The New York Herald Newspaper, January 6, 1861, Page 4

4 . NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES eouner BENNETT, OFFIC’ N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. MRMS, cox tr advance. Money sent by mail wilt be at the Wak of the soul, one but Mads arent tn ewe York BAILY RERALD. to conte per pn, $1 per annum. HE WEERLN HA ALD, coery katsreuy, al sit cont 07 98 ver cannons the Buropean Edition ote Wedne: ‘am ta tg cents wor copy, $4 por annua to any part of breat Bi de postage; the news, solicited from an wter of the 'weorid; if wseudy will be Werle pos for. par bun FouRIGN CORRESPONDENTS ARK Panniovisuiy Requesrep ¢o Suac alt Larrens ano Pack- ‘agus SENT US. "NO NOTICE taken of anonymous correspondence, We do not Peturn reiected comanunroations Wokmmme AXVI. 1... ccc cece cree ee ceeeeeeeeee No. 5 AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadw: Tur GLaMmiAaTor WINTER GARDEN, Broadway, site Bond strect.— Mond Mr Pie SHILLINGs—MAgirra—Pae Srerrute, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Srarpina ‘Bqvaarsiax Tnoure—Monstxx oF St. MicHaxt. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—Paviiny—Tow Nopoy's Secret. LAURA KEENE’S THEATRE, No, 624 Broatway.— BAVEN BISTADS, NEW BOWERY THEATRE. Bowery.~—Biux Beano— Foun Lovars—Two Hicdwavaen, JARNUM’S AMERICAN MUSEUM, teat ea Hand Ereuine te Sea or Icx—Aztag CuiLbREN—Livuig Cumi- osrrins, £0. BRYANTS’ MINSTRE! way. —Bunissauxs, SoxGs, HOOLEY & CAMPBELL'S MINSTRELS, Niblo’s Saloon, Zromivay —Keworsax Boxas, Daxcss, BunLEsaues, Ac. Hurry New Year, CANTERBURY MUSIO HALE, 63 Broadway.—Soxas, Daxons, Boxxsquas, &c. & Rocrn's Mechanics Hall, 472 Broad- os, &C.—Diriz's Lanv, New York, Sunday, January 6, 1861. ei The News. Tie Committee of Fourteen, appointed by a can- cus of Congressmen from the border States of Delaware, Marylaud, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and N sey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, fndi from the North, have agreed, with the exception of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, to recommend the adoption th Carolina from the Sonth, and New Jer- a, Itinois and others of amendments to the Constitution to the following effect: — First,Recommending a repeal of all the Per- sonal Liberty bills. Second.—That the Fugitive Slave law be amended for the prevention of kidnapping and so ‘as to provide for the equalization of the Commis- sioners’ fee, &c. Third.—That the constitudion be so amended as to prohibit any interference with slavery in any of the States where it now exists. Fourth.—That Congress shall not abolish slavery i@the Southern dockyards, arsenals, &c., nor in the District of Columbia hout the consent of the inhabitants of the district, nor without com- pensation. Fifth.—That Congress slull not interfere with the inter-State slave trade. Sirth.—That there shall be a perpetual probibi- tion of the African slave trade. Seventh.—That the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes shall be ran through all the existing territory of the United States; that in all north of that line shavery shall be prohibited, and that south of that line neither Congress nor the Territorial Legisla- ture shall hereafter pass any law abolishing, pro- hibiting, or in any mauner interfering with African slavery, and that when any Territory containing a sufficient population for one member of Congress in any area of 60,000 square miles shall apply for admission as a State, it shall be admitted, with or without slavery, as its constitution may determine. This plan of adjustment appears to have at first met with considerable favor at the capital, and it was thoaght likely that the President would com- mend it to the attention of Congress. But the caucus of the republicans yesterday utterly ex- tinguished the last hope of settlment through the instrumentality of the present Congress. The caucus, after a full and free discussion upon the werits of the border State programme, decided adversely to any and all compromises whatever, vnd agreed simply to press forward the regular business of the seseion. and then adjourned sine die. Ata meeting of the Hone Committee on the Crisis yesterday, Mr. Hamilton, of Texas, submit- ted a proposition in favor of calling a national convention of delegates fresh from the people, with the view to amending the constitation so as to meet the requirements of all sections of the country. The veports from Charleston represent the con- The troops ordered inte the field by the Governor are said to he suffering severely from the exposure incident to their new mode of life, and much sicknes+ prevails among them, while the merchents are without bnsineas and the mechanics without work. ‘The South Carolina Convention adjourned ves- terday forenoon, subject t» the call of the Goy- of a gentleman named Lacias Woodruff, in Northampton county, N. ¢ by his slaves, has created an extraordinary excite- ment, a« it is believed the crime was porpetraicd at the instigation of abolitionists Tu the Senate yesterday Mr. Mason off tid over, calling o resolution, which wae Wor Department for copies of whatever hove been sent to Mejor Anderson s the Ist o November; also for whatever plans t vand er-in-chief of the army may have su xpecting