The New York herald. [volume], April 11, 1876, Page 6, Image 6

About The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920

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NEW YORK HERALD
BROADWAY AND ANN STREET.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT,
PROPRIETOR.
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TItlFLE SHEET.
NF.W YORK, TUESDAY. APRIL 11, 1878,
From our reports this morning theprobahilities
arc that the vceather to-day trill be partly cloudy.
Notice to Country Newsdealers.?For
prompt and regular delivery of the Herald
oy Jast mail trains orders must be senl direct
io this office. Postage free.
Wall Street Yesterday.?Stocks were
generally lower. Gold opened and closed
at 113, with intermediate sales at 113 1-4.
Money was supplied at 3, 4 and 5 per cent.
Governments, railway bonds and investment
securities were steady.
Tcbkey at last reports a victory in Bosnia,
bnt from tho number of insurgents in the
field there it would seem that tho chance
of their final defeat is remote.
% The Weakness or Alfonso's Government
is shown in tho strength of tho Vatican influ
ence at Madrid. Begging of Romo not to
oppose liberty of worship in Spain will, if
continued, lend to the kingship going beg
ging again.
Iceland is better off than was believed.
The volcano-vomited pumice dust that was
to destroy the pastures, on tho contrary,
makes tho grnss grow where it never grew
before, and the islanders who were threat
ened with famino are found flourishing on
fish. We arc very glad to learn these things,
as man attempted but little to relieve the
threatened want which Nature, in her own
mysterious way, removed from the sturdy
people who woo her in her most repellant
fastnesses.
Mr. Conkling and the Presidency.?
Tho generous manner in which the Sun
supports the claims of Mr. Conkling for the
republican nomination shows a discernment
and liberality which never appear to so
much advantage as in independent journal
ism. Mr. Conkling represents the cournge
and discipline of his party, and so long as
we have two parties in our politics tho wis
dom of independent journals in supporting
the real leaders of each organization is com
mendable. Moro than all, wo aro glad to
welcomo the Nun into these high realms of
politics and to the consideration of national
questions from a national point of.view.
Another Phrase from Grant.?Once
more Grant has given us a phrase which ex
presses pithily and happily a thought and
Aspiration of tho whole people. Ho is
famous for his phrases. Several of them are
inseparable from the history of the war. On
some occasions he concentrated the pro
gramme of a campaign in an epigram; as
when he said, " tho Confederacy is a shell;"
or, "I will fight it out on this line," Ac. His
declaration to the republican party, that it
was "time to unload," was of the same sort.
Now he expresses, with a sense of impatience,
his wish that the 4th of March, '77, were
Already here?in short, that he were out of
office. How deeply and widely the whole
American people are with him in this re
tpect, how precisely he has given words to
their thought in uttering his own, he can
never understand.
Assemblymax Kii.uan, the "Blue Line'*
legislator with "fine feelings," made a great
sensation when he clamored for an investiga
tion into the action of the Railroad Commit
tee on the "No Scat No Fare" bill, which, like
A heartless parent, he deserted when West,
Whitson, "Nic" Muller and the rest of the
worthies were throwing it to the wolves on
the floor of the House. Never before did the
dingy walls of tho old Capitol reverberate to
such indignant hut, alas ! hollow thunder.
