smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

Salt Lake City, April I'm the
trial of George Reynolds for poIygamy,
the defense admitted the first mar
riage, and the second wife swore she
was married to defendant in August
last. Mayor Wells stated that he
performed the last marriage. The de-
fense admitted the last marriage The
jury, which is composed of mormons
and non-mormons, was then charged
by Judge Emerson, who quoted the
law of 1862, and said religious belief
had nothing to do with the case, and
that the law was constitutional. The
jury, in half an hour, brought in a
verdict of guilty. The defense moved
to set aside the verdict for the reason
that the defendant had never been
arraigned and asked to plead, and
never had the indictment read to him,
which appearing to the satisfaction Of
the court, the motion to set aside was
granted. Afterwards, the defense
waived a new trial with the view of
taking the case to the Supreme Court.
The defendant was afterwards ar
raigned and pleaded not guilty, and
was set at liberty after giving $4,000
bail. 1t is expected that the trial of
George Q. Cannon, for polygamy,
will commence tomorrow.
Year: 1875

Forty millions of Americans breathe more
freely now that they know that the Congress
man-of-war has separated Tripoli and the
American Consul, and brought the latter to
Malta We do not yet know what part of the
consular coattail the Bashaw of Tripoli trod
on we only know that there was difficulty
and that the police have stepped in and
parted the combatants 1t is to be hoped
that the fighting Consul will now be care
fully guarded until he is returned to his ma
tive village. If he should get loose in Malta
we might get into war with Great Britain
before we knew it. Nobody has such frail-
ties for getting himself insulted as the aver
age American Consul in an outlying country
where he represents the majesty of the
American people" He is usually country
politician who has been useful to the party
and gets his small slice of the spoils in
the shape of q consulship. He car
ries out an American eagle in his
coat pocket, and, in what it pleases him to
call his mind, he has q tremendous con-
tempt for "effete royalties" and an
equally tremendous ignorance of interna-
tional law and the duties of consul. When
he has been received by the Bashaw or Sui
tan, or other highness, and has been saluted
by passing man-of-war he is ready to be
insulted on the slightest provocation, and,
indeed, privately hopes to hand his name
down in history as the cause of small war.
Fortunately our navy officers are usually men
trained not only in their own profession, but
also, to some extent, in diplomacy and inter
national law. The fight cannot begin with
out their help, and, as in the present case,
they usually content themselves with sep
orating the combatants and carrying off our
man in safety. But why should not our
weak diplomatic servants know at least as
much as post captain
Year: 1875

cotton. This general lowering of prices,
though an evil for the time being, may be
attended with some compensations But
that we apprehend, depends on the wisdom
of the government When prices shall have
sunk to what would be fair specie standard
in prosperous times resumption will be easy
if the government is courageous enough to
attempt it, The great obstacle to resumption
has been the objection of the people to have
the value of their property lowered. But when
it is brought down to a specie valuation by
other causes no additional depression will
ensue from the re-establishment of sound
currency, and the change may be made with
ont any sudden jolt or shock. When the
general commercial condition of the world is
smoothing the way to this result our rulers
will fail to understand their epoch II they
let the occasion slip and do not take the
golden pitcher when fortune presents 1t with
the handle toward them.


AS to the immediate business of the autumn
the prospect is fair, but not exhilarating
Agriculture, the greatest of our interests and
the chief pillar of the national wealth, is not
suffering like manufactures and mining. As
much labor has been employed in agricul-
ture as in any preceding year, and the crops
are generally good, especially products
which we raise for expectation. The foreign
demand is sufficient to insure reasonable
prices, and as soon as the crops of the coun-
try begin to move toward their markets there
will be revival of activity which will make
quite a contrast to the recent torpor and
stagnation. But all our great resources OF
varied production will not be called into
full activity until the government shall have
wisdom and energy to lay bold reforming
hand on affairs and give us sound cur
rency, moderate taxes, and an example of
that honest economy which must be prac-
tised by the people.
Year: 1875

1t is announced that the Superintend-
ent of the Railway Postal Service will
arrange the details of a time table for
the express mail train to the West. This
is a step in a new and desirable direc-
ton. This officer has been visiting the West
and arranging the details for the running of
fast railway trains through that country.
The government is carrying ont the idea of
the New YORK HERALD in its Sunday train.
There is no reason why, with our present
railway communications, the Western States
should not be several hours nearer than they
are at present. The action of the Postmaster
General in drawing the two sections of the
Union closer by the establishment of sys-
tenn of fast railway trains will rebound to his
credit.


