2
THE DAILY KVKNINU TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY, FEIJUUaRY 7, 1871.
rziLZX or xnn rnnss.
Editorial Opinions oftha Loading Journal
upon Current Topioi Go npiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph,
OUGHT THE niESS TO I3E SILENT ?
Inrni the X. Y. Time.
There ia one point we should like to sub
mit to the consideration of the Bar Associa
tion, and in fact of the whole bar of this
State, and it is this: What is the press and
the public to do in the presence of what it
conceives to be gross abuses in the adminis
tration of justicei' Ever since the Erie Rail
road fell into its present hands, stories of
corruption on the bench of this city, and
connivance at it by a portion of the bar,
have been widely circulated, and are gen
erally believed both at home and abroad.
We have never met a man, be he lawyer or
layman, who ventured to deny that these
rumors had at least good foundation. We
believe there is not a single lawyer of emi
nence in the State who will venture to deny
it. Even Mr. D. D. Field will not do so. lie
knows that some of our judges are corrupt.
What he bays, however, and what a great
many others say even Mr. William Allen
Butler came near saying it in his lecture on
the relations of lawyer and client, the other
night is, that we must not mind common
rumor or "mere newspaper utterances" on
these subjects. We are to wait for well-ascertained
facts before we impute partiality to a
judge or improper professional conduct to an
advooate, no matter how outrageous the pro
ceedings in court may seem to the lay eye.
"Public opinion," Mr. Butler says, "can
only properly and finally pronounce upon
what is undisputed or established beyond any
reasonable doubt, and accepted by common
consent as a notorious fact." "It cannot
proceed to judgment in a case involving the
relation of lawyer and client to each other,
to the judiciary, and to the public, so long
as any element of doubt remains, so long as
issue is to be taken on the main question of
fact, and the merits of the case are entangled
in the meshes of newspaper controversy and
discussion."
Now let us apply this to the condition of
things in tho courts of this city. We pre
sume we understate the case when we affirm
that the large majority of the bar firmly be
lieve at least two of tho judges of the Su
preme Court to be grossly and shamelessly
corrupt. We think we are also understating
when we say that fifty of them could furnish
proof of this corruption sufficient to support
an impeachment before an honest Senate.
There is hardly any division of sentiment at
the bar as to the way in which the judicial
power has been abused during these Erie suits.
But if an editor goes to a lawyer, and asks him
to furnish him with proofs of these charges,
he will refuse to furnish them. He will fur
nish him indeed with what he alleges to be
"facts," but will not allow his name to be
tised as vouching for them. He will say that
he has not time lor a controversy, or that
justice to his clients forbids his quarreling
with the judges, or that there is no use in
saying anything about it; that the evil is too
deep-seated, or that it is the public morality
that is at fault, and that we must look for
purification to improvement in the national
character, and so on. lie is certain to pro
duce some excuse for his not meddling pub
licly in the matter. If we ask him why the
lawyers do not impeach the corrupt judges,
he will say what is quite true that Tweed,
whose servants the corrupt judges are, and
who controls the majority of the Legislature
absolutely, would not permit it; that it would
be impossible to get the Assembly to aocuse,
or the Senate to convict, on any evidence that
could be submitted to them.
If the editor then calls his attention to the
condition of the Bar, and asks whether the
practice in the Erie cases has not been
marked by great abuses, and whether the
lawyers who have perpetrated them ought
not to be punished in some way or other, he
will say that undoubtedly they ought; that
this, and this, and this charge against them
is certainly true. But if the editor then
asks him to come out and denounce them
with the authority derived from professional
training and practical knowledge of the
facts, he will probably refuse to touch the
matter, and on the same grounds on which
he refuses to deal with corruption on the
bench. Success, he will say, would be
doubtful, while the trouble and annoyance
would be certain.
Now, there is no regularly constituted tri
bunal here, as there is in England or France,
before which a lawyer's professional conduct
can be brought, and from which an inquiry
into the facts can be obtained. Of course,
we shall be told that this is not oorroot; that
the proper remedy for misbehavior on a law
yer's part is to bring him before a Supreme
Court, and have his name struck from the
rolls. But the very mention of this remedy
brings before us the peculiarity of the em
barrassment in which the public of this city
find themselves. What we complain of is the
guilty connivance of the bench, the bar, and
the Legislature at the perpetration of an
astounding series of frauds ati'eoting directly
an enormous amount of property, and which,
from their very nature and success, affect the
security of all property; and when we cry out,
we are advised to complain of the Judges to
the Legislature, and of the bar to the judges.
In other words, we are to beg the three ac
complices in the villainy to turn round and
chastise each other in the interest of
public morality.
