The New York Herald Newspaper, September 5, 1859, Page 4

4 NEW YORK WERALD.|* JAMES GORDON BENNETT, Rey i EE D, tao ceate per al ue ner or Bh Tk Fate copy, or St Ws ‘ aia ML Qu LATFERS AND We to not ay neo enesy Rays cule ertiseme ta tn eerted in the Waeait Pawity Uerai, ant in the California an, JOB PRIN , cheapness and de- Voiume XXIV. AMUSEMENTS TH N Ta O'S GARDEN, Lroadway.l'sonenons ox tue E—PRIMA DUNK ASASPLODAL. BOWERY THRATRE, Kowery—Huaver, tus Founo- LING —tOCKO— Di LLNS KNAVE UF HEARTS. s WALLACK'S THEATRE, Woy. ORRALDINR, LAURA EFE LA y THEATRE, 694 Broadway.—House AND Homg—Nixe, 2 NTS OF THK LAW. NEW ROWERY TURAT Venice—Four Lovess. NATIONAL THF \Ti Dows—New Yous Mowery.—-OwAnGE Gras oF 1 BARNUMS AMERICAN MUSEUM, noon end Evening—Rosisa Meavows, BRY ANTS! MINSTREL Bunesqves, S0r63, Ds PALACE GAPD) AN Musicat Some ann Muvtai ATHENZUM, South Brooklyn.—Woon's Mrysrners +s HTULOFISN SONGS, DANCES, &C.—DARKIGS ON THE Lay ic. Wew York, Monday, September 5, 1859. NOTICE T0 THE ADVERTISING PUBLIC. Owing to the great in caso of trade In the city at the preeent timo, and the consequent increasing accumulation Of our advertising busines’, we are compelled to ask our advertising fri Our paper to pre’ tocome to our aid and help us to ge ish by se in their advertirements at as early an hour iu the day a evening as possible. All advertisements should be fm before nine o'clock nt night. We w abled to get to press at a reasonable time, th ld thas be en: and of ¢ wr, Which would not | to send out the paper at an ear only be 4 reli to us, bit as importance of which must be app pe to the advertisers, the rent. MAILS FOR THE PACIFIC. Bew York Herald—Cailfornia Edition. ‘The United States eamship Moses Tay eCowan, will lave this port this aft O'clock, for Asp The mails for at two nia and other parts of the Pacife this afternoon. in the morning. ie coples, in wrappers, rendy for mailing, six cants Agents will pleaso send in their orders us carly as pos- | Bible. MAILS FOR EUROPE. The New York Herald—Edition for Karope. The Cunard mail steamship America, Captain Millar, y for Liverpool. closo ta this city to-morrow afternoon, at two , to go by railroad, and at four , to go by mboat. The Evroreay Eprioy ov im Herarp will be published | athalf-past ten o'clock in the morning. Single copies in wrappers, six cents. Subscriptions and New Youk Hewaiy vert ts for any edition of the «dat the following place auronge & Co. ‘The contents of the Ecrorgay Eprmoy or ta Harawp will combine the news received by mail and telegraph at the office during tho previous week and up to the hour of bbe publication. The News. . The Arago, from Havre and Southampton, ha: been intercepted off Cape Race. Her advices are fo the 24th ult., four days later than those brought by toe Africa. Cnr telegraphic summary of the news states that cunsols were quoted at 95} a 95§ for both money and account—uo change. The cotton market was without essential variation, while breadstufls and provisions exhibited a de- clining tendency.* We bave been informed that the Bremen steamer ‘Weser has been withdrawn, and is consequently not ue at this port. Most of our leading city clergymen, as well as the more fashionable portion of their congregations, having returned to town from the watering placesand other resorts of health or pleasure, the usual annual * church openings” were held yesterdsy in a num- ber of the sacred edifices. The hearers were name- rous, well dressed, healthful looking and attentive, whilst the preachers—as will be seen from our re- ports this morning—were unusually rigorous in their denunciation of sin and vice, and piously vehement in their exhortations to a perseverance in the ways of godliness and an avoidance of tie paths of error which lead unto “ eteruul death.” We spread the eifusions of some of our leading Givines before our readers elsewhere. Read and ponder thereon. The Sir Joba Frauklin, just arrived at Philadelphia from Liverpool, reports speaking, on the 10th ult, the British steamship England,from Calcutta bound to London. She was under sail, her engines having got out of order, and when spoken had been one hundred and fifty days on the passage, and her orew and passengers had subsisted on one meal a day for the previous fifty days. The wants of the fufferers were relieved by the Sir John Franklin. The annexed table shows the temperature of the Stmosphere in this city during the past week, the range of the barometer and thermometer, the variation of wind currents and the state of the weather at three periods during each day, viz: at 9 A. M, and 3 and 9 o'clock P. M. sweyous poy BEERS eaeaee t y; aftermoon, clear. fternoon, clear and coo}; ra