The New York Herald Newspaper, February 26, 1871, Page 6

BROA ADWAY AND A JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ANl business or news @espaiches must be Hrnatv. sessed iter ae telegraphic addressed New York Letters and packa es should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will be re- turned. TF sear. not day tn the Four cenis per copy, Annual sudseription rrees JOB PRINTING of every description, aiso Stereo typing an 7, neatly and promptly exe- cuted No. 57 PATRE, 45 Bowery.—TEans ween Dib and 6th avs,— corner 30tb st.—Perform- 720 Broadway.—Tlowrep * Many Leia, io THEATRE, Broadway.—Tar Riomeniec or D. Rowery.—Pour; on, WAY DowN Ps RA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Va- Sid Broadway.—Comto Vocat. 4, 585 Rroadway.— UES, £0. en 6th NEW Yor THE RING Temple ‘ie Case of the Ship Neptune—A 1t—Caiching a burglar Asleep—A rliament: Discussion Over the Powers of the Jomt High Commi-siou—The Cour: sBankruptey Cases—A_ Female Fire | The Si ap in Hoboken—Indiana er Supply im Brooklyn— { Fimancial and Comuer- | and Dea! icle, “Phe Reconstrnc- a the Pope’ — ‘a ce Question—The High Commission—Misccllaneous Tele- | oe gmrdccnng = Joteiartiee—Views of the it~ Business Ni S—The Dry Goods Murket—A Divorce in High Lile—Advertisements, 40—Celestial Crispins as Christians—Lecture by the Rev. Dr. Wise on the Origin of Caristianity— The Exiles—Shipping Intelligence—Advertise- ments ®—Advertisements. W—Advertisements, 32—Advertisemenis. Taz Carolina Spartan says Horace! Greeley has been investing capital in some werm eprings in North Carolina. The wise gaan maketh provision for the future. Corontrt G. A. C. Hort, who has just been elected Speaker of the Senate of Kentucky, is said to be the youngest man who ever held the position. He is, however, said to be an able and, what is noteworthy under the circum- stances, a very modest man. Senator Morron’s Commirrer on Southern outrages have ferreted out the secrets of the Ku Kluxes and traced most ot the disturb- ances in the South to the operations of this order. At the next session of Congress effect- ual measures will be passed for the suppres- sion of this dangerous association. Senaror Suaser had sufficientiy recovered his health to entertain his friends at dinner yesterday. The Serator’s illness by no means improved his amiability. He is preparing to declare war upon the administration, and as soon as he is able to resume his seat in the Senate will make an onslaught upon the Presi- dent which, for bitterness and malignity, will exceed any of hia tirades against Andy JohM@on. Kexntvcxy has adopted a novel, efficient and harmless method of circumventing negro evi- dence. Thomas Scroggins was confined in the Frankfort jail on charge of murdering a negro, and all the witnesses against him were gegroce. On Thursday night a band of masked men entered the jail, took Scroggins from the custody of the Sheriff and sent the prisoner on his way rejoicing. Negro testi- mony, even when backed by United States bayonets, is not strong enough to hang Scrog- gins. Tat Harry Tato or ieeencanse Louis Blanc, Victor Hugo and Henri aie fort, intend presenting a motion to the Na- tional Assembly demanding the impeachment of Louis Napoleon. We have no idea that they intend impeaching him for declaring war against Prussia, or even for bad management after the war commenced. When the motion is presented it will be seen that they demand the impeachment of M. Louis Napoleon Bona- parte, President of the French republic, and not of the Emperor Napoleon If]. Of course the offence charged will be violation of the constitution. Your French red feels a lofty | of Thiers, there is hope for the republic. NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 1871-TRIPLE SHER NEW YORK HERALD!" Che Resantirbetiia ‘of insce =e Thiers and the Pope. The terms of peace, we cannot doubt, have been virtually agreed upon between Germany and France. The details, we believe, all con- jectures to the contrary, remain only to be settled and the ratification of the treaty by the French National Assembly at Bordeaux. As this body, by the terms of the late armistice, was elected for this express purpose, in order that Germany might have something like a responsible government with which to treat, we can entertain no doubt of the ratification, In the appointment of M. Thiers as the executive head pro tem, of France, and of Thiers and Jules Favre on the part of the Assembly to negotiate this treaty, we have the most satisfactory evidence that “the reds” In the Assembly aro a powerless minority. The treaty, then, will be ratified ; the German armies will be withdrawn to their own Boil, including the Rhine and Moselle ter- rit and the fortresses thereof surrendered by France, and M. Thiers and the French As- mbly will be left to the momentous and diffi- task of toe reconstruction of their govern- nt, The present provisional establishment of Thiers way be likened to the late Regency in Spain, under Marshal Serrano and General Prim, the half-way house between a revolution anda reorg nization, the stepping-stone be- tween the government