the forts in the Southern Stotes. The House Pacific Railroad bill was then taken up and discussed. Mr. Seward advocated the measu being a means of binding together the variv tions of the country. An amendment meking the route run from the mouth of Kansas river was adopted by a vote of thirty-five to twenty-three. Without taking further action the Senate adjourn- ed. The House was not in session yesterday. The President has appointed R. M. Magrath Consul at Liverpool, in place of Beverly Tucker, recalled Hon. Robert MeLane, United States Minister to Mexico, caine passenger to New Orleans in the steamsliip Tennessee, whieh left Vera Craz on the 23d ult. The capture of Degollado and other Viberal generals Wy Miramon at Toluca—which is nearly fifty miles from the capitel—is confirmed. Our correspondent thinks the captured chiefs will be shot. The liberal army was advancing ate snail’s pace and with extreme cantion, inspired, probably, by @ wholesome fear of Vheir redoubt- able little adversary, who will, beyond doubt make a desperate and bloody defence. The Pre widential canvass ix proceeding very qnietly, but it is too soon as yet to form an opinion as to the result. We publish in our news columns today @ puceinct tabniarized statement of the bneiness | transacted in our civil and criminal law courts during the year 1960. The account will be fonnd interesting and well worthy of careful perusal, Among the curious facts in the statement of the civil courts are, that over three millions of dollars have been recovered in judgments, and a large mount of other business equitably disposed of. From the criminal conrt report we learn that Phere has been one exeontion of 9 murderer Anr- ing the year; ninety-five males and nineteen fe males convicted and s»nt tothe State prison for crimes, and the aggregate ame. at of terms of im- prisonment, one thousand an | sixty -three years. Ube cotton markets was excite yester and the ulative feeling previously noticed co: ed. The sais footed up about 9,000 a 10,000 baies, aut 600 c¢ which were sold in‘twansit. Prices closed at hig ver © ¢8, and we now quote middling uplands at 1230 divi! for common grades of shipping lots of State a1 Western; white and extra grades were in steady rq quest and firmer, with a fair amount «f sales. Wheat opened with a firmer appearance, but closed duli, | sales were tolerabiy active, chiefly for export- | Owing to the firmnegs in freights, corn was heavy, with | moderste sales, and closed at easier rates. Pork was firmoer, with sales of mess at $16 50a $16 (214, $11 50 for old prime, $12 50 for new do., aud at £18 for lear. Sugars were steady and rather firmer; the sales em braced about 800 bhds. Cuba, part at Sic. a6c, Coffee was steady, but sales were light. Freights were quite iy, with moderate engagements, including wheat to erpool, in ship's bags; at LL 4¢d., and flour to London at Gi., with fair engagements of provisions to both | places at full rates, Mr. Buchan: and His Cabinet. Nothing that has occurred in the history of the government of these United States is better caleulated to shake the faith of the political economist in our republican institutions than | the recent events and disclosures at Washington ofextensive and deepseated demoralizations, corruptions and treacheries in the Cabinet. They comprehend the robbery of the Treasury, the ruin of its credit and the overthrow of the government; and not, as it would appear, through the mere recklessness of dishonest agents, but through a deliberate revolutionary conspiracy. With such revelations before us, we cease to be incredulous concerning the dark intrigues of the old Venetian oligarchy, or the bloody instructions of the Borgias; for we are prepared to believe in any enormities of of- ficial treachery and crime, when convinced that they involve traitors and plots in the high places of our government to overthrow it, and to drench this fair land in the blood of a sweep- ing civil war. With the disruption of the Democratic Con- vention at Charleston last spring, the election of ihe republican Presidential ticket became a moral certainty. It is known, too, that the leaders of the secession movement in the South conspired to break up the democracy, in order, to create a convenient excuse for “precipitating the cotton States into a revo- lution.” It is known that Messrs. Cobb, Thompson and Floyd—members at the time of Mr. Buchanan’s Cabinet—actively co-operated with the secessionists in this initiative step to disunion—the disruption of the democratic par- ty. It is no longer doubted that in this way these aforesaid individuals, as officers of the government of the United States, sworn to sup- port the constitution, and while living upon the federal Treasury, have done good service to the conspirators engaged in the work of de- stroying the government, ‘the Union, and the peace of the country. Mr. Cobb, the late Secretary of the Treasury, while engaged in the important business of making « loan in behalf of the government, betrayed, if we are not mistaken, his fuith- lessness in this city, in preaching secession and disunion. His work in the Cabinet, as a dis- unionist. was accomplished only when he had reduced the Treasury to bankruptcy, and then he left it‘ only to go more directly