It is this extraordinary combination of cir
cumstanoes, the like of which we venture to
say has never been Been in any civilized coun
try, which makes the duty of the press in this
matter one of such difficulty. There being no
formal way of bringing corrupt judges and
bad lawyers to justice, publics opinion natu
rally and inevitably takes hold of the matter:
but then the lawyers step in and say public
opinion must not take hold of it, until "the
facta" are before it. It may see the equitable
powers of the courts of the State used in a
way in which no such powers were ever used
bofore; it may see such services rendered by
lawyers to notorious Knaves as it nas never
seen rendered by honorable lawyers to their
clients; it may see millions of property
stolen from its owners used by a parcel of
adventurers in the gratiucation of their lusts,
and may see them steadily protected against
punisninent by the connivance of judges,
and the skilful twisting by dexterous
practitioners of the forms of procedure;
but Inasmucn as the processes are so latri
cate, the suits so numerous, tne conflicts
of jurisdiction so incessant, the orders and
affidavits so numerous that it would give a
professional eye all it could do to follow the
course even ot a single case, nobody, and es
pecially no editor, is to open his lips about it.
We are not to condemn dishonest judges or
unscrupulous lawyers till someboay, as yet
unknown, whose decision nobody will dii
pute, shall, upon the faith of testimony
which nobody will question, tell us exaotly
what these gentlemen have done whioh, ac
cording to the law ef the land and established
legal usage, they ought not to have done
till, in short, tbin superior being has disen
tangled tne whole matter ' from the meshes
of newspaper controversy and discussion,"
and set it before the world exactly as it is.
Wbh any civilized community ever presented
with so singular a rule of conduct ?
Now we can say, for our part, that nothing
would delight us more than to leave the cor
rection of legal abuses to the bench and the
bar. We Are as conscious an any lawyer oau
be of tne disadvantages under wnion news-
E opera mnat always discuss such abuses. We
ave called the attention of the bar again and
again to the incompetency of editors for any
such work. Between the fitness of the press
and that of the bar, for the criticism of what
judges and advocates do or say, there can
be no room for doubt in the mind of any
sensible men; but as between the critioism
of the press, and none at all. there can
be just as little doubt. The news
papers have taken this matter up. and Dub-
lie opinion is sitting in judgment on it, be
cause if they do not, nobody else will. The
protests we hear against the meddling of the
press in the matter is therefore impudent
gammon, it is not a private individuals
duty to watch burglars as long as there are
police; but if the police go to sleep, or enter
into a league with the criminals, police duty
becomes every man's duty. As long as the
courts sit, and do justice, it is every good
citizen's duty to leave to them the punish
ment of crime; but if the judges
leave the bench, and set up faro-banks,
it is every good citizen s business to
see that crime is punished somehow.
Lynch law is bad law, but it is better
than no law. We declare solemnly and posi
tively that if the Bar Association, or any
other organization of honest lawyers, will take
up the charges made against the administra
tion of justice in this city, at the bar and on
the bench, sift them thoroughly, without fear
or favor, and make an honest and energetio
enort to bring tne wrong-doers to justice of
some kind, and to have inflicted on them
legal penalties, or else mark them out as fit
objects for popular reprobation, we shall
gladly refrain from all meddling in the mat
ter nenceiortn. we snau constitute our
selves simply clerks of their court, to record
and make proclamation of their decisions,
and shall give them as steadfast and hearty
support as is in our power. But until some
such tribunal declares itself ready and will
ing to act, God forbid that the press should
accommodate knaves whether they be
judges, lawyers, or clients who wrest the
law to the destruction of property and the
confusion of the State, with a tame and timid
silence. It is better to commit fifty blunders
a day, than that a great crime should be per
petrated without protest from any quarter.;
THE TESTIMONY OF THE CENSUS.
From the A. F. World.
A comparison of the census of 1870 with
the vote in that year of some of the States
reveals certain curious secrets. In Nevada.
West Virginia, Missouri, and Iihede Island
the population, vote, and ratio of voters to
population in 1870 stand thus:
ronulaiinn. Vote. Hatio.