overthrown and cast oat and the goverament which is to take its place. What will this government be? M. Thiers is appointed to settle this question, or, at all even's, its settlement is in bis hands, The people of France in their elections to this important organic Assembly, and the Assem- bly in electing him as a sort of provisional dictator, have placed the destinies of the 7 nation, in the treaty with Germany and in the reorganization of France, under his direction. His great abilities and his great and varied experience as a statesman threugh forty years of the vicissitudes of the elder Bourbons, the Orleanists, the republic and the empire, and particularly his self-sacrificing patriotism through ail the bewildering events to poor France since July last, have made him for her the man of all men for the er What, then, will be the govern- | ment which, through his management of the present Assembly, will be given to France? ; Will it be the confirmation of the republic or the the recall of the Orleanists or the restoration of the empire? From his antecedents it is difficult to tell whether M. Thiers has more faith in a conservative republic or a liberal monarchy. He certainly has no faith in ‘the reds,” and the disastrous follies and buffoon- eries of Gambetta and company appear to have thoroughly disgusted the great body of the French people with Gambetta’s ideas of “liberty, equality and fraternity.” Still, under what we may call the Regency We presume that with the retirement of the Ger- maus the Assembly at Bordeaux will move to Paris—that its first business will then be a new constilution for France—that it will be the constitution of a conservative republic or a liberal monarchy, and that whether king or president is chosen, his clection will be sub- mitted with the new constitution to the popu- lar vote of France. This institution of the empire will at least be retained, although from the costly and humiliating failure of Louis Napoleon in this war the last hope for the Bonapartes appears to be gone. We believe, too, from the political record of M. Thiers and from the prevailing public sentiment of France, that the interests of the Pope and the Church will not be overlooked in this political reconstruction of the French government. Thiers has always beeu a strong advocale of the rights of the Pope, even to the extent of maintaining him in his tempo- ralities. This was much of the strength of Louis Napoleon in his plébiscites among the devoted Catholic peasantry of France. Here, too, we expect from Thiers a leading feature of the coming government in the protection of the Pope. And, whatever may be said of the misfortunes resulting to the Pope since the proclamation of the dogma of Papal infallibili- ty, itis apparent, in the Old World and the New, that this dogma and the misfor- tunes of the Holy Father have drawn the Catholic Church into closer sympathy with him and his cause as head of the Church than was ever known before since the procla- mation of the unfurtunate son of the First Napoleon as King of Rome. Indeed, we dare say that not one in all the long line of the Popes of Rome has been held in the affec- tionate veneration of the Church throughout the world which marks its attachment to the good Pio Nono. His exalted piety, his genial and benevolent character, his gentle manners, his simple habits and his winning kiudness to all visitors, and, above all, his many and severe misfortunes, have identified him with every hope and every prayer of the two hun- dred millions of living Catholics on the Earth, and of the many millions more gone to a higher life ‘‘among the just made perfect.” M. Thiers, if not as a churchman, as a saga- cious statesman, will doubtless appreciate this pious veneration and sympathy for the Holy Father so universally entertained by the Catholics in both hemispheres, not forgetiing the thirty odd millions of Catholics in France. We believe, too, that they are represented in this National Assembly with sufficient strength to make themselves felt in its deliberations. What then? What can poor France do in her present helplessness to help the cause of the Pope? She can still do much from the moral influence of her example. Let it be made known that the new government of France—king or president—is committed to the maintenance of the independence of the Pope on a liberal footing, and the governments of Spain, Italy and Austria will be drawn into more active manifestations of sympathy with him than they have exhibited since the dispersion of the Ecumenical Council. We need not remind the readers of the Heraxp of the kindly senti- ments expressed by the King of Prussia toward the Pope at the beginning of this terrible war, and we cannot imagine that this King, as the Emperor of Germany, has become indifferent to the Roman question. The mil- lions of his Catholic subjects in the South contempt for fact when it doesn’t suit his pur- pose. In the eyes of Victor Hugo the republic never ceased to exist. There was no empire, no emperor, ‘‘only a hideous nightmare.” Consequently impeachment is in order. German States will only the more strongly