The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-06-20

Our Municipal Government.
Judge Capron delivered, on Monday, an elo-
quent charge to the Grand Jury on the subject
of crime in this city. He represented that the
criminal calendar was no index of crime, as not
withstanding the efforts made by police and
public officers, many, if not most, criminals es-
cape. The learned Judge went on to say
check has been given 10 open public gambling,
but gambling, in a covert way, Is, as am credbly in
formed stn pursued several designated locaii les
Dealers IN lottery policies are as plenty in this CITY as
perurcrs robbers, nssassins usurers cheats moe
tonees extoroners ard keepers OF dsorderly houses
and oferothes continually busy with thor deeds Of
haud, violence, darkness and death ntoxcsg liquors
illegally sold in raany ten thousand places
n,hhs city, and in nc few of those places these sales
are made on all days OF the week.
Nor is there s,y reason to suppose that the
| picture is overirawn. Indeed it wight more
easily be heightened than palliatea-
But Judge Capron, pursuing The subject, in
| 'euires: Why are these things SO? And by an
| unaccountable alteration of intellect, he comes
| to the conclusion that the reason is because
peaceable citizens do not aid the officers of jus
tice sufficiently in the discharge of their duties
This strikes us as monstrous doctrine Why
the public at large-merchants, tailors, lawyers
;shoemakers, bricklayers, doctors-should be ex-
pected to leave their respective trades and Of
! fees, and go to work to help policemen, or
judges, orsdistrict attorneys, or magistrates, APP
pears inexplicable on any other principle than
one which justifes the idleness or incapacty Of
| the parties requiring help. These various
officials are hired by the public to adj
minister Justice and government, and preserve
ouH or1ar for hat
| they receive rom the public salary which
enables them to live; they receive also, When
soever they can make case out to show the ne
cessity ofhelp, salared assistance to any extent
| On what grounds they should believe themselves
entitled to the further aid and collaboration of
| the public, we are wholly at a loss to imagine
| policeman arresting thief, and assaled by
his COL AIDES, is justified in calling upon the by
ISLANDERS for assistance; but what would be
| thought of a policeman who expected the by
ISLANDERS to arrest the thief and carry him to the
station house, while the officer paid for perform
| ing that duty, took his ease hard by? Yet this
! is the state Of things that would flow from the
adoption Of Judge Capron's principles. In fact
they have been tried already. Not so very long
| since, q party who had been robbed made COM
plant at one or the proper Offices and was told
| to go back find the thief, and then return with
the information: being promised aid from the
police when he returned. The party who thus
condoled with the sufferer was acting on Judge
Capron's principles: he believed in the necessity
of the citizens helping the authorities.
The public at large take a different view. They
conceive that having elected men to govern and
administer justice, and having paid up the
money that is to keep these officials, their task
is complete: the rest concerns the officials.
That, we will beg leave to state to Judge
Capron is the view taken of these matters
abroad, in London and Paris, for instance. In
those cities-which, as the Judge is doubtless
aware, are admirably governed-bakers, and
butchers and lawyers are not expected to neglect
their trade for the sake Of helping the govern
ment. Indeed, any proffer Of aid would be very
i'll received by the authorities Of either city The
government Of London, like that of Paris, looks
for no extraneous help: it performs its duty sup
presses vice, Furnishes crime, maintains order,
simply because, first, its chiefs are well
selected, and secondly they are bound to do
their duty. Neither in London nor Paris nor
any German city, are the people cursed with
system of primary conventions, availng to dis
franchise the public at large in favor OF the
worst, most depraved, most worthless OF the COM
munity: nor in any Of those cities could the laws
be violated and virtue and order and decency
openly set at naught, in the face of the officials
without entailing the severest penalties on the
latter For in London, Paris, Vienna or Berlin,
when a man accepts an Office he is understood to
pledge himself to perform his duty honestly; If
he does not, he must bear the consequences.
They have sent Mayor to prison in France for
a term of years, for allowing theatrical pertor-
mances to take place in building which fell and
killed some persons; that is the principle on
which they usually act 1t would be quite i'm
possible, for instance, for the Mayor of city
like New York-were it in France or
Germany-to go rambling over the coun-
try as an itinerant lecturer; he would
be bouud, in decency, to resign at once.
The life of Mayor, Of whose city as much could
be said as Judge Capron has said Of New York,
would not be safe in some parts OF Europe he
would be arrested directly, tried, and made to
answer for his misconduct and neglect. Nor
would it be possible in any city but Rome for an
ARRAY like that.which took place on Wednesday,
between the Mayors brother and another man, to
disturb the peace of crowded thoroughfare, and
yet not single arrest to follow.
1t is in careful study Of these features of our
peculiar institutions in the North, that the true
source of our anarchy will be discovered: not in
the apathy or the avarice of our people.
NEw STEAMSHIP IISE-Thc Hamburg steamer Borussia
Capt. Ehcrs which arrived Tuesday evening from
Hamburg after passage Of sixteen days is the first of
new line of which will regularly ply between
New York and Hamburg, leaving each port the first
,f Tho pari agw we'll ast