The days and weeks roll on and this thun
derously fine-sonlcd Killian, the wounded
West, tho sorrowing "Nic" Muller, tho wilt
ing Whitson mope abont in Hilence and call
But tor the investigation they wept for some
weeks gone. Have they applied the salve of
Third avenue uxlc greaso to their pierced
bosoms? Do they know as much About thnt
nefarious piece of work as John Kelly and
Ch&nncoy Dcpsw could tell them ? It ap
Democratic Prospects and Candidates*
The expectation of the democratic party
that it will carry the next Presidential elec
tion has a great deal to support it The re
volting exposures which have occupied pub
lic attention during the last two months
ought to have a fatally damaging effect on
the party in power, even if no more should
be proved than has already come to light;
and there is good renson for believing that
the end is not yet If the evidence of per
vading rottenness should have no political
effect the country is in a bad way, because
public indifference to these disgraceful ex
posures would imply bucIi a decuy of moral
sense among the people as would justify
doubts of the stability of the Republic. If
widespread and long-continued official cor
ruption be not a sufficient reason for dis
carding the party in power there can
be no sufficient reason; for mere
mistakes of policy or bad judgment in
measures are venial offences in compari
son with swindling knavery and gross be
trayal of trusts. We cannot think so meanly
of the American people as to suppose that
they will not be stirred with moral indigna
tion at these thick-coming exposures, or that
they will not attest their abhorrenco by their
votes. These disgusting revelations are
likely to go on, and it is hardly conceivable
that the democratic party will mismanage so
egrogiously as to blunt their effect With
tolerably wise strategy on the democratic
side the republican party should be igno
miniously defeated in the approaching Presi
dential election, bccauso it has justly for
feited the power which it has so scandalously
abused.
The contest for the democratic nomination
will be active aud vigorous, because, in dem
ocratic estimation, success at St. Louis will
be equivalent to an election. The chances
seem so favorable that Judge Davis, of the
Supreme Court, though never a demo
crat, is more than willing to accept
tho democratic nomination. Wo should
suppose that tho experience of the
democrats in going outside of their party for
a candidate in 1872 ought to operate as a
warning ; but there are democrats weak
enough to make a similar blundering ap
peal for republican sripport. We do not be
lieve that a political party ever guined any
thing by such miserable trimming. It is
always dishonorable to the candidate, as im
plying that he is willing to relax his princi
ples for the sake of high office, and "it is
equally dishonorable to the political party
which takes up such a candidate, as show
ing that it is composed of political bucca
neers who are as ready to sail under any
other flag as under their own for the sake of
plunder. With so good a prospect of suc
cess as is now opened to the democratic
party it would be absurd for it to take a re
publican judge as its Presidential candidate, j
Judge Davis is brought forwaAl as a rivnl of
Governor Tilden; but no democrat of
sense and principle can hesitate a mo
ment between a steady, consistent dem
ocrat and a renegade republican. If the
choice lay between these two candidates no
earnest democrat should countenance or
tolerate tho pretensions of the republican
judge.
Another gentleman who has been much
talked of and is supposed to possess some
strength is Governor Hendricks. There is
little to choose between him and Judge
Davis, both of whom belong to the same
type of trimmers. It is really of no conse
quence whether a man surrenders or stifles
his political convictions to get the support
of a party with which he has never acted, or
to recommend himself to a section of his
own party with whose views he has no sym
pathy. A man who yields or disguises his
principles for the sake of office lacks the
firm moral fibre which should be possessed
by the Chief Magistrate. Sacrifices of prin
ciple and sacrifices of integrity are so nearly
akin that there is no solid ground for con
fidence in tlio honesty of a states
man who has shown a willingness
to barter his convictions for the hope
of office. Governor Hendricks does not
meet the requirements of the situation, for a
Presidential canvass in which the main issue
is reform of abuses should be led by a man
who is conspiciously true to his convictions
and his conscience. Mt. Hendricks has not
a clean bill of moral and political health, and
the democratic party would forfeit its most
important advantage by nominating a can
j didatc on whom his principles sit so loosely.
Democrats of sturdy convictions and robust
honesty would not care the toss of a nickel
cent whether an outside trimmer like Davis
or an inside trimmer like Hendricks were
made tho candidate. No inan is fit to lead
this great canvass on tho democratic side
unless the steadiness of his principles is a
guarantee of the firmness of his integrity.