incline him and Count Bismarck, a8 a stroke of policy, to closer relations of friendship with the visible head of the Catholic Church. From the developments already made as to ' religiously observed, | the political composition and drift of this organic French National Assembly in the choice of M. Thiers to negotiate a treaty of peace, and from his election as provisional head of the State, we are strongly drawn to these conclusions—first, that in the political reorganization of France the wishes and hopes of her Roman Catholic people as Catholics will not be overlooked ; secondly, that, perhaps, through the voice of France, seconded by Mr, Gladstone in the recalled London Conference of the great Powers, the Roman question and the _ settle- | ment of the future status of the Pope will be taken up as a LHaropean question, and that a settlement will be made on a broader basis of independence to the Pope | than the settlement undertaken by Italy, | which limits the Holy Father to the inde- pendence of the Vatican and an allowance of six handred thousand dollars a year as | compensation for tho loss of his temporall- ties, Perhaps the Napoleonic idea of the island | of Sardinia or of Sicily as the temporal king- dom of the Pope may be adopted, with a satisfactory equivalent to Ltaly. It is evident | that Pio Nono is fixed in the conviction that | he has no right to sacrifice the patrimony of St. Peter, and that he will not consent to the compensations proposed by Italy. Buthe may consent to anexchange, upon the principle that “‘a fair exchange is no robbery,” and he may consent, too, in view ef the difficulties of dis- lodging the Italian government from Rome. He may also recognize the important fact that while he, as the successor of St. Peter, bas his claims, the progressive spirit and ideas of the age have also their claims, which cannot besafely disregarded by State or Church. In any event, from the political reconstruction of France in behalf of law, order, property and religion, we are drawn to the opinion that the Great Powers, in 9 general council reorganiz- ing the affairs of the Continent for the main- , tenance of peace, will settle the Roman ques- { tion and the rights of the Pope upon a basis calculated to secure harmony between Pope, Church, State and people in all the States concerned, Music and the Drama—Native Amateur Artists. We have always held that there was an un- limited supply of musical and dramatic talent in the private circles of New York. We hardly know the extent to which cultivation of the highest order in these two branches of art has reached in our refined and intelligent families, There are few households, we may say, that have not one bright star among them gifted with laxuriant talent, which, if wisely directed, | would make its mark in the world of art. We are the more convinced of this fact by the number of amateur performances, sometimes in public halls, in academies and conserva- tories, and in private salons, which of late are attracting attention. The merit dis- played on many of these occasions is remark- able. Not only in music, which is the fashion in society, but in dramatic representations, which is rather of new growth among Art and | versations and in after-dinner orations, our youthful citizens, talent of the most decided character is displayed, proving that mousic and fie drama, native art and amateur artists are in a very flourishing condition in this great metropolitan centre. Among the musical evidences of this we can mention Albites, who brought out at the Academy the past week Miss Nininger as Leonora in the “Trovatore,” a very promising American soprano, who has a bright future be- fore her, and Signor Leoni (Mr. Ber- thelot), who acted and sang the rile of Manrico ina style which surpassed many of the weather-beaten representatives of that much abused minstrel, Again, Barili brought out last week ‘‘Maria di Rohan” at the Union League, where two ladies made an unequivo- cal success. They were Miss Virginia Paris and Miss Eliza Mooney. The latter is an accomplished actress as wellasa fine con- tralto. But one of the leading events was the concert last night at Chickering’s, where the young prima donna, Miss Vienna Demorest, made her début. This is the young lady whom Nileson has taken under her wing, and whose song ‘‘Birdie” is one of the most successful of the Swedish nightingale’s répertoire. The Rivarde Musical Clubis another emi- nent society. Its main attraction here is Signor Vilanova, o pianist of rare ability. We can judge of him best, perhaps, by the fact that he makes a specialty of Chopin. We notice the Rivarde concert, which came off last night, elsewhere in our columns, A very interesting amateur performance was given at the Academy on Tuesday by the young ladies of St. Stephen’s church. It was a little operetta called ‘‘The Culprit Fay,” and it was admirably performed. The Church Music Association—which, by the way, ought to take @ more popular name—is at present our best vocal amateur society in the city. Tho Euterpe probably comes next, and neither of them can be easily overmatched in Europe. The