Sunday dispatch. [volume], March 28, 1847, Image 2

About Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854

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Sunman IDispatch-
SVKDxV, HIKCH 38.18*7.
fe _— ———
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WILLIAMSON & BURNS.
The War. —During the past week the public
mind has been agitated, and to some extent
alarmed, by rumors, in regard to the Army ol
Occupation, commanded by General Taylor,and
occupying the advanced posts of Agua Nueva,
Saltillo, and Monterey.
Santa Anna, having exhausted the supplies oi
the province of Potosi; having waited in vain
for aid from his government; determined, it
seems, upon the desperate expedient of passing
within the American lines, to find food and fo
rage in the valley of the Rio Grande. Some por
tion of his cavalry was thrown forward, and we
have had every kind of rumor of conflicts, bat
tles, slaughter, and even of the capitulation of
Gen. Taylor ; but none of them are to be relied
upon, and many are most improbable. All that
we know is that communications are, for the
time, suspended ; and that we can further know
nothing.
Gen. Taylor understood his own position per
fectly, and also the movements of the enemy.-r
He has not been taken by surprise, and though
compelled, by the expedition of Gen. Scott, and
the tardy action of Congress, to act for the time
on the defensive, we have no doubt that he
has acquitted himself with honor.
We look daily for news of the capture of Vera
Cruz. That event accomplished, as it doubtless
must be, additional forces will be thrown into
the valley of the Rio Grande. Santa Anna’s re
treat cut off, his army, the forlorn hope of Mexi
co, scattered or taken prisoners, and the
war. so far as any efficient opposition on the part
of Mexico is concerned, brought to a close, pro
bably with a general disruption and breaking up
of the Mexican Government. The last news
from Tampico, is of a revolution at the capital.
It is much to be regretted that we should have
met with any reverses, even to the capture of a
train of provision waggons; but the blame and
responsibility of such loss, whatever its extent
may be, must be placed where it belongs.
It does not belong to Gen. Taylor, who con
sented to the weakening of his forces, by Gen.
Scott, because the exigencies of the service, the
plan of the campaign, and the approach of the
sickly season, demanded that there should be no
farther delay, in movement upon Vera Cruz.
3^.Q. r - ,jh s-31 mg- reason no blame can be attributed
to Gen. Scott. Both Scott and Taylor have done
what they considered best under the circum
stances.
Nor is the Government to be blamed.Mr Polk in
his annual, and two special messages, urged up
on Congress the necessity of prompt and vigorous
action to carry on the campaign. Every effort
was made by the President, the cabinet, ano the
leaders of the administration, to push forward
the necessary measures at the beginning of the
session. Had the recommendations of the Pre
sident been attended to, Gen. Taylor wonld have
had fiftee.i thousand men, in addition to the ar
my of Vera Cruz; and the army of Santa Anna
would have been driven back upon the capital.
—The war might have been, by the end of this
campaign,brought to a glorious termination.
For all delays, for all losses, for all dishonors
or disasters, let the people’s curses fall not on
Gen Taylor, nor Gen. Scott, nor the President,
but upon Congress alone, and upon those mem
bers who delayed and procrastinated the neces
sary measures for carrying on the war to the last
day, when they ought to have been passed the
very first week, of the session.
Let curses fall thickly and heavily on the trai
tors of Congress and of the press, who have
placed our government, our commanders, and
our country in aposition of humiliation, if not of
disaster.
Ths editor of the Washington Union was ex
pelled from the Senate Chamber, for publishing
just such an indignant rebuke to Congress, as
ought to have come from every patriotic press in
the United States.
We hope for the best—we have little apprehen
sion of serious results ; but we trust that this
campaign may prove a salutary lesson for our
people and their representatives, in all time to
come.
The Irish Famine.—Amid our own excite
ments it is not well for us to forget that one mil
lion of our fellow creatures, separated from us by
a distance of only fifteen days, are dying of hun
ger and pestilence.
One million—this is the cool, accurate calcu
lation of our English Malthusians; who are not
quite satisfied. Were it two millions, they would
like it better; yet, with the death of one million,
they hope to get on for a while, and waste, and
squander, as they have done, are doing, and wish
to do always.
One million of souls, gone to a happier world,
we trust, where there are no non-resident land
lords to plunder; and no government to aid and
assist them in plundering But though the vic
tims may be better off, it would seem that a just
God must deal vengeance upon those who have
caused this awful havoc and desolation.
The parchments of an Irish landlord should
drip with blood, we think. Haggard facesand
hollow eyes, and gaunt, famine-struck forms
should flit forever around them At the least, the
ghosts of these million of our brethren should be
permitted evermore to haunt their murderers.
Tney should haunt the midnight couch of the
Mijesty of England. They should gather round
th- sleepless pillow of England’s prime minister
Above all, they should hurt out the wretches
who revel upon the plunder of Ireland, while Ire
land starves. In London, in Peris, on the Alps,
in Italy, everywhere, should a just God permit
this million of spectres to haunt their murderers.