Davis and Hendricks being excluded
there remain three prominent democratic
candidates of conspicuous ability and sound
principles?namely, Governor Tilden, Sen
ator Bayard and Senator Thurman?any one
of whom would make a vigilant and incor
ruptible President. Each of tho three has
some peculiar attributes of strength. In favor
of Senutor. Thurman it may be said that he
alone, of all possible democratic candidates,
has a chance of carrying his own State of
Ohio. If this chance were a certainty it
should be a controlling reason for making
Mr. Thurman the democratic standard
bearer, for a democratic victory in the Ohio
State elections would virtually decide the
Presidential contest^in favor of the demo
cratic party. A democratic success in Ohio
in October would be worth at least thirty
thousand votes to the party in New York
in November, and wonld bring an equal
ratio of gains in every other State. If
tho chances are such that Ohio is
worth contesting Mr. Thurman is the best
candidate ; but it docs not yet appear Hint
even he would have any certainty of recover
ing Ohio from the republicans, and unless
this can be done Mr. Tilden or Mr. Bayard
would be a more < xpedient candidate. If
the republicans we destined to carry Ohio in
Octol>er it is better that the democratic can
didate lor the Presidency should not have a
peculiar stake in that preliminary local
canvrfHs.
If Ohio should be conceded to the repub
licans and Mr. Thurman's claim to the demo,
emtio nomination be ruled out the choice
among the candidates who have as yet be
come prominent would lie between Governor
Tilden and Senator Bayard. Either of them
would make a good President, and, accord
ing to present appearances, one of these two
will carry off the prize. If Governor Tilden
cannot get the nomination himself he is
certainly strong enough to give it to Mr.
Bayard. Both are statesmen of settled con
victions and sterling integrity, and official
swindlers would be equally scourged out of
the government under the administration of
either. Mr. Tilden would be a more sensa
tional President, but Mr. Bayard would
make fewer enemies. Senator Bayard's
chances, whatever'they may amount to, de
pend on the good will of Governor Tilden,
and so long as the Governor has hopes of
getting the St. Louis nomination himself
he will not be likely to designate a political
heir. But in the present aspect of the can
vass he has a double chance for political in
fluence; for if he cannot control the Conven
tion in his own favor he may give the nomi
nation to Senator Bayard, and thus assure
the success of his principles and the pre
dominance of his personal influence in the
new administration.
The Death of Alexander T. Stewart.
The death of Alexander T. Stewart can
not fail to create an impression in the com
mercial and business world which would
not result from the demise of any citizen we
might name. This effect is not so much in
consequence of tho vastness of his wealth
and the extent of his business enterprises
as of the force and vigor of the intellect
which has ceased to work. In his case
death robs the world of nothing that he
amassed; but wo are all the poorer in tho
fact that the power which directed all these
vast concerns is no longer potent Such a
loss is the obliteration of capital,
because it was the intellect, the fore
sight, the directing. energies of this man
which created the capital we now call
Mr. Stewart's wealth. The loss of this wealth
would not have been a greater blow to the
commercial interests with which it is bound
than the loss of the intelligence which made
it increase its functions and multiply bless
ings wherever its influence was felt. It is
too customary with the unthinking crowd to
belittle the usefulness of men lilv Air.
Stewart; but without them tho world
would be a sterile and unproductive desert.
They are the motive power which turns
the wheels of trnde, and Alexander T. Stew
art more than any man of his time was the
exemplar of commercial probity and useful
ness and success in this country. There.are
many things to be said in his honor, and
first among these is the fact that the fairness
of his dealings was never questioned. When
his business shrewdness was the keenest his
integrity was apt to be shown in its brightest
colors. Those who dealt with him never
had occasion to complain that they were his
victims, and when he marked his goods
down that he might sell to buy again he was
obeying the law of morals quite as much as
the laws of trade. It is by such devices and
through men with the quick wit to adopt
them that business energies and enterprises
are kept from stagnation, and because of this
merchants like Air. Stewart are among the
most useful and ^important members of the
community.
We cannot stop to inquire what will be
the effect of this man's death upon the busi
ness and commercial interests of the city.
