm
ing?one of those things contrived to fill up
agricultural and other papers?and that a
practical farmer need know nothing about.
But they have changed this opinion upen dis
covering that the only reason the beetle did
not appear to them in their fields was that they
did not givo the fields the necessary scrutiny.
As our reports el?ewhero from virions States
show ho is there now, and no spectacles are
needed to note his presence; for here and there
thetoj* are gone irom a hill of potatoes in the
handsomest fields, and in several other hills
the leaves look like species of work in filagree,
and in some points the enemy has made such
progress that the prompt fanners have
ploughed in the crop and planted grain,
although in many parts of the State of New
Jersey tho fields were gone over to pick out
the beetles, which appearecj about two weeks
ago. The eggs were extensively deposited,
and now tho newly hatched grub, at present
senrcelv larger than a flaxseed, appears in
such numberi that from thref to six may be
found on every leaf. By the time these fel
lows havo attained their natural growth,
therefore, green potato plants an; likely to be
a rarity in many of the neighboring districts.
Jr Beecheb should be acquitted what will
Tdton do? If he should be convicted?what
then?
Ir Grant is not tho republican candidate
for the ne*t nomination to the Prr^idency
will some one tell us who is?
The Political Condition of the South
ern State*.
Wfi print to-day the first of three letters
from our special correspondent in the South,
Mr. Nordhoff, in which he sums up tho result
of hia observations in the lour StateB?Arkan
sas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
whose political and industrial condition ho
lias been for several months examining for
the Hbhit.iv We commend tbeso letters in
an especial manner to tho attention ot tho
thoughtlul readers of tho Hebald, because
they announce the couelusions, upon an
evidently impartial and conscientious investi
gation, of an inquiry into one of the most
important public questions with which Ameri
can statesmanship has to deal.
In his previous lattera Mr. Nordhoff has
shown that the States he has visited have
been subjected lor a number of years to an
extraordinary but varying amount of mis
government, which assuredly would not have
been countenanced by tho Northern peoplo
had they understood the facta. In this sum
mary he asserts that, contrary to his belief in
past yearn, such federal interference as was
provided for in the Enforcement acts
was, for somo years . after 1865, ab
solutely neccssary to protect the freed
men; but ' he declares with equal posi
tivom-ss that this necessity no longer exists,
and that federal interference in tho local con
cerns of the Statos in question is now and has
been for at least two years pastr an unmixed
evil; that it has prevented a final and har
monious settlement of political questions in
those States; and that the federal power has
been, of late, used almost entirely by and in
tho interest of self-Beeking and unscrupulous
demagogues.
Ho declares his belief that it was both wise
and necessary to give to the freodmen abso
lute political equality, poor, ignorant and
helpless as they were at the close of the war,
because in no other way could their rights be
made secure and themsolves propared for citi
zenship and turned from frcadmou into free
men. But he considers tho color line, tho
massing of the races against each other on tho
political field, as the gravest evil which
now afflicts those States; and while ho
lays the blame of its origin mainly upon
the folly of the whites, who atter
the war refused to sanction the political rights
of the blacks and attacked their personal
rights, he declares that at this time the
federal interference alone prevents a recon
struction of parties, which he evidently be- j
lieves to be the first necessary step to a per
manent and peaceful settlement of political
questions in the South. We commend what
he has to say on this subject to all who desire ;
to know the real condition of Southern poli
tics and the remedies for grievances and
troubles there, the existence of which no one j
denies. It cannot be doubted that a division
of political parties which throws the mass of
ignorant and lawless voters on one side, and
under tho absolute control of a handful of
white leaders, is a serious danger to a
civilized community, and has an inevitable
and irresistible tendency to corrupt those
who lead such a vote, where that is large
enough to control the elections. But Mr.
Nordhoff has Bhown that in Mississippi
the negroes have a numerical majority
of at least fifteen thousand, while in many
counties in other States they aro as four,
six and even ten to every white voter. He
says that there are scores of such counties so
completely under the control of those who
lead the negro vote as to place the entire
property owning class at the mercy of design
ing leaders and ignorant masses. There are
scores of Southern countics, he remarks, j
"where the voice of the people is not the j
voice of God, but the voice of the worst thief 1
in the community." His explanation of the 1
working of the Enforcement acts and of the
effect of federal interference iu maintaining
in power over the Southern communities a
class of bad men, white and black, native and
Northern, and in keeping the negro in a state !
of alarm and distrust, is instructive, and we
think deserves consideration. It is certainly i
of the first importance tbat the two races !
who live there face to lace should bj in har
monious and friendly relations. To keep the
negro arrayed against the white, tho laborer
against the land owner, is to prepare the way
for constant misgovernment, and, what is (
quite as serious, for continual irritation, lead- j
ing directly to violence and wrong.