borealis, cool and blow- jonday—Clear all day. ‘Trescay—Cloar and pleasant. Wednesday—Clear and pleasant. pannretay—Momning; clear; afternoon, cloudy; night, lear. Friday—Morning, clear; afternoon, cloudy; night, clear. Saturday —Morning, clear. Ait ata The Now Haven Post Office was entered on Satur- day night by burglars, who, however, it ia believed, aid not succeed in finding avy considerable sum of NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1859. Money, A Howille more broyaney. Sales of new mess were t Si4 Th 0 Slt ‘Oh, and of prime at $10 694 A BLOTA. Sagara were quiet he sales were confined to about 390 bh: tuba wt Ge. aud Po ico at 7 net 1,300 agagomnoats wees Limited, bat ‘ha wk with ne Revolt Against the Albany Regency--- The Fruits of Confidence Cassidy's Treachery. Yrom the proceedings of a meeting of the cemeocratic electors of the town of Flushing, Leng Istand, convened for the purpose of elect- Ing delegates to a District Convention to ap- point a delegate to the Democratic Siute Con- vention to be held at Syracuse on the 1ith Inst., we observe that symptoms of revolt have out against the policy of Confidence Cas and the Regency, an examp!e which we have no doubt will be followed in othor s. The meeting decided, first, in favor ing the choice of delegates to the Na- al Convention at Charleston to the masses ne democratic party in their respective Con- gressional districts, or to district conventions osen by the democratic masses for the special purpose; second, that the delegate to he chosen from the Assembly district in which Inshing is situated shall not be authorized at ihe State Convention to take part in appointing ates to the Charleston Convention ; third, that the meeting recommend that the delegates to the Charleston Convention be not chosen prior to Jannary 1, 1860. We have no doubt that this is the beginning ofa reaction against Confidence Cassidy & Co. for ibeir base treachefy in the case of the Wise jetter, dictated net only by a sense of disgust nthe part of the people, but also by pruden- ei motives, in order to prevent the packing of the New York delegation to the Charleston Convention, and to guard against the risk of New York being left unrepresented in that na- tional assemblage. Amidst the boundless impudence of the Con- fidence man and the Regency, in brazening out their own innocence and attempting to fasten pir treachery on other men, there is evidently sense Of conscious weakness, guilt and pain, inced in the Allas-Argus which suggests that of Shakspeare:— 1) t the galled jace wince, our withers are unwrung. We have put the saddle on the right horse, ond if his back was previously galled that was not our fault. At the Coroner’s inquest on the body of Wise, Confidence Cassidy and the Regency ; were loud in their protestations of innocence, bewailed his unhappy fate, threw out dark hinis at others, and when suspicion began to uisten the crime upon themselves they openly accused The COUT OF LE IBKALH Ge ony oe the bottom of the bloody busines. Fortunate- ly, however, we were able to produce damning proofs against them, which left not a shadow of doubt about their guilt. The original let- | ter was traced to their possession, and tho copies were proved to have emanated from | them. They confessed the crime when it could be no longer denied, but attempted to explain it away. The Confidence man being asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced against him, urged that he had received a liberal education, just as if by any kind of manipulation or machine- ry a silk purse could be made out of a calf's ear. He threw the bl{me of his dishonorable act on the bed teachings of Professor Henry and Dr. Nott, insinuating thereby that if he had not had the misfortune of being placed under the training of Henry and Nott, and if he had continued in the honest profession of his youth, he never would have come to this untimely end. To the latter remark the Judge assented, but added that to whom much is given from him is much _ re- quired ; and as for the education which the Con- fidence man received, he had no doubtit was very good, if it had only been putto a good use ; but, perverted to such purposes, it became un ag- gravyation of the Confidence man’s guilt. And the Judge proceeded to pass the sentence of the law. Then the rage of Cassidy knew no bounds, but it was the howling of the hard- ened convict against the District Attorney who prosecuted him, the witnesses who gave their testimony, the jury who found him guilty, and the Judge who pronounced the sentence of ex- : consigning him to an ignominious » of the fou! political murder of which * of confidence has been convicted him