‘ Plunder V— you repeat, doubtingly. You
would be assured that it is so. Here, then:
The first right, is that of the laborer to food.
Ireland is able to feed Ireland twice oyer. To
take from me what is my right is plunder. Any
year and every year, the first claim upon the pro
duce of Ireland is the subsistence of the people.
The landlord’s right, if he have any, comes after
that; and it is plunder for him to take it first.
This right is recognized in the poor laws; laws
which provide, however inefficiently, that first of
al, every body must be fed. My right as land
lord, is a secondary right; and if I could pur
chase all Ireland to-morrow, I should not acquire
the right to drive one man out of it, or to starve
one man in it If I were the legal owner of every
acre, still every man’s right to a subsistence off
those acres is better than mine ; I being absent,
and cultivating none of them. The naked truth
is, that it would be mare in accordance with jus
tice, that every Irish landlord should cie of
hunger, than that one of the poor, plundered pea
santry oflreland should starve.
But in this gloomy and hideous prospect there
are some rays of comfort. Four ship loads of
food, the free contributions of our people, are on
their way; and before many days, the noble fri
gate Macedonian will spread her broad canvass
to the breeze, and set sail on her voyage of bene
volence and glory. God send them all in safety
to their destined ports ! If we knew how sweet
is one mouthful of food to the famished—if we
knew how blessed a thing it is to rescue from
impending death a single fellow being, if we
could think how near these people are to us, and
how deserving th p y are of our sympathies, New
York, however much she has done, would in
crease her exertions.
Were there but a telegraphic wire stretched
across the Atlantic, so that from hour to hour we
could have reports of the progress of starvation,
our sympathies would *be more keenly excited.
The truth is, that the people of this country, who
have never travelled in Europe, can have no idea
of the real and deplorable state of things existing
in the British Islands God grant they may never
know, by experience, the horrors of such a sys
tem of government, as has reduced those once
free and happy islands to their present most
wretched and degraded condition I
The Mayor and Common Council visited Bel
den’s model of New York, the other day. His
Honor the Mayor was much pleased with the
correctness with which the city is represented,
and suggested, that if the streets were covered
with a slight coat of mud, the resemblance would
be perfect.
‘An Old Man would be Wooing.’—The cus
toms of society demand that the maiden should
re wooed. Il is the especial privilege of the man
co make declaration, to propose, announce his
I >ve, entreat a return. The lady cannot do this;
she must wait to be asked, ere she can reveal ihe
secret of her attachment. It would shock and
iisgust a man to be proposed for ! But there
s a kind of intermediateground, upon which both
•arties may stand on an equal footing, and on
vhich neither party is absolutely committed. The
gentleman advances to it by little delicate alten
ions to the object of his attachment, or the lady,
•vith perfect propriety, makes the first step, by
-ngaging the attention of the man she seeks,
listening with evident interest to his
entering heartily into his plans and manifesting
her concurrence and sympathy with his opinions
The ladies call this ‘ setting their caps’ for a man,
and it is very proper, fail and praiseworthy ; be
cause it is all that they can do. They cannot pro
pose plumply, and say ‘ I love you, and would
be your wife.’
The aspiring statesmen of our time have adopt
ed the tactics of ihe women. They do not fairly
and frankly declare their love for office and
honor, as they might, but they lay themselves
out to catch the public eye and interest the public
heart. They go round among the dear people,
make pretty speeches to them, tell them of their
devotion to the public good and when their
handful of greasy followers
‘ i’the lower end of the hall collected’
throw up their hats and cry
‘ Long live King Richard’
they cast down their eyes, and blushes, thicken
ing on their cheeks, tell of their embarrasment
and confusion. Then they falter out a few words
deprecatory of the ‘ cut and dried* demonstra
tion, and declare that they have no motive of per
sonal ambition or agrandizement to subserve—
that they would fain retire from public life,
that they sigh for repose. Repose ! It is to the
man who has once tasted of political power,
what the prospect of single blessedness is to the
woman, who on the thirtieth anniversary of her
birth, persists in training
‘ that wintry curl
In such a spring-like way.’
The people of the South, and Southwest, are
about to be submitted to a wooing process of
this kind.
Mr. Daniel Webster, the great man of the East,
a sort of demi god in the neighborhood of Boston
and Marshfield, has set his cap for the Presi
dency. This is not a new passion with him. It
is an old and an ardent love, long cherished, and
never, we fear, to be gratified.
In 1§36 Mr. Webster made an effort to secure
the nomination of the Whig party, and failed.
He was then foolish enough to allow his name to
be used by the Whigs of his own state. The
result is known. Mr. Van Buren was elected.
Then came the great commercial revulsion;
the new administration was assailed from all
quarters; Mr. Webster took hope again, and in
the summer of 1857, made a journey to the West,
wooing the people in that section of the country.
From that moment until within a few months of
the meeting of the Harrisburg convention, he
labored to defeat Clay and secure his own nomi
nation. Finding that he could not accomplish
both, he resolved on preventing the success of
his illustrious rival. Gen. Harrison was nomi
nated and elected.