To do this would be to enter into the minu
tiae of his vast affairs and to estimate the ex
act value of the directing force which
moved the vostncss of his enterprises. At
such a time we cannot do more than
recognize the power which, until yes
terday, was potent in all the business
centres of the world, but to-day is silent
as the inanimate form which is all that re
mains. From all that we see around us?
those magnificent storehouses, and hotels,
and theatres in Broadway, tho growing city
on Long Island, the mills and factories
which his wealth was calling into existence,
and the immense commercial nctivity which
grew up under his guidance?we may esti
mate the character of the man to whom all
these things belonged, not so much because
he bought and paid for them as because he
created them. Out of the little storeroom at
No. 283 Broadway they all may be said to
have come ; but in fact they wero coined out
of this man's brain, and the value of all this
property and these pervading business en
terprises is, after all, but the work of a
single mind, directing and controlling the
forces which make society and government,
liberty and happiness possible.
The Withdrawal of Steamers from the
traffic between this port and Liverpool, re
ported to have been agreed on by four of the
leading English linos, points to an expected
further falling oft' in the emigration from
j Europe to America during the present year,
j The tourists who may come to visit the Cen
i tennial Exposition, it may bo plainly seen,
j are not expected to counterbalance in the
smallest degree the loss from a diminished
number of steerage passengers, who, from
the way they may bo stowed between decks,
form the most valuable kind of cargo.
The falling off in emigration may be cred
ited to hurd times in Europe and the exag
gerated reports of harder times here, which
have been industriously spread in Europe,
particularly in Germany. The moral with
regard to the Exhibition may shock Phila
delphia somewhat, but the Herald antici
pated it some weeks ago. With regard to
tho emigrants, a single season of renewed
enterprise, sure to come, will correct the re
luctance of the toiling millions to turn their
; faces westward, and tho flood of brain and
muscle, as fertilizing" to this country as the
| Nile overflow to Egypt, will pour over the
land as before.
' The Unseating of M. Rochkr by tho
I French Chamber of Deputies, on the ground
that a letter from the Prince Imperial exer
cised an unconstitutional dynastic influence
on the electors of Ajaccio, may be politic in
France, but reads strangely here. Wo have
not a spark of sympathy with the Vice
1 Emperor or his pack of adventurers, but an
I nulling tho votes of the Corsican electors for
such a reason is certainly straining matters
to a dangerous point. In effect* too, we
| doubt its wisdom, for Ajaccio is Bonapartist
almost to a man, and will probably re-elect
M. Rouhcr or t'rince Napoleon, and whether
a Bonapartist comes as an avowed imperial
ist or disguised as a republican leaves very
: little choice of evil*.
Tk? English Mission?Mr.
We disagree with oar neighbor the Sun in
its estimate of the fitness of Mr. Longfellow
for the English mission. It by no means
follows that because a man of genius writes
poetry he is not a practical man. Some of
the greatest men in history, great in purpose
and achievement, wrote verses. Frederick
the Great wrote an incredible quantity of
rhymes and quarrelled with Voltaire because
he sneered at them. Yet as a king,
warrior and diplomatist, Frederiqjc stands
first of his time. We do not know that
Napoleon ever wrote verses; but he was
fond of Homer, which showed good taste,
and of Ossian, which Bhowed that he
was not always lofty in his tastes. John
Quincy Adams wrote poems to the end of his
days, and bad enough many of them were.
Lord Byron, whose fame as a poet was on the
eve of what promised to be an illustrious civil
and military career, when he died. The fact
that he had written "Childe Harold" did not
prevent the Greeks from offering him the
oomrannd of troops. Goethe's verses are
among the monuments of German litera
ture, and yet Goethe was a Minister of State.
In the history of our own diplomacy we have
had no better service than that of Joel
Barlow, the poet who served us
in France, and Bayard Taylor, and
George H. Boker in our diplomatic service
in Bussia. A few days hnve only passed
since a poet was appointed to rule one of
the largest empires in the world. If Disraeli
sees fit to send Owen Meredith to govern
India why should we hesitate to send Long
fellow to London ?
