The New York Herald Newspaper, February 23, 1879, Page 4

4 1 CURRTINVTY 4 PILURE? — ooo Reforms Needed Without Which Re- ligion Will Be Powerless. He ECULAR VS. RELIGIOUS NSWSPAPERS. | Views of “An Old-Fashioned Christian.” CATHOLIC CLAIMS. No New Notions or “Reform Ideas” Required. Conflicting Statements by Differ- ent Correspondents. ‘To rue Eprrox or tue Hrratp:— As one who believes himselt honest in his desire to see the Christian Church, whatever its denomina- tion, restored to its influence and wholesome au- thority over mankind, and in the name of all sin- cerely religious men, thank you for your calm, published in last Sunday able and useful editori Hrna.p, and called forth by the letter of your cor- respondent asking the question, “Is Chris- tianity a Failure?” and the one I myself took the liberty to address to you. Your apology for the utterances of a secular journal on such a sub- ject was unnecessary. If the purification of the churches is desirable—and this will scarcely be questioncd—we must look for aid in the good work more to the secular than to the religious press, for eral good reasons, Secular journals reach a larger class of readers, are more independent in the expres- sion of their views, are more free from the trammels of alliances and friendships with Church authorities and are both more. studied and more feared as the exponents ot public sertiment than journals specially devoted to religious matters. I do not by this intend any reflection on the religious press. It does its work with ability and fidelity, Butit reaches church mem- bers almost @xclusively, and is naturally lenient toward the shortcomings of the ministry. A great independent newspaper is the most powerful political journal that can exist, for the reason that it is not made for partisans alone, but reaches all classes, re- views political questions without partiality or preju- dice, and thus makes converts, So a secular journal may become an efficient agent in religious purifica- tion, because it can treat the subject fearlessly and without bias or favor, and can apply the scalpel where it is needed with a firm hand, while its words reach all sorts and conditions of men. I regard the sound and judicious comments of the Heap last Sunda; as a valuable aid in the cause of religious “reform,” by which expression I mean an awakening within the churches to a sense of the faults and errors of the churches and to a desire tor their eradication as an essential to the restoration of docility, obedience and harmony in the congregations. T entirely agree with the Henanp that the specific for religious languor or scepticism is the uprising of a man of genius and truly apostolic fervor, who will kindle religious sensibilities akin to hisown. But it was my design to suggest the thought whether the charches, by self-puritication practised in time, can- not themselves excite religious emotion and obviate the necessity for the advent of some such ‘holy and sainted man of God” as Johu Wesley, whose example the Hrraup so happily cites. Complaint is made in all the pu pits of indifference, inattention to religious duties and a yearning © after strange gods on the art of the followers of the churches. These are the evils that prepare tho way for the fervent men who lead in great reliyidts uprisings with apostolic fervor; and for these evils, I fear, the churches are mainly responsible. If they will themselves undertake the work of reawakening there will be no room for the establishment of new ‘sects. It will not be necessary for meto encroach onthe HeEnavp's valuable space by citing examples to prove the plain statement that great religious movements, such as are alluded to by the Henaup, have always been called forth by the shortcomings ‘and faults of the Church. In cvery mstance the decay, sloth or lmmorality of the Church has been the real seat of the disease which has spread through the followers of the Church and called forth the efforts of those great religious leaders whose achicvements are the most striking monuments that mark the different stages of religious progress in the world’s histo Can we not check the evil which is now, I fear, only too apparent within the modern Church? Can we not induce simpler habits and stricter lives in the ministry? Can we not prevail on the churches to open their gates freely to the poor and lowly, and to labor for those whom our Saviour loved to teach and to heal? Can we not, above all things, arouse the great heads and high authorities of all the churches to the important duty of uprooting the un- wholesome and us weeds that have up in arden of religion, and le of God all uncleanli- kkaLp doubts whether ‘mere exposures of the dilapidated state of our isting Christianity are calculated to do much good,” and asks, re not such exposures rather fitted to discredit religion and to confirm scoffers and sceptics in their opinion that religious professions area de- ceittul cloak ?” If the HkxaLp means that the mere exposure of scandals within the Church without the punishment of the yuilty parties will not do much yood—and this I believe to be the correct in- terpretation of its words—I entirely concur in the Proposition, But the exposure and punishment of offences against morality on the part of those within the Church, I insist, is aduty which the Church cannot dare to evade or neglect without endangering its own existence or without striking a deadly blow at all religion. It is a duty taught by our Saviour and by Him performed. We cannot allow avarice, dishonesty, debauchery and lust to exist in tho Church and still call it the temple of God. We can- not afford to suffer immoral practices on the part of the ministers of religion to go unexposed aud un- punished, We must drive out impurity in every form it We would keep the temple pure. ‘Lhe idea that those to whom the young and innocent look with veneration for the first instructions in religious duties should be spotted lepers is frightful to con- template. Ican find no justitication for a church which overlooks immorality and lust on the part of any, cven the humblest of its ministers, or tor the false delicacy which hesitates to drive forth these sins publicly with scourges wherever and whenever they may be found. In this I trust I shall meet the approval of the Hxranp, whose large influence and broad intelligence may do much in the good work of cleansing and purifying all the churches if it will only lend its powerfal aid in that dircetion. AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTIAN, JAMES OWEN O'CONNOR DECLARES THE CATHOLIC CHURCH YEARNS FOR NOTHING NEW. To rue Eprror or tum Henaup:— With characteristic promptitude and enterprise you published “Subscriber's” letter, ably commenting thereupon. May the humble epistle and the (author itative) editorial result in a happy fruition! We trust it is no unchristian impulse that prompts us to demur tothe opening paragraph in the said leading article. You say:—'We borrow this heading from the shorter of two remarkable communications in to-day’s Henao, adopting it for no other reason than because the doubt implied in such a title is cal- culated to arrest attention. The letter from which We take it has a kind of sardonic earnestness, which is not disguised by the flippant levity of a style which seems to us out of keeping with so important and trotaentous a subject.” To hundreds (not to bandy words with the Hurap), lay nd clerical, in both hemispheres, who have Buows tod indorsed this correspondent both as preacher and writer, this (implied) rebuke (to which he bows with all deference) will be news and a painful surprise, Ah, sir, you “borrowed” our ham- Die heading with the true instinct editorial and re- (portorial, well knowing that it represents the be all ‘aud end allof human thought and inquiry in our time. Butif said poor heading “implied doubt,” it follows not, as @ logical sequence, that your correspondent ia, therefore, a doubter. ce expressed no doubt, The rather we tried (however vainly) to express the full and pertect faith in Chritianity that Jain us, As witness your handsome half acquittal of us (involuntary?) when you immediately aft gay, “It is calculated to arrest att Youk @ an editor, as we know as an ex-editor (if in as way), that the urresting of the attention is the thing needful in such an investigation as this. If) guilty to the “sardonic urdonie is good; smil icin guised” nothing; we spoke out ur whole mind; and if you discovered a “flippant levity of style, out of keeping with so tremendous 8 subject,” we hasten to assure you (and your world foregoing Sinpeachment ¢ n injustice, Our rheto: at fault. So much tor the eve Gixtaxteful subject of self, even in the pinay. first youte are not our religion chant treatment of “An Vid Fashioned epieic you enlarge and broaden and NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1879.