But if the government in its wisdom finds
il necessary to unite the East and the West
by system of fast railway trains, why
should it stop here? We have postal sys-
TEN infinitely moro rapid than the railways
that is the telegraph. The telegraph is as
necessary to our modern civilization as rail-
ways. Every year it grows more and more
in value. The people accustom them
selves more and more to use it. We
see in England that the postal tele-
graph system has largely increased the
number of messages transmitted over the
wires. Why should the government cherish,
therefore, the postal system with so much
care and spend so much money in extend
ing it, to strain every effort to bring the
whole Union within it's advantages, and
neglect the great telegraph system, which is
only the post in an improved form The
difference between them is the difference
between steam and lightning


The FAILURES in Baltimore are not likely
TO be as disastrous as was anticipated, and it
is expected that the suspended firms will be
able TO profit by the extensions granted them
by their creditors. The affairs of the Bank
of California, on the other hand, are much
worse than at first reported. There is a les
son in this the Legitimate traders being sup
ported by other capitalists, while the specu-
lators are left to sink. If this rule had been
practised in the past speculation would not
have been 80 freely INDUCED, while regular
business would have been encouraged.


WEsTEEvELT's Tnru, it is expected, will
90 far to unrayel the Charley Ross mystery,
so far as the abductors are concerned,
though it may not restore the lost child to
his grieved parents If this additional re-
suit could be attained one of the most re-
markable cases of kidnapping in history
would be made still more remarkable by q
happy termination.
Year: 1875

POSTMASTER JAMES deserves credit for his
systematic and orderly removal from the old
to the new Post Office. There was no con-
fusion, and the removal occasioned no incon-
venience to the public in the despatch and
delivery of the mails. Business in the new
building was conducted yesterday as if il
was matter of mere ordinary routine and
the thousands who visited the Post Office
during the day saw no evidences of moving
day. Increased postal facilities are to mark
the removal, and it is announced that the
first fast mail for the West will leave this
city on the 10Th of September
Year: 1875

JUDGE HEBscHEL " JOHNSON of Georgia,
in charging the Grand Jury which is to in
quire into the alleged insurrectionary plot in
that State, commends wisdom and modera-
ton which are highly complimentary to his
judicial foresight and fairness. The poor
deluded negroes, if they have been entrapped
into plot against the whites, must be Sc
verely punished but it is highly important
that neither prejudice nor passion should
enter into the deliberations of the Grand
Jury. If there was no plot there must be no
indictments, and this point Judge Johnson
took care to impress upon the jury.
Year: 1875

The editor of the Chicago Stats Zeitalng
announces that he will support General
Grant for third term upon hard money
platform against any candidate on rag
money platform. If there are two hard
money candidates he will support the one
opposed to the republican party. The Chi
cago Stddts Zetung is one of the most impor-
tant journals in the Northwest. 1t repre-
sents that large German population which
has done so much to give strength and char
acter and patriotism to the Northwestern
States. It's editor has not been in SYM
pathy with the republican party for some
time; but in the presence of this grave issue
now threatening the country, rag money on
the one side and hard money on the other,
Reputation against national credit, he avows
his faith in General Grant. In other words,
he feels that the danger to republican insti-
tutions from the election of the President to
third term is SO remote and indefinite that
umph of any party based upon irredeemable
currency and national reputation.


We regard this announcement of the
Staots Zeit,tng as one of the most important
preliminary features of the canvass. 1t
shows, in the first place, that the Germans of
the Northwest are resolute in their purpose
to defend the honor of the government. 1t
shows also that on the question of hard
money no leader in the republican party
stands so well as President Grant Nearly
every prominent man in the organization
has trimmed on this question. They have
been afraid of it. The republican House
and the republican Senate passed an imitation
bill. The candidates for the Presidency
have trembled over 'the Western influence, "
when they should have boldly spoken their
thoughts in favor of hard money and national
credit If we take the leading men in the
party we find very few now named for the
Presidency who have made their record
reasonably clear upon this issue. On the
other hand, President Grant, by his imitation
veto, put himself ut the head of the move
ment, and therefore, in looking for candi-
date to oppose the desperate and dishonest
schemes of the rag money defenders, the
leader of the Western Germans declares for
| General Grant.