But why multiply illustrations? The
editor of the <!jun has himself, in his "Book
of Household Poetry"?a book which is a
mosaic of classics?celebrated the wisdom
and genius of poets. The editor of this
volume should feel debarred from criticising
the nomination of a poet to any station, how
ever eminent. Mr. Longfellow, unlike some
who have written verses, is a very prac
tical man, of common sense, clear judgment
and experience. He represents a wide and
generous culture. He has had abundant
opportunities for studying the institutions,
the literature and the politics of the older
nations. A mission like that of England
needs something moTe than a life around the
lobbies of Congress. What an atmosphere
Longfellow would take with him into tho
drawing rooms of London ! His venerable,
classical head, recalling to those who look
upon it the noblest forms of antiquity,
would be far different from some of the
hcuds we have been sending across the seas.
While, therefore, Professor Woolsoy would
suit us, while we should be happy to
see Senator Morgan or any of the estimable
candidates conceived by the Sun nominated
to the Court of St. James, we still think
that Mr. Longfellow would answer more
conditions of fitness than any one thus lor
named. While objecting to the assumption
that, because Mr. Longfellow has written
noble and beautiful poems, he would not
make a suitable Minister, we beg to con
gratulate our contemporary upon its re
newed and enlarged interest in national
politics, and especially upon the fidelity
with which it follows the example of the
Hebxld in dealing generously with the real
issues that come before the people. These
are the higher realms of journalism, and the
Sun, in entering upon them with so much
enthusiasm and good taste, shows that it
really shines for all.
Deportment and Can.
Elsewhere in oar colanins will be fonnd
the record of the most noteworthy fact of
these times. "Urbanity and courtesy" are
now to be found in the offices of gas compa
nies. They are strange things to be found
in such places. Independence has been
proverbially recognized as the great moral
attribute of wood sawyers; and impu
dence and a general tendency to adopt an
insulting demeanor toward a protesting pub
lic are equally known as the distinctive
characteristics of all persons employed by
gas companies. So it has been for a time
from which the memory of man runneth not
to tho contrary ; but now we hear that these
persons are attentive ; that they listen to
what people havo to say ; that they admit
the possibility that their complaint may be
well founded ; that they inquire into the
matter. This change has been pro
duced by kerosene. It seemed strnnge
when people heard that the beautiful
new- colors in silks and ribbons, invented
in these days, were produced from kero
sene ; and it seems *a fact equally remote
from the nature of this fluid that it should
mend the manners or improve the heart of a
man in a gas ofllce ; but it has evidently
done both. By an article on gas, given else
i where, it will be seen that greater wonders
yet are to flow from tho use of kerosene ; for,
through the invention described, it seems
possible that every large establishment may
ydt make nil its o*n gas.
Van lUnit on Cheap Cab*.
Van Ranst seems to be regarded as the
magnate of the hackmen?the person whose
consent must be obtained and with whom
terms must be mndo before any change can
be permitted in regard to tho use of tho
street for cabs. He is evidently satisfied
with things as they are. So long as the law
will permit and the public will pay him he
will bo happy to fit up vehicles to carry a
man or a woman about the streets nt two dol
lars an hour, or at n dollar a mile, which
would be about five dollars an hour. If he
could keep his coaches constantly employed
at this latter rate for, say six hours a day,
or thirty dollars for each conch, the busi
ness would pay; not extravagantly, but so
that a man need not complain. Indeed, if
the public had to pny him five dollars a mile
there is reason to believe that he could stand
it. It will not astonish any one to find that
this owner has an unlimited capacity for
regarding any sum paid for any service
as no more than sufficient, for was he not
trained as to the expenditures of the public
in the school of the Tnmuiany potentates,
who now putronize the omnibuses in Brus
sels or walk in Montreal ? Ho was the Hack
master General of the lting daysynnd in all
the accounts for carriages that figure in the
municipal documents of those days he had
an interest No otto suspects that when his
bills were sent in to the city he made them
higher or lower as the price of oats was np
I or down. Perish the thought that a great
1 haekman should stand on such trifles! But
j if the prices were adjusted, as were the
] prices in other bills against the city, with a
i view to dividing with the persons who aud
i ited the bills, then wo can understand bow
I the great hackinan got his ideas up on the
j subject oi prices. But we can assure him it
> is time to get his ideas down. The King is
I extinct, and the public mind is getting into
that normal tone when people refuse to pay
for any service a cent more than just what it
' is worth. Let Van Ranst be easy about
irresponsible drivers. People do not mean to
be victimized by them, nor by responsible
ones either.
