The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-06-18

Wi!helmine concerning the battle Of Bienheim,
the inquiring reader will naturally cay
Now, tell as al about the war,
And what thev killed each other for
And in reply. 1t may be said that ell these late
disturbances are the results Of the uncoostita-
tiona' dspotic and insolent interferences of
the Seward oligarchy at Albany in our NUM-
cipsl Affairs The immediate provocation to
these border rufian scenes Of Tuesday must not,
however, be confounded with the controversy
upon the Metropolitan Police bill That bill is
now before the Court OF Appeals, and we
are content to abide by the decision Of
those Judges upon the full question Of its
coDstitutionulity. 1t was the insoient attempt
OF Governor Kog to Gil the vacant corpora
tion Office of Street Commissioner that
produced ell those disturbances and symptoms of
bloody civil str,fe Of Tuesday. Mr.. King's
man. Mr.. Conover. applied on Saturday for the
Office keys, books, papers, &C., of the Street
Commissioner, but the Governors authority to
make the appointment being about as legitimate
as that of General Walker, the local officers in
charge of the said Office very properly sent Mr.
ConOver away with flea in his ear. On Mon
day however, he renewed his attempt to occupy
the said Office, and was elected with something
less of ceremony than in the first instance Tnen
followed Mr. Conover's appeal to the Recorder
and the Superior Court, and his warrant for the
arrest of the Mayor The attempt to serve this
warrant Brought about the collision between the
Metropolitan and the Municipal police, in which
the former were signally defeated. Then the
Seventh regiment Of State militia were brought
upon the ground, and the warrant for the arrest
of the Mayor, with a criminal process or tive
from the Recorder, charging the Mayor with Sin
citing riot" and with resisting q civil pro-
cess &c, &C., was served upon him.
But after all the warlike demonstrations and
civil and criminal processes Of the Governor and
his supporters the substantial victory of the con-
test for the Office of Street Commissioner has been
achieved by the Mayor and the Board of Alder
men. Mr. Deylin has been appointed and con-
firmed, and is in the occupation of his Off,
Against this occupant and the Mayor, Mr.. Como
ver the Governor and the Recorder may get up
as many civil and criminal writs as they
please for We dare say that as far as the legal re-
moval of Mr.. Devlin from his Office may be thus
attempted, al the writs and processes that Mr.
Conoyer and his hackers can invent will amount
to nothing. We also venture the opinion tina,
any attempt Of any character to eject Mr.. Devlin
from, and to place Mr.. Conover in his Office, even
if it should b. successful for the moment will re-
act to the inglorious defeat of the Albany con-
spiratoIs and their instruments in the final settle
ment Of the case.
We believe that under our new State constitu-
ton, the city of New York retains certain NUM-
cipal rights and powers of supreme local juris-
diction, inherited from the government of Eng
land; that these rights and privileges have not
since been abridged, but have been enlarged:
and that neither State Governors nor State Legs
latures can take them away. Our Seward
contemporaries, to the fullest extent, may
vent their billipgsgate abuse upon Fer
uando Wood; but vulgar epithets and scurrili-
ty do not come up TO the necessities Of the case.
The contest is not between the individual, Fer
nando Wood and the Governor Of the State, nor
between the Mayor Of New York and the State
Legislature Is between the people of this
city and the Seward oligarchy at Albany; be-
tween New York municipal rights and Albany
legislative usurpations and aggressions This
man or that man Is nothing in this contest, ex-
cept the representative OF the great principles
at stake; and We are sorry that our Seward Or
gans viii not look into the question by this light
We are very sorry that With all their experience
they have not yet discovered that dirty abuse
and coarse personalities prove nothing but the
weakness OF a bad cause.