Nevada 42.491 13.343 1 in 810
west Virginia. 445,010 65,001 l lu 8 01
lUlSSOliri l,Tl,()UU lbT.ll'l 110 10-22
KllOUO island 217,350 1 in 12 Kl
It will be here seen that rotten-borough
Nevada claims every third person within her
borders as not only a voter but actually vot
ing a claim that bears the stamp of fraud
and dishonesty upon its face. Taking into
consideration the number of women, children,
and sick or non-voting men found in every
community, one voter to five inhabitants is a
liberal estimate; and very few estates in an
"off year," as 18(0 was, reach even that
ratio. And yet here comes rotten-borough
Nevada in an "off-year" with a vote much
heavier than any other State is known to poll
in the most exciting contests. There must be
"repeating here, fend it would be well for
those extremely unsavory Senators, Messrs,
Nye and Stewart, representing this fraudulent
btate, to look at home bet ore urging on so
much electoral legislation for the genuine
States of the Union. Fact two concerning
Nevada, as shown by tne census or 18 0, is
this; either that rotten borough has
decreased very materially in population since
1804, or else its admission in that year was a
very dirty job between Mr. Lincoln and the
-local politicians. On the 31st ot October,
1804, Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation
declaring Nevada a State, and three days
afterwards, or on tne oa oi .November,
the new State reciprocated the martyr's
civility by giving him a majority of some
thousands in a total vote of 10,420. If in
1804 the population of Nevada was twice as
large as it is now, this vote would be a fair
electoral ratio; but taking it tor granted
that there has been no such tremendous
decrease, and that the population now is
about what it was then, it appears that in
the Presidential election of 1804 this rotten
borough cast one vote to every 252 of popu
lation. At the last Presidential election it oast
one vote to every 302 inhabitants, and now
claims one voter in every 310. These figures
sufficiently demonstrate that this rotten-bo
rough State, founded in trick and devioe, is
conducted on the vilest system oi frauds upon
the ballot-box by "repeating," by ballot-box
stuffing, and by false oounts. Such a com
munity rotten and corrupt continuously ami
a 5 initio has no right to have an equality of
voice in the Government with the genuine
States. It is a mere close corporation of
political desperadoes, aptly typified by
Senators Nye and Stewart, who have done
more to debauch pubho life even thaa
Ben Butler; and there is every reason
to suppose that, could the genuine
Bentimeut of the people of the State be
consulted, it would be all but unanimously in
favor of receding into a territorial condition,
In that, the Federal Treasury would bear the
expenses of inaintainiBg civil government,
and these forty odd thousand people be no
longer compelled, for the use and behoof of
Nve, Stewart, et pals., to keep up such an
establishment as is here imperfectly set
down: Governor, $4000; (secretary, $3000;
Comptroller. S.'JGOO; Treasurer, S3000; Bur
veyor, $2."00; School Superintendent, $2."00;
Supreme Court judges, $35,000; Circuit
Court judges, $42,OiH); Legislature, $8 per
aiem, etc xne census reveals Nevada a most
unmitigated fraud.
As respects West Virginia, it will be seen
that the electoral ratio is one voter to every
8 01 of population. The election in this
State in 1870 was most exciting, and yet but
one voter to every eigut inhabitants appears.
though at the same time Indiana cast one
vote to every o'20 a discrepancy whioh Audi
its explanation in the villainous system of
disfranchisement by which the radicals have
held this State so long. It was onoe asserted
in the World, on what was deemed good au
thority, that 2",000 men were disfranchised
in West Virginia, and, though most veue
merrily denied, the statement find this muoh
confirmation from the census: that if we al
low West Virginia the same elector! ratio aa
Indiana and if there wan no lisirnuohin-
ment there is no reason why the ratios sbo ild
not be substantially the same the vote wonld
have been 2!,000 greater. The disfranchise
ment we mentioned did exist, but happily, by
reason of the Democratic viotory in WestVir
glnia, will now exist no more.
Coming to AiisHoun, the oensus onoe more
unerringly demonstrates the existence of au
enormous disfranchisement, the voters in the
highly exciting contest of 1870 numbering
but one to every 1022 of population. Give
Missouri tne same electoral ratio as Indiana,
and her vote would have been ."8,ooo greator
than it was. Indiana, with a population of
1,070.043, cast 317,.rr0 Votes in 1870: and why
did Missouri in the same year, with a popula
tion of 1,7 Iff, 000, cast but 107,710, unless the
restrictions of the Drake constitution dis
franchised the 158,000 voters who came to the
polls in the one State and did not in the
other ? Happily, however, here too is radi
calism overthrown and the barbarism of dis
franchisement gone with it.
Lastly, here is what the census tells us of
Ilhode Island that it had in 1870 but one
voter to every 12-94 inhabitants; as if to hint
at a disfranchisement worse than that of
either Missouri or West Virginia. One voter
in 13 is the lowest electoral ratio in the
United States, and is not to bo excused on
the ground that 1870 was an "off year;"' first,
because we know the faction fight in this
State made the election one of great local
interest; and, second, because in the Presi
dential election of 1808, when the maximum
vote was out, the ratio was one voter in 11.