The Conviction of Ksehi.
After a short trial the butcher of Simmons
has been convicted of murder in the first
degree. Had the crime of the killing not
been supplemented by the atrocious butchery
of the remains the defence might have been
heard to some effect. As the crime stood,
in all its horror, the story on which the
prisoner relied to save him from the gallows
could not, in minds unused to fine legal dis
tinctions, outweigh the inference to be drawn
from the revolting means employed to hide
the body of the murdered man. The in
stances of men frightened by the conse
quences of an act legally or morally
justifiable into really criminal efforts
at concealment are not unknown to
students of criminal practice. These
surround a case with great difficulty,
for the color given to the first transaction by
the acts that followed is often such that the
truth is extremely likely to be obscured. In
Fuch's case the utter depravity exhibited in
his mutilation of the remains of Simmons,
his cunning, and the vile moral atmosphere
in which the crime transpired, gave
the same bestial color to his defence
that a similar story told by a dog
would have done. It could scarcely bo ex
pected to help him among ordinary men.
The first ballot of the jury, we are told,
showed that six of them totally disbelieved
this story; that five accepted it in part, and
only one out of the twelve in its entirety.
That all of them fir ally rejected it and
agreed to make the offence the highest
known to the law shows that what may
have been feebly grasped at first by
some of them its the legal grade
of the crime per se could not be
defended by them when opposed to the
strong reasoning of the majority based on
the whole story of the killing, the mutilation
and the concealment. It resulted in a
verdict which will be accepted by the
public; for.no matter how the story of the
provocation has been received, no one will
say that such a miserable wretch as the
prisoner is too good for the gallows.
Rip WInkle 1? the White Mouse.
It is not generally known, but yet seems
to be established on competent evidence, that
in the past seven years?seven is a mystic
number-there has been in progress in this
country, on a grand scale, one of those cases
of oblivion that have so often attracted the
attention of poets and philosophers. Irving
has sot what may be called the oblivion
myth, in a popular style, in the story of that
idle and amiable old reprobate, ltip Van
Winkle. It was written in another ago that
a man walking through a forest heard the
voice of a bird, and stopped to listen to the
most entrancing music that ever smote hu
man ears. He listened for a little while, as
he thought, and then went on to the neigh
boring village; but seven years had passed in
what seemed to him a moment of delight.
This thought has, in short, reappeared from ,
time to time in various torms, garnished with
different fancies as the imaginations j
of the poets of different countries j
adapted each to the customs and
comprehension of his own land-the |
ever applicable truth that a lifetime may
slip away in what will seem but a moment in
the revelries of pleasure, and that, by the j
man who is lulled in the delights of the |
senses duty, honor and every vital obliga- j
tion are forgotten. But, though this comes
up in various forms in the hands of the
poets, who would have looked to see it come
up as' a fact at the national capital ? Yet
i that is the case before us. It seems that as
soon as Grant reached the White House he
fell into a modified form of this kind of ob- j
livion; n lethean dimness came between lus
vision and the world; lethargy seized upon
the warrior's will. This fully accounts for
I the change the people noted in the character j
of "the acts that were called Grant's acts be- j
I lore he went into the White House and the
! acts given out as his after that period. No
i effort was spared by men about him to guard
his slumber?to perpetuate the trance that
separated the hero from the world as it knew
him. Babcock. the faithful secretary, kept (
i a hop pillow under his head, and filled
the air with the vapor of poppies and
the drowsy music of well poised flattery,
j Williams darkened the windows and packed
the keyholes to keep out noise. Duties of
this nature were divided between a dozen.