—QUADRUPLE SHEET-~WITH SUPPLEMEN' illuminate the discussion, Hgrawp like; but the sub- ject is not yet exhausted. Would you indulge us in a little further (and final) pecnannsses of it, it being of paramount interest to the general reader ? Your “Old Fashioned Christian” writes, in several particulars, in a most new tashioned way. Let him (or her) learn and inwardly digest that in the Church of Clement VIL. there is no appreciable ‘disturb- ance,” no “yearning after something new,” no “dis- satisfied, restless spirit,” even if these unenviable qualities obtain (as they undoubtedly do) in that other and more juvenile State “Church” founded by the salacious and adulterous Henry VII and bolstered up by act of Parliament. Your aver- Methodist (O spirit of Wesley!) with his qmaterialistic fire and brimstone hobby, may in- deed feel “disturbance.” Your medium Baptist, with his elemental water idiosyncrasy (we write in all Chnstian love and charity) may indeed arn after something new” under the sun, And “Brother® Beecher pithily dubbs a Congregationalist as ‘a dry Baptist,” as we might have yelopt a Good Tomplar as « (very) dry toper. Your conventional Presby- terian (O Shade of John Knox!), with his restrictive “specialty” of predestination, may truly feel “dis- satisfied,” Your ordinary (or extraordinary!) Uni- versalist, with his unrestrictive monopoly of univer- sal salvation may indeed feel “restless,” Your everyday Unitarian, with his platform rejecting Christ and the Holy Ghost (is Christianity a failure?) may of a verity feel “disturbance.” And so on with the hundreds of other sects extraordinary, But the one and indivisible Church of Clement VIL. and the apostles (as opposed to the “Church” of Henry VIL and the parliaments, and the other broods of “churches’’) teels no “disturbance,” no “yearning after something uew,” no “dissatisfied, restless spirit,” aud so following. Judaism is full of “disturbance,” because it looks for the coming of the Messiah who has already come, And Judaism is splitting up into sects; so is Mohammedism; and so are all the other sects (save the Roman), pagan and Christian; and this is the core of the disease. But we see the end and the remedy, ‘Chus:—As_ with States so with sects. Be- tore the building of Babel huiman nature could boast of but one State andone sect, Before Henry VIII. tried his 'prentice hand at (Bubel like?) church mak- ing Christendom could boast of but one sect—the Roman, The end of all this will inevitably be that the sects will keep on splitting up and disintegrating down to the point where disintegration can uo further go, whereupon the centripetal forces will set in, and the scattered sectarian atoms will fly again to the common centre (of Clement VII's time). Vor sect making has nearly run its evil course, The new faugled sects are one by one dying out and off, ‘They grow “small by degrees and beautifully les: Quakerism is on the decline, (One step Christian union and—unity.) Episcopalianism (via Ritualism) is gravitating back to Romanism. Mor- monism (pardon such a juxtaposition) is on the de- cline. Oneida Communism (just declared by the United States Supreme Court to be unconstitutional) and other like or unlike free thought abortions and monstrosities are in a state of declension; in a word, sectarianism is doomed—Christianity will not be a tailur the mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine.” ‘Tuen look at the states and idioms. Where is poor Poland? Where's Hungary? Where's Ireland? Where's our own secessia? States and sects are dying off, and the end will give us one state, one sect, one church, one faith, one baptism, as it was at the first. A consumation devoutly to be wished! And the “remedy ?’’ said, “as civilization advances poetry recedes.” Substitute “religion” for “poetry” and the surgeon’s scalpel is at the root of the terrible modern cancer! Ultra civilization (?) caused the de- cline and fall of the Roman Empire. Ultra “‘civiliza- tion” occasioned the decline und—fallacy (?) of the Roman Church. Ultra civilization is disintegrating (many-headed) Protestantism. Ultra civilization is underminin Christianity on Fifth avenue and in the Five Points. It massacres the Cheyennes. It cnslaves the African, It cries, “The Chinese must go!’”’ It cried, ‘No Irish need apply!” It set up the orange and the green, and the green above the red. It cried, ‘To heli with the Pope!’ and “Down with King Henry VII!’ It put Tweed in Ludlow Strect Jail. It (we advocate not aboriginal barbarism, but the golden mean) made an avatar of fashion. It sets labor and capital at war. It uprears palatial God-temples (and yet the house of God should not a hovel be). It made “religion” sensuous, sensual, senseless. It intro- duced thumping salaries to thumping dominies. It (closely related to Satan) allows its ministers to cease their ministrations for editing, lecturing or mid- summer junketing. It introduced sumptuous pew upholstering, operatic music, unlicensed admission fees, kc, Hence the decline of the Church and the temporary obscuration of (so-called) Christianity. But the remedy? A return to first principles. A going back to the old-fashioned Christianity (ever ew) of our plain, simple, unostcntatious fathers, ‘An avoidance of modern free thought. How can Dean Stahley and Cardinal Manning, for example, ever hope to dovetail or square their theological dif: ferences intellectually? An ucquiring of a greater reverence for the Deity. An observance of the good, old fashioned Lord’s day. A more ready rec- Oguition of parental (and civic) authority. A greater regard for the sacredness of human life. ‘The recog- nition of matrimony as @ sacrament (Matt. xvi., 6), ‘The rights of property and things (Blackstone), ‘The enormity of perjury and of lust. An avoidance of in- temperance and gluttony, despair, final impenitence. ‘The failure of a Christian does not necessarily make Christianity a failure. And yetatree is known by its fruit. Thus, if we were asked, “Can a minister preach so loud as to arouse the whole neighborhood and be a Christian?’ we might reply, “Yes, if he does not make it impossible for his quict loving neighbor to be a Christian also.” Finally as the decline of the drama docs not stultify a Shakespeare; as the (pestilential?) dime novel does not belittle a Dickens; as opéra boutffe can- uot dwarf a Beethoven; as the breach of # law by an outlaw does not vitiate, nullity, stultify or alter the law itself—so, the failure of the Christian in his duty to God or man is not necessarily the failure of Christianity, per se, but is his own individual failure, tending (as there is good in things evil) to the ulti- mate success of the system whicb Christ has left us in trust. Faithfully yours, JAMES OWEN O'CONNOR. No. 492 VANDERBILT AVENUE, BrookLYN. ROITEN STRUCTURES OF CHRISTIANITY FILLED WITH DEAD MEN'S BONES SHROUDED IN HIDEOUS NIGHT—A GIGANTIC FABRIC OF SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY, To rae Epiron or tik Hemap:— In your issue of last Sunday appears a triangular discussion of the question, ‘Is Christianity a Fail- ure?’ The editorial and also the communication from “Old Fashioned Christian” bristle with truth, while the sardonic, erratic writer of the third article, although making no argument, advances several per- tinent and impertinent opinions relative to this rightly termed “tremendous” subject. Ho pro- nounces Judaism afailure, Greck philosophy a failure, Brahminism and Buddhism failures, and asks, ‘1s Christianity a Failure?” and, if so, which of the remain- ing sects is a success? I do not know with what qualifications, if any, he makes the broad statement above mentioned. These religions were not failures; they have, indeed, been superseded. He may as well say the stage coach was a failure, or the Heptarchy of Hengst and Horsa was a failure. Reform or progress is always present. Christianity is an in- finitely more grand manifestation of the Deity to a more intelligent class of beings. Heathen idols were heathen ideals. The tenets of any one of the creeds he cites were such as to lead men up and away from themselves to the Power which they conceived in a manuer as perfect as limited light, education and in- spiration would permit. It is granted they most frequently worshipped a material, tangible expression of that Power, beyond which many never looked; nevertheless I would be slow to stuto that these religions were failures; they have elevated millions of people in the East, and although degeneracy was general purtiicati nd purging were certain to follow. As present example of this consider the revolution of the Arya Samaj in India, so fully described in your issue of the 2 Feligious structure, theosophical and of higher order, built upon the venerable foundation of Brahminism.” Greece and Rome had prepared a broad threshold for Christianit Plato's dream the Republic was the fruit of mental progress such as only could comprehend Jesus Christ, morals of Aurclius were a system of rational aychology such as could only accept His religion. ndeed, so-called heathenism was not a failure, if to make a path for Christianity was its only service. ‘Lhore never hes been a people so depraved as to be en- tirely without an efficient, though somewhat obscure, belief in something better than themselves—a reli- ious idea—making individual exceptions, of course. Colonel dngersoll thinks he is the ideal of the ani- vorse, religious or otherwise; nature's focus, as it were. And while some people may imagine a state moro blissful, @ kingdom whose dwellers shall be more grand than Robert G. Ingersoll, such is an hallucination. Is Cliristianity a failure? Not because it fails to convince and convict Ingersoll certainly. Now, I think, [have heard some- thing to the effect that Colonel Ingersoll is a failure, I remember how ghostly was the encouragement which he received for his lecture on “Ghosts” in Chicago. The secular press snubbed him on the fol- lowing morning. He tound he had better go 4 little nearer to the Equator or New Jersey to save himself trom being hissed. He was on the wrong “‘isother- mal” line to dissect “hell.” Your correspondent’s relation to case of the poor clergyman who proached a fervif Thankssiving sermon aud then went home and starved does not prove or argue anything for his view of the ques tion, Ishould not be at all surprised if the clergy- man in question were preaching for turkey instead of souls, dominte by promising ni Pardon wha His relict flock may readily find a willing t year’s dinner in advance. an unworthy sentence in ject, but I have therein in- the latter day institutions contemn ite luxur: and deplore overties and wish there were now a revolution t may Ker its in the Christian religion, rigorous as that developing in India, “Tue insidious inroads of materialism into the sacred realins of faith’ are not more frequent or dis- latter part of last finally bestowed a Christians, after years of determi In 4 paper recently read before the an Philosophical Society is the following The leaders of scientific thouwht in day, with few exceptions, are beliovers in God, many of them, perhaps @ larger number than at any previous period, are also devont believers in Christian revelation, and their belief is more weighty because it is not merely traditional, but springs from deliberate examination and conviction. ‘The godless theories and ungodly lives which d grade huinanity are due to the ignorance of smatte ers, not to teachings of earnest and hardworking in- vestigators.”” ‘These latter have not nor will prove Christianity a failure. Before many years a step forward will be taken second only in importance to that of the Christian era, “The Catholic priesthood denounce the growing disregard of dogmas in the Church,” says the writer of the longer communication of last Sunday, Protestant clergymen of every denomination condemn the carelessness of religious obligations,” “In every direction we find a yearning for some new religion, a restless, dissatisfied spirit, which everywhere secks some new departure which is not alw: distinctly developed even in the minds of those who are its advocates.”” ‘These state- ments are welcome as they are true, They are con- cise expressions of real facts. The world is calling for more Christ, less Church; more Gospel, less Litany more spirit, less of the letter; and this would be indeed a new religion to very many of the unsatisfied, The time is fast approaching when there shall be so high @ regard tor Chris- tian teachings, for the beauties of the re- ligion revealed in the New Testament, that we | shall be unwilling to see these all overshadowed by the immense structure of churchism, or lose sight of them buried in the abyss of ritualism, or, worst of all, have them smeared, desecrated and protaned by profligate priesthood or lascivious laity, While I think the hue and cry against the clergy is rather unwarranted, and the views of “O. F. Christian” rather those of an alarmist, it is certain that a single instance of scandal in the divinity docs a very great deal of temporary harm to the cause, yet the final effect is, and will be, salutary. It must induce humanity to look higher, “All things are ordered of the Lord.” People are beginning to “prove all things, holding fast that which is good.” ‘The Pope is tn- tallibie”’ 18 obsolete; “ministers are mortal” is being instituted. “For as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons’ of God" includes church dignitaries, but excludes no one of the humblest, “ste who hath sealed us hath given the carnest of the spirit in our hearts.” It is of itself amply able to ghide the world. “All scripture is given by inspira- tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproot, for correction, for instruction in rightcousness, that | the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” It is really surprising to discover how supreme has been the arrogance of the clergy and bishops of the past. I have before me a dictionary of theology, compiled by a churchman of England pow living, where I read his derision of a certain sect (which does not recognize baptisin or the eucharist) as fol- “Pheir religious principles and practices are upon the extreme form of the thoory supposes the Holy Spirit to indweil within individual persons independently of the union of the sacrament. They believe that every man is illumined by the Holy Spirit, and that he be- comes holy in proportion us that illumination is de- veloped.”’ Other references might be cited without number which foster a monopoly of divine com- munion, and for centuries the fault has been to teach a wrong relation between man and the Father and Son. Tho next Wesley or Loyola whom the world shall sce will shake to its foundations rotten structures, whose halls, filled with dead men’s bonea, ure shrouded in hidcous ni and the giguutic fabric of speculative theology will be concealed by those who are ashamed of it in juxtaposition to the eternal simplicity of the Gospel’ as it is in Christ Jesus. Hearts were God’s first temples. Ignorance on the part of the people and lamentable negi the part of the ecclesiasts alone can canse the im- mense amount of worldly glitter and extravagance of temples which is presumed to be the perpetua- tion of the religion of Him who was meek and lowly of heart, Christianity courts investigation, and the seeming epoch which alarms so many, and especially your communicators of last Sunday, should be regarded asa plan of Wisdom to establish mighty Truth. 1 cannot see @ single important sign that Christianity is afailure. It is all we can say when we assert that the Church is at fault. WALTER C. HADLEY. PHILADELPHIA, Feb, 21, 1879. LIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, To Tue Eprror or THE HEeraLp:— In reply to the many readers of your journal who have read the article in last Sunday's issue headed “Is Christianity a Failure?’ and which same article seemed to leave the question unsettled, I think, in my humble way, as a follower of the meck and lowly “and | Jesus, that, through Eve, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it may be answered to all who belicve the Scriptures to be the Word of God. God first preached the Gospel to Adam in the Garden ot Eden World, when he claimed obedience to his command :—Or every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but (or except) of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not cat of it; for in the day that thou catest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Adam did eat of the forbidden tree, and it entailed death upon him, which is our portion, for in Adam all dic; but, lest he should partake also of the tree of life and live forever (and thus put God's Word to naught) God placed cherubims with a flaming sword, which turned every way to protect that tree and drove Adam trom the garden. Hence eternal lite was lost to us except a deliverer should come, 2. The voice of the blood of righteous Abel called out to God from the earth, for he was loved of God, and Cain, his murderer, was cursed from the earth to bea fugitive and a vagabond all the days of his life. 3. God preached the same gospel of obedience to the people in the time of Noah before the flood, and Noah and his family only found grace in the eyes of the Lord, for they believed God; and God said unto Noah, ‘The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through men, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.” And it came to pass. The foun- tains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened and the waters revailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the Righ hills that were under the whole heaven were covered, and all flesh died that moved upon the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died. Noah and his three sons and their wives (eight souls) and the anitals, &c., in the ark only remained alive. After the waters had subsided God made # covenant with Noah, saying, I will es- tablish my covenant with thee—viz., all flesh shall not bo cut off any more by ‘the waters of a flood, neither shall there’ be any more @ flood to destroy the carth. But the fam- ilies ot Noah, after multiplying npon the earth became corrup$ and disbolieved God, and divided the nations between them; and the whole earth was of one language; and they said, “Let us build a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, und let us make @ name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came in the midst of their work, while they slept, and confounded their wage and scattered them abroad upon the face of the whole earth, and the Lord was displeased with men after that time, for they were given over to the worship of idols and strange gods, until He culled Abram out of Ur, of the Chaldces, saying, “Abram, yet thee out of thy country, and from thy kindre:l and from thy father’s house, into land that [ will show thce, and } will make of thee a great nation, and Iwill make thy name great and bless thee. ‘And Abraim did as the Lord called, and took Sara his wife, and Lot, and all the souls they had gotten in Haran and came into tho land of Canaan, and the Lord ane unto Abram, and said, “Unto thy seed will T give this land.” This was the cov- enunt of the flesh, After Abram had reached the land the Lord appearet again unto him and Now lift up thine eyes and look trom the rd and southward, and said, place where thou art, northw eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I yive it and to thy seed forever, and I will make thy seed as the last of the earth for numbers, #0 that if a mancan gumber the dust of the earth, so shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the lend in the length of it andin the breadth of it; for will give it unto thee.” And God talked with him, saying :—‘tAs for ine, wy covenant is with thee, Neither 1 thy none any more be called Abram, but thy name sloil be Avraham, for # father of many nations have | te thee; and £ will establish my covenant between I will give unto thee and thy sed is Christ’ (Paul), power only to save, the stranger—all the land of ¢ possession, and I will be their God, (This enant of the promise of eternal lite to those who be- lieve in God's Word.) And God repeated the covenant with Isaac and Jacob, aud Jacob wrestled with the angel (God’s), and would not let him yo until he blessed him, and G said, “Thy name shall no more be called jacob, but Isracl: for as @ prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and bast prevailed.” The next great epoch in God's history of Christianity was His delivery of Abraham's seod, according to the flesh, by sending Moses, who delivered them out of the hands of the tinue and into the land whieh God wave them, and He raised up prophets to guide them, that they might keep the covenant of obedience and retain the land and inherit eternal life in the world to come; but the corruption of men was such that they, even God’s chosen people, broke the cove- nant and were driven from the land, but to repent, and God brought them back as often, and 420 years before Christ. He gave them @ final space of 40 years in which to repent and make an end of sin, which time reached until about the year seventy of the Christian era and the final destruction of Jerusa- lem, and then the covenant should be taken away from those people and given to every nation under the whole heaven, that through Christ, they Deliev- ing, amight repent and bring forth fruit. Christ came (the deliverer who was promised) to establish = the Word and make @ new testament of the covenant, and sealed it with His blood, that all the world might know the truth and be saved if they would. Jesus the Christ, or Yaveh (deliverer), was crucified by the Jews, who would not accept Ham for their Saviour, although it was written when Christ should come; but they, in their hypocritical blindness and traditional pride, believed not the prophecies and knew not the timo wit visitation; lence their time went by as ® tile dispensation began, which is ond. jel, dating from Cyrus, King of of the Ulai, at Thusham the val- ace, was for twenty-three hundred years, till the ent of the wonders and the coming of Christ to take His Kingdom, which same is His second coming and the end of