into the busi- ness of revolution. Mr. Thompson, as Secre- tary of the Interior, leaves Washington in the capacity, also, of a disunion am- baseador. from Mississippi to North Ca- rolina, and returns to his office to be informed that frauds have been discovered in his department to an amount somewhere be- tween eight hundred thousand and three mil- lions of dollars. His virtuous indignation calls for an immediate inquiry into the business; and the next thing we hear of him is that he threa- ens to resign his place unless the Président shall abandon his purpose of protecting the government property at Charleston. This is cool; but we have a cooler specimen of official modesty in the late Secretary of War, Mr. Floyd. Morally convicted of extensive jobs in fort sites, army transportation contracts, and things of that sort, he watches for his op- portunity. He finds it in the movement of Major Anderson from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter—a movement which every patriotic man ust commend, but which is so very dis- tasteful to the Secretary of War that unless re- buked and countermanded he will throw up his commission, The President says very well, and Mr. Floyd leaves his department as an offended patriot, although to us he appears a very proper subject for a Congressional com- mittee. Mr. Buchanan is a generous and kind hearted man, and, from his social intercourse with these aforesaid members of his Cabinet, he was, no doubt, disposed to trust them and believe them even against the evidences of his owa senses. They deceived him, however, even in their professions of personal regard—they betrayed him in every way. Otherwise, we dare say, Secretary Cobb would have been dis- missed three years ago; Floyd about the same | time. and Thompson the moment be was sus- | pected as aiding and abetting the conspirators { plotting the destruction of the government. This new man, Mr. Thomas, advanced to the place of Cobb in the Treasury, appears to be a patriot of the same school—pocketing the emoluments of the government as an officer while filling the other character of a sympa- thizer with its enemies. He should not have been retained in the Cabinet another hour after presuming to dictate to the President the terms upon which he would continue to serve him. It is the duty of every officer of the federal government to serve it with an undi- vided loyalty. “No man can serve two mas- ters;"’ no Cabinet officer can serve the govern- | ment of the United States and the independent nationality of South Carojina at the same time. Flo ir was to EG a the Comtinent, | Ga OE Mien Ba the tee Tk dc Blak of ech onal a oz | ta or SL 50 annum. Tue vitizy UEMALD, on Wednesday, at four cents per a Bipot aon ; PTI ERY CORRESPONDENCE, containing important | the parties concerned. Had they been looked | after in season with rigid justice, Mr. Buchanan | would have had no divided counsels in bis | Cabinet at this crisis; no discoveries of treachery, no disclosures of thousands and mil- lions of funds lost through frauds and spolia- tions in the Executive departments; no warn- ings of the march of on armed mob upon the ‘ elty of Washington; no dark hints of revolu- tionary assassins, and none of his present Cubinet embarrassments in the exceution of his official duties, He has commended himself to the approbation of the American people in his ultimatum to South Carolina, in connection with his policy of forbearance and concilia- tion. Let him proceed a step farther, and re- Neve his Cabinet of every man whose public services are or have been divided between the government at Washington and that at Charles: ton, and Mr. Buchanan, justified before the country, will go out of office wih flying colors. We biffe indicated our specifications against NEW YORK HERALD, Abe Lincola, the Rail-Splitter, as a Cabi- act Maker. Honest Old Abe Lincoin, whose achieve- ments as a splitter of rails now form part of the history of the country, has latterly been engaged in anew line of business, a rather higher branch of woodwork, to wit:—the manu- facturing of Cabinets. There is all the differ- ence in the world between splitting timber and putting it together; and we are not ut all surprised to see that the opponents of Lincoln declare persistently that he is still at his old business of disintegration; that he has split the country in twain, and that all his Cabinet making will amount to nothing. On the con- trary, itis quite natural that the friends of Lin- coln shoujd insist that he is a first rate Cabinet maker, and that he will ma- nage to glue the North and South together and dovetail the Union so that all the seams and cracks will be as smooth as if they had never been exposed to the fire of secession. Of course the result of Old Abe's first al- tempts at Cabinet making will be looked for with the utmost impatience by the couniry. Hon. Massa Greeley, who ought to be posted about the affair, gives the following list of Lin- Gideon Welles, Of Connecticut. The first stick of timber brought to Spring- field for Lincoln’s inspection was old Mr. Bates, of Missouri—a beautiful fossil, round, smooth, and in very excellent pfteservation. Old Mr. Bates is susceptible of a very high degree of polish, and therefore was accepted