Year: 1871

iedrn 1o-uay that mayor Hall mas removed
Richard b. Connolly from the office of City
Comptroller, and has rendered the position
| to General Mcclellan. After the decision OF


Judge Barnard in the injunction case the


Mayor, as the Chief Magistrate of the city,


had but one duty to perform; to rid the
| Finance Department of an officer who stood


branded in judicial opinion as criminaly un-


faithful to his trust; who had shown himself


and documents by losing from his office at a
| critical moment papers Of the greatest i'm


portance, and who had de6ed the popular


will by obstinately refusing to resign his po-


sition and give place to successor in whom


the people could repose confidence At first


il was supposed that the contumacous officer


could only be reached by the slow pro-


cess of an impeachment before the Court
| Of Common Pleas; but it was generally be-
leved that there must be some method by


which an unfaitbful head of a city
department could be made to yield


up bis trust into the hands of those


who had con6ded it to him, and such


appears to be the fact. The highest legal


authority in New York has advised the Mayor


that the power of removal exists as an Incl


dent to the power of appointment except


where restriction is specially made at the


time the appointing power is bestowed, or when


there is some express statutory enactment
in regard to the power of removal; and that


the process of impeachment provided in the


charter is only Co ordinate power, and does


not conflict with or destroy the absolute power


of removal vested in the appointing head. This,


however, is not the only ground upon which


the Mayors action is based. The Comptroller


pursuing the same line of policy which is


thought by many to have induced the


petty trick of the plate-glass burglary,


hit upon plan by which he might, as he
hoped, retain possession of his Office, and
thus defeat the object of the Mayor and
the will of The people With the approval
OF the partisan organs and political
adventurers who have been seeking to turn
the recent municipal turmoil to their own
profit, the Comptroller appointed new de-
putty, and publicly abdcated his office for five
months, leaving all the powers and duties be-
longing thereto in the hands of his own ap-
poiptee. This cunning plot to defeat
the ends of justice has, it is believed, recoiled
upon those who invented it. 1t would be an
absurdity to suppose that an officer who
holds his position by appointment, when
accused of maIfeasance or threatened with
removal, has the power to pace another
person in discharge of his duties under the
fictitious name of deputy. An impe ached
public officer could by this means ap-
point his own nominal successor and
still retain the powers and emoluments
of his office. The Mayor regards this action
of the Comptroller as an actual REIMBURSEMENT |
of. his Office, and in this opinion he is con-
frmed by high legal authority. On the
ground, therefore, that Mr. Connolly has |
resigned the Comptrollership, as we'll
as in right of the power OF removal,
Mayor Hall claims the Office and ap- |
points successor to the present incumbent
The letter which conveys this information will |
be delivered to Mr.. Connolly this morn
ing, and it remains to be seen
whether he will yield UP possession
of the department without further delay, or
whether he and his present abettors will hit
upon some other plan for retaining the Comp
trollersbip in their hands, at the expense and
to the serious embarrassment of the govern
ment.


Under any circumstances the people of New
York would never be satisfied with successor
w OOuuohy dppoltiteu Wy ululSclI. Ills
reputation is not such as to render
it desirable that he should retain
any connection, direct or Indirect, with the
Financial Department of the city government,
or that any of his personal friends should
aid him in a whitewashing investigation
of his official record. He must stand aside
entirely. The Court which has condemned
him, will not be likely to remove the existing
injunction until he is out Of the office. The |
appointment of General Mcclellan as his |
successor will be heartily approved by |
the taxpayers, aud by our citizens generally. |
Should Mr.. Connolly persist in holding on to
, =. Z. l.,,t AL xlux