The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-03-18
The Charter EIection-ProbabIc Result

The annual farce, called charter election, will
sake place IN few weeks, and, as we have before
animated, the politicians and wlrepuers are, with
hungry stomachs and sharpened appetltes, laying
their plans and connecting their schemes to whee-
Gle the foolish voters out OF their suifrages, and
trocure for themselves the rewards OF their pa
uiotic and dsnterested labors for the good of the
poor people, the shape OF tat contracts and other
pickipes, iunkettings to Washington, and canvass
back ducks.
Farce Is not an inapphcable term to be applied
to oui charter elections. For years past our clt-
zens have been ruled and ruined by set of polit-
cal knaves and understrappers, domiciled in all the
nasty places about town, who, with the annual re-
turn of the vernal equinox, emerge, as snakes do
from their holes and hiding places, and by the ex-
ercise OF little legerdemaln, nominate and place
before the people their rulers tor the year ensuing
The men thus elected to preside over the destnies
OF this great CITY, must fulfil the implied obliga-
lions which they tacity undertake to perform
when selected to fill our pal offices, and the
consequence is a system of corruption, of waste,
and of profigacy, in the expenditure of the public
moneys, which we think is unparalleled In any
city In the world, under any form of government.
The Taxpayers submit to all thls-have submitted
ever, unless the assessments shall reach the maxi
mum point of endurance /; and then they will turn
round, "arlse their might as the political papers
say somehmes, and enter on system Of retrench-
ment and reform Until the tax imposltlons reach
that point, they will grumble and growl OCCASION
ally; but not step will they move, until they
assessed go heavily that real estate will be any
thing but desirable investment
Now, the working portion Of our population-the
mechanic, the laborlng man, the store-keeper, and
all others who rent tenements are, IN reality, the
only Taxpayers. If the capitalist be assessed more
this year than last, he will add his increase of
taxes to his rents and the Woodworking tenant,
who earns his humble bread by the sweat OF his
brow, Is the sufferer. He 1t is who makes good
to the landlord what the assessors take from him.
The Corporation digs the hole, and the poor man
fills it. But 1t may be asked how is 1t that the
poorer or working portion of our country tolerate
such state of things! How is 1t that they, pos
sessng, as they do, by their sufrages the power of
conIol-how it that they do not " arise IN their
might" and sweep from the face Of our fair city
that system of corruption by which they are cheat
ed and swindled out of great proportion of their
hardearnlngs! The question is easily answered.
The politicians and wire-pullers incorporate with
our municipal afairs all of the great questions
which divide the two great parties into which the
country at large is divided. The tariff question,
the bank question, the slavery question: in fine,
every subject that engages the attention not only
OF our State but our Legislators, are adrolty
pinned to the municipal affairs of New York;
and the people--the masses-array themselves
on one side or the other, and vote for or
lions, not for a moment rejecting that they
are doing exactly what the wire-pullers desire.
When our citizens will learn that our num-
cipal affairs have nothing to do with those of
Congress, or even our State Legislature, they will
learn what We have so often tried to impress on
them-that they are humbugged by the politicians
year after year, and that they smltfy themselves
at every charter election, submitting as they do to
De LED IKE sheep TO the slaughter, year, as
,egularly as the spring comes round
The taxpayers will probably have more fun at
he ensuing charter election than they had at the
asst, or since the famous time when the natives
took the field as a third party. If this is any re-
compense for their cash, they will get It, and they
may make the most of it, for it is all they will get
Contrary to the Intimatlons which were given
out some time since, there will not probably be any
union between the old hunkers and the barn
Burners. Both Of those hopeful parties are de-
teImined to run separate tickets, and the wings
will Of course have theirs We shall therefore
have three parties, or spoils and plunder-seeking
chques, In the field next month. This will insure
the treasury and the canvass backs to the whigs in
the same way as the State was secured to them in
the late preside ntlal election, and by the same
means. IL Will be regular triangular scramble;
but the wings are almost certain of securing the
plumber. We hope they will all fight hard, for if
fun Is all we are to get, we want as much of the
article as possible for our money
The wire-pullers and politicians, therefore, are
at work Our citizens must prepare themselves
to be humbugged next month by them, as thew
have in former years, aud to see as much corrup-
ton as they pleaee.
ARRIVAL or THE STEAMSHIP CHEROKEE. The
steamship Cherokee, Captain Lyon, arrived yester-
day morning, from Savannah, IN 65 hours, bringing
us papers day advance OF the mail, tor which