This seems to us as the most important 1
demonstration in Mr. Nordhoff s in
vestigations. His conclusions will atriko
many of our readers as new; 1
but wo fear it must be acknowledged that
the North has known almost nothing of the j
actual condition of the South since the war.
Nor i* this strange. The Southern States
geem to have passed with surprising rapidity
through a transition stage in their affairs, and
what was truo of Southern society and senti
ment in 1865 or 1868 was not necessarily true
in 1872 or 1875. But if any one wished to
misrepresent a Southern community he had
only to tell in tho North in 1871 what was
true four or six years ago and omit to add
that since then the spirit and acts of the peo
ple had materially changed. Moreover, there
is a certain vehcmence in many of tho South
ern stot-ments of the eoursj of affairs down
there which inclines Northern readers to in
credulity. If Southern writers and speakers
would Btudy moderation in discussion they
wouid secure a better hearing in the North.
The bitterness of denunciat.on in which some
Southern newspapers indulge themselves is
itself commonly eitcd in the North as an evi
dence of a bad ami intolerant spirit, and such
I assa^es as the extracts from a Vicksbnr^ i
journal which Mr. Nordhoff gave in one of
his Mississippi letters, hinting at assassina
tion, do mora to injure the cause of tho good
people in the South ihan many sensible and
sober men can remedy.
In iipeaking of tho white population of tho
States he has seen Mr. Nordhoff remarks that
the distinction between tho poor and tho
wealthy is more marked than with us, and ho
ascribes the disorders of past years not to tho
illiterate poor whitee. but mainly to a elass of
lawl ss young men, who are, he remarks,
mostly descendants of the old overseers and
negro traders. These are evidently ih; persons
whom General Sheridan stigmatized as ??bun
ditti;" and. in Mr. Nordtioft's opinion, the
gravest crime with which the republican
inlera in the S mthern States can bo charged
is not their pecuniary dishonesty, but tho fact
that they utterly failed to repress and punish
thia predatoCy class, which, of cours*. crew
more lawless wherever it discovered that the
governing powers were too careless to hold it
to account for its misdeed*, and which, he
affirms, has mainly been held in check in
Louisiuna by the good spirit and conservative
energy of the mass of the white population.
01 the negro he tells us that he is prosper
ous and comfortable; that in the cotton re
gion ho customarily cultivates the land on
shares, whereby, at any rate, he is stimulated
to regular industry; that ho is a satisfactory
worker?"the best laboring force in tho
world," many planters say; that ho likes to
semi his children to school; that he has not
yet learned to save his earnings, and seldom
owns the land lie tills; that he Las, on the
whole, admirably withstood the temptations to
idleness which the political turmoil of the
last ten years offered; and, finally, that ho
has been so wretchedly trained in political in
dependent that, according to tho general
testimony of republican politicians, he will
not voto without tho assistance of "white or
ganizers." This looks a little as though ihe
politicians down there had for their own pur
poses kept him vigilantly in leading strings.
But ho must learn to go alone. That is one
of tho inconveniences of citizenship and man
hood.
Kiting In London.
It seems to be thought in London that up
to the present time the trouble has not
reached any house known and believed to bo
thoroughly sound, but has operated entirely
within an infected circle; tbat, iniact, all theso
houses were quarantined some timo ago, and
that their present "failure" is only a public
declaration of a condition that, in the financial
world, was known to exist at least long
enough since for the knowledga to operate as
a protection to houses whose fall would be a
public calamity. Consequently there is at
present just a probability that no such house
may go down, but this fortunate event is not
certain. In the India trade, as well as in the
iron trade, there are sufficient reasons for
embarrassment?roasons with which tho com- i
mercial world of England is familiar?and
consequently houses in those trades sought
discounts in disadvantageous circumstances.
Many, therefore, were driven to a class of
bankers which exists in every great financial
centre?financiers who keep on their feet less j
through their resemblanoe to the Farnesian j
Hercules than through a feline capacity to re
cover their equilibrium in the most difficult
circumstances. These gentlemen discount the
bills of houses whose condition they do
not scrutinize, for reasons at least as good as
those which prevent civil people from examin
ing the teeth of homes that are given them;
but they discount them with paper which
requires at least as much discounting in turn
as the bills did; and then again they endeavor |
to fortify themselves by putting the bills spme
where else, and getting on them so-so credit
with which to discount other bills of Bhaky !
houses iu the course of the day. All that the
facts, therofore, have yet shown is that if
this is a full explanation of the trouble
there was an enormous quantity of
very poor paper afloat in the great
capital. Either this is the real explanation of
the crisis or it is not; and it is bad both
ways, for if it is not it is put forth to
cover conditions that it is desired to conceal
from the public; and if it is it indicates
London was doing a great de*l of bad busi
ness, the limits ot which the wisest may not
be able to define. How many other lines of ;
trade are there that were in the same condi
tion, and who are the real victims of the
embarrassment that has been covered up by :
all this kite-flying?