the year of grace and salvation unto men. Four hundred and twenty years of the vision (of 2,200 years) were cut off tor the rebuilding of Jerusa- lem, Teaching to the birth of Christ, aud seventy years were still left for the Jews in which to fultil their times, making the 490 years that were determined ‘upon them. In "the midst of the last time Christ was cut off (or crucified), not for Himself, but tor all, that He might bring eternal lite and immortality to light by His resurrection from the dead. And He testified that when He came again at the end of the vision of Daniel He would reward those who had endured to the end and the living who loved Him and believe! in Him with etern: lite in His kingdom, which should be established on the tace of the whole carth and which should not pass away, When is His kingdom to be set up ? ‘The answer is lain. Add 1,810 years of the Gentile dispensation to he 40 years of the Jewish and 7 have a total of 2,300 years, and add the 70 years of the Christian era, were of the Jewish dispensation, to the years which have passed since and you have years. One year more, or the coming in of 1880, com- pletes tho ‘vision of 2,300 years, and brings us face to face with the fact that the darkness of midnight is wrapped around the Church of tovdlay regarding the fulfilment of” proph- ecy, and in their pride of wealth and power they know not that the time of their visitation draweth nigh, even at the doors, I have been prolix in my argument perhaps, to prepare for my closing argninent, which ix this:—That as againat the powers of this world Christianity is not # failure, aud the imminent coming of Christ from heaven in about 1880 with clouds of firc, and the glory of the Father, with all His holy angels, with him, will confound the world, surprise an apostate church, and establish the fact, which my humble pen can ouly trace a faint outline of, that Christianity is not a failure, WATCHING AND WAITING, BOSTON POLITICIANS’ VIEWS. MAYOR PRINCE AND JUDGE ABBOTT DISCUSS THE POTTER INVESTIGATION—TILDEN'S CLEAN HANDS—THE OUTLOOK FoR 1880—Gnrant's SIRONG POINTS. (BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERAT, Boston, Mags., Feb. 21, 1879. ‘Tho leading democrats of the Bay State have taken @ good deal of interest in the investigation of the cipher despatches, and a largo majority of them be- lieved that Tilden would come out of it with clean hands, Massachusetts was a Tilden State in 1876 and the leading men believed in him and worked for him. Foremost among these were Mayor Prince, secretary of the National Democratic Committee, and Judge Josiah G. Abbott, who led the party in the recent campaign against Butler. Mr. Prince was asked to-day to give his views on the result and bearing of the cipher investigation in New York, and its effect on the standing of Samuel J. Tilden personally and politically. He said in reply:—"Well, Ishould think that all the world must be satisfied that Governor Tilden was as innocent as an unborn babe of any connection with the alleged attempts to buy the returning boards of Louisiana and Florida. I don’t believe anything could have tempted Mr. Tilden to accept the Presidency through # purchase. Imay add that as one of the Executive Committee of the National Democratic Committee I had occasion to see the Governor a good deal during the last Presi- dential campaign, and nothing was hinted or sug- gested in the managoment of that campaign which the democratic party would object to have published in every newspaper in the country. There was not a dollar improperly used from the first to the last.”” WILL HE RUN IN 1880? When questioned as to the possibility of Mr. Til- den’s candidacy next year, Mr. Prince said that it was too soon to go into any speculation as to that matter. Headded:—“I foel assured, from letters that I am receiving constantly from all parts of the coun- try, that the people regard Mr. ‘Yilden as greatly wronged. They consider that he 18 entitled to the nomination in 1880. That is particularly tho fecling in the West. I am inclined, however, to think that the politicians are against him. It is certain, how- ever, that our people have a Saxon love of fair’ plu: and, therefore, would like to see Governor Tilden get his rights. I think onc thing would be against tir. ‘Tilden. He would have to contend with the feeling that, as the last four candidates of his party have been taken from the East—McClellan, Seymour, Greeley and Tilden—the next one ought to come from the West. The people of the West may give way in this case, however, because of the manner in which Mr. Tilden has been treated." ‘TRE PINANCE ION. QvEst Objection having been made to this basis of futuro | political action on the ground of the financial issuc, Mr. Prince was asked what bearing he thought that would have. He replied:—“My own idea is that the financial question is not to be a controlling one in the next campaign, for this reason—we are now at specie payment. Beyond all doubt we can continue payments in coin. If they have specie payments in the West, what under the sun do they want the grecn- back question open for? Their war is on the na- tional banks, but that is another matter entirely, ‘The currency question is settled. The government will not issue any more paper than it can redeem.’ As to Mr. Tilden’s knowledge of Colonel Pelton transactions, Mr. Prince turther said:—Oh, Lord, didn’t know a it. The National Co: mittce were not in the habit of consulting with Mr. ‘Tilden as to details; and I don’t believe he had any knowledge whatever of what Mr. Pelton was doing in Oregon or the South. Why, I know he didn’t. I am satisfied that this is so. If ‘Tilden had known it he would have arrested all of Pelton’s proceedings at once. He is not such an arrant fool as to put hi self in the power of anybody. If he wanted to do anything like that it is ubsurd to suppose he would have allowed @ transaction of the kind to have emanated from his house and thus put himself in the power of his opponents. THR COMING MAN. After further ciaborating this point the Mayor said:—“Ift a Western man is to be the democratic nominee he must, of course, be either Thurman or Hendricks, As regards Bayard, it he is put up, the probabilities are that he will carry New York, Now ersey and Connecticut beyond all question, and I think Massachusetts too. One thing is certain there is nothing in his record that his triends would not be glud to detend. He would make a tine runinthe South and East certainly. He is pure, popular and able.” Speaking of the chances on the republican side, Mr. Prince said that Grant is the coming man, and that they had been training him for two years. “Biaine and Conkling,” said he, “must give way to save their party. Not only that, I think they will unite on Grunt rather than allow any of the Other aspirants to have the nomination. Blaine doesn’t want Conkling to have it, and Conk- ling doesn't want Blaine. I think Grant is the strong- est candidate they could put up. Capital is always conservative; capital is timid, and the notion obtains that it must have a strong government for its pro- tection. Capital is alarmed ut the shadow of ¢ munism and at the radical tendency of the times, a1 would, therefore, prefer the rule of a soldier to that of @ civilian, Ihave talked with moneyed men in New York lately, and they tell me that this is a wide- spread feeling among capitalists, Cupital looks to Grant tor sufety, and that 1s going to be the secret of the whole campaign.” JULOK ABBOTT'S VIEWS. Judge Abbott, who was one of the seven members of the Electoral Commission, said:—“As far as Gov- ernor Tilden’s testimony is concerned I think all fair-minded men, not absolutely carried away by par- tisan prejudice, will agree that it will exonerate him of ali possible