and the Regency, whose tool he is, to arrange the delegation to Charlestonin such a manner as to suit themselves, They shrewdly calculated that the people, taking of- fence at even the good advice of a stranger to organize by districts, would resent this as dicta- tion, and, running into the opposite extreme, fall into the trap prepared for their feet by Cassidy & Co. And undoubtedly such would have been the effect had not the hand of the Regency been traced in the whole affair, and the plot exposed, which we think will be very likely to have the opposite effect to that intended by those who played the confidence game. They did their best to destroy the evidences of their agency; but in the case of even the most ex- pert murderers something generally turns up to confound them. This was manifested in the instance of Professor Webster, who employed all the skill with which chemical science en- dowed him to annihilate the proofs of his bloody deed. But his friend Dr. Parkman was traced to his office and never seen to come out; and though, to all human appearance, the body found was so mutilated and destroyed that it never could be recognized, there was one little evidence left intact, and that was the dismembered jaw containing the artificial teeth, which a dentist proved to he his work, while the unfortunate criminal ,directed suspicion against Mr. Littlefield. the janitor, who succeed- ed in discovering the hiding place of the body. Thus did we trace the original letter of Wise to the office of his political friend, Confidence Cassidy; and though he resorted to all the chicanery so well known and so constantly practised by the Albany Regency to efface the tracks of his complicity in giving copies of this was to & which he eatouloted it tue Niw Yous Hristo £0 convenient to uske the Re our detectives vere mere than @ mateh for him, and we have doliate is guilt in the iction by procis as clear as those which uvicted Dr, Webster in despite of all his protestations ot innocence. ‘Thus does guilty trexchery defext its own purpose, ‘The object of killing Wire waa to send a packed delega- tion to the Churlesten Convention, Tho State Convention at Syraense will not dare to ap- point delegates lo the Charlestoa Convention under the operation of the confideace game. Honorable Southern men would not sit with o delegation springing out of such manifest fraud and chicanery. The Three Grent Powers of Hurope, Asia and America, There are now two giants in Europe who are pursuing with even and almost equul steps the path of reform in the social and political sysiems of the Old World, and carrying their respective countries to the highest pitch of giory und of power. Napoleon Hf. and Alexan- der TT, ench came to an imperial succession, and cach bas learned from the errors of his predecessor to combine progress with stability and conservatism wilh revolution, The mighty genius of the first Napoleon + birth to the ideas and political combina- tions that are now changing the fice the future of Europe. But impelled by the p of that very genius, which wished to antic both men and things, and by the imperious force of circumstances, which aroused sifuita- neously against him the sense of security on the part of the rest of Europe, Napoleon was compelled to combat all the nations within a short period of time, The terrific nature of the struggle exhausted his empire, and France saw Bourbon imbecility replaced on her throne by the united action of twice twelve hundred thousand foreign bayonets, Peace was restored to Europe; but it was a peace that for forty years has been obliged to rely for its preservation on the power of three millions of bayonets. During that time France remained in a state of almost complete indus- trial and political lethargy. The Napoleonic ideas, however, had taken root, and grew apace, not only in France, but in many parts of Europe, till at last they fructifled in the final exclusion of Bourbonism and red republican- ism from French soil. Napoleon Jif. came with his sagacious intel- Ject to establish the views of his uncle, and to-day not one of the Napoleonic ideas is for- gotten in the schemes that agitate Europe. Avoiding the danger that ruined the first, the third Napoleoa ‘makes haste slowly.” In constructing the edifice of his dynasty he does not lay one course till the preceding one has become cemenied. His wars, instead of awak- ening bitter eumi seem to make his friend- ships more firm. That with Russia secured for him the recognition and apparent alliance of the giant of the East. That with Austria has effected a remarkable change in the policy of the Germanic Confederation towards him. Nor is the change within the