New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-04-19

Major Of Engincers. and r. T. Dent. the Presi-
dents brother-in-law, Is Mcutenant-Colone OF
the Cd Artillery, and all act ~ ushers and
messengers at the Executive Mansion. The
Presidents obedience to law is o. uncertain as
Senator Wilson's historical accuracy.
Is the Senate preparing for now raid on
Mr.. Geo. VIM. Curtis's "Doard Of SCHOOL,
" mastcrs.n Its Naval Committee has stricken
out from an appropriation bill the clause pro.
vding that appointments in Navy YARDS snail
not be made for political reasons. This sort
Of thing IL facctOusly called Reform.
The House Of Representatives, 1t appears,
cannot exercise tho ghost Of Civil Service Re
form. IT will not down. II came up yester-
day. and the special friends Of the President
who had not read tho fuIsOme compliments
paid to his rcformatory policy by tho speak
ers ut the Grant meeting the night before.
were up In arms ut once. One OF them char
acterised the model rules just promulgated IN
"abs,Ird and Inconsistent" Another said VIC
have tho best civil service In tho world. and
il needs no reformation. Which set of Ad-
mnisiratiOn men shall we bclicvc--Coopcr IN
siiuic or Congrcssf
II must be- confessed that the British
Counter Case, presented at Geneva, as re-
ported by the cable. is more deliberate anu
Statcsmanliko in tone than the papers which
have preceded it. Yet. il tho synopsis is cor
rect, not much that il new enters
into the document. 10 some extent,
il is u rcopcning Of tho whole
case. The argument relating TO the RESPONSE
bilily of Great Britain for tho Anglo-Rebcl
cruisers il already familiar to the world;
the nights of bclligcrents and duties of nen-
trails formed the staple of many wire-drawn
notes from the British Foreign Office during
tho American civil war; and even the
question of the admissibiity of the indirect
claims of tho United States has become tOlcr-
able hackncycd by this time. There is, how
ever, an indication Of disposition to approach
tho whole matter in n spirit of Cancellation
and flienllincss and there il no hint
whatever of any intention OIL the part
of Great Britain to withdraw from tho
Conference. Taken altogether. this present.
mcnt will not excite apprehension LII the
United States. We are resolved to abide by
the result of the arbitration Of Geneva, it
sill appears, and the other party to the Treaty
i, only assuming the position therein which it
was expected she would take.
In spite Of repeated contradictions, Tie Lon-
don Telegraph persists in lis story of the inn
pending difficulties between France and Ger
many. This journal, however, never very
remarkable for the trustwOrthiness OF its news,
seems to be alone in its enterprise. Late files
of European newspapers show that cOnsidcra-
bic color can be given to tho rumOr of The
1clcgraph, rs there was certainly IN uneasy
feeling at Berlin, two or three weeks since.
One correspondent calls attention to the fact
that Belfort and other fortified places in
France, held by tho Germans, have been
strengthened and otherwise prepared as it
for defense Attention is also called to the
warlike utteranccs Of President Theirs, who,
proud of his new army, seems ready to fall
into the old NapOlcOnic ways Of bOasting OF
his rcl-rcadincss" for any conflict. A Bcr-
lin journal quotes the bclligercnt President as
saving: "Our Chassep6t beats the needle gun
"hollow. Our new cannon is vastly superior
"tO the Prussian. Oar officers are tho most
intelligent in Europe, and now that they
"have begun to study in real earnest will soon
"cxcel all others. Our heroic soldiers would
"bave crushed the Germans under the very
"walls of Paris had they been better COM
"manded" All this is in poor taste, certainly,
if not indiscrect garrulousness. Such speeches
might reasonably awaken the fears of Europe,
if they are seriously considered.