complicity inany attempt to buy the returning boards of the Southern States. I think that is the resuit that the thought of the country, without much reference to party, will come to. Lam bound to say that I think men on both sides will be pleased to believe that Governor Tilden bas been exonerated. It would not have been a pleasant thing who loves his country to know that candidates for the highest office in one the government had been beamirched in that way I think another thing is quite ap- —that no person for who ri vatic party is responsible bad anything with the attempt to buy up the returning ‘That an offer of the sale was consideret by some vor-zealous membei the party may be true, but that is about all there is to it; no sale was even con- summated by democr id GRANT'S SUPPORTERS. Judge Abbott also believed that Grant was the strongest for the nomination on the republican side, He :—"Ho will have on his side the whole 4 of politicians, and there is a feeling among a ain portion of the people, who are in favor of hard money, that Grant is uot ouly safe upon th Dut that the safe not be negative alone, but positive. They could rely on him in action, ‘Then there is a feeling among another » Who are timid on the subjects of soc! , communism, Kearneyism and ail other ‘isms’ which would render government impossible, that there would be force and power enough in General Grant to put an end to such troubles, Ax far as 1 can see now at such @ distance it would seem quite probable that he will receive tho nomination; but the opinion of a democrat on a republican party nomination is worth very little, it anything.” THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES, Speaking of the P eral, the Judge said: men in the country on either side. class, men of I speak from a considerable knowledge of him, having sat with him on the Electoral Commission and known him many years prior to that time. He is no doubt very popular in the West, and has a well deserved name Wherever he is known, He possesses many elements of strength. Mr. Bayard has been before the public for a long time. He is very able and eminently pure and honest. He has the confidence, Thelieve, as much as any man on either side, of all men and of all parties; the entire and full contidence of them, And tn eddigion to this, he is a man, in my na ment, 80 constituted that it is utterly impossible for him not to be true to and follow his convictions whatever they may be. Whether these convicti lead him for & moment into unpopularity or othe wise he could not but follow his conceptions ot I believe that at the present timo nfldence is reposed in no man tor irpose than in Mr, Bayard.” truth and duty. more general & character and [CONDITION OF THE SOUTH. A SOUTHERNER'S VIEW OF THE INDUSTRIAL SIrvATION. © LovisvitE, Feb, 13, 1879, To tne Eprror oF Tae Herap:— For some weeks I have been in the South, on the Mississippi River. While the cry in political circles and among the wealthy in cities has been that pros- perity is coming with accelerated pace trom fluan- cil legislation I wish that some of the magnates could have been with me to have seen the condition of affairs in the great Mississippi Valley, There I found among the laboring classes almost a set of paupers. They were in rags; and when the bitter cold weather came on they stayed housed for days, shivering over their fires, which luckily they could procure from the plenteous supplies of fuel near at hand in the woods, From my observation three-fourths of theso laborers did not havea month's supply of provisions nor means to procure them with. There was not one in ten who had the stoc! wagons, ploughs, &ec., with which to cul- tivate any land that they could rent. And how this class of people were to get through the coming year seemed to me a problem difficult of solution. ‘Lhey were dis- heartened, demoralized and destitute. Year after year they had labored steadily, making often fair crops, and yet at the end of each successive year they found themselves poorer and poorer, until now the final culhnination comes in positive impoverishment. They are not educated; they do not hear discussion of polit- ical questions, which could enlighten them and teach that all this is the natural sequence of financial blunders, and that tho shrinkage of values yoar after year has placed the cost of production at higher than the market value of products, especially in view of the system of supply to laborers which has prevailed for the past ten years throughout many sections of the South. EYYECTS OF EMANCIPATION. ‘The radical leaders profess to havo given the negro slave the great boon of liberty. On the contrary, they have placed him in a bondage moro deplorable than he wasin prior to the war. Candid and impartial observation will demonstrate this to any fair minded man. And in addition to this terrible bondage which degrades and will destroy the negro race itis fast producing results which must entail evil conse- quences in the near future. ‘There is being created a land ownership and a tenantry like that of Ireland, where absenteeism of the owner, the power of the agent and the poverty of the people have produced such disaster to the material interests of that coun- try, and has paralyzed the cause of education, reli- gion and morals by the inevitable degradation of the poorer classes, And in the South it must be remembered that the laboring classes have been slaves, without education and without the means of clevating their mental or moral faculties, and thuseven far behind the poor Irishmen, whose sufferings have been increased be- cause they had the intellect for higher grades in lito than circumstances have permitted. CHANGE IN THE OWNERSHIP OF LANDS. During the past six years there has been great change in ownership of lands Suuth. Those who di- rectly.after the war attempted to cultivate cotton had been deprived of their slaves and other resources, and in many instances had mortgages standing against them for prior debts. Muny of the land owners wero the children of planters, reared in luxury and leisure, not under- standing how to manage and not inured to labor. What has been the consequence? ‘There was often no forethought, uo calculation, not even energy. As the fathers used to rely upon the commission mer- chant, borrow moncy at ruinous rates of fifteen or twenty per cent, and still succeed by the richness of their lands, the abundance of crops and good prices, when the labor coxt them only food, clothing and care, 80 tho sons believed that the same system would prevail when free labor had come in. They did not examine the subject to sce what the laws of suppl: and demand inexorably demand, nor the statistics of agriculture, which show that the bust cultivation only produces four to five per cent interest per annum. Thus year after year the land owners of the South incre their va debt, their own per- sonal expenses and the deticit for interest above the proceeds of crops; and the result came— as must have been ‘from the start only a question of time—when ten to Aftteen cent of capital is usted each year. ho merchants have foreclosed and taken the property at the amount of the debt, because there was nobody else to bid for land; nobody with money to buy it. And to such an extent has this gone on that one com- mission merchant in New Orlcans has absorbed und is cultivating through agents 60,000 acres of the best land in Mississippi. Whilethe practical question in the North has been openly avowed by influential journals to be the purchase of the lands oy, the rich aud the formation of a tenant system, w. must make a class distinction of aristocrats and serfs, it is fast being carried into effect in the South under the irresistible law of usurious interest and the sacrifice of the debtor