The secret of what the census reveals in
Khode Island is to be sought in the suffrage
laws of that State, which exact a real estate
qualification from those naturalized citizens
who form so large a part of the entire popu
lation. LITERARY ACROBATS.
From the X. Y. Tribune.
John llnskin has undertaken the reform of
tie British workman in a series of letters en
titled Fora Clavigera, which are to finally
right all English social abuses; the only diffi
culty in the way being, it appears, the fact
that nobody not even the astutest critic
has as yet the faintest idea of either what
For Clavigera means or what the letters are
about. The truth is, that the lower class in
England are just now in the condition of the
starving donkey in JEsop, to whom each of
the birds and beasts came with advice and
consolation, while nobody brought him the
peck of oats for lack of which he was dying.
Every reformer, philosopher, or poet in Eng
land has joined in the pow-wow over this
lower class, in whom civilization is seen in
articwo mortis, and has his favorite remedy
to offer. One thrnsts expatriation down the
patient's throat, another infanticide, a third
religious education not seeing that if his
empty stomach were filled bis heart and brain
would right themselves. Mr. Kuskin must
have a peck at the poor viotim with the
others, which is perhaps well enough.
It is a grave subject, and one to which any
man would give his gravest thought. Buskin
was endowed by nature not only with a genu
ine love of the truth, but a keen insight into
it, and exceptional force in its utteranoe. But
of late he has tricked out his i deas in such
frippery of sentimentality, such a pish-pash
of "Sesame and Lilies, anon Ducks and
Dawns, that it is John lluskin at whom his
audience stare, and not at the truth whioh
God gave him to show to them. He has
taken, too, an apparent delight in the wonder
excited by his unintelligibility; clasps his
hands in childish glee when a book aimed at
the reformation of the clergy falls dead.
"They did not understand a word of it'." he
cries; "now oould they be expected to do it.-'
The present letters, intended to help illite
rate people, are a Beries of obsoure paradoxes
and attempts at mystification. He "wants to
tear down all the railroads in England and
Wales, the houses of Parliament, and the
city of New York.- He wants to whisper in
the ears of all girls to eurtsey as professors
and dignified persons go by, and to kings to
keep their crowns, and bishops their croziers;"
and so the cnildibh chatter goes on, page
after cage, while the critics puzzle their
brains in vain to find the obsoure meaning,
Now Buskin knows as well as any living man
how to.utter hard sense in words like bullets;
and this nonsense is not even amusing non
sense. It is nothing but a vain posturing, a
click-clack of castanets, to attract notice.
There are enough poor devils driven to play
euch trapeze games in literature for bread and
butter; let them stand on their head and
play tricks with their heels to make the vul
gar gape; but Kuskin is in lack ot neither
money nor fame: be can afford to give his
best work to the world without betraying this
vain desire for notoriety.
It is high time that literary men, at least,
undeistood of how little importance indivi
duals are in this busy age of the world, and
that they weigh less and less with each sue
ceeding year. If a man nas discovered a
poem, or a sewing-machine, or a fertilizer, or
a new divine truth, he owes it- to the world,
and that is all the world wants of him,
When he thrusts his own personal whims or
power of turning unmeaning somersaults
among words on its notice, he is simply
guilty of an impertinence for which he
will speedilly be snubbed. Journalists,
who of all men ought to be the most
impersonal, are apt in this country to
fall into this very error of thrusting their
own petty affairs, likes and dislikes, on
heir readers. We have done what we
could to show them their mistake, and not,
we are tempted to hope, without effect. We
fancy the publio has been bored somewhat
less, lately, with the squabbles of New York
editors, and is not called upon bo often to re
gard their tweaked noses or wounded sensl
bilities from the right-hand point of view or
the left. The world wants few heroes now-a-days,
and knows these few by instinct, as
the lion does the true prince; and the man
who suggests himself as demi-god by virtue
of his gift of chattering about himRelf, or
malignant abuse of his neighbor, will find
himself shortly not a demi-god, but an ap
plauded clown in a circus, who will be left
alone and forgotten in the sawdust as soon as
his tongue grows less limber.
WHAT WILL THE SAN DOMINGO COM
MISSION DO ?
From the K. T. Nation.
A foreigner who knew nothing of the San
Domingo all air but tne appointment and de
parture of the commission of inquiry, would
naturally suppose that tne people or the.
United States had just heard or a newly-dis
covered island some thousands of miles off.
and that in order to gratify their curiosity
they bad thought fit to send out a scientific
exploring expedition.