domain of I'rance less striking. Railroadsare being everywhere built, public works constructed, indusiry and com- Tierce sumiiated, the inaterial “interests Or the people fostered, the laws imbued with a wise and conservative liberalism, to such a de- gree that the second series of Napoleonic wars, instead of exhausting France, have served only to show the vast extent of her resources and her power. Her armies and ber fleets are now the first in Europe. It is these things that have made Louis Napoleon the arbiter of that continent. In Russia a parallel case exists. Nicholas I. initiated a policy as vast and as comprehen- sive as that of the first Napoleon—social re- form at home, the extension of the boundaries of his empire to the waters of the Mediterra- nean and the farthest confines of Asia, and the creation of fleets and armies that should give weight to his power in Europe. Like the first Napoleon, he, too, was before his time. Europe, palled with forty years of peace, was ready to go to war against him, and that of the Crimea crushed his mighty soul. Alexander It. saw the errors of his father. He made peace with Western Europe, he urged the con- struction of railroads, canals and river steam- ers at home, he liberated the serfs, he hastened the founding of a new empire on the Asiatic shore of the Pacific, he is building telegraphs and railroads across northern Asia, and by every possible means is seeking to foster the developement of the material interests of his empire and the elevation of his people. The result is already being witnessed. Rusia stands on a par with imperial France, snd together they give the law to Europe. These two imperialisms are pursuing the true conflict against the class theories of feudal- ism. Everywhere they are undermining the power of the nobles and elevating the people; and they are performing another great good work. Through them Europe and the world is being freed from the progress of a desfruc- tive red republicanism, which threatened so- ciety with ruin, and the nations with the rule of the worst of tyrannies, that of a system over the individual. On our side we are putsuing ihe same war, but in a constructive sense. We have no aristocracy to be removed, but we are building up the power of the peopie through the same measures which are being pursued in France and Russia—the developement of the industrial and commercial interests. Each of these gigantic Powers is placed in a sphere to which it seems peculiarly adapted: we tp lead in the New World, France to lead in Enrope, and Russia to civilize and rule in Asia. These are the three great Powers of the world, and their influence is already manifest and {s fast being admitted by all the others, ReorentnG of THE TueatRes.—The coming theatrical season promises to be one of re- markable activity. We are going to have flush times, and so the theatres share in the general inflation. Within the month there will no. less than eleven regular theatres open in this city, besides numerous concert rooms, German and American, where the entertainments are more or less theatrical in their character. Over in the Bowery a splendid new theatre, capable of ing over four thousand persons, is to be opened this evening, and the Metropolitan theatre has been entirely reconstructed, When the Opera House is opened there will be thea- tres enough to accommodate thirty thousand people nightly, and the average attendance will be over twenty thousand. The merchants and traders find it to their interest to sustain such of the theatres as are wel they ave among the } condneted, as ons of the Dustness itself is not always profit concerned, bat they can be c&nscled by the retlection that they tose their money tor the public rood. This year, however. se managers may reasou- ably hope for a rich harvest. ‘The competition | among them is, in consequence, remarkably | brisk, and that is all the betics for the play- goer Yhe Atmospheric Phemomena of Lest Week—The Au:orn Sorcalis, Sudden Squalils, Hail nnd Snow. Many timid and superstitious persons, even among the most entight acd classes af the com- munity, are seriously apprehensive that the ions of the northern lights, with which the ekies have been nightly illuminated all last weck, were portentous omens of some terrible event that is about to befall the world. It ia an old superstition revived, or rather one that has never died ont. From the most remote ages of human existence atmospheric pheno- mena have been always linked and connected, at lcast in imagination, with calamities, Tho most learned men have not only shared in this belief, but have encouraged and strengthened it. It was reserved for our duys tohave a