without hesitation. xt came Proviso Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, who was pressed for the Treasury Department; but, being measured, weighed and tried by all the usual tests, he was set aside as not being up to the mark. Simon Cameron fas the next customer, and he was declared sound as Florida oak. Simon will be the leading spirit in the new Cabinet, ruling in the kitchen as well as the parlor. Cameron gets the War Department, and will be found equal to the post. He isa descendant of the old Scottish clan—the Highland Camerons— who used to divide their time between pecula- tion and devotion; equally fond of piety and plunder, they succeeded in serving God and Mammon as well as any of our modern stock- jobbing parsons and religious defaulters. In times of political troubles the Camerons were al- ways to be found on the stronger side; and to the gentlemanly occupations previously alluded to they occasionally added a little homicide, by way of relaxation. Nobody ever questioned the pluck of a Cameron, and as this is a virtue generally transmitted in the blood, it is more than probable that Simon has a large share of it. He is aself made man. Beginning asa printer’s boy, he worked himself up to the edi- torial chair, waxed wealthy, was cashier of a bank, and then turned professional politician. He is one of the shrewdest men in that busi- ness that the country can show, “In 1856 he organized the people’s party in Pennsylvania, and in the very next Legislature managed to upset Forney, who had just succeeded in carrying the State for Buchanan, and fancied that he had Pennsylvania in his breeches pocket. Cameron got the place in the Senate which Forney had set his heart upon, and has been a prime mover in all party tactics since 1857. As»a politician he com- bines the qualities of all the members of the celebrated New York firm—Seward, Weed, Greeley & Co.—but resembles Weed more than any of the others. Seward, as we understand, goes into the Cabi- net in order that he may provide for his friends Weed, Draper & Co. Lincoln believed Seward to be rather a crooked stick, and desired that he should go abroad. The Greeley faction also insisted that Seward should be sent off; and it was finally arranged that the post should be tendered to him, and that he should keep it until after the distribution of the spoils, and then go upon a long tour to the East, visiting Japan, China, Hindostan, Persia and Tartary, bringing up at the Holy Sepulchre, Mr. Seward and Mr. Bates have accepted the posts offered to them. Mr. Chase, who is named for the Treasury, is considered as a piece of sound timber of democratic stock, and was urged by the Ohio delegation at Chicago. Chase is a smoother stick than his confvere Wade, who has atendency to go against the grain. Chase's appointment will be very satisfactory to the West. Robert E. Scott, of Virginia, is the identical Captain Scott whose achievements in coon hunting are well known. In 1852 Captain Scott brought down all the Presiden- tial aspirants by opening a correspondence with them and spreading their views before the country. Now all the Presidents are bound to come down when summoned by Seott. They inquire: Are you Captain Scott—the Captain Seott whom poor Pierce sent to Rio If so, don’t fire; I'M come down. It may be, however, that Scott has not bevelled his rifle at Lincoln, but that the immortal Botts is to be taken to sleep with Old Abe as with Captain John Tyler. Perbaps the appointment of Botts would have the effect of curing him of the cacoethes serendi—e frightful malady which has affected him during the last five and twenty years, more or less. Mr. Grabam is a seasoned stick of cabinet timber. He was Secretary of the Interior un- der Fillmore. In the present aspect of affairs it does not seem probable that he would take office under Lincoln. Last, and most wonderful of all, we have Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, for the Post Office. Where, in the name of all the departed heroes and fossilized politicians, did they dig up that antique bit of timber? We recollect that one Gideon Welles came to his death by a political accident or blander in Jackson's time; that he had a great funeral: end it is certain that some wooden nutmeg Old Mortality can point ont to the pensive «tu. dent of epitaphs his tombstone, quite over. grown with moss, and almost hidden by a luxuriant crop of weeds. In the absence of positive proof to the contrary, we are bound to insist that Gideon Welles has been gathered to his fathers, and is, to all intents and purposes, quite incapable of taking charge of any part of the Post Office, unless it may be the Dead Letter depar(ment. ye have now finished a preliminary inspection of Mr. Lincoln's timber, and without express- ing a definite opinion upon the results of his first attempt at Cabinet making, we may yet say that it is pretty fair fora beginning. Whether the different elements, the Southern oak and North- ern maple, can be worked in together, tine will show. It seems that only Seward, Bates and Cameron aye sure that Seward will give up SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 1861. his poctiolio soon after the 4th of March, aud { “higher law?" But itis aot tye, The laud] Tay Amr Tuxssyns