American Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 19, 31 August 1888, Page 3

American Notes.

The Republican Convention at Chicago has nominated General Benjamin Harrison for the PresideDcy,and Mr. Levi P. Morton for the VicePresidency. General Harrison i» of Puritan descent, one of his ancestors having taken part under Cromwell in the siege of Drogheda. He was born in Ohio, but settled as a lawyer in Indiana, gaining distinction in his profession, and also in a political carear. He distinguished himself, likewise,|in the civiljwar, when he was raised to the rank of Brigadier-General. Mr. Morton is a New York merchant who, both as man-of- business and politician, has an honourable record. He is deservedly and generally popular. The last chance that th« Oonvention would fix unanimously on Blame as their candidate was spoiled by the manoeuvring of Judge Gresham, whose nomination was brought about by exterior influences. But Sherman also in some degree contributed to the result by the persistency of his claims. The contest will hang principally on the question of Protection and the Pacific States particularly will be influenced by this issue. They are very much afraid of the effects of Freetrade on their industries and commerce, and may, therefore, be expected to stand firmly by the Republican candidate. The Irish vote will be divided, and will not, as hitherto, support the Democratic cause almost exclusively. An attempt has besn made to turn the vote against Harrison personally by identifying him with the Know-nothings, to whom his father belonged, but this is seen through by Irish Americans as the device of designing people, who would make a tool of them. Mr. Bayard's pro- British policy has done a great deal to incline them against Mr. Cleveland, and thin, as well as the great issue of Protection or Freetrade, will influence them more or less in voting, But the personal merits of the candidates as men, and apart from questions of public import, will not greatly concern them, and are regarded by them as pretty much on a par. The Convention at Chicago, as well as that at St. Louis, unanimously carried a resolution in favour of Home Rale for Ireland.

The friends of Mr. Blame in the States are indignant because of reports published in some of the London papers that he had been intriguing, after the Chicago Convention met, to obtain nomination. The facts are that at the time Mr. Blame had been on a coaching tour in the north of England and Scotland, aod bad only had an opportunity of sending two telegrams, each of which was in substance a repetition of his refusal to be nominated. It; would have been easy to have him nominated at any moment.. A great part of the support given to General Harrison, in fact, was in return for his allegiance to Mr. Blame at the last convention, four years ago, and because it was known that he had been willing to withdraw his own candidature had Mr. Blame consented to come forward. Mr. Blame's canvassing on behalf of General Harrison is looked forward to SB highly effective, and the advocates of Protection especially place great reliance on the exposure to be made by him of Freetrade, resulting from his personal s'udy of the question in Europe,

Mr. Cleveland may pray to be defended from his friends. Both in Canada and England his election to the Presidency is loudly and almost prayerfully advocated. The Dominion has a double interest in his election, and proclaims it without concealment. On him depend the ratification of the Fisheries Treaty and the opening of American markets to Canadian products; England almost unanimously hails him as a champion of Frcetradc, and the London Times, in particular, ranks him with Mr. Cobden. Mr. Cleveland and his supporters, however, are much lesß bold, and, perhaps to carry out their ends, disdain the title of advocates of Freetrade, and explain their policy by some more hazy equivalent. The probabilities are, meantime, that the peopie of the Btates will be warned by the exultations and hope 9 expressed beyond their borders.

General Sheridan has been removed from Washington to Nonquitt where it is hoped the sea air may help towards his recovery. The failure of the heart's action from which he suffered is said to have beea overcome, but he still continues in a very doubttul state. All that science can devise or care bestow is being done for him. He is constantly attended by Bk'lful doctors, and watched over by experienced nurses of the Sisters of Charity. But the length of time that has elapsed, giving no certain sign of approaching convalescence is looked upoa as most discouraging. That dreary old saying of despair, " While therb is life there is hope," seems all that can now be relied upon.

A shocking state of things as regards the Indian settlement of Turtle Mountain, Dakota, is revealed in a letter from the Rev. Father Genin, a Catholic missionary, who is in attendance on them. These poor people are literally dyirig of starvation and have no means of providing themselves with food. To the infinite shame of the United Statf" Government, while certain officials have actually seized upon theL*u)ck for taxes, it is largely In their debt for land purchased from them. The cruelty of the situation is almost beyond belief. The Bishop of Dakota has taken up the case warmly and is in communication regarding it with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The heat in New York has, th<s summer, surpassed anything known for many years. The hospitals have been filled with cases of prostration and there have been many deaths, especially among children. Some instances of sunstroke have also occurred. The climate of the year, in fact has been exceptional, for the storm of March will not easily be forgotten — and, let us hope will not Boon b 9 repeated.

