The New York herald. [volume], March 03, 1876, Page 6, Image 6

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G
sNEW YORK HERALD
BROADWAY AND ANN STREET.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT,
PROPR1KTOR.
THE DAILY liEKALD, published every j
dau in Vie veiir. Four ccutK per copy.
^Twelve dollars per year, or one dollar per I
month, free of postage.
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despatches must be addressed Nr.w \ohk .
Hmu nn.
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PH3LADELPHJ \ OFFICE?NO. 112 SOUTH
SIXTH STREET.
LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK
HERALD NO. 4<; FLEET STREET.
T.AH1S OFFICE- AVENUE DE L OPEUA.
Subscriptions and advertisements wiil bo
ywived and forwarded on the same terms
Ms "in New York.
vu ut. .\ iii >n. 0:1
amusements to-night.
eagle theatre.
CNGLF ANTHONV. at * P M.
1IATKAU MABILLB VARIETIES.
VARIETY. at 8 I*. M.
_ BROOK I.VN THEATRE.
XTNCLE TOK S CABIN, at X P M. Mr?. C C. Howard.
. TOW PASTOR'S NEW THEATRE.
Variety, at a p. m. matin#?t at j p. m
TNION SoCARK THEATRE.
AtOf-E MICHEL, at Sp M _
ACADEMY OP MUSIO.
]?TAR OP T1IE NORTH, lit ? P M Clara Lou tan Kel.'opg.
NEW MASONIC"TEMPLE.
EUROPE ON CANVAS, at H P. M. Matinee at 1 .30 T. M.
PARK THEATRE.
RRASH, at H P. M. George E'awcett Rnwa.
HI TII A V E.N I E~f IIEATRK.
3PIQUE, at 8 P. .M. Kannj Davenport.
THIRTY- FOURTH ~ST I? K K T OPERA HOUSE.
VARIETY, at ? P. M.
1i0wkky theatre,
ei SLOCUM, (it 8 p. M. Frank It. Fra.vne.
i' a risi a.n \ a kilties.
ITAKJETY. ?t 8 I'. M
fc.AN FRANCISCO MIN'^rUELS, at 8 P. M.
globe theatre.
%'AIULTY, at 8 1*. M.
booth's theatre.
iJCLIl S CAJSAR, at 8 I'. M. Mr. Lawrence Bairerv.
IIF.rm A nT\'TTTE a tre
DEK VEILCUENKREsSEIi. at 8 P. M. j
'ITVOLI theatre.
VARIETY, at si*. M.
GRAND OPERA HOUSE.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN', at * P M.
twenty tillrd stkeet theatre.
california minstrels, at 8 1'. M.
woods mi7eim.
fiCHAMYL, at R P. M. Matinee at:2 P. M-'
THIRD A YEN CFTHEATRE.
VARIETY, at 8 IV M
WALLACE'S TIIBATRK.
CASTE, at S P.M. H.J. Montacue.
OLYMPIC THEATRE.
TARIETY, nt 8 P. M.
TRIPLE S IIEET.~
KKW V?i|;K, fkihay. MABCH 3. 1876.
From our reports this morning the probabilities
<4tre that the weather to-day will be warmer and
Upartly cloudy.
! The Herai.d by Fast Mail Trains.?Xeirsi
dealers and the jmblic throughout the country
,i will be supplietl with the Daii.y, Weekly and
' JSinpay Herald, jree of postage, by sending
,* their cnltrs direct to this office.
Wale Street Yesterday.?Tlio stock raarIct
was unexcited yet irregular. Prices
closed a trifle firmer. Money extremely easy
at 2 1-2 a 3 per cent. Government 1 Kinds
active and higher. Investment securities
Steady. Gold advanced to 114 5-8.
Belknap Mest Not be thrown as a tub to
the whale. If the whale has sense he will
*iot bestow much time on the tub.
An English Swindle cornea to relieve the
monotony of the American article. It is in
Don Cablos will reach London to-day on
his mn from tho foot of tlio Pyrenees. It is
expected ho will now halt.
Winslow, the Boston exile, seems anxious
to put an agreeable face on the matter of his
extradition, and professed in tho Bow Street
Police Court yesterday his entire willingness
to return to America. Tho amiable bearing
of the "Artful" in tho samo classic spot as
described in "Oliver Twist" removes Mr.
"Winslow's acquiescence from the plane of
originality.
If thk President is not responsible for
the crimes of Belknap he is responsible for
Lis escape from the justice of the House of
llepresentotives.