land owner, And what becomes of these ruined land owners? Thereis no field open for them to regain independence or earn a livelihood in the South, and yearly thero must be thousands added to the ranks of those who will attempt to drown sorrow and misfortune in drunkenness, und who eke out a miserable existence until death re- lieves them from turther worldly trouble. CONDITION OF THE PREKDMAN. Now, on the other hand, what is the condition of the former slave—the sert ready made for the domi- nation of the aristocratic and money possessing land owners? He had good clothes, was well fed and housed, and well cared for as a slave, with good medical attendance when sick, and treated properly when old age and infirmity rendered him valueless. How much has the political action of the radicals benefited him? And how responsible are the demo- cratic politicians for keeping the negro in the osition in which the radicals have placed him? As I ave said, nine out of ten of the negroes in tho Missix- sippi Valley are in the hands of tho Philistines. Originally not imbued with moral virtues, nor with any clucation, because of their previous ‘servitude and debasement, it could only have been expected that they would progress, if true statesmanship and enlightened philanthropy had watched over them and guided their way, Kudical leadership only taught them the devious paths of politics, petty trickery, justification of dishonesty, breach of taith and bitter hostility to the Southern whites. Cordial relatious between the races might have raised up thousands among the Southern whites to befriend the negro and to teach him moral and utilitarian ideas, through which his material interests would have progressed and vey him competency and comfort instead of renewed boudage and hopeless poverty. Perhaps the culmination would not so soon have come but for radical success in finance, which has steadily reduced the values of production below cost of cultivation. iere was one element in producing this result which was material, The South was cona:dered an El Dorado tor t class of traders who had no con- se.enee as to profits demanded from ignorant cus- tomers, who did not even know how to sum up their purchases nor whether the correct weight was given. So there was @ rash of eagles to the carcass. The na- tives, too, in many places were not averse to sharing in the harvest, and they did not hold back in the plucking of the unwary. NEGRO MANAGEMENT, When anything pleases the fancy of the Southern negro, and he can yet it on credit, the question of price rarely enters into the consideration. The most Useless yewgaws aud baubles that would delight the ye of a child also entrap the negroes. The most fabulous prices were marked upon the goods; rarely being less than one percent on cost as the neyrocs would be told, when it was 100, and often going Up to 200 or 300 per cent. It was the custom to give the merchant a mortgage upon the crop for the supplies, and he knew bow far he could go after the rent money was paid, And so it came to pass that negroes could not yet medical atte: re Ue less the landlord or the merchant would guaranteo the payment. ‘The negroes raised good crops, and yot they wero generally in debt when the bills were all in. They made ne» caletilation, because their mental calibre Gd not permit it, ax to expendi- tures and receipts. Give them credit and they would take "all the goods of New York in a day, without thought as to how ment should be made, The gratifiestion of the spputite is iversal prevalonce, and they will spend box of sardines or a drink of whiskey when the stomach makes she demand, If the statistics as to whiskey could be gatnered in the Past ten years they would be astounding. The hegro cheertully pays ten cents for a drink, sixty- drinks to the gallon, of whiskey, watered to's pile of eighty cents a gallon. ‘Only 800 per reo years ago I saw the bills made out by somo men who called themselves respectable, and who turnished supplies to their tenants at $36 a barrel for pork, $4 a bushel for meal, &c. They justified th) enormous charge upon the ground that the risk was very great, and they had to do it to make them- selves safe, But what possibility was there for the tenant, by the most assiduous labor and greatest good fortine as to season and crop, to pay these prices and his rental, $8 and $10 per sere, and havo any balance left? in consequence the negro laborers of the South believe that they have been grosaly eheated all the time, and that thoy cannot got fair play from any- body. ‘They are suspicious of everything; consider it but right to do anything to gain an advantage—to break their contracts and to do only the minimum of labor which will give them food during the year—and this thought is growing to an yn extent, that as they can mako nothing they should avoid working a4 Much as possible. If the race in many places under prevailing circumstances could get free control of suflicjent land upon which to raise a few vyogetables, pigs and poultry they would relapse into barbarism in ten years, STANDARD OF MORALS. The standard of morals is fast on the downward grade, When supplies have been furnished and the crov shows that there will be uothing left it is avery . —$_——___—— common thing for the laborer to desert his own field in September or October and to hire out_his time to somebody elxe who needs his services. case something can be # labor is all for the tand ne xood to him. So there are many and t losses incurred. In localities where I have n the poor and the traders have bean with long lists of indepted- ness, for which they will not receive a cent and which will cause the tailure of half the local mor- chants. Wherever I weut tuerc was universal com- piaint of hard times, seareity of money, lack of em- ployment and inability to make collections of debts, the burden seemed to be oppressive upon all with- put exception, and restiveness, irritation and worry the common humor, ‘The “bread and butter" idea a Uppermost, and where they were to look for re THE POLITICAL ASPECT, Ani the hold of democracy sat much more loosely upon the people, as they bitterly discussed the un- | Willingness of Northern Semoceaty to treat the Sonth justly aud to make needed internal improvements therem to counterbalance the hundreds and thon- sands of millions already expended tor the benefit re Sorthoras Restern and Wontern improvements, expression is very commo, uttered by the Vickebucg Meraliis~- of Sk eRe © Presidential struszio will bo one to decide which set of Northern men shall control the natt aud iC Hs onay" to seo that tho South need Hak wetiee ee gevpring her allogiance to the national democratic pacty, We say that it is preferable to riski v merely to servo ten Who re atrald of uur fallen radical party is considered utterly dead Hout the South. It dovy not requine them Jou of'a proplict to forvsce thut the Southern voters will divide upon questious material to their own see. tion, and that a severance of Northern aud South. ern democracy is one of the casiest and most practi. cal questions of the day. Yours truly, BLANTON DUNCAN, THE FRENCH EXPEDITION IN EQUATORIAL APRICA, (From the London Pall Mall Gazette.) The French Geographical Society will shortly hold @ special meeting at the Sorbonne t2 welcome Lieu- tenant Savorgnin de Brazza and Dr. Bellay, who haye just returned to France from their three years’ expedition in Equatorial Africa, ‘The expedition was undertaken for the purpose of tracing the course of the River Oyowdi in the French settlement of Gaboon, and at the end of 1874 Lieutenant Savorgnan de Brazza and Dr. Bellay landed upon the west coast, accompanied by M. Marche, who had been the com- panion of the late Marquis de Compiégne in more than one of his journeys, but who did