New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-20

mi stake for the officers of life insurance
company TO withhold the information that Il
asked for The worst possible interpretation
will be put on any attempt at conceaimen'
and a publication of the facts, whatever they
may be, might do less harm
South Carolina seems to be pushing ITSELF
forward at Washington as the case demanding
the earliest settlement. The President has
been besieged by delegations representing both
sides. and it is believed that the subject Will
be discussed at the Cabinet meeting to-day.
1t is a good criterion of the fairness ana KIND
illness with which the President bears himself
in these disputes, that both sides infer Their
success from the friendly treatment they re-
ceive, Though he gives no assurances OF any
sort to either. 1t Is not many years since IL
WAS possbe for but one side in these cOntro-
versies to get hearing at the White House
We are not likely, under the new regime, to
have an Attorney General telegraphing a large
body Of distinguished citizens that they need
not come TO Washington to state their case,
because the Presidential mind has been made
ND on the arguments of the other side
So far the Sultan has succeeded in parodying
the constitutional fOrmalities OF Western
Europe. He has opened Parliament In person,
and has had speech read which is as mean-
inglcss as any experienced Minister could have
prepared. Abdul Hamid simply recapltuates
the recent events and INDUCES in profusion
,f promises. He holds out hopes that the En-
pire will pay its debts, and expresses desire
to be in accord with the Powers, but dlscreetly
avoids any reference TO the lnsurrectOn Ill
Bosnia or to the disaffcctiOn which per-
meates the capital. While the Sultan was thus
making show of independence, the British
Government was considering the protocol Ill
which the Powers assume that Turkey Is sub
scrvient to their desires. 1t is probable that
the agreement will be adopted promptly, the
Russian reply being c0nciatory. But there Is
little prospect that confidence Will return until
acts take the place of words. 1t was the
Christian peasants who began this turmoil,
and they alone can settle it eifectually. They
seek freedom, and are not likely to submit
until they have won it,
Prof. A. r. Grote, the well-knOwn entomolo-
gist makes in orr columns some valuable
suggestions concerning the work of the three
chronological experts, who are to watch the
grasshoppcr swarms during the Summer and
ascertain what can be done to protect the
West against this terrible pest. He argues
that the grasshopper, like the cotton-wOrm, OF
which he has made a special study, must be
fought aud stamped out before it sets out on
its travels and that when the experts find the
localities in the Rocky Mountains where the
first swarns appear, the Legislatures OF states
to the north and east must lend helping
hand and check their advance. In this in
stance, self-preservation is not the first law of
Western life ; but by saving the crops of
strangers miles away where the grasshoppeT
first strikes, Western farmers will in the end
protect their own borders. This question is one
of vital importance to the West. The approplla-
ton for the investigation il very scant, but much
can be done If it be conducted by the right
men. The Secretary of the Interior is to ap-
point the commissioners this week.