('iiAi;i.Es O'Conob appeared in the Supremo
Court yesterday 011 the side of the
^prosecution in tho Tweed trial. This fact
-u.-ill rrioien thousands, and we hone to see
his presence there become so common that
municipal thieves of high and low degree
*>lmll resume the quaking they left off when
itho Nestor of the Bar lay in the hands of the
doctors.
Another. Battle, with a defeat of the
"Turks, is the insurgent answer to the reforms
proffered by the Porte. Eussia is
bullying Montenegro into neutrality by word
of mouth and keeping up the war feeling by
suggestive winks. Austria is having her
trouble for her pains in preaching pence
when there is no peace. The Sultan cannot
pay his bills. Tho outlook is not pleasant
for the latter.
When the PaxsiPKirr adopted the policy
of appointing stc.ff officers and not statesmen
in his Cabinet he said that ha was responsible
for tho administration and meant to
have men that he could trust. He appointed
Belknap, when no one had ever heard of
him ; he continued him in office alter his
complicity with frauds bad been made clear
in the columns of the Herald, ami now he
rescues him*from the just anger of the House,
Let no guilty mau escape."
Ti RKi.su .frooLKr.T, applied to the interest
on bonds in tho possession of Englishmen,
does not seem to be appreciated by the unsentimental
old lady of Threadncedle street.
The Sultan, finding himself short of tho interest
on one loan, wished to transfer tho
t v.. .1.1 v..
uu'ui' niiuu uriu
the H:\nk of England to pay the interest on
another loan to the credit of that on which
tho deficit exists. This "robbing l'ctcr to
pay l'aul" is highly popular in Eastern
finance, where a province is plundered to pay
off a brigado of cooks, and the cooks are in
turn levied on to restore order in the province;
but John Hull does not believe in such
high art. Let the JSnltan beware ! Sneh conduct
is slowly sapping the sympathy of thg J
jjngLah nation with lus interesting Empire. j
NEW 1
1 Til* Fall of Secretary Belknap.
In one view the sudden, overwhelming
and irretrievable disgrace of Secretary Belknap
is an occasion for profound regret und
sorrow ; but sentiments of this kind are
merged and swallowed up in indignant nl>
norrence oi his crime and a rigorous desire
to see it visited with just retribution. The
conjuncture is too grave for the indulgence
of weak, womanish pity at the spectacle of
blighted hopes and social ruin in
which others are involved besides the
detected and confessed criminal. Even
tho fact that a wifo whose beauty
and accomplishments have made her
the grace, the delight and one of tho
I brightest and most courted ornaments of
Washington society, shares the guilt and
disgrace of her fnllen husband, cannot divert
or fioften the public exasperation at this
culminating proof of tho moral rottenness
of tho administration. Tho honor of tho
government land the purity of official life
are of such transcendent importance that no
pitying indulgence for the sufferings of
tempted weakness can be permitted to stand
between nn incensed public and tho objects
of its indignation. This stupendous shock
to public feeling can be relieved and assuaged
only by such swift and unrelenting
punishment as will serve .as a warning to
officers who may hereafter be tempted to
abuse their trusts.
If the ease of Secretary Belknap were a
solitary instnnco of criminal malversation a j
generous and magnauiraous country would
hold the President guiltless and regard bim
as merely unfortunato in the choice of one
of his confidential advisers. But so indulgent
and forbearing a judgment is impossible
when General Belknap is merely a sample
of tho men by whom President Grant
has been surrounded. The country has not
forgotten that other members of the Cabinet
have been forced into retirement by charges j
against theit honesty, although the evidence j
against them has not been so conclusive as
to extort confessions of guilt liko that which j
has been made by General Belknap. Attorney
General Williams was compelled to
resign by unrefuted charges of spending the
public money for landaulets for the private
use of hiH wife nnd misapplying the funds
of his department for electioneering uses in
the Southern States. Secretary Delano was
driven out of the Cabinet by unrefuted
charges of corruption in connection with tho
Indian supplies. Secretary Itichardson was
kept in ths Treasury Department until public
indicmntion forced him ont. nnd the :
country was then soandulizcd by his appointment
as one of the judges of the Court
of Claims, in spite of grrvvo and
unrefuted charges against his integrity.