Our American Team.
The first contest oo Irish ground of oar
Amcrioan riflemen with their opponents,
though it left the palm of victory with the
Irishmen, has vindicated the high opinion
entertained of the skill and reliability of the
men who went across the ocean to represent
Amcrica. Only the trained rifleman can
thoroughly understand the disadvantage at
which our men were placed by tbe changed
conditions under which they found them
selves. Tb ? climate and the position of the
North Bnll range, exposed as it is
to the action of the nea breeze, told
heavily against the American*, and no higher
tribute could be paid to their skill as
marksmen than the readiness with which evi
dently they accustomed themselves to the
changed conditions under which they were
called upon to shoot. Only two of the Irish
riflemen mado higher scores than Messrs.
Fulton, Bodine and Da kin; while Mr. Cole
man, one ot tho new C re d moor men, who
was lowest among tho Americans, fell only
two points behind Mr. Mdner, one of tho
most brilliant shots in Ireland. With such
results at their first appearance before
the targets at Dollymount it is not
to bo wondered nt that the reputation of
the Americans haa not suffered by their
failure to securo tho prizo in their first
contest. It by no* means follows that
their chances of victory in the coming inter
national match are at an end. Two weeks
must elapse from th? da'e of their first
shooting before the international match can
c<une < ff, aud in that interval our mon will
have ample tiino to becomo familiar with tho
atmospheric conditions of the Dollymount
r^n^e. Ami from the result of their first
trial of skill we augur the best results. If
the Irish riflemen cannot bring six stronger
men into tho field than thoso who havo
already met tho American team th y cannot
count on victory as a foregone conclusion.
JcnoME I\\mt Rvcis. ?The spring meeting
of tbe American Jockey Club closes to-day
with five r.ires which promise to bo of tho
most interesting character. Th" first event
will bo for tbm*yoar-oMa which have not
won a rae this year, the distance being oue
mile. Milner, M tttie A, Caioline and Bay
minster will probably bo tho starters in this
race. The second event will be tbe feature of
the day, a dash of three miles* Springbok,
Wildidle and Bigfallow bein.? set down as
contestants. In the three-quarters of a
mil# ri-.ca WiTlio Burke, Fadladeen,
< unless, Dublin, Bob Woolley, Bisk,
Vinaigrette, Inspiration and Fres Lanco
are announced, and in the one inilo and an
et ;h?h handicap sweepstakes B. F. Carver,
Kadi, D lblin, Maco, Iti.sk, Mollio Darling,
MutLe A. and Mutio W. will likely coma to
the post. There will bj a grand nteepleohaso
as a fitting conclusion to tho meting, in
which Trouble. Bullet. Diavolo. Deadhead.
DavligLt, Coronet and Stamford will take
pirt. A groat deal of interest is taken in th<
events of to-day in sporting circles, and ii
the Jockey Club moot with good fortune ol
fine weather to-day, which has been their lot
this meeting so tar, a very brilliant attend
ance, iiao sport aud ample enjoyment may b?
expected.
The Practical Utility o t UoytonM
Experiment*.
Captain Boyton's successful passage acrosi
the English Channel in his life-saving suit hai
naturally create! much sensation on th?
other side of the Atlantic. It was certainly a
great feat and was accomplished in the most
unfavorable weather, thauks to the couragi
and resolution of the adventurous voyager.
At the same time some persons remembei
that Johnson, the English swimmer, nearly
succeeded in crossing the same waterway with
nothing but his stout limbs to aid him, and
many are disposed to question the practical
utility of Captain Boyton's experiment It is
no doubt questionable whether any life-saving
apparatus will ever be invented that will bo
available under all circumstances. Disasters
occasionally happon at sea against which no
precaution can guard and the fatal results ol
which no human power could avert. If a
vessel should bo burned or should founder in
mi i-ocean a life-saving suit would offer but ?
poor chance of preserving life. At the same
time, in a great majority of such disasters,
such a means of escape would be of pricelesi
value. In those terrible calamities, th?
wrecks of the Atlantic and Schiller, had all
on board been supplied with an apparatus on
the Boyton plan, there would no doubt hav<
been comparatively a small lo.ss of life.
In accidents near tho shore, in collisioni
where one boat remains afloat to rescue thoM
in the water, and in similar cases where aid
is near at hand or a place of safety can ba
reached, a dress that can be relied upon to
keep its wearer afloat would be invaluable. In
ventions like those of Captain Boyton are,
therefore, of great value and should be liber
ally encouraged. The experiments in tha
English Channel will be of practical value by
drawing public attention to such means of
preserving life. Two European steamers have
already left this port supplied with that or a
similar apparatus. If a thoroughly reliable
dress con be found, easily put on and simple
in its construction, its adoption on all passen
ger boats, coast as well as foreign bound
steamers, should be universal.
