The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-05-27
NEW YORK. MAY oath. 1S7.

there are not three men in that body who
would not have Indignantly secuted the idea of
supporting him. If the delegates to the Re-
publican Convention had dreamed that they
were simply breaking ground for the exhuma.
ton of the political fossils by their nomination,
Havemeyer could not have got single vote
| among their number. If the electors of New
| York had supposed such a consequence to
hinge upon their suffrages, Mr.. Havemeyers
votes would have been returned among the
scattering" 1t is the boldest defiance of pub
lie opinion, the most offensive perversion of an
official trust to personal uses ever attempted bv
a man presumed to have any respect for the
wishes of his constituents.
Charlick was an Alderman twenty years ago.
At that time he was keeper of retail LIQUOR
store in the lower part of the eity-one of those
establishments which Mike Walsh used face
tiously to designate as nurseries of Democra
cy". Being naturally "smart''-a hateful
word as commonly applicable improved his
opportunities of Office to get money and has
been growing rich ever since. OF late years
he has been engaged in. railway enterprises,
making occasional diversions into politics, but
not combining his attention exclusively to them.
His last appearance before the people resulted
disastrously. He was a candidate for State
Senator and was badly beaten. This was some
years ago Finding himself quite in disfavor.
he has had the sagacity to avoid subjecting his
popularity to any further test in that direction;
and it has been generally supposed that he had
abandoned all aspirations for public life. Ger
tainly he is the last man who would have been
thought likely to turn up under a Reform"
administration. When it first began to be
limited that he might be placed in the Police
Commission the general statement was, "Im-
possible! The Mayor would not compromise
himself by such nomination! The Aldermen
would not confirm him! 1t would be an out
rage| But all good citizens stood aghast
when on Monday last after all the other Com.
missions had been filled, Charick headed the
Police Slate vested with the longest term
provided under the charter
The Aldermen took day to consider wheth-
er they had stomach for the dose. But they
had already fallen into the habit of confirming
every name the Mayor presented, in fact of put
ting upon him the sole responsibility of the APP
pointing power. Besides, there were five candi-
dates, and Charlick's name was cunningly pro-
posed first. To have rejected him woald have
imperiled the confirmation of the other nomi-
nees each of whom had his friends in the
Board So the whole dose was swallowed. The
sequel came soon enough thereafter. Havemey
er knew his men, and their subsequent selec-
ton of Matsell, was a self evident part of the
bargain.
ChqrIpE ia q for ahI fy,ov,
has too much discretion to initiate the practices
which brought that worthy to grief But that
he belongs to that school of politicians and is on
ly the more dangerous because of his superior
ability, is belief so universally entertained,
that his appointment has provoked intense
amazement and indignation. Of all the posi-
tons in the gift of the Mayor; the one he has
obtained affords him the largest field for the ex-
ercise of his questionable talent for vancouver
ing. There are over 1000 men in the Police
force, and in the hands of skillful tactician,
they can always be made formidable political
power. The Commissioners of Police should be
superior to partisan influences. They should
be composed of men, not only impartial, but
possessing popular confidence to such degree
that everybody could feel safe in the assurance
that they would bend every energy to the infu-
sion of discipline and efficiency through every
branch of the Department
But Mr.. Havemeyer's commission starts un.
der the blighting shadow of public distrust, in
tensifed by its first act in the choice of SUI
perntendent.
Matsell is 81 years of age. That is in itself
disqualification. Then he belongs to an
epoch in our municipal history, which it is I'M
pleasant to remember. and still more so to re-
vive. He went out in blood-shed sixteen years
ago, the willing servitor of that reckless dem
agogue, Fernando Wood, whom he helped in
his armed resistance to the laws of the State
Since his removal from the SUPPLEMENTARY of
police, he has been the proprietor and conduct
or of disreputable weekly newspaper which
no. decent man would be willing to Luy or
read.
''These be thy Gods oh Israeli This is the
reform to which We have been invited This
is the end of that great campaign against mu-
nicipal misrule initiated by the gallant New
York Times, prosecuted by such upright cit-
zens as James M. Brown, Jackson S. Schultz,
Joseph FL. Choate, Howard Potter, Oswald
Ottendorfer, Henry G. Stebbins, Samuel j.
Tilden, Salem II. Wales, LeGrand B. Cannon,
Benz. B. Sherman, Edwards Pierrepont, Jona-
than Sturges, Dorman B. Eaton, Theodore w.
Dwight, John G. Green, E. Randolph Robinson.
and hosts of other good men and true" who
have spent so much time and incurred so MANY
expenditures in the legitimate work of enllght-
ening public opinion to the point of extirpating
the gang of plunderers who preyed so long and
SO rapaclously upon a too patient commu-
nifty, c--r
One of the consequences of the Mayor s
manipulation of the police department may be
easily foreseen. We shall have no more non
partisan (?) chief Magistrates That expert
ment will never be tried again. Another re-
suit is more to be dreaded and that is the res
toration of the Tammany democracy. The
way seems clear now to the renewed ascenden-
cy of that party. 1t has prepared the path for
return to power by wedding out the worst of
the ''bad lot" who brought the organization
into discredit, and bringing its best men to the
'front.' It will he long time, let us hope, be-
fore any such cabal, as composed the defunct
''Ring" will officer the city again. Still, fire.
gent changes are always to be deprecated, and
if the Mayor elected by the Republicans had
been faithful to his obligations, by giving us
reputable appointments, we should have entered
upon long career of stability, order and
quietude. He has wasted great opportunity
he has broken faith with the citizens who
elected him, and treated his high post as if it
were mere individual opportunity to reward
his friends and followers, however objectiona-
BILE they might be in point of character or fit
ness for the places assigned them.
Notwithstanding all the dscouragements in
cident to sudden discovery of the unfortunate
mistake we made last fall in the choice of a
Mayor, there is some comfort in the reflection
that we are great deal better off than we
should have been if the reform movement had
never begun. The debt of the city would to-
day be fifty millions of dollars greater than it
| is, it Tweed and Co. had been permitted to
| pursue their nefarious career unchecked.
From financial standpoint we are immense
gamers. In the administration of justice also
we have made a marked advance. We have
better judges and better courts by far, than at
any previous period for decade. 1t is quite
probable the new Commissioners of Police will
pay sufficient Difference to an improved public
sentiment.to make show of well-doing. They
will keep up appearances" for while at
least and whatever may be said of Charlick,
and some of his colleagues, they can hardly be