sage and philosopher to make clear to our compre- hension the wonderful myastecies of those lights, which tho Scotch know as merry dancers, but with which we are more familiar by their Latiz naiae of aurora borealis, to show us that | they are nothing more nor jess than an indus- trial exhibition of the upper air, 2 silkery in the clouds, whereal the magic shuttle flies from horizon to zenith with a speed that leaves electricity lagging far behind, and to be pre- pared to exhibit to the incredulous world a piece of the product of these heaveuly looms. But, the Sage of Brooklyn Heights to the coa- trary notwithstanding, people still continue to see in those flashing columns of light superna- tural manifestations of impending calami whether individual, national, or affecting the whole race of man. They believe, with the Highland wizard who warned Lochiel, that Coming events cast their shadows before; and if this auroral display had only been accom- modating enough to have come just before the Italian campaign, or had even preceded the bat- tle of Solferino, no reasoning could have got it outof their minds that the one event was the prognostic of the other. As itis they can only fall back upon the comet of last fall, and attribute to that celestial phenomenon the important events that have recently transpired in Europe. Phenomena are not supposed to have any reference to things past—only to things to come. Therefore, the aurora berealis cannot apply to the battle of Solferino or the peace of Villa- franen. It must be connected with something in tbe future—war, or pestilence, or famine. A correspondent, who signs himself “Scotus,” declares himself in favor of the pestilential theory. He says he has it on geod authority that the aurora borealis is a sure precursor of cholera, and refers to the fact that that epi- demic has already made its appearance at Hamburg and London. What does Meriam say to that? Is his “silkery of the skies” to be thus converted into a battery whence pestilence is to be dis- charged on mortals? We knew a pl aa who solemaly declared that he once noticed a ae Pe i wavy, Gut WINE immediately following the explosion that dread disease manifested itself. But such a mission should certainly not be assigned to that most beautiful of all celestial phenomena which we call the northern aurora. . The remarkable gust, or squall, or dust spout, as it might be called, which struck this city on Wednesday evening last—and the most de- plorable effect of which was the capsizing of the yacht Edda, with loss of life to two young Indies—has also been regarded as in some way connected with the auroral phenomenon. Its fury was spent in less than five minutes. In its suddenness it was akin to the white squall, which, in an instant and without a moment's warning, strikes and engulfs many a gallant eraft. During the blow, which extended to the east, there was quite a quantity of hail fell in Saiem, Mass., some of the stones being as large as English walnuts. We have seen one gentleman who solemaly avers that at the moment of the gust his watch stopped, and that some half dozen of his acquaintances noticed the same singular occurrence in regard to their chronometers. If this were the case ia regard to clocks, with pendulum movements, it would indicate the shock of an earthquake; but we confess that the simultaneous stopping of half a dozen watches passes our comprehen- sion, and we have no resource left but in skep- ticism of the whole story. - One of our Mexican correspondents describes to us the terror recently occasioned to the in- hubitents of Guanajuato by subterrancan thun- ders, which are distinctly heard as if roiling along beneath the crust of the earth. The same phenomenon was remarked and described by Baron Humboldt as occurring at tho same place just seventy-five years ago, in 1784, when the inhabitants fled the city in terror. We are told that the most accepted theory of accounting for these noises is that they proceed from the opening or closing of clefts in the interior of the earth, by which waves of sound penetrate to us or are impeded in their propagations. We hope this explanation will be more intelligible to our readers than it is to ourselves, for we re- gard it as being about on a par with the description of the silkery of the skies. A most remarkable traasparency of the at- mosphere has always been noted as following auroral manifestations. Our citizens canuot fail to have noticed that result last week. Itis said that on the morning following a similar display some years since persons on the White Mountains could see distinctly the white spires of the Portland churches, ninety miles distant. Their effect