And while they kept him in this slumberous
condition they "ran him'' as a piece of Pres
idential machinery. They made appoint
ment* through him?governed in bis name.
| 80 it went on for seven years. Then came a
' democratic investigating committee and
waked him up, and now ho comes forth to
' find himself in rags as to his repntation?an
old man in a world be cannot recognize, and
' gazed upon bv people who cannot recognize
in him the gallant soldier whom they
elected President seven years since?a man
who has slept while the house he was ap
i pointed to guard and keep has been tumbled
to ruins about his ears. At such a sleeper
' indignation might be fierce but for the pity
that will rise with it, and pity might soothe
his remorse but for the truth that pity is in
j separable from contempt
1 The Geneva Award. ?The Euglish gov
1 ernuient could not well do otherwise than
! decline to make any representations to the
United Ktates on the possible surplus re
maining over after the legitimate claims
upon the fifteen and a half millions of the
j Geneva award have been satisfied. If Chief
Justice Cockburn was the government of
i England perhaps wo might have some stir
I ring despatches, to which we might recall
I Mr. Caleb Cashing to make reply
hnlU oa th* MmImb Border.
The inconvenience of living near a gun
powder manufactory ia very great, and the
haste with whioh people who find one grow
ing np in their midst remove from its vicin
ity or oombine to have it removed may be ap
plied to the state of mind in whioh the
American citizens along the Bio Grande
find themselves with a revolution in
full blast on the other side of the
river. Our despatches acquaint us with f
very disagreeable condition of affairs at La
redo, Texas, and New Laredo, across the Bis
Grande, where, after the perpetration of an
outrage upon an American citizen, the Mexi
can federal commander had a fight with the
revolutionists, in which stray missiles
wounded four persons on the Ameri
can bank. The revolutionists repulsed,
the Mexican commander opened fire upon
the Americun soldiers on this side of the
river, to which Major Merriam, the United
States commanding officer, replied by drop
ping two twelve-pounder shells into th?
Mexican town. These are acts of war on
both sides, the exact responsibility foi
which it is difficult to assign at present, but
as the facts are stated Major Merriam has
the point in his favor of having acted on the
defensive.
What occurred at Laredo yesterday may
occur to-day or to-morrow at other points
along the Bio Grande; and as the United
States do not propose Jo move away from the
river because a few ragged cutthroats of one
or other Mexican kind are fighting
for supremacy in Mexico, the situation
becomes particularly delicate. On the
other hand this oountry is now in no mood to
take the trouble of removing the Mexican
boundary back to the mountain line. Hence
it becomes absolutely necessary that meas
ures should be taken to prevent the recur
rence of these disagreeable episodes between
the citizens of countries nominally at peace.
This is to be done by keeping such a force
upon the border as will overawe
the fighting ragamuffins of Mexico and
placing it in the hands of a prudent officer
of high standing who can be relied on to
make such dispositions of his command as
will make renoontres unlikely. The whole
business of official communication along the
Rio Grande needs to be strictly regulated. We
cannot, for instance, understand what right
Major Merriam had to cross the river and
bandy words with the Mexican commander,
The gallant officer was probably led away by
sheer motives of humanity, with which, as a
soldier, he had nothing to do. It is hard,
no doubt, that American citizens and
soldiers should be shot at without
replying in kind; but as we have no
desire to see the United States hurried into
war by such acts the government should
take prompt measures to prevent their repe
tition. The President, his Secretary of Wai
and the General of the Army will be held re
sponsible for preserving the peace by prompt
and dignified action.
PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.
Florida makes 216,000 cedar pencils a day.
Secretary Robeson has roturncd to Washington.
Several ropublican papers in Iowa have come ont in
favor of Governor Kirkwood for President
Mr. Holman may, after all, be a formidable rival to
Orth as candidate for Governor of Indiana.
'?Now, Mr. President," said Taft, "I mean to abolish
these potts and torn them into railway tiea"
Boston wants to be the headquarters of American
art She aeems to be In a fair way to succeed.
Old Tammany Hall boys were saints alongside the
horde ot bummc-r politicians who infest Chicago.