Perhaps ke would begin to deplore the
profound Ignorance of our people, uuless in
ded some one better versed in our way of
managing political schemes were to ease his
mind by telling him that we knew all about
Han Domingo; that Colton's descriptive atlas
was found in almost every log-cabin; that we
had had oommeccial agents and consuls for
years paht in both piirU of the uland (Uayti
and 8an Domingo proper); that our diplo
matic and consular correspondence bad given
us. fnll tables of its commerce, exports, im
ports, and of the products of the field and
tho mines; that in every elementary school
history was to be found an aoeount of j
the population being nine-tenths colored,
not to say dowmight black, and one-tenth
Spanish and French Creoles, that their strug
gles were internal and eterna-l; that we knew
all about the climate, its insalubrity being
well attested by the fact that France lost in
the time of the first republio about W,000,
and Spain, only a few years ago. some l.",0)0
men by the yellow fever. Lven as to the
frequency of "certain meteorological phe
nomena," to adopt the phrase in the resoltf
tion, and which is simply fustian for earth-
nvakcs, and which the commission is also
charged to investigate, there is no lack of
knowledge. Earthquakes occur once or
twice every five years, and serious ones, de
stroying whole cities and towns, once in about
twenty. . .
But, then, the ignorant foreigner wonld
say, perhaps you want to know whether the
people there wish to be annexed. Not at all,
would ie tne reply, ihere is not the least
doubt about that desire; they annexed them-
selvesin 1801 unanimously to Spain, and almost
unanimously to the United States in 1870.
The last vote would have been quite unani
mous too, for all the opponents of the mea
sure happened to be in prison for some cause
or another just when the vote was taken, or
had been sent out of the oountry.
At the last moment, however, it was sug
gested to President Baez by some shrewd
Yankee friend that an entire unanimity might
be rather looked upon as too suspicious, and
so Baez, on the election day, got some men
to cast their votes against annexation.
Indeed, it is bard to treat this commission
business seriously, and yet it may have very
serious consequences, borne people, not the
people of the United States, want to annex
all of the West India Islands, after San Do
mingo offers the best opening for that policy.
Ever since the eastern part in territory the
largest, in populatien (13,",000) the
smallest severed its connection, un
der the name cf Santo Domingo, in
1844, with the western part, Hay ti, contain
ing about 1,000,000 of people, it has pre
served only the semblanoe of an independent
existence. Internal conflicts and wars with
Hayti have kept it poor, disordered, and dis
organized. Its presidents, one and all, San
tarn, De Begla, Cabra), Baez, were and are
needy adventurers, astute aud most unscru
pulous men; and, despairing of sustaining
themselves in power for any
length of time, or aware of the
unfitness of the, people to govern them
selves to be governed, have all tried at some
time or another to sell their country to any
power which would pay them best. Mr. Fish
is Blightly mistaken in his lute explanatory
letter when he speaks of the late Spanish
invasion. It was Baez who, as President,
in 1800, first proposed annexation to Spain.
But Santana, who desired to make the bargain
himself, ousted Baez, and proclaimed annexa
tion (March 18, 1801), sustained, as he as
serted, by petitions to that effect signed by the
voters unanimously. Baez then played the
indignant patriot, and denounced the annex
ation as treason, but as there happened to be
a few Spanish frigates on the coast his oppo
sition became unavailing. That Baez was
wholly insincere, and that his true intentions
were well known to the Spanish Government,
wree made apparent by the tact that soon after
annexation Baez went to Spain, was well re
ceived at Madrid, was made a general of di
vision, and was decorated with some order.
The annexation .itself was by no means
popular in Spain, and even the Queen's Gov
ernment hesitated long before it acceded to
it. Indeed, it was charged that it was origi
nally an intrigue commenced by Baez, car
ried out by Santana and General Serrano,
then Captain-General of Cuba, and that it
was a Burprise upon the home cabinet. But
as Serrano was the special favorite of the
Queen, it did not dare to oppose it. Indeed,
the Queen's speech from the throne (Nov. 8,
1801;, in which she announced to the Spanish
people the reannexation, shows, in spite of
her assertion to the contrary, evident marks
of doubt and hesitation, perhaps somewhat
increased by the formal protest against this
annexation which our Government had placed
on record in Madrid in the spring ot 18ol
She said in that speech:
"The Island of Hlspanlola, tne first discovery by
which Columbus Immortalized his name, has again
become a part of the monarchy. The Dominican
people, threatened by external enemies, exhausted
by lnttstlne disorders, ia the midst of its conflict in
volved the ausust name of tho nation to which it
owed civilization and existence. To look upon its
misfortunes unmoved, to turn a deaf ear to its
wishes, inspired by lofty recollections and by a
never-extinguished love for Spain, would have been
unworthy of our noble nature. Convinced that
tliev were unanimous, and acting on their free will,
I have not hesitated to receive theai, regarding the
honor still more than the advantage oi my people,
But a little more than a year after those
words had been spoken San Domingo was in
open revolt, assisted, as it always will he, by
an abundance of men and money from Uayti,
whose doom is sealed when San Domingo
passes into the bands of a foreign power,
The best Spanish authorities state that, even
before the insurrection, the acquisition
proved a financial failure; that to subdue
a revolt of the people was impossible, on
account of the deadly climate of the in
terior; that owing to several parallel
ranges of mountains, some of them
rising to the height of 7000 feet, forming
valleys full of marshes and swamps, exhaling
a pestilential air, no troops could penetrate
into it, or could be supported for any length
of time. The best troops of Spain, their
rifle battalions, counted amongst the very
best light infantry in Europe, it is well known
were uselessly sacrihoed, although, most or
them had previously stood the climate of
Cuba. After an effort of about three years,
costing many lives and about $40,000,000,
Spain gave up her ungrateful child ia des
pair.