Harmonic and Mendelssohn Unions, we might almost say, are practically dead, which is very much to be regretted, because we cannot spare any of these fine amateur musical societies. They have done so much, and yet not half enough, for music that they should not be permitted to die out. We remember the saying of the Roman poet, that ‘‘Art is long and life is brief!” On the dramatic stage our amateurs are not behind. Many a parlor in this city of late has echoed with applause for such marvel- lously spirited acting by our private citizens that many an ambitious professional might envy. The sister city of Brooklyn, too, is prominent in the line of ama- teur dramatic performances, In the week past and the week to come we notice several very remarkable performances, One was given at the Athenwum for the Church of the Evangelists. The Clinton Dramatic Society, composed of ladies and gentlemen of Brooklyn, and the South Brooklyn Dramatic Circle—likewise entirely amateurs—gave admirable performances at private residences during the week. Our own distinguished citi- zens, meantime, have thrown their splendid mansions open to amateur art; but we do not mean to particularize. The cultivation of the fine arts and the sweet throbbings of charity go hand in hand in the dwellings of our wealthy citizens. We commend the practice and hope that it will be still further and more The Mission of the Press. The great power and importance of the press have been so{frequently admitted that the man who should now atiempt to argue the point might be characterized as lacking common sense, It is recognized in breakfast table con- It is praised or blamed from the pulpit and the platform, in the household or in the legislative halls of nations, It creates war and makes peace, overthrows dynasties and rebuilds em- pires, dvthrones tyrants and bids the oppressed go free. It is a power felt and acknowledged in all the affairs of human life, and is the most wonderful agency for good or evil which mod- ern progress and civilization have produced. It is safe to assert that without the newspaper press we should not have had those marvel- lous discoveries and appliances of science in rapid transit through earth and air and ocean. Without the stimulus of the press and the in- telligence which it conveys we should be until now consaming a week or two in journeying from New York to Albany, and two or three | months in getting to England, as our fore- | fathers did. But the press, by the interchange of thought between men of different places and different ages, stimulates our faculties and makes difficult problems easy of solution. It shows us how far others have gone before us in any given direction; and, with this knowledge, we start where they stopped, and, by diligent application, we approach nearer to perfection than they. The imperfection of human nature precludes the possibility of per- fection of thought in any single being; but the thoughts of many minds brought together upon any given object may produce perfection as nearly as the human intellect, manifesting itself in forms and things, can produce it. Hence, what we so readily claim as inventions of our own day and generation, are, for the most part, but the development and completion of the thoughts and ideas of other men in other ages, And the additions and improvements constantly made to works of science and art, invention and discovery, which we are so apt to look upon now as perfect and complete, declare to us very plainly that perfection has not yet been attained. But while the press is a stimulator of science and art and invention its mission is higher aud nobler. It has a threefold duty to perform for mankind— namely, to educate the trinity of our nature, the physical, the intellectual and the spiritual— and to make us as nearly as we may become perfect beings, This is the true mission of the press. In the early ages of the world, and, indeed, far into the history of our race, mankind lived in and for the lower nature, and life was a bat- | tle for flocks and herds, for houses and lands, for bread and water—in short, it was a battle with the common lot of humanity. Such a sphere of existence is little better than that of the purely animal, whose principle is that might makes right and that the stronger may and ought to destroy the weaker. But here and there along the line of life appeared men living in a djfferent and higher plane of life— the intellectual or spiritual; and by and by this leaven began to leaven the whole lump. Desires were stimulated, thoughts grew and expanded, and the printing press came into being, followed by the locomotive and the steam- boat and the telegraph and all those wonder- ful agencies of nineteenth century civilization which we behold and admire. God has so constituted man and nature that in the fulness of time every legitimate desire and want of the body and the intellect of man will find its supply and satisfaction in nature. And it is the mission of the press to direct our thoughts and our desires and to lead us to the fountains of pure enjoyment, But its mission ends not here. We have said that its