Postmaster General Creswell
resigned with a reputation which was
far from clear, and Secretary Itobcson
remains, although the honesty of his administration
lias been assailed on grounds which
had as great a color of probability as any
which have been %eretofore alleged against
the Secretary of War. Even Mr. Fish, whose
integrity no candid man doubts, has stood
by General Schenck, who has been the occasion
of the most unfortunate diplomatic
scandal which has ever tainted the reputation
of the country. We need not refer to
tho minor cases of Babcock, of Leet and
, Stocking, of tho President's brother Orville,
his brothers-in-law, Casey and Dent, and
tho other brother-in-law, Corbin, who was
mixed up with the Black Friday speculations,
and other minor cases which
have brought doubt and discredit on
the purity of the administration. Some
of these attacks have been attributed
to reckless partisan violence, and their
fnvon Vtou Imon V?lti ntnil l?v tKa
iwiv v iitMi i u wj vuo nu^i'1'm.Ht
malignity of their origin ; but in the caso
of Belknap the evidence is so decisive and
unanswerable that the culprit could make no
denial, and his confession ot guilt strengthens
the presumption that other offenders
were not unjustly accused. In the cases of
Delano and Williams the facts have never
been successfully impugned, and the presumption
of guilt is very strong in several
of the others. The fact that Belknap eluded
the vigilance of the President proves that his
supervision of the departments has been
inexcusably slack, and makes it credible
that he has been equally blind to the dishonest
transactions of other officers.
One of the worst features of these multitudinous
scandals is the inflexible uniformity
with which the President has defended
and protected the officers whose
reputations have been assailed. lie has
turned a deaf ear to charges and proofs, and
has done his utmost to st ifle and defeat every |
searching investigation. Ho stood by
Williams and Richardson and Delano until
an outraged and indignant public sentiment
forced them out of the Cabinet, and then
gave them certificates of churncter, either in
writing as in the case- of Delano, or by appointment
to office as in the case of Richardson,
or by pnblic act3 of friendship
as in the ease of Williams. His efforts
to shield and save Bnbcock were
not more indefensible than the attempt he
made yesterday to rescue Belknap from the
disgrace of a deserved impeachment. Belknap
confessed his crime by offering his
resignation, nnd the President not only i
accepted it but took pains to convey prompt
information of the fact to the committee of '
the House with a view to forestall their
action. There can be no excuse for tliis interference
with the regular course of justice.
The President might with as much propriety
accept the resignation of nn officer after
i\f it 11 niuioli I iimirwt Itivu hn.1
.....v..- X..
been presented t? the Senate. The purpose
of an impeachment is not merely to !
remove tho guilty oftWr, but to brand i
him with indelible infamy and make J
his punishment a terror and a warning to j
deter others from similar crimes. The penI
aHy is not merely removal from office, but
the stigma of disqualification for ever hold- ,
ing any other position of trust under the
United States. The President has interposed
to shield Secretary Belknap against
the just punishment of his deplorable crime.
If the resignation had not been accepted
there can be no reasonable doubt that an
impeachment would lie against Secretary 1
Belknap. A resignation which is merely
offered but not accepted does not terminate
the right of an officer to exercise his functions.
If hia resignation be not accepted
ho can ogam resume tho phico without ,
l'ORK HERALD, FRIDAY,
a new appointment and a new confirmation
by the Senate. His connection with the
I office is not sundered so long as he is not
put in such a position that a new appointment
by the President and Senate is neces- j
sary to enable him to resume its duties.
! Whether the acceptance of Jlclknnp'B resignni
tion really protects him from impeachment is j
a question on which opinions will differ; but
there is no room for question that the purposeof
the President was to bar an impeachment
and assist a confessed criminal to flee
from justico. This bold attempt to
shield a guilty officer from the legal
consequences of his crimes makes
the President a moral accomplice in the
guilt of Belknap. When a member of his
Cabinet who had abused his confidence and
disgraced his administration is on the point
of being arraigned for high crimes and misdeuu
anors the President ought to aid the
regular course of justice instead of attempting
to thwart and obstruct it. He should surrender
the culprit to the fnll legal consequences
of his crimes.
On the legal point relating to the impenclmbility
of an officer whose resignation
has been accepted there was
a difference of opinion in the House
in the brief discussion yesterday, but wft
think it improbable that an impeachment
can be sustained. Since the acceptance of
his resignation Secretary Ilelknan is com
pletcly out of office, and tho federal consti- !
tut ion authorizes the impeachment of nobody |
hut civil officers of the government. General I
Belknap is no longer a civil officer, and it
norms very clear that he cannot be impeached.