OF mm Taramrar Paso that Cameron will rule at the White House. Of course there will be @ tremendous rush for the federal spoils, and pertiaps it will be as well for our republicaa friends to take some mea- sures to assure thelr followers that there will be something left to struggle for. A great deal depends upon the result of the rail-splitter’s Cabinet making. What docs the couutry think of it” The Fast Day Union Sermoms—The Ciergy us Statesmen and Theologians. in yesterday's issue we published some twen- ty sermous preached on Friday, the day set apart by the President for a national fast. Some of them were good, some bad, and some indifferent; but we confess that on the whole we fear that, like the speeches ia Congress, they have done more harm than good. The clergy owe the country much at the present juncture, for they have done much to bring about our troubles, but we fear they will do but little to cure them. The clergy are useful to the community when they keep strictly within the limits of their pro- fession; but when they dabble in politics, attempt tosolve social problems, or affect statesmanship, then they are out of their element, and exhibit themselves more incompetent to direct the pubiic mind than even the politicians. They dea) 1m abstractions, and have no just eoncep- tions of the practical in human government. There is one remarkable fact connected with these sermons which must have struck the minds of all who read them, and that is the different, the very opposite light in which slavery is regarded by the different preachers. Some of them,-like Beecher aad White, denounce negro avery as the most heinous of all sins-—‘ the wntic and terrible and heaven defying sys- tem of oppression and barbarism and crime which is cursing the land;” and they burn with holy ardor to cut it out of the heart of the South with the sword, though the nation should bleed to death from the operation. Others, like, Doctors Vinton, Taylor and Raphall, prove fromthe Bible-from the Old Testament as well as the New—that slavery has been re- cognized by God in all ages as a righteous in- stitution; that the patriarchs practised it with His sanction; that Moses in his divine legation laid down precise rules (o regulate it; that it is protected by the last of the Ten Command- menis—“thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's male slave nor his female slave; that it is no- torious slavery existed on every side of Christ and his Apostles, and yet they did not denounce it, whereas they did denounce idolatry and every known sin; that, on the contrary, they exhorted slaves to honor and obey their masters; and, finally, that the Fuf@tive Slave law carrying out the provision of the constitution for restoring bondmen is borrowed from St. Paul. “And there is, moreover.” says Dr. Vinton, “a fugitive slave law of the New Testament, in the Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon;” and, what is still bet- ter, the great Apostle of Christianity practised that law himself, sending back the fugitive, Onesimus, to his master, Well, therefore, may Dr. Raphall ask “the reverend gentleman of Brooklyn and his compeers:"—“How dare you, in the face of the sanction and protection afforded to slave pgoperty in the Ten Com- mandments—how dare you denounce slave- holding as a sin? When you remember that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job—the men with whom the Almighty communed, with whose names He emphatically connects His own most holy name, and to whom He vouchsafed to give the character of ‘perfect, upright, fearing God and eschewing evil’~(Job i, 8)—that all these men were slaveholders, does it not strike you that you are guiliy of something very little short of blasphemy?” When theological doctors thus differ, how are their disciples to agree? Is it not irne that the clergy make infidels by their contradictory teachings? Can anything more clearly demon- strate the absurdity of presenting slavery as a politico-religious question, and rendering it a party test on moral and religious grounds? What says Rev. Theodore F. White, of the Church of the Puritans” Even A. Barnes charges « sast_ measure of the respon- sibility for the continuance of slavery on the Christian church; and if any other argumen! be needed than the daily observation of every man on this point, let it be aftorded in the avowed position of the Old School Presby- terian, the Reformed Duteh and the Protestant Kpisco- Pal, as well as other denominations: in the attitude of the American Tract Society and the examples of an Adams, a Lord and aH. J. Vandyke, To what depths of base- ness may not others fall when the aunointed ministers of the very Jesus, &e., &e. On the other hand, hear Dr. Taylor, of Grace church, Broadway:—- South Carolina has been irritated and noes by the Iibele that have been upon the most sacred and most delicate of her domestic institutions, by the moontebanks ¢ pulpit, whe, in their pestiterons Career, aré animated by the most 1gno- ble of all the forms in Which worldly ambition ean dis- cowed to mad \orth for years play itself—the ambition for securing notoriety by an as- ‘Scclation with the demons in paadering to the fulse pre- judices and malignant passions of vulgar minds. * © ® © The present excited