Now, we do not believe that the financial
| question is at all involved in the success of
General Grant. We should prefer to enter q
Presidential canvass fighting Cnsarism as well
as rag money. But in pointing out to poll
ticians the drift of this campaign we have
all along contended that it was bad general
ship to assume that either General Grant
meant to leave the canvass or that there was
strength enough in the party to drive him
out of it, or that if he chose to run he would
have no followers Here he receives from the
organ of the Northwestern Germans an as
surance that he will be supported upon the
question of national honor against any can
didate, republican or democratic, who may
run on q platform of initiation. That is a
! STRONGER point in the preliminary canvass
Year: 1875

Virtue must be in the ascendant and
honesty is assuredly the best political policy,
this year for even the Louisiana Republican
Central Committee begins to see it. That
noble body of patriots, which has superin-
tended for six or seven years the most stu
pendous and audacious system of public
stealing on record has determined to ''stop
off" as Rip Van Winkle said. 1t turned
corner so short as to take away ones
breath, and resolved, in a burst of patriotic
fervor, that ''pillage in public station must
be punished, and that assaults upon per-
sonal rights are wrong.


This is all very fine but what is to become
of the republican party in Louisiana If
'pillage in public station" is punished, and
assaults upon personal rights" are for
bidden? 1t will be party almost without
leaders for it is not an exaggeration to say
that if every leading Louisiana republican
who has been concerned in 'pillage in public
station" were punished the greater part OF
them would be either in State prison or in
the chain gang by the time the next election
is held This would be an excellent thing
for the State, but it would ruin 'the party"
And if personal rights are hereafter to be
respected what will Mr.. Packard do? He is
United States Marshal and Chairman of the
Republican State Central Committee. In
this double capacity he has been accustomed
to harry the democrats just before election
with blank warrants of arrest. Is he going
to deny himself this pleasure hereafter 7
When the Louisiana republicans become the
friends of virtue the party must be very sick
indeed. 'When the devil was sick the devil
monk would be, says an old song. What
is the matter in Louisiana? Are the colored
people leaving the republican party?
Year: 1875

A FAcET1oUs GENTLEMAN is Mr.. S. l.. Phil
lips President of the Third Avenue Railroad
Company. He completely bubbles over with
fun, especially where the interests of the
Third Avenue Railroad are concerned No
body but great humorist would say that if
the avenue is chosen by the Rapid Transit
Commission for an elevated road the horse
car line will get the authority of the Legisla-
ture to run steam cars in the street. To use
an expressive colloquialism, this idea is too
funny for anything; but it is not SO Won
derfully ludicrous as Mr.. Phillips talk
about the stockholders of the Third
avenue company as "citizens of New York "
when he went before the commission in COM
pany with most of these citizens, though ac-
companied only by Mr.. Hart, q worthy gen
tleman of Chatham street, who has put SO
much of his earnings into the road that it
earns dividends for scarcely anybody else.


We confess we were not aware there was so
much humor in the President of the Third
Avenue Railroad Company, though it must
be confessed that the management of the
line is something very like practical joke.
Year: 1875

CARDINAL McCLosKEY, though he is to be
invested with the ring and titles of his new
dignity during his stay in Rome, is not to
receive the hat, because it would involve n
grand ceremony. This is well enough, per-
haps. as he would scarcely find occasion to
wear this peculiar piece of headgear in
America The creation of seven new cardi-
nails at the next consistory is announced, and
it will be observed that six of them are
Italians
Year: 1875

GENERAL GAR1BALDI is again reported i'll,
this time from overwork on his scheme for
the improvement of the Tiber. The old Gen
eral has SO much vitality, however, that we
shall expect to hear of him at Rome and at
work once more.
Year: 1875

THE THREE RULES of the Treaty Of Wash
ington have been approved by the Institute
of international Law at The Hague as worthy
to be Incorporated in the law of nations.
But for the extraneous issue of consequen-
tial damages introduced into the American
case before the Geneva tribunal their recog-
nition and adoption by most of the European
States might have been secured long ago.
Year: 1875

A LESSON which cannot be too often i'm
pressed upon our municipal police is that
derived from the achievement of the New
Jersey officers who traced and captured the
men 10y whom Mr.. John Hughes was attacked
and left for dead, near Hackensack Bridge, n
few days ago. If the crime had been commit
ted in this city the criminals would have
met with better fortune
Year: 1875

FULL HARvEsTs at home give great i'm
portance to the crop reports from abroad.
Our cable dispatches this morning report q
better yield in England and on the Continent
than was anticipated earlier in the season I;
but still there is n deficiency in both quality
and quantity, and it is likely there will be a
great demand upon this country to supply
Europe with bread
Year: 1875

THE O'CoNNELL CENTENNIAL has brought
its reward to the Lord Mayor of Dublin in
the shape of Papal decoration. Another
howl over a matter of no significance will
probably be the result.
Year: 1875

SooY's DEFALoAT1oN is the theme of uni
versal commentin New Jersey but the story
of his crime and his capture which we
print this morning will attract the attention
of most readers in every StAte--
Year: 1875