on the magnetic needle, in causing deflections and agitations, has been long known. So, too, with their effect on the electric telegraph. We have seen in- stances of this last week. During the grand display Sunday night the telegraph wires on the Canadian line were so completely under the influence of the aurora that it was impossible to communicate between the stations; and on Friday last the effect of the previous night's aurora was so great as to im- pede the working of the telegraph lines from Boston. We are informed, and it is a very singular fact, that the auroral currents from east to west were so regular that the operators on the Eastern lines were able to hold commu- ni viion and transmit messages between Bos- 2nd Portland while the usual batteries were dissevered from the Asin case Of the comet last year, one re- sult imptted te the present ospheric phe- nomena is decidad coolnesa in the air. now enjoying evpl. clear wenther, that would appear to betong father to October than the opening of Senfember. Ono of the eastern jonrnels learns from 2 visitor returned from the White Mountains, that on Sunday, the 28th ult. (:¢ samimit of Mount Washington was en- veloped in sterms of rain, hall and snow. Yarties who venture! te ascend the mountain erived ai the top covored with sleet, and over- come with cold and fatigee. Snow fell, cover- ing the ground, and lasting for a considerable time, is not onr intention to discuss the various es put forward to accownt for the north- ern lehts, It is only certain that these phe homens are connected with electrical disturb- ances; possibly they may be thunder and Nightning in the mildest and weakest forms, (infantile specimens of heaven's artillery,) for they have been ‘at times accompanied with au- dible noises. They may be connected in some way with volcanic eruptions, or earthquakes, or, 2s has been long supposed, with icebergs. As philosophers are unable to solve the prob- lem, why do not the aeronauls try it? Wise und La Mountain have been threatening transatlan- tic voyages. Suppose that, before they start for the other side, they would ascend in their balloons and try to get a glimpse of the foun- dation line of the aurora borealis. Werecom- mend them to try it some of these evenings. They can at least give us grand descriptions of ihe prospects aloft, and perhaps enable us to Gecide the great question whether they are nothing more than silkeries of the skies. A Cvrrevs PouiticaL Conresstos—Gerrit Sarre Discusiev.—The Sage of Peterboro’ is beginning to find out that his political cronies are not exactly the men he took them to be. He has, moreover, aired his new opinions in a circular reply to a letlier fvom the Chairman of the Jerry Rescue Com- mittee, inviting Gerrit Smith to preside over the celebration of the anniversary of the deliverance of the immortal Jerry. In this morceeu, which we publish elsewhere, Mr. Smith says that he has quite enough of the Jerry Rescuers; “his interest has de- clined greally within the last two or three ‘ars, and now he is “decidedly of the opin- ion that it is unwise to continue to repeat the farce any longer.” The rescue, he says, was a “glorious thing;” but as mosi of the brethren who helped it along have fallen back from the faith, it is absurd to keep up the shadow of a celebration when the substance has evapo- rated through party and church influences. Vhe Jerry rescuers, he says, are “basely incon- sistent;” and so are the “Temperance Socie- ties.” Rum drinking has been increased since the so-called temperance reform commenced, and “the cause of temperance in this country is dead.” The nigger and the Maine law, Mr. Smith says, have both “been killed at the bal- lot box by their friends.” Gerrit Smith, who knows them well, says they are “mean men and sham men.” After giving his old friends a general broad- side oll around, Mr. Smith goes to work to ex- plain in his jeremiad what he intends to do. His idea ig simris fo ~t —e susurrections amoug Wie Degrves at ihe South. Insurrections are My. Smith’s rather violent remedies for the diseases of the body politic. Congress won't do anything; the church is afraid ; Jerry’s old friends have taken the back track. So Smith has cut them all, and is going into the “fire, rape and slaughter” business all by himself. He backs up Seward’s brutal and bloody speech at Rochester to the hitter end. THe Cauirornia Mar Rovrzs—SquaBeiEs oF ‘tur, Commoporrs.