condition of the public mind ributed to ber ‘ausea, The first ing that the insane ravi in which tl dresset up in the language of bordering always certam fanatical prea gibberish of falsehood y Writ—the -mart sayings of ot upon blasphemy —in which libels ‘nunciations are clothed and mixed with coarse ancedetes and vulgar ri- baldry, are fair expositions of the feelings of Northern people for their countrymen of the South. One is for war, and another is for peace. One holds Mr, Buchanan up to scorn asa vile mon- ster for aiding slavery and not putting down South Carolina by fire and sword. Another ex- claims, “Blessed be James Buchanan, if only for that one thing, that he will not, if he can help it, consent to the shedding of a single drop of blood !" Dr. Vinton, whose sermon in other respects is good, attributes the present crisis to the fact that “the constitution contains no acknowledg- ment of God—no recognition of Jesus Christ.” “Why, then,” he asks, “should we expeet God’s blessing on our Union as one nation?” We ask, which God should be acknowledged? The clergy differ co widely about God and what he teaches that every sect would want a divinity to snit its own views ac- knowledged in the constitution. —If any other than a Puritan God were recognized in the constitution, Beecher would call him the prince of devils, and denounce the consti- tution as “a covenant with death and an agree- ment with hell.” The absence of religion, there fore, from the constitution is the very wisest provision of the framers of that instrument; and «o far from being the cause of the danger which now threatens the Union, had the clergy been consulted and their advice taken to interlard the constitution with religious, sectarian opin- fons, the confederacy would have been torn to pieces long ago. The government has no ele- ment of permanency #0 strong as the ignoring of religion in the constitution. In the face of this fact, however, Henry Ward Beecher maintains that this is “a Puritan land.” If that be true, why was not Puritanism insert- ed in the constitution? Why were not the “righteous overmuch” able (9 jatreduce theig ———— Le is cot Puritan, and we hope never will be. There wove other settlers of the colonies besides the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. The settlers of the Old Dominion, the colony of Jamestown. There were the Cavaliers, the Catholics, Fpis- copallans and Huguenots of the South, and the Reformed Dutch, Episcopalians and en- lightened Presbyterians and Quakers of the North, as well as the Puritans of New England. And if the latier were to be swallowed up by an eatthquake to-day, the whole country would have reason to rejoice. Puritan propagandism is the grand source of our national troubles; and if the government should be dissolved the impartial historian will say that Puritanism was the entering wedge which split it, and that clergymen like Henry Ward Beecher drove it home by repeated blows for twenty-five years, till they succeeded at last and the Union sank to rise no more. Beccher, with his wild notions of what he calls liberty, is opposed to negro slavery, and the “man of God” is a man of war. Some of the ablest and most exemplary of the clergy in this vicinity endorse slavery, and are men of peace. There is thus an irrepressible conflict in the chureb, even at the North, on the ques- tion of slavery. As for the clergy of the South, they are pretty well united. From Richmond, for instance, we learn that “most of the ser- mons were extremely warlike. Rev. Mr. Hoge, of the Second Presbyterian church, strongly counselled resistance; and the Rev. Mr. Duncan, of the Broad street Methodist church, said he would himself, if necessary, lead an army in resistance to federal aggression.” The most sensible remark we haye seen in all the ser- mons on the su’ject of internecine war is one by Rey. Dr. Chapin, who said :— ‘There can be no good in civil war. Perhaps they wonud say he was afraid of civil war. Ho must admit that he ‘was, and he bad no respect for the man who did not fear because they could not realize tement—it was the last ar never does good; it d yet left them exactly it, ‘Those who did not, it x it, Civil war was no holidi of al appeals. Further, ctvil 's of blood to low, where they were. Equally just is the observation of Dr, Hawks— the only clergymen who took such ground that, as in all family feuds, there are faults on both sides, and both ought to be censur- ed; and his counsel that the people ought to command their representatives in Congress to make peace is worthy of a rational and en- lightened minister of the Gospel. Tne CorPoratioN AND THE Crists.