Disastrous floods are reported from Mexico. The towns of Silao and Leon have bees, the chief scenes of suffering and lops, although

the whole country has more or less shared in the catast'opbe. The I adobe hoses gave way easily to the water, and the destruction was terrible. Life as well as property baa been largely sacrified. In the town of Leon, it is estimated 700 people have perished.

The report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the case of Kent, -or Curtin, convicted of complicity with Dr. Gallagher in a dynamite plot, has beea published. The Committee express their sympathy with the prisoner, and are of opinion that the fact of his being a na'uralized citizen of the United Btates shouli have been made known at his trial, which, owing to a mistake made by the prisoner, bad Dot been done. Appended to the report are two letters, one written by President Cleveland, in March, 1887, to Mr. Philip J. O'Hanlon, of Brooklyn, and in which the President expresses a hope of Dr. Gallaeber's speedy release ; the other, a letter from Mr. Bayard to Minister Phelps, in which the Minister is urged to plead unofficially with her Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the doctor, and so as to obtain his release. The final action to be taken in the matter is not as yet announced.

Scully, the exterminator, whose irjfamous practices made Tipperary too hot for him. and who, in consequence, transferred himself and bis exaggerated system of landlordism to the States, leasing ground, bought by him in Illinois ana Texas, on the same terms he had enforced in Ireland, has been obliged to pull in his horns. In consequence of laws passed by the legislature of Illinois to meet hie case he has been obliged to sell out, and his extensive tracts of laud are in the market. It is hopsd that not only wili Texas follow the good example, but that eve State in the Union will enact laws making the introduction or continuance of any such system as that carried on by Scully impossible within its boundaries.

Mayor Hewitt of New York still keeps himself well before the world. His latest act of distinction was an attack made on the immigrants the other day, in presenting some prizes to the children of a public school. The immigrants, he said, came under contract to compete against the free labour of the country, and to impoverish the workngmen . Hewitt, of course, aimed principally, or perhaps solely, at the Irish immigrants, although he did not directly name them. His attempt to excite interested opposition is contemptible in the extreme but it is worthy of the man who makes it.

The red bandana has been adopted as the badge of the Democrats. A curiouß feature in the selection is that when the self-same badge was first introduced as a paity emblem at the Democratic convention of 1884, it was distinctive only of those who opposed Mr. Cleveland as a candidate. It is now mounted in his favour.

An attempt was made at the St. Louis Convention to introduce a resolution protesting against the inclusion in the Extradition Treaty of refugees accused of agrarian or political offences. The gentlemen, however, who ran the Convention set their faces against it, and the attempt failed. But those who looked for its success are considered rather simple as Mr. Cleveland's Administration bad negotiated the Treaty referred to. The adoption of any such resolution would have been a severe slap in the face for the unanimously nominated candidate.

The adoption info their respective platforms by both the Republican and the Democratic Convention of resolutions advocating Home Rule for Ireland is full of meaning. It not only effectually disposes of that stock fa sehood that genuine Americans care nothing about the matter, but shows that the question enters strongly into the national life of the country. Not o .ly does it enlist the popular sympathy as relatirg to the condition of an oppressel people abroad, but it affects the condition cf things at home very closely, for, until it is settled in favour of the Irish people, Iri'h Americans will never be able to settle down as citizens of the Stages on'y, but will own a double allegiance, of which, moreover, no one who properly appreciates the nobility of human nature could desire to rob them. From the States, beside 0 , are constantly sent the sums of m nev, amounting in the aggregate to a high figure, which go to su-port the victims o p landlordism, and to pay their rack-rents. A demoralising struggle is, also, carried on by the emissaries of the party of oppression, whose business it is to excite enmity between the different sections of the American population. All this, and a good deal more, narrowly affect the condition of the country, and make sympathy with Ireland not only a matter of the higher sentiment, but one of piudent and matter-of-fact policy as well.