As regards the commission, its report, nine
chances to one, will be favorable to the views
cf the annexationists. Baez, who has the
reputation of beiBg a most wily politician;
the titular General Cazeneau, whose talents
for intrigue are also well known; our new
consul, undoubtedly selected with a fore
knowledge of his views, and who has replaced
that explosive young man, 11. a. Perry, who
has turned a sort of State evidence against an
nexation, will take good care that the com-
mist-ion will not fall into improper company,
Besides, there is really no doubt but that
Baez, and also his adversary, Cabral, are both
in favor of annexation, provided they can
make it pay. It is almost certain that a ma
jority of the people whom the commissioners
will see the Inhabitants of the coast dis
tricts are supporters of annexation. There
is no doubt, also, that it would be au ex
cellent thing for the interest of the
whole people of San Domingo, and that
the natural riches of the country would be
prffdlv developed under our auspices.
lint, reallv. that is not the question. It is,
Is annexation for the benefit of the United
States ? The cession of the Bay of Samana
might bo well enough for a coaling station
The manifest-destiny policy of President
rieree was directed to its acquisition, lu
fact, our Government had negotiated a treaty
nn Ken uomingo f October 2. 18.it). called
a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation,
containing a secret article for the Bay of
Hainan) bnt it failed to receive the sanction
of Ihe Dominican Congress, owintr to the
threats of England and Franc, who hpd ob
tained information in some way of this
ariongement. Annexation of the whole re
publio of San Domingo, however, inevitably
to be followed by that of I Iaytir will involve
us in something like a chromo Indian war,
will be a heavy drain on our treasury, will
prove a graveyard to our troop, will be a
point of weakness instead of strength in case
the country should be involved in a foreign
war.
The late speech of Senator Schura is, how
ever, so exhaustive as to the impolicy of an
nexation that but little could be added. The
object of these remarks is solely to show
the nselessness of the appointment of this
commission, if anything else is intended than
manufacturing publio opinion in favor of the
scheme, to which, up t this day, the people
have shown decidedly the cold shoulder. No
censure of the commissioners is implied. They
are honorable men; but they are on a most
singular errand, and may find out too late that
much against their will they have been used
as instruments to accomplish a very bad end.
Two of them, as we pointed out some weeks
ago, Dr. Howe and Mr. Wade, are men of
singularly unsuspecting and unjudicial turn
of mind; and whether Mr. White, young,
shrewd, and versed in affairs as he is, will
be able, single-handed, to escape the snares
which will be assuredly laid for the whole
party, is something which, muoh confidence
as we may have in his ability, it is permissi
ble to doubt.
THE REDISTRIBUTION OF POLITICAL
POWER.
From Every Saturday.
The figures of the last census have been so
far crucially ascertained that one apportion
ment bill has already been prepared by the
Judiciary Committee of the House of Repre
sentatives, and another is in process of pre
paration by the Committee on the Census.
W hichever or whatever one may finally be
adopted, the basis of apportionment will not
probably differ materially from that fixed upon
in the Judiciary Committee s bill.
At any rate, that will answer our purpose in
enabling us to get a clear idea of the redistri
bution of political power which is to be made
for the ensuing decade, and which flows in a
great degree trom the late most momentous
crisis in the history of the Union. The topio,
as one intimately connected with the new de
parture of national progress, cannot but be
of deep interest to all reflecting citizens.
