Year: 1876

Fat Fee-A Good s'RecOrd''-Ir-


represSible BOwen-Capt. Kidd


on the East River.


New York. March s, 1876.


To the Editor of the Observer:
No thupderbolt from a clear sky
could have fallen with more un-
violence upon the COM
munity than have The late teie-
grams from Washington, revealing
the most startling instance of cor.
ruption in high places which the
has yet been called upon
to witness. For the moment DO.
litical differences vanish like
smoke before whirlwind. Our
citizens are neither Republicans
Nor Democrats, Contractionists
nor Inflationists, but only heart
sick Americans as they look blank
ly into each others faces, like
men who see that the ground up
on which they stand is the bub-
bling crust of a volcano.


"Under whose feet will the
next explosion take placer is the
question that rises in all minds !;
and an answer is already more
than hinted at in the threatened
exposure of another of the Cab-
met of the President of the Uni,
ted Statesmen whose positions
are higher in power and dignity
than the sovereignty of many a
foreign State. The whole affair
thus far is like a horrible dream,
a nightmare, the reality of which
one hardly dares to admit
There were none of the usual
preparations of the public mind
no vague suspicious, no ru-
mors, no gathering of the storm.
It was ga word and a blow, with
the blow first" The accusa-
ton, the trial, and the sentence
were announced in one breath,
and that terrible word"Impeach-
ment" headed the column that
gave us the first intimation of
this new shame.


At this moment the events are
too recent for any one to fore
tell their exact results, but it is
hardly doubtful that impeach-
ment will now, for the first time,
be successful at the national cap
ital. And for how pitiful a mess
of pottage was this splendid
birthright sold! What amaz-
ing, what incredible weakness
must be his who would ruin
himself, his family, and an hon
ored name, would spread de-
moralization through the army
of one of the greatest nations
of the earth, and force his coun-
try into the dust and ashes Of
bitter humiliation for a few
thousand dollarsl 1t seems i'm
possible that all this could have
been done with any intention;
but what shall we say Of a man
who walks upon the edge of
such a precipice and realizes no
danger? He has not even the
excuse of the ostrich, which,
plunging its head into the des-
ert sand believes itself safely
hidden from its pursuers.


But one explanation of these
things remains, and that is, that
the atmosphere of pubic life
has in some way become pois-
onous, and that like the fumes
of charcoal, it so dulls and stu
pafies the senses of those who
breathe it that they succumb to
influences which their normal
strength would easily throw off,
+and the country itself is like a


man who, nearly sufocated by
the same miasma, has to be
roughly handled, and even to
suffer some cruel blows, to be
saved from a sleep which might


prove endless.


Truly the Centennial year


brings with it abundant cause
to moderate national transports
and humble national pride


But If it's tempests have the re-
suit of clearing this deadly at
mosphere, and letting in the
fresh air of rugged honesty to
aid in reviving the nation from


its moral letbargy, the devasta-
ition which they work. is as
nothing to the benefits they
will confer.


With so memorable an Ash
! Wednesday as the last, Lent
Iought to be we'll and mournfully
kept. In New York, however
the effect Of the Lenten season
lis getting rather weak, except
ling among the extremely High
church communities, and ever
such people will occasionally IN
Idulce in a solemn and'decorou.
Il;itIe hon during the forty DAYS