—The se- cession crisis, which has begun with the folly of South Carolina, is destined, if it is not pro- perly met, to affect the city of New York more seriously than any other event that has occurred for the last two centuries; and yet there never was greater apathy manifested by all classes, and especially by the politicians, than upon this momentous question. Merchants, bankers, brokers and business men generally appear to be oblivious of the age in which they are living, and entirely un- conscious of the dangers which overshadow th¢ future. They are buying and selling on the brink of a volcano, The politicians are ab- sorbed in mere local squabbles, as heretofore, just as if the country, of which this metropolis ‘is the great heart and centre, was not under- going the throes of a revolution, which threatens to desolate it from border to border. In Tammany Hall and the other political gathering places they are quarrelling about who shall represent this or that grogshop ward, and who shall get the largest share of the plunder. And as to the Corporation—-they have spoken at last, and taken the right ground in this eventful crisis, which is going to re- duce property of every kind in this city to one-half its value. If ever there was a time when the Corporation of the commercial me- tropolis of the country should rise above mere personal and party considerations, and, mani- festing a national pride and dignity worthy of their position, do something to stay the threat- ening disaster, it is now. The resolutions adopted by both Boards, on Friday evening, must meet the approbation of every class and every party in the city, and we are glad to find that Alderman Boole—who introduced them—though he may be a man of no cduca- tion, has at least some sagacily and common sense; but as for Alderman Brady, the only one who opposed them. we always thought that he had some acuteness, though no education: but now we see that he has neither education nor sense, nor any other qualification for his position. The almost unanimous adoption of these resolutions, appealing to the forbearance of the South, approving of the course of the President of the United States, and calling upon the Legis- lature to convoke a State Convention. shows at least that the Corporation realize the condition of the times, and are able and will- ing to take their part in a difficulty which seems to have befogged and paralyzed the whole nation? If the consequences which now seem imminent should accrue, every man, woman and child in this vast ci which the Corporation exercise legislative authority, will suffer grievously, to the extent at least of half their property «nd half their income, while thousands of them will be re- duced to absolute beggary and want. In such a state of things is it not marvellous to be- hold the politicians, and the mercbants, doing nothing, raising no voice, making no manifestation of interest in the events which are rapidly drifting the country to civil war and destruction ’ Every day the Southern States are perfecting their arrangements for the assembling of con- stituent conventions, which will most certainly agree upen such amendments to the constitu- tion as will compel the Northern States either to adopt them and reconstruct the confederacy or to bring about an issue which in six months from now will dissolve the confederacy alto- gether, and divide the republic into two ec. tions, What course should the people of New York pursue in anticipation of such a result? A public meeting of the merchants, bankers and people of all classes should be called at once, whereby an opportunity would be afforded to express popular sentiment upon the state of the country; and this meeting should sustain the resolutions of the Corporation, and call upon the Legislature to enact a measure pro- viding for the election of delegates to a con- stituent convention of the State, which would be able to treat with the Southern State con- ventions, receive their proposals, and agree to some measures of compromise and safety. This ts the way the question is going to be settled eventually. Congress is evidently not fit for the emergency. It must be settled be- tween the people of the North and the people of the South, in constituent conventions assem- bled, and we are proud to see that New York has (aken some step in this directin. av Paxns—Taz Story of Taxm Desravorion Rervrep.—When tho news of the sacking of the imperial palace at Pekia reached this ; the first reflection that occurred to the mind was one of regret that some effort should, not have been made to save from destruction the treasures of art and antiquity that it contained, To the Wrench officers was accredited the van- dalism of allowing their soldiers to appropriate or destroy everything of value within its walls. Considering the vast number of works of art and rare industrial specimens, the accumulation of ages, which decorated the imperial resi- dence, the world had deep reason to deplore this reported destruction of its contents. The story happily turns out to be a news- paper fabrication, intended to cast odium upon the French. We find all its statements official- ly contradicted in a letter from General de Montauban to the Minister of War. After a brief description of the splendors of the palace, of which he says nothing in Europe can give an idea, he adds that on driving the Tartar troops out of the building, he caused its dif- ferent ontlets to be strongly guarded, in. order that. nothing might be. disarranged until the English came up. On the arrival of Lord Elgin and General Grant, three commissionets from each army were appointed to proceed to the division of the most valuable. articles, and they were directed to bestow thelr attention only upon the objects which from their art and antiquity were most to be prized. These are to be sent to Paris and London, in order to