Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-04-27


OF land valuation to the enormous figure of
$zo,oO0 200. The Examiner may well exclaim,
n See the value of railroad,
We may not appropriately add, land our
friends of the Lnteiligeacer may probably
"make note on't,'D g See the humbug-
gerry Of the bugaboo stories of jeremiades over
the industrial decline Of the Old Dominion, 1t
affords capital illustration Of the fact that
more arrant good enough Morgan" was never
concocted to affect an election, than the train
of argument upon Virginias refusal to endorse
the constitutionality and propriety of lands and
money distribution, to which. the Inteiligencer
and the opposition press in Virginia are now
almost daily resorting. The returns of this
last QS56) census of the State, show an aggre-
gate increase in the value of her lands of $685.
743,S69. That is; the land value of the State
has risen from S274, $50, 226 to 73,4A,O95.
In refutation of the silly arguments of abo-
litionism, based on the jeremiades alluded to
above, we have not unfrequently taken occa-
sion to say that no other State in the Union Is
more truly prosperous than Virginia, where the
people-the mass Of the people-are as little in
debt in proportion to their means, as the citi-
zens of any other State in the Union, agricul.
tural, mechanical, or manufacturing we care
not what may be their pursuits. These figures
land values-prove the correctness of our
impressions concerning the real pecuniary con-
dition of the people of the good old Common
wealth. We never read dismal croaking in
the New York Tribune, or any print akin to it
politically, over the industrial effects of negro
slavery, without hearty laugh at the igno-
rance of those who conduct those journals, or
their mendacity in playing upon the profound
ignorance Of those for whom they cater, by the
publication O. -uch information" concerning
the industrial and social condition of the South
as pervades their columns.
The NEW YORK POLICE QUEsrION.-It seems
to be understood here that the efforts of the
Republican Legislature of New York to strip
the people of the right of self-government will
prove dead failure. Mayor Woods police are
to remain in Office until the courts decide the
Injunction case which he has instituted Until
that shall have been finally disposed of, the
new commissioners cannot lawfully enter upon
the discharge of their official duties The de-
cison can be postponed by adroit legal man.
agement-if Mayor Wood does not feel sure of
q decision in his favor-until after new State
Legislature shall be elected. As it is believed
to be utterly impossible that any such scheme
will be endorsed by the people of the State,
when the question shall have been fully and
fairly submitted to them, the best informed
persons here are firmly of opinion that the law
directing the change referred to, will never 60
into operation.
THE LONG BRIDGE.-Our sincere hone is that
on the thorough investigation which the Secre-
tary of the Interior is giving to the subject, he
will decide that he is clothed with power to
cause the Long Bridge to be repaired, if that
can be done within the limit of the amount of
money remaining on hand belonging to the ap-
preparation that may be legally used for that
purpose. In order to inform himself in the
premises, We hear incidentally, he has called
for an engineers detailed estimate of the cost of
the work, which is being made by our accom-
plished and cautious fellow-citizen, Randolph
Coyle, Esq, who, it will be remembered, is pro-
fessionally employed by the Department As
there can be little doubt that the rough esti-
mate of the Commissioner of the Public Build
ings-which Mr.. Secretary Thompson has had
before him for some time-was a liberal one,
and as it is within the appropriation to which
we refer above, we have every reason to hope
that in two or three days the Secretary may
give the necessary directions for the commence
ment of the work, in which this community and
the surrounding country are SO deeply inter-
ested.
THE NAVAL COURTS OF IsouIRY.-Before
Court No. l, the defence of ex- Master McLaugh
| lin was read by his counsel, the Hon. John Mel
| son, of Baltimore; after which the courtroom
was cleared, and the Court proceeded to make
| up its judgment upon the testimony, which, we
| presume, will be transmitted to the Secretary
of the Navy in the course of the day. The
case of Lieut.. George E. Stevens (dropped) will
be the next one considered by this Court. Pur-
| ser l.. ID. Slamm is to act as his counsel
In Court No. 2, the case of 1t. Chandler is
still under examination, and Commander Pick
ering was under cross-examination on behalf of
the Government.
In Court No. 3, the case Of 1t Baldwin being
still before them, Commodore Stuart and Mr..
- Stewart, an employee in the Coast Survey.
were examined in behalf of 1t. B.. whose coun-
sci, Messrs. Baldwin and Rodgers of New York
| were present
The PENSION BUREAU-AN APPREHESDEp
ExoDUs.-On the LIST July next, all law author
izing the employment of more than the seventy
permanent clerks of this Office will expire, by
Limitation, when the services of some thirty or
thirty-fvc of those now employed there will ne
cessarily be dispensed with. That is, in that
bureau; though it is to be presumed that some
Of them will be transferred to other offices.
where their services being required, there may
be law to authorize their employment. There
are, at this time, ten or fifteen vacancies in the
clerkships temporary of the Pension Bureau;
remaining untitled we presume, because the
business Of the Office does not need, for its prop
er transaction, that they should be filed for the
brief period to elapse ere it will be necessary,
under the law, to reduce its clerical force as
we explain above.
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