Tho poiut was made in tho brief debate
yesterday that the House should proceed to
impeach him and leave this legal point
for tho decision of tho Senate. But
this would be a very idle proceeding if there
is good ground for tho opinion that tho
Senato would bo compelled to decide that it
has no jurisdiction in such a case. We have :
no doubt that this will be the decision if the |
case is sent to the Senate, and we can therefore
seo no wisdom in spending time and
effort in a vain attempt. Tho moral and
pui lucai eueci oi oecrciary j>uucock s crnou |
will be terribly damaging to the administration,
and tho democratic majority of tho
House will weaken their advantage if they
make an abortive attempt to strain tho law
beyond its fair interpretation.
This startling case makes overy former ac- !
cusation against an American administration J
seem pale and tame. Hard things were said
against the administration of President Buchanan
because ho had men in his Cabinet
who proved to be secessionists, but the democratic
disgrace of that period was not so
foul as the sordid meanness of abusing high
positions for mere private gain. In France
Napoleon III. entered tho road to ruin by his
blind tolerance of corruption in the leading
officers of his government, anil the final result
was that when ho supposed ho had an
army strong enough to cope with Germany j
he found on trial that the money which
should have been spent in equipping it had
been embezzled by his faithless subordinates.
The American government has mado
fearful advances in a similar course, and it
is high time for the people to come to the
rescue.
B pi-knap Has Not committed snicide, as
was absurdly reported. But he has murj
i ih . 1.1: a__
uureu uiv re|iauiicna puny,
The Coming Sioux War.
Thero can be little doubt that we are about
to enter on an Indian war which may extend
over the wide tract of territory lying between
the Missouri lliver and the ltocky Mountains.
The endeavors to prevent it by
peaceable negotiations last fall failed because
the Sioux chiefs conbl not agree
among themselves as to the indemnity to be
collectively asked by them of the government,
nrfd the individual demands were
either of a preposterous nature, such as no
government could afford, or personally avaricious
and puerile. The council was broken
up without approaching a conclusion, and
tho government Commissioners barely
escaped massacre at tho hands of tho wild
bands through the timely uid of one of tho
chiefs, who not only informed tho troops,
but made such n disposition of his warriors
as to foil the threatened repetition of the
6cene at the murder of General Cnnby.
There is something very tragic in the condition
to which the Indian has fallnn at
our hands. We are prone to coudemn the
greed and brutality with which the Spaniards
treated the aborigines of Cuba, forcing
them into slavery of such a terriblo kind
that tho ruco entirely disappeared within a
few years ; but we lmve nothing in our treatment
of tho red man io congratulate ourselves
upon. Ho has been sacrificed by us
ns iasi as saerincs nccnuio necessary to our
aggrandizement. Ho has boon pushed before
civilization or trodden down in its
inoreb. He has been taught all the vices
civilization, and has improved only in learning
the nrt of killing, lie cannot understand
that it is nselooa to keep nji the fight
with destiny. Tlio a hits man has found
gold in the ltlnck llills, and we aro now face
to fire with the fact that a body of fortune-hunters
can force us into a war
which will rosi more, perhaps, than the
greatest sum asked by the Indian chiefs
last full. We are very likely to look sharply
after anything like allowing ourselves to
drift into a war with a foreign State, but cur
War Department lias within its discretion
the power of making wars that will require
army supplies and bestow fat contracts on
quite an extensive scale. While, therefore,
it uiay bo u necessity to striko and punish |
the marauding bunds, wo commend the j
entire question tothe democratic majority of
the House of K-pvesentatives to aco that tho
acquisition of the lilaek Hills is not acc omplished
nt a huge cost to the nation, to the
benefit only of thieving contractors and nccompanicd
by a further wholesale and unnecessary
destruction of those whom our
..u.vuu.m w.iinio i-iiu, wnii unconscious
irony, "the wards of the nation."
Poor Tweed ! -Ho has boon culled a thief,
a plunderer, a boss, a conspirator, a statesman,
a ballot stutter, a demoralizer and a
democrat, and now his own counsel cull him
a victim. Fancy the indignation of Rig Six
when he learns that his costliest friends thus
abuse his intelligence nud lower bis good
name among the inmates of the Fcniten- '
Uury. Victim, boh I I
MAKCII 3, 1876.?TRIPLE
Ttk? Republican Party?Streams of Corruption
and Demoralization.