work was threefold. When, therefore, it has led us from the purely physi- cal to the intellectual it must proceed a step higher, else it fails in its true mission. Man- kind is ever growing, ever developing from the lower into the higher, from the animal to the intellectual and thence to the spiritual, and this is the only theory of development which can stand the tests of time and of his- tory. The mission of the press, if it be true to itself, must, therefore, be to elevate man into this higher nature. And, as one of our own most eminent citizens and journalists said a few evenings ago at acollege dinner, “‘the press, important as is its office, is but the servant of the human intellect, and its minis- try is for good or for evil according to the character of those who direct it. The press isa mill which grinds all that is put into its hopjer. Fill the hopper with poisoned grain and it will grind it to meal, but there is death in the bread. How shall we be sure to feed these massive and ever-humming millstones with only the product of wholesome harvests, the purest and finest wheat, ummingled with the seeds of any noxious weed?” The query is an important one, and no paper can be doing its legitimate work thoroughly which caters only to one part of man’s nature. And, fully im- pressed with this truth, we have launched the HERALD on its mission to educate and improve the spiritual in man, as well as the intellectual or physical. Hence the Heraip is more nearly a perfect paper—a true minister of man- kind—than any other journal in the world. We say it not boastfully, but asa matter of fact and of history. But we, of course, ex- pect to be copied and imitated by and by, just as rapidly as our contemporaries shall come to understand their true mission and be inspired by our example and success. Boston AHEAD.—With genuine New Eng- land energy the Bostonians yesterday finished the loading of the steamer Worcester with sup- plies for France, but the vessel is not expected to sail before Wednesday next. The Hubites are entitled to every credit for their prompt response to the French appeal for aid, and it will be no small satisfaction to them to know that their contributions were the first received from this side of the Atlantic. Trape with PortrucaL.—The discriminat- ing duties heretofore levied by Portugal upon merchandise imported into that country in American bottoms having been abolished, President Grant yesterday issued a proclama- tion suspending similar daties imposed upon Portuguese commerce. Tne Acpany Journal thinks the passage of the New York Water bill by aid of repub- lican votes ‘‘bodes no good to the republican party.” We hardly think it was intended by > its engineers that it should, The Coal Conspiracy and the Prons. The facts of the coal conspiracy have been Plainly stated in the Heraxp, and the reme- dies therefor have been succinctly outlined and urged upon our Representatives in Coa- gress. We are gratified to see that the attack which we made has frightened off the opera- tors, and the demands we made upon our Congressmen have been readily responded to, The famine prices to which coal was being so rapidly pushed by the soulless corporations has not been reached and now may not be, Since the fusilade from the Heraup has shown these corporations what they may expect if they persist in their merciless grind- ing of the poor. The numerous letters which we have received from poor families in this city and from men of philanthropy every- where show how timely was our onslaught, and the sudden cessation of the rise in prices and the patching up of a hasty offer of com- promise on the part of the operators with ihe miners show us how effective it has been. There is only one power in the land apparently capable of defeating the vil- lany of these corporations, and that power is the press. The courts and the legis- latures may be and have been overridden by such powerfal combinations as these railroad- ing and coal mining companies, and the poor have been oppressed and justice has been thwarted by them, but they have never yet combated successfully against the Herculean power of a free, independent, honest and in- fiuential press. The present instance is a most telling example of how such a newspaper as the Heratp can and does protect the poorer and weaker classes. Congrevs has been un- able to do anything as yet in this matter. Our Representatives from this city presented their motion to repeal the import duties on Nova Scotia coal, but the single objection of one Pennsylvania monopolist in the House stayed all legislation. Not so with the Herarp. Its blows came at once, as soon as the dragon had reared its head, and they have fallen sharply and heavily upon that head until it is stunned, if not killed. The very morning upon which we received the news that the companies had raised the carrying price from two dollars and seventy-five cents to seven dollars and twenty cents per ton we exposed the wicked combina- tion and demanded the immediate repeal of the duties on Nova Scotia coal. The people can thus see that in the Herap, as in any independent and