Year: 1877

Tammany is making great preparations for
the reception of Gov. Robinson. There will be
speeches and serenade, and no doubt some
thing to drink; PuToy, Spinola, and Croker
having been appointed the committee OF
arrangements, it is perhaps superiiuous to add
that "there will be fireworks" To the making
of this demonstration, albeit there appears to
be no substantial reason for 1t, we have no
disposition to object. The visit OF Governor
TO New York is not such an extraordinary event
that the city need put on gala attire to receive
him, nor has Gov Robinson, though worthy
gentleman and a reputable officer done any
great public service to earn the civic crowns
with which PurrOy and SpinOla and the rest OF
them are striving to hedge about lis temples.
But he has done Tammany service III the
veto of the Omnibus bill, and Tammany testlhes
in this effusion of gratitude its lively sense of
other benefits to come.


Indeed nobody seems to doubt that the re-
ception of Gov. Robinson has an intimate con-
nection with the intestine conflict which is now
going on in the Democratic party of the me-
tropois, and OF which the quarrel between the
Mayor and the Board of Aldermen Is one of
the most conspicuous incidents. To say that
the battle is all about the appointment OF
Police C0mmissiOner-that Purr0y Is the Helen
of this mighty war-wOuld be TO exaggerdte
tho importance of the distinguished Alderman,
and possibly to puff him up with vanity, which
is peril0us stuff to statesman III his posi-
ton. The truth is that Mr. Ely wishes
to keep the Police Board non-partisan,
and Tammany is resolved it shall be
made a political instrument. Mayor Ely in
sists that we shall have free and fair elections
Tammany vows that we shall have nothing of
the kind. The Mayor demands equal rights
for both sides; Tammany swears that having
got power it will keep it, and will manage the
elections in its own interest, work the patron
age, find places for the ward strikers and
liquOr-shOp politicians, and, in 4 word, run the
machine in the old fashion taught by Tweed
and his comrades in the days when Demo-
Gratis were not weak enough to cant about a
non-partisan police. Tammany Is SO frank
about it that the issue is quite clear.
The pertnacity with which Purroy is
pressed for appointment tells the whole
story. For this man has not, so far as the
public can learn, a single important quail
fication for the place into which the Mayor
is asked to put him; he is the ripe product of
those rankest abuses In the trade of politics
which have brought our national affairs into
so much dscredit, and our municipal affairs
into the road of bankruptcy-a lOud-mouthed
advocate of the spOlls system, who has led
the attack upon reputable citizens nominated
for office, and proclaims, with shocking sort
of effrontery, that a decent, economical and
business-lik government is precisely the kind


.l,,t Il f.. how
Mayor Eiys refusal to appoint such person
Police Commissioner does him credit, and we
have no fear that he will yield


Precisely what Gov. Robinson is expected TO
do to Mr.. Ely we have not learned. Let us
remind the Governor, however, of some of the
excellent things he said i'll his veto of the
Omnibus bill He defined the great needs of
the city to be local self-gOvernment and a
charter framed upon sound and comprehen-
" sive principles for the protection of the
rights and interests of the people without
"regard To olice-holders, oilice-seekers, OF
schemes of personal profit" The question
with great many good citizens both In the me-
tropois and in the State at large and i'll the Re-
publican as well as in the Democratic party,
is whether the rights and interests of this city
can be best protected by trusting the people
with the management of their own affairs or
continuing the plan of Albany tutelage: what
sort of an answer are the opponents of Mr..
Ely now suggesting to this question: With
what face can they clamOr for local self-gov-
eminent when they who are almost sure to
be the ruling power under the change pro-
posed have so little conception of the true
functions of municipal administration If
Gov. Robinson should feel called upon to give
any advice, he will do well to remember that
the cure which he proposes for the public ills
is just now on trial.