The bill above referred to fixes the number
of Representatives at 280; and we find on in
spection of the list that they are distributed
among the great sections of the Union ac
cording to the following table, which gives
the cumber of members both acoording to
the present and the proposed apportion
ment!: New England... 27 . jjs
Middle States 61 M
Southern States in. s
W estern Htates . 70 95
1'ttclfJc States..... 4 5
Total... ai3 830
It is possible that some readers, in glanc
ing over this table, will be surprised at the
apparent growth of the South as indicated
in the increased number of its Representa
tives. They will, however, get the true
state of the cose the moment they reflect
that two-fifths of the colored race are now
for the first time comprised in the basis of
apportionment. If the eleven Representa
tives derived from this source be deduoted,
it will be seen that the South has gained
but two from the regular increase of popula
tion, while the Middle States have been gain
ing five. Allowing, then, for this apparent
anomaly, we hnd that the table strikingly in
dicates the general march of political power
northward and westward. A table by
States would render this still more ob
vious. Thus, it appears that just one-half
of the next House 140 Representatives,
aceording to the bill we have been
considering will oome from the following
eight States, in the order of their size, viz.:
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois,
Missouri, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Ken
tucky. All these States might be strung on
a straight line, beginning at Boston and run
ning dipping slightly towards the south
westwardly to Jefferson City, with the excep
tion of a single loop to take in Kentuoky.
This line may be regarded as the axis of the
political power of the Union.
Ihe great significance, however, of the
table lies in the hint it gives of suoh a re
distribution of power, consequent upon vital
changes in the country, as well render these
sectional tables hereafter of muah less ac
count than tbey have been thus far in our
hibtory. We have among us a class of men
who are constantly crying out for decen
tralization. It is a good watoh-ory in some
respects; bnt we have already ' realized
something equally good, namely, the sub
stantial desectionalization of the oountry.
The sections themselves are fading out or
merging into each other. The New England
States unquestionably preserve their distinc
tive features better than any of the other
sections, yet among them Connecticut has
largely beoome a political appendage of
New York. In the West, Ohio has lost the
characteristics of that section it makes no
gain, for instance, under the new apportion
ment, although New York and Pennsyl
vania do while Missouri, on account of
its immigrant population and other peculiari
ties, has been justly transferred from the
Southern to the Western Sta'es. To note,
however, the fnll force of the desectionaliz
ing drift of the last decade, we must turn to
the South. The last apportionment found
the 75 Representatives of that seotion not
only within one of equalling the politioal
strength of any other section, but so com
pletely a unit as to hold the balance of power
in the Union. The next apportionment will
assign, out of the 88 Representatives of that
section, no less than 28 to the colored raoe,
whoso views for the present are essentially
non-concurrent with those of the class who
monopolized the whole politioal power
enjoyed by the South under the last
census. This division, it ia true, will
not be strictly available to the colored popu
lation, and it is best it should not be; still, it
is easy to see that, of itself, it effectually
disposes of the once all-powerful sectionalism
of the South. Similarity of institutions,
also, will tend to rearrange the States politi
cally according to their dominant interests,
whether commercial manufacturing, agri
cultural, or otherwise. Thus the mountainous
regions running down from Virginia,
through North Carolina, and East Tennessee,
into Upper Georgia and Alabama, will be
essentially, and in time politically, distinct
from the cotton-planting sections of the
South, and they will find their affinities
farther north. Immigration, by whioh alone
the Southern States can hold their owu ia the
rsce of political pTogres. will only add an
other itnpnlge in the direction we have boon
considering.
The same conclusion is to bo derived frfumt
the slightest study of that section which i
distancing all others in the aoiuisition of
political power. The West is hardly a sc
tion geographically, and still less can it bt
so politically. Where is the West? Like
Corporal Trim's poor soldier, it is "bore to
day and gone to-morrow." Its eriginal
States, once the homes of adveoturous pio
neers, become old and conservative and ally
themselves with the Eastern and Middle
States. The newer States are in population
the epitome of the whole Union. In the
recent Senatorial elections at the West, but
one of the successful1 candidates was a native
of his State. A carpet-bag wonld well befit
the coat-of-arms of any of these new States,
Such communities, of course, representative
of the wholw oountry as they are, cannot be
sectional. They are a Congress of national
electors, to begin with, and their own Con
gressmen cannot but reflect the broad and
ratholio type f their origin. This, then, is
the gratifying feature of the present and
probably of every future redistribution of
political power. It is a grand advanee to-,
wards equality and towards the subordination
of class and sectional interests to the general
welfare of the people as a whole.
WATOHE8, JEWELRY, ETO.
-EWIS IAD0KUS & Co;
'DIAMOND BMLEKS A JKWKI.EBS.
WATCHES, JKWIfiRT SILVER U KVK
. WAT0HE3 and JEWELUT REPAIRED,
J02 Chestnut St., PhUftj
Would Invite attention to their large stock ot
Ladles' and Gents' Watches
Of American aud foreign ma era.
