New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-18

of the compulsory piotage system, and the
vote in the Senate will be watched keenly.
The Legislature might as well authorize a GER
tain class of men to stand on Broadway and
collect toll of every passer-by, as to authorize
another class to station themselves at one OF
the entrances to the harbor and demand pay
from ship-captains to whom they render no
service whatever.
The appointment of DR.. CaldcrOn as Pro-
visiOnal President of Peru by the leading cit
liens of Lima is an important step toward
the reconstruction of that distracted country.
Although informally chosen, DR.. CaldcrOn did
not assume to be dictator, for he promptly de-
clared that he would be guided by the Con-
stitutlon of 1860, and will readily submit his
claim to Office to the popular vote. AS the
Chilians recognize him, and as Pierola dis
creetly remains away from Lima end IS prac-
tically depOsed, we ought to learn soon that
the semblance at least of stable government
has appeared i'll Peru.
That was picturesque suggestion made by
the Board of Trade and Transportation to the
Sinking Fund Commission. The Commission
was informed of what the Commission, having
eyes to see, doubtless knew already-that the
lOngshOrcmen, while awaiting the arrival OF
vessels and when otherwise unemployed, spend
their time in liquor-shops and in other de-
mOralizing places. 1t was argued that often
they finally became charges upon the city
through the bad habits thus contracted, and
that therefOre-and here was gigantic non
SeQuitul-the city would do well to provide
buildings in which the 'lOngshOremen could
pass their time in an agreeable and virtuous
manner. Certainly it is not unreasonable TO
say that this part of the work would be much
more appropriately done by the Board OF
Trade and Transportation than by the City
Government
The worthy Lord Mayor of London has had
an apparently narrow escape from being blown
to pieces by some unknown assassin, and no
doubt feels at the present moment that to be
one of the great ones of the earth, whether
Car or Lord Mayor is trying and arduous
occupation. The suspicion is naturally aroused
that the plot was the work of some one who
resented the course of the Lord Mayor in the
House of Commons upon the Irish question.
However this may be, the would-be assassin
was quite as anxious to do his work thoroughly
as the murderer of the Car himself. box
containing fifteen pounds of powder was
placed in a window under the Lord MAYORS
private rooms in the Mansion House, and the
fuse was just ready to ignite from the smoul-
dering paper around the box when the internal
machine was discovered by a policeman
The Washington dispatches give the main
facts of the bulletin of race statistics just
issued by the State Department, some of the
features of which have already been made
known in general way. The total pOpua-
ton of the United States is put at so, 1852, SGG,
43,4O4 S77 being white and 6,577,151 col
ored. The statistics show that the blacks
increased more rapidly than the whites, the
former numbering 1853 out of every
10000 of population in 1880 to 14,52S, in
1870. While it is evident that these figures
of apparent gains among the blacks cannot be
accepted implicitly, because, as the census
officials themselves believe, of the imperfec-
tons of the last census they are sufficient to
prove that the colored race has more than
held its own. The theory which used to be
80 fashionable in old times among people who
were anxious to shirk the moral respOn-
sibilitips of the slavery questiOn-that the
blacks would die off and the slavery problem
would disappear with thcm-was not verified
then, and is far from likely to be verified
now. The negroes will hardly grow so fast
in number that they will rise up and possess
the land, but it is plain that they will con-
tinue to hold their share of il.