not go very far with them. Both the Lieutenant and the Doctor were laid up with fever for some time, and it was not until August, 1875, that they left the last of the European factories at Lambaréné, the real starting point of their expedition, with an escort of twelve laptots (native Senegal troops m the French service) under thecommand of Quartermaster Hamon. The course of the River OgOwii may be divided into three sections of about equal longth—the upper, the mid- dle and the lower. The middle section follows the equatorial line, the two others bending about one degree southward, the one toward its source, the other toward its mouth. ‘The goods and the baggago had to be conveyed in canoes and upon the baéks of natives; but throughout the whole of their journey MM. de Brazza ani Bellay had great difti- culty in obtaiging any assistance from the blacks; and toward the end they encountered open hostility. Halting at Lopé, a large village situated on tho Ogowai, about halt way between its source and the Atlantic, the travellers made a journey into the terri- tory of the Fans, who seemed very friendly; and from thence to Doumé, much higher up the river. Hero M. de Brazza was struck down by illness, and the ex- podition remained at Doumé till the spring of 1877, Above the falls of Poubara the Ogdwai becomes a very insignificant stream, and the expedition might have ended there, for the question as to whether the Ogowai communicated with large inland lakes was set- tled in the negative, but th. leaders determined to ex- plore the country beyond the source of the river. In March, 1878, they were compelled to renounce the services of the free natives and to secure fort: slaves, who were tar more docile and who were wel rewarded for their work. After leaving the basin of the Ogdwai the expedition suffered a good deal trom want of food and water, the country being devas- atters mended when the; stream flowing castwar which brought them toa large river, the Alima, not indicated upon ny map. ‘this river, which is nearly two bund: yards broad at many points and about sixteen fcet decp is, as y be- lieve, one of the tributaries of the Congo. ‘They followed the Alima for some 4 on foot, partly in canoes; but they were ‘seduced at various points by the natives, and after three of the escort had been wounded they felt it necessary to retura their fire. Anxious to avoid a night attack on the river, M. de Brazza and Dr. Bella; their men and threw up some entrenchments, which were attacked the next day by the natives whom they succeeded in repulsing. Huving only fifteen guns, and with their ammunition running short, they re- solved, however, to abandon the course the stream, which continued to run castward; and, mak- ing toward the north, they found the natives less hostile, but they could not obtain any provisions. Atter crossing soveral streams, al of which flowed eastward, the expedition was ol to sepurate, M. de Brazza purs his journe; beyond the equatorial line, while Dr. Bella; and juartermaster Hamon awaited him at the falls of oubara, M. de Brazza made some progress in this direction; but the rainy scason setting in and bar- ring his further progress he rejoined his com- panions in September, the expedition getting back to Gaboon at the end of November. The expedition had lasted three years, during fifteen months of which its mombers were cut off fro all communica- tion with the civilized world; while for the last five months they had to march barefooted, their legs covered with sores, and half starved. But they can set against this the fact that 400 miles of ground were covered, more than half on foot, and that the area of ground hitherto unexplored which has been brought oo the domain of geography is equal to that of Belgium. A TRANSAFRICAN TELEGRAPH. The following is from the “Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society” for February:—The project of a line of telegraph through Africa, connect- ing the South African colonies with the Egyptian lnes at Khartoum, has recently been the subject of much discussion at tho Cape, and is likely to attract further attention in this country. The following summary narrative will explain the part taken by the Royal Geographical Society in the matter. The scheme was first mooted at the Conference of Geographers on African Exploration and Civiliza tion, which met by the invitation of the King of the Bolyians in September, 1476, It formed one of the suggestions submmitted to tho King, the idea being sketchod out and shown to be feasible in a pamphlet drawn up by Mr. Edwin Arnold, C. 8. L, Colonel J. A. Grant, C. B., C.8.L, and Mr. Kerry Nicholls. Although ‘nothing further was done in Belgium, the subject was not allowed to rest by ite English proposers; and after a short timo had lapsed, @ conference was arranged between a num- ber of the members of the Council of the Royal Geo- graphical Society and the well known telegraph engineers, Sir S. Canning and Mr. Sabine, to ascertain whether the practicability of | the scheme was sufficiently assured to enco the proposers to collect and = make publle information on the subject. The result of the first conference was favorable to the project, and a minute in accordance with this was drawn up and published in the “Proceedings” of the society, volume 21, page 616, Copies of the minute were sent to the Secretary of State tor the Colonies, to the Khedive and to Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Cape Colony, and the over- land ‘elegranh scheme was soon after publicly advo- cated by high authorities at the Cape, where, as also at Natal, a strong desire oxixts for telegraphic com. munication with Europe, and large subsidies havo been voted for cither a submarine or over. land tine. Colonel Grant meantime continued to gather by correspondence the opinions of African travellers, Egyptian telegraph employés and others, until a considerable mass of intorma- tion and testimony in favor of the practicability of the telegraph waa got together, independently of the society. The counell, however, were at length applied to by the Colonial Oflice, by letter of Ovtol 2 last, for information as to the nature of the coun- try and tho practicability of a lino of telegraph be- tween Pretoria and Gondokoro; and they have re- contly, after giving the subject much consideration, sent, in reply, certain documents stating that it wad beyond their (tee hag offer any opinion, the re- port being submitted in the belief that it contained much of the information which the Secretary of Stato desired to obtain. The mass of valuable infor- mation contained in these reports, which has been gilecte:! wit! inuch pains, will no doubt ¢yeutually be publistod. ie CAMELS IN ARIZONA. (From the Yuma (Arizona) Sentinel.) Aherd of camels was driven here from Nevada nearly two years ago. Finding no profitable work for them their owners turned them loose along the Gila to the eastward of Yuma, There they have been living and breeding, looking fat and sleek all the time. For a while they were in danger of extormin tion, Whenever they put in an appearance along the wagon road they frightencd mules and horses beyond éontrol of the drivers, They soon earned the over. lasting hatred of teamsters, some of whom acquired @ habit of shooting camel sight, Since, however, the raflroad has been vering freight at Adonde the road along the Gila this side of that place hag bee mparatively abandoned by teamsters, and chance to propagation, ls have now & do in the way o! & desert of Sonora, south and southeast of Yuma, is known to possess immense deposits of ulphur, borax and soda, Its miowntains aro also known to carry extensive deposits of metals, To these can we look for eventually making those treasures accessible and available. disembarked - a