The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-05-16

Victor Herran was the negotiator Of the treaties
and conventions with Great Britain above refer
red to, and will be retained in the post he has so
ably filed.
The Struggle for Municipal NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Public Meeting Called.
The meeting which was held on Tuesday even
| ing In the Park to protest against the enforce
ment Of the various acts passed by the Legislature
for the curtailment of the liberties of tho people
of this city was not the meeting that the occasion
requires. 1t WAS chiefly Offered and led of by
! officials in the pay Of the federal government
| Such men injure the cause. In the first place,
| they ought to be minding their business and
earning their salaries and, secondly, they are not
the clase or q fit representative of the classes
against whom the acts in question have been
framed, and by whom they ought to be resisted.
We are not surprised, therefore, to hear that
a new meeting of merchants, mechanics and
wOrkingmen, without distinction Of party, is pro-
posed to be held at an early day. in order TO give
earnest expression to the disgust which tho late
legislative acts have inspired in the mind of tax
payers, and to concert measures for an energetic
inquiry into their constitutionality and sound
ness II is understood that this movement will
be confined to the great classes which the acts in
question will victimize. The merchants will pro-
test against the Port Warden's act, and the
Quarantine sct; Che vendors and consumers of
liquor will have their say on the new License act;
the friends Of good government will discuss the
anomalies of the new Charter; while the people
at large will protest with the energy that is it
ting against the Acknowledgement implied and
the spoxation effected by the Metropolitan Po-
lice, the City Hall and the Central Park acts.
There is no resident in the city who is not in
some way or other interested in the notification
of these various laws OF of some Of them; and
the whole are disgracefully obnoxious to every
person who is alive to the importance of pre-
serving municipal liberty.
Were the people Of New York less absorbed in
making money at their several trades, and could
they recall to mind the history of municipal Ii
berty throughout the world, they would not let
slip this occasion Of making manful fight in its
defence. Municipal liberty has been the father
of political liberty, and is and always must be
the corner stone Of all free institutions The
first liberty Europe ever knew was secured by
the municipal organizations of the free cities Of
Italy. Afterward, when the want of roads and
tie generally unsettled state Of the Continent
rendered the supremacy Of the feHdal barons in
evtable, free cities were the first outcroppings
of the spirit Of freedom not only in Italy but in
France, Germany, Spain and England. The
first real liberty ever secured 10 citizens of these
countries was sheltered by the city franchises,
which neither king nor baron ever dared disturb
Astime were on the power and wealth Of these free
cities became so formidable an obstacle to the es-
tablishment Of desposisms ofany kind, that con-
test for their suppression began. 1t was success
full in France, Spain, Italy and most of Germany.
1t failed in England, and in certain towns on the
north coast Of Europe. Where the free cities
were abolished, there freedom has never since
really reared her head Where they have been
maintained, tyrannlcal governments has never
been permanently established.
The contest which Louis the Eleventh began
in France, and which the Plantagcncts and Tudsrs
attempted frequently in England, is now begin
ming here. 1t is very small matter whether
Sim. Draper or Fernando Wood shall appoint
the police; one perhaps is as good as the other;
but when 1t Is remembered that the one is the
elected agent Of tie people, the other the ap-
pointed emissary Of a foreign authority-the
State government-it will be seen that the prin-
oiple involved is paramount. If once the State
Governor is permitted to exercise or to delegate
to others the exercise Of functions which are
peculiarly municipal in their nature, no one can
say where the uurpation will end. Next year
the party In power may discover that it would
be as advantageous to have Mayor under their
thumb as a Police Board; they may pas an act
empowering the Governor TO appoint the Mayor
They may perceive tho benefit they would derive
from treasurer devoted to their interests; and
they may enact a statute making the city
treasmership an o1ice within the Governors gift
They may go ftrther-thcy may regulate the
lighting, paving, and repairing Of our streets, on
the same principle that they now propose to regu-
late our polce-always at our expense, and for
their benefit There is in fact, no act Of municipal
government which the dominant party at Albany
may not undertake TO perform for this city If
they succeed in their present nefarious attempts
Should they succeed we cannot but augur
very i'll of the prospects Of the city and the State.
The prosperity of New York has been prc-cmi-
ucntly due to the large measure of liberty it,
people have enjoyed. The success of the late
legislative acts will give the death blow to that
liberty; and we are bound to say that il seems to
US likely that The loss of freedom will ultimately
involve loss Of prosperity, trade, and goneraE
welfare.
Under these circumstances We are no4 sur
priscd that the people of this city of all classes
and shades Of opinion, soould have resolved to