honest journal, they have a protector more powerful than the courts, more judicious than the legislatures and more vigi- lant than the uniformed guardians of the peace. We do not intend to cease our blows at this coal swindle. The monopolists may back down now, patch up a peace and rush coal into the city by millions of tons, but we shall insist upon the repeal motion in Congress until it becomes a law. We cannot be forever at the mercy of these monopolists. They have sowed the wind and they must reap the whirlwind. The duty on foreizn coal must be repealed, even though the Pennsylvanians reduce their prices to two dollars per ton from fifteen. They are not to be trusted in the future. But one thing can keep them continually on their good behavior, and that is competition. 'The honest press can bring them to terms when they kick out of the traces, but wholesome competition will take the poor classes clean from under the iron heel which the monopo- lists have pressed upon them once too often, “The New York Herald as a Religious Newspaper.” We publish this morning an interesting article with the above heading, copied from a Roman Catholic organ issued in this city, called St. Peter, The paper is well edited, and deserves particular attention from reli- gious denominations generally, St. Peter ad- mite the claim—and the Heratp might as well accept the honor—that it is the leading religious paper in the United States. St. Peter says there is nothing dear to Methodism which the Hzratp does not diffuse; there is nothing in hard Calvanism which it does not widely spread; there is nothing in Beecherism, the new creed, which it does not loudly applaud (and hero it makes a mistake); there is nothing in Uni- versalism to which it does not give ample space. In brief, St. Peter avers that the Heratp gives Unilarianism abundant wel- come, that Episcopalianism would almost die without it, that Judaism enjoys its numerous columns, and that, finally, Pias IX., the Vicar of Christ, is devotedly pervading all its columns. We thank St. Peter for this comprehensive review of what the New York Heratp has done and is doing in the way of diffus- ing useful religious knowledge all over the world. As the Apostle St. Peter saluted strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, so does the Heap salute stran- gers from all portions of creation, pos- sessed of all religious faiths, but all tending to a natural and common end— salvation or damnation. If the HeRatp leads the infidel to think, it is a point gained. If it induces the waverer to believe, it is as mach as the Hrratp should ask for; but if it can prevail upon both the infidel and waverer to love God and obey His behests, it is entitled to a crown of glory. The Heraxp labors to make us a religious and conscientious peeple. Without religion the American people would revert to a state worse than savage barbarism. Hence we hold that all religion which tends to the. purifi. cation of the morals and to the expansion o! the civilization of mankind is and should b+ upheld; and upon that principle we yield our columns at least once a week to give currency to the views of our pious people of every dr- nomination. Let every one choose for hin- self; but be holy and righteous alway. ‘‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of manas the flower of grass. The grass withereb, and the flower thereof falleth away.” Thete- fore, be wise in your time and read tre HERALD's religious reports devoutly and und)r- standingly. Tue ALBANY Journal is much pleased wth the appropriation of one hundred and fity thousand dollars ‘to begin” a new govdn- ment building in that city, but opposes an increase of the salaries of the local offi@rs there. This is the difference between a dty and a national appropriation—just the difer- ence between tweedledum and tweedledea, . Slang in the Palpit. According to theologians the Ohristian Church has passed through different periods or epochs in which doctrines, organization, dogmatic assertion and other phases have been more or less prominent. We are now in the secular period of its history, and as one of the results, which must be apparent to the most casual observer, there is far less rever- ence for the house of God and for the ordi- nances of the Gospel than existed in other epochs. It is no uncommon thing now to find receptacles for tobacco juice in the pulpits and in the pews of churches of every denomination in the land, or, if not so provided, those places smeared with the filthy compound. Ministefs and people enter upon the worship of the great Jehovah with their mouths stuffed with the weed, which they may or may not remove if one or other is engaged orally in the service of the sanctuary, Those very men would not dare to enter the presence chamber of an earthly sovereign to ask a petition at his hands or to press a claim in any such manners but this common courtesy is denied to the King of kings in the temples dedicated to His worship, This want of reverence may be the natural and necessary counterpart of the almost adoration which was offered in other ages to the Christian Church and its instita- tions; but far better would it have been for the Church and for the world, spiritually, had the former continued until now.’ And in this regard we believe ‘‘the former days were bet- ter than these.” Such irreverence for sacred places and sacred things could not fail to lead to irrever- ence for that revelation upon which the Church and its institutions are founded. And such we find to be the fact. The ministers of Christ, with the pledge of their faith still fresh in their hearts and in their hands, and with the holy commission of the Master, “Go preach my gospel,” ringing in their ears, will enter the plice of prayer and take the oracles of God and expound them with the same indifference as if they were com- menting upon a chapter in the ‘Arabian Nights” or in “Robinson Crusoe.” Had Paul adopted the style of some of his modern suc- cessors when he siood before Felix or Agrippa and reasoned about righteousness, temperance and a judgment to come, the Governor would not have trembled nor the King have been almosi persuaded to embrace Christianity. Who can imagine this sturdy man of God standing before a promiscuous assembly trying to convince them of the truths of Christianity and telling them in the same breath that he “‘had knocked the bot- tom out of hell some time ago and meant to hammer away at the sides,” as one of his modern confreres is reported to have publicly declared? Or, suppose Peter, on the day of Pentecost, as he stood before that throng of Parthians and Medes, and Elamites and dwell- ers in Mesopotamia, and ian Judea and Capa- docia, in Poutus and Asia, Parygia and Pam- phylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians—a mighty and promiscuous multitude—and as he illus- trated to them his divine commission as a fisher of men, had thrown out a line, real or imaginary, and bid his audience “take that or be damned,” as one of our modern man- fishers is represented to have done a short time ago, we can hardly conceive that three, not to say three thousand, souls should have been baptized into the Church that same day. The prevalence of slang in the Christian pulpit is deplorably common, and it is destroy- ing the spiritual power and vitality of the Church. Itis an old adage, and a true one, that “‘like priest, like people,” and vice versa, And if the men who stand in God’s stead and pretend to utter His words to us can com- placently use this style of language, either ag illustration or otherwise, the people cannot be greatly blamed if they manifest a want of respect for the message and the messenger. If it is right on the Lord’s Day, in a public address to a Christian or miscellaneous audience, for a minister or any Christian man to relate an anecdote as far as a certain point, and then suddenly break off and in a subdued tone of voice add, ‘‘You know how it is your- self,” it cannot be wrong for the people to laugh or to repeat the slang and to have little respect for the truth for whose illustra- tion it had been introduced. We have heard miuisters, who thought they had said a good thing in a sermon, tell their audience to “stick a pin there” or to “put that in their pipes and smoke it,” and more of the same sort, with evidently no more idea of any impropriety in the use of such slang in such a place than if they were quoting the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not giving imaginary incidents or illustrations, but stating simple facts, and we might multiply such slang phrases almost indefinitely which we have heard uttered in the pulpits of this city and vicinity at one time or another. But we for- bear. Every church-goer can satisfy him or herself that what we state is true; and we might goa step further and pronounce a great deal of what are courteously called sermons, and which are not composed of slang, to be the merest twaddle and trash. While we be- lieve and admit that a minister of Christ should use whatever natural or acquired talents he may possess to instruct and enter- tain an audience and to glorify God and edify the Church, we cannot conceive of any good purpose or end which can be subserved, now or hereafter, by the use of slang in the pulpit. It never has and it never will lead a sinner to the Saviour, and, in the nature of things, it cannot. And no Christian teacher who valued his own soul or the souls of his fellow men would dare to trifle thus with interests so im- portant for this life and the future. In view of these facts and conditions we are not surprised at the ill success, spiritually, of 80 many of our churches. Other causes, of course, enter into this question, but the result of such preaching cannot be mistaken. Figs do not grow yon thistles nor grapes upon thorns; neither will good fruit spring from such seeds as we have indicated. ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land—not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they [the people} shall run to and fro and seek the word of the Lord and shall not flad it.” Tad the Hebrew prophet Amos lived in this generation and in this city he conld not more clearly have de« © people. scribed the spiritual condition of