The downfall of Secretary Belknap means
the ruin of the republican party. It is only
another of the many streams of corruption
and folly that have flowed from the present
mtiuiiiisirruioLi auu lruiu mi? puj
in power. IIow can wo fail to draw
the inference that is seen in
nature, science and history, that when the
river is polluted the poison is most likely
in the source. What foul streams have |
poured forth?the stream St. Domingo,
with the violations of law, jobbery and corruption
; the stream French arms, with its
infraction of international obligations ; the
stream general order business, with its debasement
of New York politics ; the stream
Akermau, with imbecility and oppression in I
the South ; tho stream Richardson, with the j
Sanborn frnuds ; the stream Delano, with |
the infamies of the Indinu Department; the
stream Dabcock, with the frauds in the
revenues. These are the currents of the
present corrupt party. It iB about time that
the responsibility for this endless and everincreasing
flood should be placed wLcro it
belongs on the party now in power.
Let us see how this party has made itself
responsible for this demoralization. Richardson,
who approved the Sanborn fraud,
shameless and unblushing as it was, was
made a judge. Shepherd, driven from power
as one unfaithful to his trust, was made a
commissioner, and is the leader of administration
society. Williams, after his sins were
confessed, was intrusted with high duties.
Schenck, r.fter ho allowed his name and his
office to be the means of swindling women
and children out of their income by bogus
mining shures, was protected. Babcock
came from the dock of a St. Louis court, the
cell of the jailbird McDonald, to become the j
private secretary to tho President and Director
of the Fublic Works. And now we have
the Secretary of War, resigning his office, n
confessedly corrupt and dishonest man, nnd
protected from tho just indignation of the j
House by the acceptance of his resignation, j
The true leaders of the party, the men who
still possess the confidence of the people,
should now take ground. Mr. Conkling
has a higher stake in the affections of tho republican
party of New York than in any possible
devotion to the President. Is he in
favor of corruption and maladministration?
Let him speak while there is time ! Mr.
Sherman is the leader of the republican
party in Ohio, a State which is important
to republican success. Docs he
approve of this stolid, depraved rule,
winch deadens tho public sense of !
the nation ? Let him speak while there is
time! Mr. Blaine is the choice of New
England for the Presidency?the representative
of a glorious Commonwealth. Does ho
feel that the legends of Andersonville are of
more interest to tho country than these painful,
ever increasing evidences of shame and
crime? Let him speak while there is time !
For the time has come for every republican
who sees in his party something more
than a dumb echoing of Ciesnrism and folly
to speak. It may be too late !
General Schrnck and Little Emma.
AVe have now the intelligence that Minister
Schonek is aliout to return home to explain
his connection with tho deplorable Emma
Mine business ; but before he leaves the
teeming world of London behind we hope
he will give a promise to go back at an early
day. His own fair fame and the sadly shattered
honor of his country alike demand
such a pledge. Sheltered behind his
diplomatic immunity he may remnin safely
in London ; but once leaving it and then
disposing of his Ministership the wronged
and nibbed thousands of Knglish investors
would find the chance of testing General
Kchenek's responsibility as small as that of
getting back their money. Hence our Minister
at the Court of St. James should voluntarily
give lionds to return. It may be
essential to General Schenck to fight the mat o*
nnf in W*aKinnfnn lint mileuc lm ctnn.lo
his ground in England his future will bo us
clouded as that of the whilom republican
Presidential candidate who stands condemned
by French law to a felon's cell in
contumaciam for his part in a similarly bottomless
stock swindlo. English law docs
not try a man in bis absence ; but the evasion
of a trial will, in General Schenck's
case, be as morally destructive of his character
as the sentenco of the French court on
General Fremont.
This Emma Mine business shows the gullibility
of the English people in a peculiar
light. England is full of people with small
fortunes who do not desire to invest them in !
business, but are always on the lookont for |
any stock investment that will bring any t
rate of interest higher than the old comfortable
three per cents. They are not rich
enough to go to the fountain-head for infor
mnuon iiko inrge capiiaiisis, onii nencc r.iiiRi
rely on tlio representations of others. They
mostly bclor.g to the decent classes, and to
thousands of them the loss of their fortune
means beggary. For them is the glittering i
prospcetns made. For them is it studded
over with names that seem synonyms
of honor, stability and safety. For English
projects a rr.nn or two of title is necessary, j
but for nn American trnp no bait could bo
more alluring than the name of tho American ;
Minister at tho Court of St. James. His ,
business, to be sure, is not a proip.oter of !
bubble companies, hut. his name in a pros- |
pectus is as incontestable a fact as a fly in I
amber, although it may trouble every honest
man in America to know how it got there.