—For some time past there has been a good deal of anxiety and excitement with reference to the conveyance of the Cali- fornia mails after the expiration of the existing postal contracts at the end of this month. It is known that the government has made a con- tract with the “Jobnson line” to convey the mails via Nicaragua from the Ist of October ; but rumors have been flying far and wide that the Johnson contract would never be fulfilled, and that we should be left without any conyey- ance for the California mails, except by the overland route or the express com- panies, after the end of the present month. The Commodores, who have grown to be a power in the State, both in point of ‘numbers and influence, were particularly exercised on this subject, and they would have it that the California mail route was about to collapse altogether. The government, however, secm quite at ease about the matter, being appa- rently satisfied that the Johnson line would start their first steamer up io time, namely, on the 5th of October, from this port; and it ap- pears from the advertisement in our columns to-day that such is their intention, the Key- stone State being announced to sail on that day for San Juan, to connect on the Pacific side with the Hermann for San Francisco. Whether this intention will be carried out or not will be decided when the 5th of October comes about. Meantime, we must expect the rumors, plots, intrigues and squabbles of the Commodores to thicken. Wn. tre Biore pe Reap ww ALL tie Pupric Scuoois To-pay?—The fall term of the public schools of this city commences to-day, the time fixed for the initiation of the new policy of the Board of Education compeiling the read- ing of the Bible in all the public schools. It is anticipated that this measure will be resisted in the Fourth, Sixth, Fourteenth and other wards more democratic than puritanical, and the probability is that the courts will be called upon to settle the vexed question. Meanwhile the poor teachers stand between two flres. The local boards of school officers, from whom they receive their appointments, may forbid the reading of the Scriptures on pain of dismissal; while on the other hand the officials of the Board of Education command the reading on pain of the forfeiture of their salaries. It ap- pears to us that these efforts of one class of the community to propagate their religious views at the expense of all other classes, both as re- gards the Bible question in the schoois and the enforcement of the Sunday laws, savor more of the age of thumbscrews and the Inquisition than of the nineteenth century. Decay or tae Provinctar, Press—For the last ten years the overshadowing power and importance of the leading metropolitan jour- nals have aroused the jealousy of the country press. The railways, facilitating the distribu- tion of such journals as the New York Henarn, which reach all important points within three or four hundred miles of our offlve om the day of publication, have nearly killed the provin- cin} papers. The Heratp is as much quoted avd Jooked for in Philadelphia, Boston, Bufalo or Chicago as in New York city, and our advertising columns receive daily contributions from all parts of the country, When they put a new steamer on the grvat lakes they must have the fact firat noticed Jn the New York Heraxp, and re- cently we were called upon to give tho earliest account ofa new steamer on the Mississippi. The Philadelphians are among our best custo- mers, and we give’ to-day the official pro- gramme of the openingof the dramatke season at the Academy of Musicin that city. It is very sad, to be sure, but we are afraid thet our pro- vincial contemporaries will have to admit that New York is the metropolis of the country", and its press the leading power of this eomthnent. The provincial press for the’most part has .now no value except as a loca! resorder, Tur New Bocnpany Disrvve wrrn Gaewa Tt Brrrais.—The news from Washington Territory - is highly important. The controversy that Has been maintained for some years: between: our government and that of Great Britain, in regard. ' to the possession of the Arroo islaads, appears as if it were soon to be brought toa termination one way or the other. We are informed that General Harney has caused the island of Sam Juan, the principal of the group, to be oceu- pied by a company of United States troops; while on the other hand the Governor of Bri- tish Columbia, Douglass, has issued a protest against such occupancy, claiming the island as belonging to the British crown, and has de- spatched thither some armed vessels with @ force of sappers and miners. Four United States vessels—the Massachusetts, Jeff. Davis, Shubrick and Active—and three British vee- sels—the Tribune, Satellite and Plumper—were either anchored off the island or in the imme- diate vicinity. It was supposed that this joint occupancy of the island would be maintained until instructions could