New-York tribune., 1874-07-07


violated and Official mafeasance has been diScioSea
which is declared to felony The officer chosen oy
tho people to prosecute Ofenses OF tnis ns'uio n
wholly neglected to perform his duty one Oh tue p
cpa cities has suffered in its character
in its finances by this great public wrong. ana the
offender remains unpunished. oh"er u''
these circumstances. IL IN any such case ,o'"'a",
hrouct before mo there s clearly established nesec
ON the part the proper officer to brinR suo" oio
10 trial. I shall consider IL due 10 eho o'"'0
of pubc morality exercise the power OF rcmoVai CON
aded TO me by the Constitution. IL were 10 ai 10 uo
so shond Justly the imputation OF having ny NY
inaction contributed prolons tho existence OF ABUSES
bicb every good citizen has an in supprsssng'
but which we can never hope TO suppress unless the
offenders are brought TO speedy and exemplary puhSh
ment. -,
Has Mayor Havemeyer been clearly guilty
of neglect or violation of dutyP Or this
charge, which they are to make, the Commit
tee must first satisfy the Governor Deiore
they can expect any action. Ihis neglect
they distinctly charge. and are so positive IN
tbe correctness of their specifications that
they have applied to District-Attorney Phelps
for leave to 90 before the Grand jury ana
! indct the Mayor. Mr.. Phelps has deferred
until to-day his decision in the matter. vi
course if he does not give his consent, 'no
Committee will present themselves WITHOUT
his cooperation.
The gist of the charges to be presented 10
the Governor, and the evidence to be iaid pe-
fore the Grand Jury, may be briefly stated
The 95th section of the Charter IS IN theSe
words:
| ANY officer OF tho CITY Government, or person
employed in its service who shall willfuly Vioia'e
or evade any Of tho provisions OF ta.s acb
/ or commit any fraud upon tho city, or con-
vert any Of the public property 10 Ills own
use or knowingly permit other person 40 10 convert
it, or by gross culpable neglect OF duty allow inc
same to be lost to the city, shall be deemed guilty OF
misdemeanor and in addition to the penalties imposed
by law on conviction shall forfeit his office ana be e&
cluded forever after from receiving holding any oce
! under the City Government.
| Other clauses of the Charter make it the
duty of the Mayor to investigate charges
against officials, and, on sufficient grounds, to
remove them. The charge is made that three
several times allegations have been made
against Charlick and Gardner without ellcltlng
due consideration. In the Street Cleaning In
yestigation, certain damaging facts were es-
tablished. The Common Council, by rcsolu-
tions, reiterated these and other charges, and
presented them to the Mayor by message.
The public examination of Charlick dis
closed the very ofenses of which he and
Gardner were finally convicted, and, on
other counts, still stand indicted. All
these charges were brought to the
Mayors attention, and by him ignored He
not only did not remove the accused, but
after they had been convicted by the court
and condemned by the Governor, actually re-
appointed them.
| 1t will be seen that under these provisions
of the Charter and the existing circumstances,
the charges brought are by no means trivial.
1t is urged that as a Republican, looking for
| ward to denomination, Gov. Dix will not
seriously consider the charges of Democratic
partisans, as the Committee are called, against
a fellow Republican Mayor. This will prove
for the Mayor about as poor depend
ence as it is plea. Political and
personal influence we feel sure will
count for little with the Governor In the
case of BrittOn the most strenuous exertions,
| including the employment of the most infu-
entail friends and relatives of the Governor,
were made to save him from removal. But
| the Governor was inexorable in what he then
recognized as his duty. He will certainly try
to do his duty now.