New-York tribune., 1879-05-20

views upon a plan to assassinate Jei-
ferson Davis, which was seriously sub
mitted to him by three Union soldiers; in the
other, General Sherman discusses what may
be called the social side of the war
BY the prompt action of the Senate Railroad
Committee, the new bill to protect Nsssau-st.
and Broadway was favorably reported last
night and ordered to a third reading. The
bill has now reached stage where members
who are Ostensibly its friends can easily defeat
it by small parliamentary tricks, unless its
real friends are vigilant. The course of every
member upon this bill will be jealousy watched
by the business men of this city.
The law has laid its hand at last upOn that
| genial and honest creature who has just come
back from the West from a cattle trade, and
would like to while away the monotony
of railroad travel with little game of cards.
Both houses of the Legislature have now
passed bill which gives police powers to
conductors and authorizes the arrest of per-
sons who are gambling, or enticing others to
gamble, in railroad cars.
| 1t was stated on Saturday that only about
/
four per cent bonds taken by the First
| National Syndicate. The subscriptions, IL
appears, on Saturday evening were I'M
expectedly large, and the amount remaining
yesterday was even less than was stated.
| Only about $3O,O0O,OOO of the four per
| cents remained unsod yesterday noon,
/ and we are informed that the sales
! during tie last week amounted to
| over 100000 Unless the purchases
should be checked by some advance in the
| price, the entire remaining stock would prob
ably be disposed of within very few days.
Friends of the Hudson Tunnel bill complain
that Senator POmeroy, chairman OF the Senate
! Committee on Cities, is not treating the bill
fairly. 1t is said that majority of the Com
mittee favor the BILL while Senator Pomeroy
has been holding it for five weeks and to within
! three days of the close of the session. This is
not q nOxiOus or improper measure, such as
a committee chairman would be justified In
suppressing, but one which many well-mean-
! ing persons believe would give a great stimu-
lus to the commerce of New-YOrk. The fairer
course would be to give the bill chance to
be considered by the Senate on It's merits,
and we hope Mr.. Pomeroy will still do this.
But he must act at once, or he will not be
able to act at all.
| The eleven States which seceded-we beg
! Mr.. Hill's pardon, which saved the Union in
spite of the dislOyal opposition of the North,
forgot to pay their bills before they went.
| The sum of 2,70O,O 600 is due from these
! States as their share of direct tax imposed
upon States and Territories In 1861, and
Secretary Sherman asks instructions of Con-
gress as to the method by which the cOllec-
tiOn shall proceed. There are States in the
South which might find 1t embarrassing to
pay these old claims, and there are some
which will not pay even the ordinary State
debts they are abundantly able to meet 1t
will be interesting to see what progress the
Secretary makes.
The dismissal by the United States Court at
Chicago of the cases against Architects Hill
and Potter, without defence on their part, and
with the especial reference to Mr.. Potter
from the bench as one for whose Indictment
there never was any ground. shows how out
rageous this prosecution has been. All
persons who have had any knowledge
of the facts have known that, while
there were excesses i'll connection with
the work on the Chicago public buildings.
Mr.. Potter, during his term as Supervising
Architect, set his face against them like
flint from the first. TO indict him, therefore,
in company with suspected persons was a
gross outrage for which there should be some
more nearly adequate redress than the de-
cision rendered yesterday. There ought to
be some way in which such a crime against
character could be punished.
1t was fortunate that Mr.. Blaine's speech
upon the political features of the Legislative
Appropriation bill came near the close of the
debate for it must serve to disabuse the pub
lie mind of various Democratic misrepre-
sentations. The vote upon this portion of the
bill is to be taken to-day, and while Mr..
Blaine's speech will have no effect in the
Senate, it cannot fail to do good outside.
The Maine Senator showed that the whole
theory advanced by Mr.. Eaton respecting Mr..
Webster's definition of the Union was founded
upon misrepresentation, not only of particular
speeches, but of the whole tenor of Webster's
political faith. Mr.. Blaine exposed the hy-
pocrisy of Senator Hill, which The TRIBUNE
had already unmasked he sllenced the claim
for the State of Delaware that her people had
never been unfathful to their duty to the
Government by showing that Senator Bayard's
father offered a resolution in the Della
ware Legislature making it a penal Of
fence for any one to administer the oath
of loyalty prescribed by President Lincoln
he proved the intolerance of the Southern
spirit by quoting from a speech by General
Hampton in which he urged upon Southern
youth the necessity of hating their Northern
conquerOrs. Altogether the Senatorial Gatling
gun bowlei over four distinguished victims,
and it wasn't much of q day for Senators