be received from the respective governments. The boundary line between Washington Ter- ritory and Vancouver’s Island has been in con- troversy for several years, and commissioners were appointed not long since to arrange it. It seems, however, that they have not been able to do so, and we presume that these move- ments on the part both of General Harney and Governor Douglass were made in obedience to instructions, and for the purpose of bringing the affair to an issue. The treaty of 15th June, 1846, established the boundary as being “along the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of said channel and of Fuca’s Straits to the Pacific Ocean.” Well, there are two channels separating the continent from Vancouver’s Island. One of them is to the west of the Arroo archipelago, and would give these islands tous. The other is to the east, and would give them to Great Britain. The question is, which of them was meant to be de- signated in the treaty. We have always main- tained that it was the former, because it is deeper, wider and more direct, and because the iweanas Naturally belong, not to Vancvuver’s Is!and, but to the main land. The British hold the contrary view, but would be satisfied to compromise by giving us all but this identical island of San Juan, which contains about seventy square miles, is valuable for its fishe- ries and minerals, and is particulary important in a military point of view, as commanding the straits of Fuca and the navigation of the Georgian gulf. In fact, the propriety of forti- fying it and making it a second Cronstadt has been recently discussed in England. It will be seen, therefore, that this contro- yersy is by no means about an insignificant matter, and that it may not improbably lead to difficulties between the two governments. REMOVAL oF THE Ur Town PiccERTEs— Tge Worx Fintsnep Ur.—Pigtown, the fra- grant, the mud invading and atmosphere cor- rupting vicinage, to which New York might be said to be merely attached as a suburb, is no more, and the latter may now lay full claim fo the tile which pride rather than justice has hitherto extended over the central portion of whe island. Until within the last few months people living at this side of Murray Hill could not drive out towards the splendid neighbor- hoods which lie beyond the Central Park with- out having their noses filled and their senses disgusted with the foul smells and sights which they encountered on both sides of the way. To get at the pure air which they desiderated they had to pass through pestilential localities in which the exhalations of stagnant pools and the accumulated filth of innumerable piggeries oppressed and sickened them. Whatever ad- vantage they derived in emerging from these fever breeding thoroughfares they of course lost again by being compelled to re- turn through them to the city. There was no avoiding them by a detour of any kind, for from river to river the entire centre of the island was invaded by them. To this cause has been mainly due the rapid transformation of neighboring villages like Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Jersey City into large and prosperous communities. By means of the ferries people found that they could get into the country with less trouble and at less sacrifice of comfort than by navigating their way through the filthy and infectious neighbor- hoods that interposed between them and the upper part of the island, To it we owe also the diversion of a large amount of population that would otherwise have located itself here and contributed to lighten the general burden of our city taxation. It is scarcely necessary to add that for all this we have to blame the system which prostitutes to political and party uses all our important municipal offices, Thanks to the fortunate accident which, as Mr. Cobden felicitously expresses it, for once dropped a square peg into a square hole, the office of City Inspector has fallen into thehands of aman who has conscience as well as capa- city. In a few weeks Mr. Delavan has effected in Augeian results what years of remonstrances on the part of our citizens had failed to bring about. By the magical influence of a deter- mined will, and an honest regard to his duty, he has swept from the surface of the island the greatest plague spot that disfigured it. Yes, Pigtown is no more; and we believe that it will not be in the power of the rottenest of the officials that political influences may hereafter thrust upon us to revive its extinct nuisances, Since the introduction of the Croton water and the institution of the Central Park no greater public benefit has been conferred upon our glly. Certwinly, if Mr. Delavan is not yet en