General Porter's Duty.
The action of the Board of Aldermen in r?
questing the Commissioner of Public Works
to fill in the salt marshes, known as the Har
lem flats, with a thick layer of pure and
wholesomo earth is receiving the indorse*
ment and approbation of all right thinking
men. This should have been done weeks ago
instead of weeks hence, as must almost neces
sarily be th? case now. There must, however,
be no further delay in beginning a work
which alone can avert a pestilence when th?
hot days of summer make themselves felt
General Porter has been officially called upon
to do a work which the Board of Health
should have completed before now, and no
excuse will enable him to escape the respon>
sibility if an epidemic should result from un
necessary delay or tho neglect or refusal to
comply with the wishes of the Board ol
Aldermen. It is an extraordinary emergency
and is not to be neglectcd on any account
whatever. Before another week the whole
infected district should be buried under four
or five feet of pure and wholesome earth, and
tho public now look to the Commissioner of
Public Works for its speedy accomplishment.
Should an epidemic break out now the Board
of Health would be to blame, but a week
honce the responsibility will rest on General
Porter's shoulders. It is his duty to avert a
possible calamity, and wo arc persuaded ha
will perform this duty under a lull sense of
his responsibility in the matter.
PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.
Ex-Governor E. M. McCook, of Colorado, li ad
journing at tba Stortevant House.
State Senator Oanlel P. Wood, or Syracuse, Is
residing at the Fifth Avenue Hotel.
Colonel Edward K. i'latt, United States Army,
la registered at the Clarendon Hotel.
Secretary Robeson returned to Waabtngton
Thursday evening from Bye Beach, N. II.
Her. J. T. .Smith and E. W. Walt/, of Uamiltoa.
Canada, are staying at the st. Nicholas Hotel.
General Joseph R. An<lcr?on, of Virginia, ha*
taken op hi* rcsldcnce at the New York Hotel.
Colonel Nathaniel U Macrae, United stattt
Army, la quartered at the Filth Avenne Hotel.
Colonel William !U Price, United state* Army, 19
anion;; the late arrival-! at the Sturtevant House.
Congressman Georgo M. Beebe, ol Monilcelio, If.
Y., arrived last eveninir at the Filth Avenne Hotel.
Secretary Belknap arrived in ttils city yesterday
morning from West Point, and left lor Washington
last evening.
Adjutant General Franklin Townsend, of Gov
ernor Tilden'a <tarT, naa taken np bU quarters at
the St. James Hotel.
General Henrr W. Iienham, of the Englneei
corps. United states Army, la stopping at th?
Grand Central Hotel.
Hon. Timothy O. Thelps, republican candidal
for Governor of California, went thitner iron
these parts "at an early age."
"And so," said the Judire, "It appear! yon Mrs
entirely by swindling?" "fly, Your Honor, on?
mnst live In the spirit of the age."
Mr. Andrew Jackson Houston, son ol Genera)
Sam Houston, left Austin a lew days since tot
Tyler, where he goes to take charge ol the United
States Marshal's office at that point.
Postmaster General Jewell wa? given an in
formal b.inquet last night at Cuicago by a largt
nuinner of Postmasters of the Xorthrest who
happened 10 t>e in ihe city and government
officials and prominent citizens there. He left for
St. Loo!* last nignt.
General Smrth will shortly leave Ottawa for
Manitoba, from thence tie will iro across the Plains
to Fort MrLcod and then down to Fort Benton to
visit tne American officer in command tliere.
The omrers will, aitor consultation, suggest soma
plan to their rcsp ctlve governmenia for the bet
ter suppression of the liquor traffic and crime on
the Plains.
Because the headquarters of the grangers ara
to be removed to Louisville, instead of to Chicago,
a correspondent ol the Chicago Tlmm says tha|
Louisville Is "quiet" and "bucolic." Therefore
Louisville observes:?"There la one thlntr about
the pastures of tnis city that should be considered
by iieut-rldden and swindling Chicago. a man
can rest himself almost anvwiiere in one of ttiera
witiioiit sitting down on a mortgage "
At tlie linnker Hill monument celebration tha
crowd preaae l npon the piatrorm for tne speaker
; and 41st 1 nca I shed guests and weie in danger of
breating it down. The chairman's entreaties to
I the crowd to (all back being unheeded, he ap
pealed to Mr. Webster, who arose and said,
?-Wen tie men, yon must fall back." "We cannot,*
was the reply, "it is Impossible; the crowd be
hind are pushing us forward." Webster said,
"Gentlemen, nothing Is Impossible on Bunkaf
Hill: you must fall back.'? Iho crowd felt back.