DIAMONDS in the newest styles ot Settinirs.
LADIES' and OKNTS' CHAINS, sets of JHSWELRT
of the latest styles, BAND AND CHAIN
BRACELETS, Etc Etc.
Our stock has been largely Increased for the ap
proaching holidays, and new goods received daily.
Silver Ware of the latest designs In great variety,
for wedding presents.
Repairing done in the beat manner and guaran
teed; 811 fmw
TOWER CLOCKS.
Wo. 22 NORTH SIXTIl STUKKT,
Agent for STEVENS PATENT TOWSU CLOCKS,
both Kemontoir & Graham Eaoapeumut, atnkiug
hour only, or striking quarters, aud repeating hur
on full chime.
Estimates furnished on application either person
ally or by mall. sue
WILLIAM B. WARNS A CO,.
Wholesale Dealers in
WATCHES, JEWELRY. AND
S li 171 Bll.iVA.it WAKtt,
First noor of No. ew CUKSNUT Street,
8. R. corner SEVENTH and CHKHNUT Streets.
FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF SAFE
MARVIN'S SAFES."
The est Quality!
The Lowest Prices!
The Largest Assortment!
F ire-proof.
ttursiar-oroor.
MARVIN'S CHROMQ IRON
SPHERICAL,
Burglar Halo
Will resist all BURGLAR'S IMPLEMENTS for any
length of time. Please send for catalogue.
MARVIN & CO.,
mo. 72Z CnsSrJUT Street,
(MASONIC HALL,)
S68 Broadway, N. T.
PHILADELPHIA.
103 Banc St., Cleveland, Ohio
A number of Second-hand Safes, of dlflforoa
makes and sizes, for sale VKHY LOW.
Safes, Machinery, etc., moved aad,hoiatod promptly
and carefully, at reasonable rates. liT imwflra
LEGAL. NOTICES.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CITY
AND COUNTY OP PHILADELPHIA.
PB1L1P SPAKDER va. GEORGE HAMBRECHT,
fl. fa.iVIh.TUU C. 8WEATMAN vs. (1EORGK
DAMBRKCUT, li. fa. September Term, laTO,
Nog. 97 and 98.
The Auditor appointed by the Court to report dis
tribution of the fund in court, arising from the
fueriu . uijuer tuo uuuvu writ.. 111 nrrtaciaH ui
the'persoiiM estate of the said GEORGE HAM
BKECHT, will meet the parties Interested for the
purposes of his appointment at hia Ottlce, No. 613
WALNUT Street, Room No. 10, in the city of Phila
delphla, on WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1871, at 3
o'clock P. M., when and where all persons are re
quired to make their claims before such Auditor or
be debarred from coming In upon aald fund.
8 8 lot Auditor.
WHISKY, WINE, ETO.
QAR6TAIR8 & RftoCALS..
Ho. 128 Walnut and 21 Granite Cti
IMPOHTK1UJ Ot
Brandies, Winei, Gin, Olive Oil, EU..
WHOLB8ALB DHALERS IN
PURE RYE WHISKIB8,
Il BOND AND T1XJAIO. HI tot
OOAL.
A1
NTHRACITE
COAL. PER
TON OF VU
POUNDS, DELIVERED,
LEHIGH Fuanace, 17-76: Stove. t3: Nut. IT.
BCUUYLKILL Fnrnace, $7; Stove, 17-25; Nut,
I6-S5. EA8TWJCK fc BROTHER,
Yard, corner TWENTY-SECOND Street and
WASHINGTON Avenue.
Ofllce, No. gas DOCK Street. SOrptf
SNOWDON h RAU'S COAL DEPOT, CORNER
D1LLWYN and WILLOW Streets. Lehigh and,
Schuylkill COAL, prepared expressly for family use
at the lowest cash prices 1 13
o
LD OAKS CEMETERY COMPANY
OF PHILADELPHIA.
This Company is prepared to soil lots, clear of all
encumbrances, on reasonable term. Purchasers can
see plana at the ooioe of the Company,
NO. 618 WALNUT STREET,
Or at the Cemetery, where all information needed
will be cheerfully given.
By giving notice at the offlce, carriage will meet
person desirous of purchasing lota at Tioga Station
on the Germantown Railroad, and Ouavey them to
the Cemetery and return, free of charge.
ALFRED C, HARMER, President.
MARTIN LANDENBERGER, Trcaa.
MICHAEL NISBET, 8e'y. lOBwfm&ni
TOHN FARNUM ft CO., COMMISSION MERJ
(I ehnt and MtnnfaetaMTV'of (kin torn TUklaft, ate
ate. M (UiikfcttUX ftKM. faUadaUttt, mm i