Paris girls try to be thin, avoid complexion-spoiling
soup aud meat and wish to bo translucontly Dale.
Colonels Whipple and Tourtellotte, of the stafTof the
General or the Army, reached Washington yesterday.
There Is a round of criticism because it costs $1,500
a year to oducute a boy at college, when it did not cost
Daniel Webster's father ono filth of tbat sum for thai
statesman's expenses.
The Uulfalo Courier says that there aro sorao Buffalo
bills in the Legislature. This is untrue. There art
only two genuino Buffalo Bills?one la In Canada and
the other is Lieutenant Governor.
Detroit Free Prut ?The remains of yet another
great city have bocn discovered on the banks ol the
Caspian Soa. It is becoming more evident that Cain
and Abel and Gideon Welles had other boys to play
with them.
Tha spirits materialized George Washington at a
tianee In Indiana the other day, and when one of ths
spectators asked him whether he was really the great
hatchotcr, our first President replied, "Dot ish dot
; kind of Hans icn am."
In Germany the telegraph wtros are in futnre to be
carried underground instead of being supported by
posts. The object of this ch.ingo is to prevoul the Id
j Corruption of communications which regularly follows
upon a great storm.
From Fun:?Mary:?"I say, Mrs. McCarthy, this
'ero's a very bad eabbago." Mrs. M.:?"Shuro now,
and Is it, honey ? "Then pick another. Bless yer, younj
cabiiagcs Is like sweethearts; you must tbry hall-a
dozen 'lore ye gets a good wan."
New Orleans Rrjmblican:?Married women general!)
get their loiters when the time comes (or tbem io past
away their husbands'overcoats for the summer; and
perhaps they will also find two or three which the gen
tleman was asked to mall tbo fall previous.
Colonol Higginson thinks that only womon aro not
horrified at political corruption, because their lives are
remote from lailitlcal knowledge ana influences. Bat
; Tweed's and Pendleton's lives were not remote from
such knowledge, and they were not particularly horri
fied.
The Indianapolis Journal ibtnks that even tht
modesty of the South In not wishing to name lbs
democratic candidate for President is dangerous, be
cause a Northern democratic President would bo ruled
by the South alter the manner in which dames Bu
chanan was ruled.
The Augusta (Ga) Cmutifutionalist quotes and says:?
They complain that at Fort Sill the frauds charged a
dollar ana a half for soothing syrup, abont fifty per
cent advance. But what do soldiore want with sooth
ing syrup??.Veio York Herald. A largo portion of ths
troops stationed at Fort Sill are lufantry.
Tho signs in California aro iliat the independents will
rcunito with tho republicans against tho recently vic
torious democrats. This movement is hastened by tho
1 fact tbat the republicans are now the enomles of the
Central Pacific Railroad, and are, therefore, working in
the path marked out by the Independents. Stanford k
Co. are behind the democrat*.
The Newark (X. J.I Qtmrtn has become a morning
' paper. Thus the experiment of having an evening
republican competitor with the sober, conservative old
Ailrertuer end* disastrously. The stockholders ncvoi
paid up their stock, and tho editors were compelled u
bo lobbyists There was a field for tho Courier, but It
, never displayed any journalistic enterprise.
I SirSirstfbrd do Redcliffe, in his old age, after a lift
: ol great activity In Cabinet politics, turned himself to
ward religious subjects, and wrote a not very br.luani
but pious book. Guizol, alter his long political career,
gave us a book ol religious meditations, very mild and
pious. Thurlow Weed, in Ins ol I a;o, attends the
Moody and^ankey meetings regularly. Will bo give
, us a book ?
Dr. Fayrer's opinion Is that, if systematic returnt
, were kept, the annual number of deaths from t-naks
bites (exclusive of ail donhtlnl cil-o) id India would b?
found lo exceed twenty thousand. A larger proportion
of women, it seems, are bitten than men, showing thag
the women of the working classes In Indus are buslet
I than ihetr lords In tbo fields and other places when
1 snakes are to be met with.