The New York herald., 1877-12-25

| government forever. we must not make III
effort toward improvement. Let us see how
this rule would work. Owen Murphy,
treasurer Of the Excise Board. decamps with
fifty thousand dollars of other peoples
money That amount is only trihe as
compared with the millions stolen by
Tweed and his associates. Of the latter
Genet, Connolly and Tom Fields escaped,
and no efforts seem to have been made to
capture them. Are we on this account to
instruct the police not to look out for the
missing Murphy? Besides, Murphy has
evidently been misappropriating money
for many months, and no one has interfered
with him or with the Board, which is culpa-
BILE for affording him the opportunity to do
so. Shall we say now that as the rascality
on his part and neglect of duty on the part
of his associates has gone on SO long 'there
would seem to bo no great reason tor pro-
ceedings now" on the part OF the Governor
looking to the removal OF the entire Board ?
We have theory about our city govern
ment which we hope some day mayor will
be found to share and put into practice. 1t
is that, even under the existing charter, the
Mayor is the head Of the municipal admins
tration, and as such is bound to overlook all
the heads Of departments and compel them
to do their duty, both as to themselves and
their subordinates, or in default remove
them, just as tho manager Of o bank or u
railroad would remove neglectful or dis
honest employe The directors might over
rule the action of the manager, but he
would have done his duty faithfully. The
charter allows the Governor TO defeat re-
moval made by the Mayor by withholding
his written approval. But that is no reason
why the Mayor should shirk his duty, and
1t is no part of his business to take the
probable action Of the Governor into .ac-
count before making removal demanded
by the public interest. In the case of the
Police Commissioners it is waste of time
to discuss the propriety of their removal
They admit that they are unable to enforce
the city ordinances in relation to the sepa-
ration of ashes and garbage, and that after u
long experience in Office and vast expen-
| diture of money they do not know how to
dispose of the city refuse. Capable and
the difficulty. The statements Of respon-
| sible contractors who have offered to pay
for the privilege provoke the inquiry
whether this dumping matter does not
cover up corrupt job. 1t is just as
much the duty OF the Mayor to remove
Governor to institute proceedings for the
removal Of the Excise Commissioners. In
both cases there is self-evident neglect OF
duty; for it was criminal carelessness on the
part of the two remaining members of the
Excise Board to suffer their absconding as
OF the excise moneys without even requiring
q bond for their safe keeping.
| English Parties and the Eastern War.
The news from bucharest that q supply
train in the neighborhood of that city was
caught and overwhelmed in snow storm
and that the bodies of forty horses and
twenty-nine men frozen to death had been
dug out at last accounts tells sufficiently
the character OF the weather in Roumania.
| That it is rather worse than better in Bull
garia is to be inferred from the fact that ii
is nearer to the Balkans. In such O coun-
try winter operations that imply marching
are impossible, as we have hitherto
shown, and the Russians have exhibited
great temerity in continuing their activity
as they have done until the very occurrence
of this great storm. Indeed, it is not cer-
tain that the storm has not been far more
fatal than appears i'll the case of this supply
train, for large conveys of the prisoners
taken at Plevna were on the road under
guard OF Russian soldiers, and it may prove
that guards and soldiers have all persisted
together.
But the season Of active operations is cer-
tainly ended for the Russians, though it is
possible, as the conditions are different in
Roumelia, that the Turks may continue
their preparations for defence. Diplomacy,
however, must certainly take precedence Of
war for three months to come, and the ap-
pearance is that it presents little more hope
for Turkey than war itself; while there are
other appearances that not only Turkey but
England also will be grievously humiliatcd
by any diplomatic settlement based on the
present position of the parties. by the
point to which the case has come it may
clearly be seen how incomparably better fol
England the results would have been if its
administration had acted on the views oi
such distinguished liberals as Mr.. Glad
stone. They held that England should act
in common with Russia, Germany and Aus
tria in compelling the Turk to reform his
government. Had England done this the
war would not have been necessary and
there would have been no question Of the
Dardanelles and the Black Sea. In fact, the
would have been limited to Bulgaria, and
now it is practically at the gates of Constan.
tinople. England encouraged the Turks
and made the war, and has rendered it in