How did it? The casual visitor to Sr.lt Lalro
City in the snnincr ot 1871 could l"nrn that
the Emma Mine was only a rich "pocket,"
:<1. -II il. ......Ill, in mill lh.il
Willi illi an in iiua iu ni^m, Uii'? iuu?
the chance of finding a true vein of
oro within the radius of tho claim was as
geologically remote an the prospect* of n
poker player "filling hiR band" when drawing
to a single ace?a form of comparison wo I
have specially used to bring the matter home ,
to General Nehcnok. It was even reported that j
the owners were afraid to work the mine for
fenr of its prematurely "petering out." Were '
General Hchenek's means ol information inferior
to that of the s'rny visitor to Utah?
Or did he lend his name to the speculation
without taking the trouble to inquire?
Decidedly, the plea of being a victim is
as dangerous to him as any other he couitl
make.
S SHEET.
The Street Car*.
It is to be hoped that tlio street car companies
are pleased with the resnlts of the
interview of their agents at Albany with the
Railroad Committee, for the people certainly
will be. In the pithy conversations between
. 1 _ r ,L. lit i a.
tuu UirilllHTH UI IUO CUIUIUlltCC UUU nuw
agents of the companies, as reported by onr
correspondent, the public can see the whole
case at a glance. Mr. Sullivan, of the Brooklyn
City llailroad Company, argued for tho
interests of that company at some length to
prove that a proper administration would
ruin it, and then war. forced to admit that
its shares are now worth "one hundred and
eighty," which seems to indicate a prosperity
not to be easily damaged. This gentleman
pleaded the dreadful hardship of his
company that it only made seven-tenths of a
cent on each dollar; but this sum-,
profit on each five cent fare, is fourteen
per cent?a fact which should have
been considered beforo complaining at such
n gain. There nro several facts that some of
those railroad men should explain at Albany,
aud one of them is in regard to tho incapacity
of tho streets to accommodate their cars
if they run more than are now on. They
say that cars will then be run so close together
that people cannot cross the streets.
If that be trae, how is it that anybody can
now cross West Broadway, in which street
are run all the cars of three companies ?
Sixth avenue, Eighth avenue and Broadway
cars now run down that street, and the cars
of two lines run up it, yet other traffic is not
greatly troubled. The Killian bill is rather j
strengthened than hurt by the assault made
thus far, and, with the improvements that
Mr. Killian proposes, will be an effective
measure. In the modifications contemplated
ho should keep in view the bill drafted by
Mr. Berch. and should incorporate in his
own measure all its essential features.
The Silence or Blaine.?Mr. Blaine hail
nothing to say yesterday in the House on
tho question of Belknap's impeachment. He
had no word of criticism upon the resignation
of the Secretary and its acceptance by
tho President in defiance of the House. Mr.
Blaine had a fine opportunity in the House
to show that he is interested in other matters
than the legends ol Andersonville.
Should the Cabinet Ilesign !
It is a question whether the whole Cabinet
should not rosign. The administration is
rotten, and millions of people who did not
believe so yesterday nro convinced of it today.
The confession of the guilty Secretary
of War is a revelation. He could not have
been guilty of the crimes he has confessed
and remained undiscovered in a Cabinet
that was mire. It is a dav of iudement.
The political heavens are rolled together
like a scroll and are consumed with fire;
vainly the wicked call on the mountains to
overwhelm them and hide them from the
wrath to come.
The terrible force of Secretary Belknap's
confession, the horrible meaning that is embodied
in his guilt, is unbroken by the fact
that there are pure men in the President's
Cabinet. He was their associate, and they
were jointly with him the President's advisers.
There is not entirely a divided responsibility
in the Cabinet. Mr. Fish and
Mr. Bristow and Mr. Jewell are not merely
officers charged with the conduct of affairs
of State, of the Treasury and the Post Office.
Tho Cabinet is in its highest capacity a unit.
Every member of it has tho honor of the
government in his keeping, and that honor
cannot be lost by one without more or less
responsibility attaching to the others. Were
these men blind, that they could not see, till
a democratic Congress compelled them, that
the head of the War Department was selling
the soul of the government? They were
blind?for we do not believe them corruptbut
their blindness has given the nation
eternal shame. Because of the indifference
of the President and the Cabinet to the
scandals which long ago darkened the War
Department the country is now humiliated
in dust and ashes.
The pure meml>ers of a corrupt administration
are like living men chuined to a
corpse. We presume that, the first thought
of Mr. Fish when he knew of this fearful fall
of his colleague was whether he could in selfrespect
remain a member of a disgraced Cab
inet. This is not tho first disgrace, but the
culmination of a long series of infamies that
are a part of the history of the administration.