Our Washington special despatch relating
to General Babcock's case indicates that, so
far as Secretary Bristow is concerned, the
full power of the law will be ex-
erted to develop oil the facts An
indictment, it is stated, has been
found in St Louis against the Presidents
secretary, and it will be presented at the
opening of the court to-day. Thus General
Babcock will be placed on trial and his
defence heard under conditions which will
leave nothing to be desired. We are heartily
glad of this. 1t will serve the ends of
justice, and if General Babcock has a
valid defence it can be enforced by verdict
of acquittal. The court of inquiry which
he demanded will, at the same time, be en-
abled to reach its own conclusions, but
as these have no further force than
as relates to the army standing of the
accused. and as the military courts form of
procedure is more tedious and less direct
than the civil trial, it will not disappoint
public anxiety, which is on the stretch re-
garding the position of the President in the
matter.


The court of inquiry has been fairly con-
stituted. Generals Sheridan. Hancock and
Terry have too much personal and profess
sional pride to put their regulations in
peril by whitewashing and acquitting
an offender who may be condemned by a
civil tribunal. If their finding should be
contrary to evidence conviction by court
of justice would place them before the coun-
try in an unenviable light 1t is to be pre-
sumed that they will do their duty and that
they will summon every witness from whom
they can expect any information
Year: 1875

and his political advisers have probably not
been idle The republican leaders are astute
politicians; they are, on the whole, much
abler than their democratic competitors;
they have audacity, initiative and the capa-
city. in an emergency, to unite their forces
in compact body. The democrats have not
shown these qualities Of late, and yetthey will
need them before the session is over; and
may, indeed. need them as soon as it begins.
Inc Message may present to them some pain
iui conundrums, and it is quite certain that
the republican party will die hard The
opening Of Congress finds the democratic
party IN very much less fortunate position
than 1t occupied last December, and it is q
truth which wise democrats would do well to
lay to heart that this is mainly the fault Of
their own side. The republican party stands
better before the country to-day than last
fall; not because it has reformed the abuses
which then disgusted the country-for it has
not done so-but because the democrats have
once more, by their folly and lack of states
manship, disgusted and alarmed the people.
The parliamentary contest of this winter is
likely to decide the Presidential canvass of
next year; and the session of Congress which
opens to-day promises to be one Of the most
interesting, though perhaps not one of the
most important, Of recent years.
Year: 1875

laws, 50 as to permit the public to witness
their aboriginal rites, and SO as to dis
barse some other aims than political
orders for the employment Of la
borers on the public works. Thus they
think to throw tubs to the whale. But
we warn Mr. Kelly and his associates, once
for all, that it will be useless thus to palliate
or negotiate The Tammany Society is
mad dog and as such it must die; for the
community, whose safety it endangers, will
not be diverted from its pursuit by any
promise Of its owner to leash or muzzle it.


The people expect the Attorney General
elect to bring his action to vacate the Tam
many charter among the very first acts Of his
official term, which will begin with the new
year. If he neglects to comply with their
reasonable demand it will become the duty
of the Legislature to instruct him in his
duty; and if he needs associate counsel the
report of the interview with one Of his pre-
decessors, which we published recently
shows him where to find it. The dem
ocratic party may still exist, next sum-
mer, in undiminished vigor, but when the
traveller from Cockaigne to the Philadelphia
Exhibition shall, in the midst of Union
square, take his seat on the rim of the basin
that surrounds the Lincoln statue to
sketch the ugly structure of the Tammany
Wigwam, hemust find the portal closed and
John Kelly weeping on the doorstep.
Year: 1875

IN Europe through the Vaccinations which
proceeded from behind the veil A secret
society not only began the French Revolution


but made itself the instrument of the Reign
Of Terror. During the present century nearly
every insurrection which has agitated Europe
was fomented by secret political society.
The most hated because the most selfish and
injurious political society that ever existed
in this country one that stirred up more
strife and bitterness while it lasted than any
party which had preceded twas powerful
to do harm only because it wrought in the
dark. All these examples we have adduced
to show how dangerous to the people and to
popular liberty are societies like Tammany
Hall. One man, or q small number of men,
are allowed not only to dictate the policy
Of the society but to usurp all the func-
tions and authority which ought to pro-
ceed from the popular will. The Offices are
filled at the dictation of the directors Of q
secret political organization, and even the
judges of our courts and the Mayor of the
metropolis are often the creatures of the con-
spirators who dare to speak in the name Of
freedom, and no official integrity even, in
city where the people submit to the arrogant
pretensions of such q conspiracy. Tammany
Hall is as much conspiracy as were the So
ciety of Jesus, the Jacobin clubs, the Car
bonari and Young Italy and Young Europe.