The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-04-16

weather of the past few weeks. There was
the glory of sunlight, of high, sweeping
sea, that seemed to bound, in conscious
pride under the royal burden, the
wide horizon, which enfolds one of
bay that might be almost a recompense
to His Majesty for the noble harbor he left
behind him. Although his wishes made it
impossible for us toTshow our hospitality in
a demonstrative manner our respect for Dom
Pedro as Prince and gentleman and our
admiration for his nation, which may be said
to share with as the mastery of the American
Continent. still his welcome was in
keeping with his imperial state and
not unbecomihg our simple forms
of government. The President paid
His Majesty all the honor possible.
The Secretary Of State and the Secretaries of
the two main executive departments of the
in the name of the people and the Presi-
dent The country will feel that the Presi-
dent, while respecting His Majesty's wishes
for privacy, was thoughtful in his courtesies.
What the chief of the nation did with SO
much taste the citizens of New York, and in
fact Of every part Of the nation that Dom
Pedro may honor with his presence,
will confirm. For the Emperor is not merely
royal guest He is prince of
the most illustrious houses in the world,
having in his veins the blood of the Bour-
bon, the Braganza and the Hapsburg. AL
though, as republicans, this quality of rank
and lineage is a minor attribute, we are not
insensible to the claims which the great
names whose honors he inherits have upon
oil who are familiar with the growth and
history of civilization, and who know the
influence the ruling families of past ages
have had upon the enlightenment and free
dom of our own. More than all, the Emperor,
in generation when princes are very often
little more than highly placed vagabonds
whose name and example are more Of scan
dial than an example, has won renown rs a
scholar, thinker and statesman. We are,
therefore, not only glad to have our guest
in this centennial year the ruler of great
nation like Brazil and the descendant Of the
Hottest houses in history, but gentleman
whose erudition ranks him with the ripest of
scholars.
His Majesty Dom Pedro will, if he re-
mains long enough, see many things that
have not been. vouchsafed to him before.
1--WE are," says one of the Americans whom
Dickens sketches, 1.-THE intellect and virtue
of the earth--the cream of human nature
and the flower Of moral force-our backs is
easily riz." We do not know whether His
Majesty will see any Of our Dickens type of
countrymen, but he will see illustrations of
metropolitan life which did not exist in the
time of the satirist. He will see metrop-
oils of imposing mansions and streets whose
paving would disgrace Turkish town he
will see splendor and squalor, affiuence and
poverty, virtue and crime he will see the
s.tinest police force in the world" unable to
maintain the public peace. If he cares to
drive around New York, as he was said to do
in London at the earliest hours of the day,
he must not look for cheap cabs, but make
his own terms with ravenous coachmen, who
will take all the money he can spare.
If he remembers the rapid transit of London
and Paris he will find that we are no nearer
when we signed the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence. If he has an admiration of American
institutions and wishes to study our munich
pal forms of government he will see that
there is no free expression of the popular
will, but combination of rings, in whose
hands is all the patronage and the disburse-
ment of all the revenues. He will
Al
offices of the State given over to
political Adventures, who have no aim but
their own advancement, and who use the
functions of government to consolidate their
power If he looks into our religious sys-
tenn he will find that we can devise pro-
digious scandals in our religion. As he
steamed up the noble river which sweeps
past our shores he must have seen much to
excite his admiration in our metropolitan
greatness; but if he studied our wharves he
would have found them rotting at vast ex-
pense with docks which it were mockery to
show to eyes that have looked upon the ma
jestic docks of Birkenhead.
If he looks to Washington he will see
strange towering of the centennial period
House Of Representatives so busily en-
gagged in ferreting out corruptions that it has
not time to pass the bills necessary to sup
ply the public buildings with gas and coal
He will see Secretary of War about to APP
proach the bar of the Senate to defend him
self from charges which may result in his
imprisonment as common felon. He may
see the trusted secretary of the Presi-
dent just out Of one dock, where he
was arraigned for frauds upon the revenue,
about to enter another to defend himself
against a still graver charge. He has an
army and navy under his sway, and he
may naturally study our ships ana our bat
talions. Well, he can have no one ms CON-
petent to tell him as the Secretary of the