The corruptions of tho government
are so numerous and notorious that it is a
question whether tho self-respect of an
honest and honorable man will permit him
to be connected with it. We are more sorry
to write this of the government of the United
States than any American citizen can be to
read it ; but wo write simply what is tho
truth.
It is a question, we say, whether the whole !
Cabinet should not resign, and, happily, we
are not called upon to answer it. Mr. Fish |
and Mr. Bristow must judge for themselves. '
But ono duty they havo to perform is plain.
If they remain in thi? rotten, disgraced ad- |
ministration, they must demand of the Presi- j
dent the authority to reform it That is the j
only condition upon which self-respect and '
a Cabinet oftice can now bo reconciled. If ;
the President refuses to concede this right
the sooner all honest men leave him tho
bclteritwill.be lor themselves and for the
country.
If thr Action of the President in accept- I
ing Belknap's resignation means anything at I
nil it is that he means to stalld hr his friends,*' i
whether they nre right or wrong.
fl?*ftlc!i In tlir Putillr Arhooli.
Thera cannot be a subject of graver in- j
portnnce than :ho ventilation of or.r pnblio
sehoolhouscs. Badly constructed class j
rooms, cspocinlly when moro children nrc i
put into them than they can accommodate, i
will work greater injury than a plagne. Ill t
health is a common thing among the children
in the public schools in this city, and i
the cause of it in nine cases out of ten is
in the crowding of so many persons into tho
schoolrooms. Attention was called to mi"
state of affairs in Superintendent I Me'
annual report, but it is a peculiarity of om
municipal boards never to act ;i any matter
until iorccd to it by public opinion N'euht
the Board of Edacatu nor the Board if
Health has taken aov loth a of tbft ttuperin
teudent's i an i nni-sa our ciUMiu*
learn that their children ore being poisoned
day by day in the public schools, both on
account of the want of ventilation of the
splir\nl ? nn.l tl,^ ? 2? tKn
?v.Mw?4vuUiB UUU IUU Wttjr III w URLi bUU
dren aro huddled into a space fit for only half
the number, even under the most favorable
conditions, there will be no
remedy. We trust, however, that official
indifference will not be allowed to continue
much longer, but that sufficient accommodations
will be provided for all the children
in our public schools, and that all of
these buildings will be rendered healthful
in every respect
The Kvldenre Against Belknap.
The evidence of Mr. Caleb P. Marsh, of
New York city, - against Secretary Belknap
states that he paid the Secretary in all
twenty thousand dollars out of the forty
thousand dollars he received from the appointment
to the post tradership at Fort
Sill, I. T., given him by the latter. This
forty thousand dollars was clear profit, as Mr.
Mnrsh testifies that by an arrangement with
a Mr. Evnns, the post trader before him, the
latter carried on the business, giving Marsh m
bonus of twelve thousand dollars a year for
two vears and sii thousand dollars a year
since. As Mr. Marsh received the payments
lie regularly halved them with the
Secretary of War. The money was sent in
various ways or handed over in person. The
appointment was procured in 1871, Mr.
Marsh testifies, through the offices of the deceased
Mrs. Belknap and his present wife,
then Mrs. Bowers, the deceased wife's sister.
On being served with tho subpeena' to
givo evidence before the House Committee
on Expenditures in the War Department
Mr. Marsh went to Washington and consulted
with Secretary Belknap and his wife
as to what he should do. Belknap was excited
and begged Marsh to extricate hiro
from the impending ruin. Mrs. Belknap
suggested a plan of evading the truth
in the matter, but Marsh told her it "would
nftf lwild watnr Vinfrtrn flin pnnimiffno "
Marsh offered to leave the country, but hii
counsel pointed out that he would have
to remain away until the present
Congress expired ; the Secretary said
Marsh's going away would ruin him
equally with Marsh's telling the truth.
Mr. Tomlinson, Mrs. Belknap's brother,
suggested another evasory plan, by which
only a part of the truth would be told.
Marsh at last threw all the plans overboard,
wont before the committee and gave the above
account of the transaction.
PERSONAL' INTELLIGENCE.
Supervising Architect Potter has a flne tenor voice.
Mrs. General Bumside still remains in a critical condition.
Tho Chicago Tribune says that trial by newspapor
never acquits.
l'coplo who study books on poker and whist are usu.
ally losing players.
Milwaukee newspapers are now edited with sevonshooters
and canes.
In the New York market you may now buy strawberries
at $2 a smell.
Ernest I-ongfellow, son of tho noct, has recently
mado $8,000 from his paintings.