be placed in the national museums of the two countries. This explanation relieves the French froma the double accusation made against them of a barbarian disregard of the claims of art and of bad faith towards their allies, It also brings with it the gratifying conviction that the reduc- tion of Pekin will result in more important advantages to the world than the mere consoli- dation of English and French commercial inte- vests in the East. The treasures discovered in the imperial palace will throw a new light om the origin of European art and manufactures, and many of the theories which have been se long accepted in regard to them may be en- tirely overthrown by it. Thus in the elucida- tion of many of the doubtful points in the early stages of Western civilization, which undoubt- edly borrowed much from this ancient empire; in the spread of Christianity amongst the Asiatic populations whose governments have hitherto jealously excluded its missionaries from amongst them, and in the opening up of their interior trade to commercial enterprise, the world will be immensely benefitted by the hu- miliation of the imperial dynasty. Great as is the faithlessness and duplicity of Chinese diplomatisis, the severe lesson which they have received will prevent them again attempting to blind their people to the real character and objects of Western policy in their regard. Rorar, Ferterry ws Merry Ysorivn—fa another part of this paper we fiave reprinted from a Liverpoo) journal an article which con- tains some singular developements as to the condition of the lower classes in the agricultural districts of England, and we desire to call. the especial attention of our abolition cotempora- ries to the facts contained in the official report upon this important subject. According to this account, many of the agricultural population of England herd together like wild beasts, and an American farmer would not use an English cottage as a pen for his swine. In many in- stances men women and children, without dis- tinction of age, are huddled together in one small room, and so pestiferous have some of the cottages become that the grand juries have presented them as nuisances. This indiscrimi- nate mixing of the sexes accounts for the terribly low state of morality which prevails among the British peasantry, who are degraded to a degree which would not be credited by people who have not had personal observation of the facts. Many of these people are sent to the United States, and bring their habits along with them. In one tenement house in this city six hundred persons are lodged, and our subterranean population is counted by thousands. These facts are preg- nant with meaning just now, when the English journals are full of lamentations. over the awful effects of negro slavery, and when the British view of the matter is accepted by peo- ple on this side of the Atlantic, both parties being altogether ignorant as to the relative con- ditions of the slave and the free laborer. Com- pared with the English laborer, the slave lives like a prince. He has his cabin, generally neat and clean, and always weather proof. He has likewise his own garden patch, over which he is lord paramount. He is well fed, well lodged, well clothed, and rarely overworked. His holidays are nomerous and enjoyed with infinite gusto. Sleek, happy and contented, the slave lives to « great age. The white laborer, on the contrary, struggles through @ brief existence, aud considers himself fortunate if by incessant toil he can procure the mere necessaries of life. This general view applies to the mass of laborers under both systems. There are exceptions, of course, but they are rare. Both in Great Britain and the large cities of the Northern United tates the supply of labor exceeds the demand, and the practice is to get the greatest possible amountof work for the smallest possible sum of money. When the laborer is worn out he is free to lie down in the ditch and die. The «lave owner, on the con- trary, finds it to his interest to treat his negroes liberally, and takes every means to make them happy. healthy and contented. And that is the simple difference between the two systems, a8 any unprejudiced persons who have examined them both will agree. But the English will persist in crying out about the sin of slavery, and large landed proprietors groan over the unhappy fate of the African bondman, while their own tenants—for whose moral and physical condition they are as responsible as a Southern planter for that of his slaves—are literally starving. In the one case the respon- sibility is sbitked, and in the other it is attended to that’s all. Savernay’s Hyrano—A Sprcmims ov News- raren Exrerviccse.—The New Yor Haratp of Saturday, triple sheet—comprehending some twenty-eight and more closely printed columns of the observances and sefMmons in this city, Brooklyn avd Washington on Fast Day—we sub- mit, is little in advance of any other specimen of newspaper enterprise which the world cam furnish. All this religions miscellany is extra, matter: for, apart from this mass of theotogieat information. the Hrnatn of Saturday is a groas paper: and yet—news, editorials, sermons, ad- vortisements and all--.we sold it, as we eetl the Tleaacn every day, for twa gents, An immense