Liszt the pianist's fingering is described as that of a
man who tried to pat a buzz saw.
Over a thousand pamphlets havo been written to
show the patient hen how to lay eggs.
Senator Thurman uses a red bandanna handkerchief,
and It ain't any lazy kind or a handkerchief either.
One bushel of shelled corn makes four barrels of
nnnned r.orn. General nnlknanahniilil ham thnnnht ?r
tills.
"Why," said Phil. Sheridan to the nurse, "tho poop
young ono has no teeth. You couldn't live without
teetlu"
People who do not wish to be "at homo" to callen
this year may let the servant say, "Gone to the ClntlnyaL
"
Probably the best way after a!! to stop the tramps
from roaming the country is to call a general democratic
convention.
Ex-Governor John Letcher, of Virginia, was stricken
with paralysis yestorday morning. His condition is
considered serious.
Snrdou, the scurrilous dramatist, is sick with Influenza,
and every time he begs a piece of tobacco he
sneezes forth?"A-cbew!"
The kangaroo is now raised for food in Paris. It may
bo well to mention that the kangnroo Is an Australian
animal that carries Its young around in its vest pockot.
Minstrelsy, which has laded out of France and
Germany with the extinction of tho troubador and the
minnesinger, still survives in Servia tn all its mediaeval
vigor.
A Washington physician argues that love proceeds
from the stomach, and that the heart has nothing to do
with It. Then, after all, a heart-ache is only a sublime
sort of colic.
Dr. T. C. Duncan, of Chicago, says that the mild
wnter Is likely to be succeeded by an enidenpe of some
kind growing out of influenza, and he predicts a very
unhealthy spring.
"Who didn't steal watermelons when ho was aboyf't
asks the Christian Witneu. We didn't. Tne editor of
the Christian Witnen look so many that there were
none left for us to stoal.
"Max" wants to know bow ho may break through
the conventionality which compels him to leave hie
girl at half-past ton. Glvo a minister $4 60, and tell
him to put a stop to it.
Statistics show that the average hog last year
weighed 2*21 pounds. This year he weighs 28S pounds.
IT ihe Chicago Tribune thinks that this Item Is not a
personal" It Is too modest.
A man oilers a prize (or the best shirt made by tb?
sirls at a certain college; aud the girls retaliate by
offering a prize Tor tho best French yoke cornucoon
made by the fualo students.
Indians raid for horses In the embryo towns along th?
Union Pacific Railroad. Vet the government Is more
tenner 01 an inutan-s icoiinRS, u no u?? nuj, una u is
of the white pioneer's horses.
General Gardeta la reportedM laboring In his district,
the Nineteenth Ohio, to secure delegate* to the Cinclnnail
Convention who will be externally for Hayes and
internally and eternally lor Itlaine.
Professor Wilder, of Cornell University, says that tf
you n.-o rboktng |o upon all fours and cough. Brother
Shearman, when eboking with tears, has been doing
this loryears; but while prancing around like a yearling
sorrel eolt he baa never beeo able to scratch his eat
with bis left boot.
Aa advertisement lu a newspaper In Kngland anliounrea
that "a graud planofurto will be exchanged for
three or lour small |>l?#. " The worst of It is, that when
a piano gets squealing you ran t slop It, out a pailful of
will ??ill atop a pig from playng at any time, iftha pig
can only got both leet into the keyboard.
Or. W. K. Brooks has read u paper on the affinities
of the molluscs and inulluseoida. The classification of
the various groups designated by tiisso two name* has
been the subject of end less disputes, and all the schemes
proposed have boon disproved and abandoned one after
another. Pr. Brooks b is never seen tbc Parisian Varieties
on the half shell.
President Ollardin on? nf u>? -? ?
? v ?. iuv?i irararu nun
equitable ot French Judge.*, i>?idoni expcriencr
on (he bench has conviucoi! mo that the rut majority
of persons who sue for Judicial separation were noi
lilted for wedded life. Tliojr never fall to urge tha:
aa<l that if thej
ha1 been .! <ied to atift dy oUo'bdi the pot-no '.ton
w.. the., t t ) i be ?> io-J the> might brva tw r
h r Thl* rta/ be trua tn ouinelcw rmao*, hut generally
spaa. id or* t r' Iran one of Uie par., gu '
v ry aeit win'M i?mper is wholly clr. dal le, tad I
4" nutaco what weulu he gained by allowing ' n<j ; <riy
to ro and marry again and matte a aeeoao awaia a*
wreichcd aa be or >Uo b*; tnxde tbo flrat "
I L. "