In consenting to hold office under John Tyler,
at ler the cabinet, formed by Gen. Harrison, had
dissolved, Mr Webster’s main object was the
distraction of the Whig party, so as to prevent
the nomination of Mr. Clay in 1844 He failed
only partially, for though Mr Clay was nominat
ed, it so happened that Mr. Polk was elected.
Now the great man of Massachusetts, is about
to commence a new campaign, and has chosen
th B South and the Southwest for the first demon
stvation. He will be accompanied, we learn, by
Mr. Edward Curtis, who has been serviceable to
hi m before, and who will we suppose have the
ordering of the arrangements of the progress.
That Mr. Webster will do his best to win the
South we have not a doubt, but his success is ex
ceedingly problematical. While he has been
wasting his energies and exhausting his influ
ence to defeat his great rival, new men have
ar Isen The general Won that knew Daniel Web
sMrin the heighih of his influence and power, has
pa &sed away. •
Cheap Lands —Rich lands may be bought in
Toxas for fifty cents an acre—forty acres, a very
nice farm,for twenty dollars. Beautiful lands are
sold in Wisconsin for a dollar and a quarter an
acre, which is fifty dollars for the same amount.
These lands are cheap enough, and there is one
way of keeping them so—the plan we recently
recommended.
‘The right of a«man to a certain portion of soil,
is the clearest of all his natural rights. It is the
rijjhttolive ; for the right to eat, supposes an in
terest in the soil from which food is produced.
‘The right of a man to more than a certain
quantity of land, is of the most doubtful and li
mited character. It may even be a great wrong
for a man to have and hold such land—most cer
tainly it is so, if others are deprived of its produc
tions.
lit follows that no legislation is so much de
munded as that which shall limit land monopoly
on the one hand, and secure it from alienation
on the other. This is a thing so clear, so plain,
so just, that the party which adopts this as a fun
damental principle, mixing with it no paltry and
unimportant questions, will be sure to succeed.
prevent the monopoly of land, and it can
never be dear. Its value will only rise with the
increased density of population, and improve
ments in agriculture. For a few men to mono
polize the land of a country, charging what rents
they please, even to the impoverishment and
starvation of their tenants, is just such an out
rase as it would be for a few men, having the
means, to buy up all the corn and flour, and pro
visions, and to raise them to such a price as to
produce the same results.
The Campeachy Blockade Signor Robera,
ths Yucatan Commissioner, did not succeed in
hi e embassy to Washington, the object of which
was to induce our government to recognise the
neutrality of the Peninsula, raise the blockade,
and evacuate Laguna. Mr. Buchanan knew tco
much to be humbugged, in so open a manner ;
but unfortunately,either our government or Com.
Conner, of his own motion, has committed a
singular oversight.
Meeting a gentleman this week, just returned
from Campeachy, via Havana, he has enlighten
ed us a little in the matter. Signor Robera,
though educated for the Church, at St. Louis,
has entered into trade in Campeachy, and is a
Mexican in all his sympathies. His mission
failed—our government having been humbugged
once too often, by these pretences of neutrality.
But the raising of the blockade of Campeachy,
has laid the whole country open.just as effectual
ly as if an enemy should block up the Narrows,
and let in vessels by the Long Island Sound.—
Vessels are now constantly going from Havana
to Campeachy, and from thence into the interior
of the department of Tobasco, byway of ‘ pueta
real.’ through lake Terminos; passing full fifteen
miles distant from Laguna. We might as well
abandon the whole blockade, and we might bet
ter evacuate Laguna at once.
Com. Conner is a most extraordinary Commo
dore—or he acts under very singular orders.
An Independent Man.—lf you have £lived all
your life in a city, you know not true indepen
dence, as it exists in the farmer’s life. Perhaps
it is worth considering a moment.
When land was selling for a dollar and a quar
ter an acre, the farmer earned enough to buy a
hundred acres. He went to work, cut down
trees, burnt «ver the land, got. in his wheat, corn
and potatoes, built him a snug house and a hig
barn, and then looked out for a wife ; a hearty
farmer’s daughter. Ina few years, you see this
man, with a family growing up around him. He
has cattle, and pork, and wool to sell. His wife
and daughters, spin, knit and weave the clothing
of the family. Every necessary of life is sup
plied on his farm, or easily bartered for iis pro
ducts. He has always a surplus of provisions in
store, and for what little money he requires, and
it is very little, he always has to sell some staple
which commands it. What lot on earth is so
independent or so happy as this I
And here is the moral. If you are in such a
position as this, remain so. Look to it as the
height of ambition, and infinitely superior to that
of the truckling trader, who is but the obsequious
and dependant go-between of the men of inde
pendence. It is much better for you and the
world that you should raise a hill of corn than
that you should cheat some man out of the value
of it. He who makes or raises any thing adds to
the world’s wealth; and adding to it is much
more honorable than exhausting it.
There was a bit of experimental wood pave
ment, Uid down by the Custom House, last sea.-
son, which we believe to be wortl.y of attention;
for, with some improvements, we think it might
be used in all our thoroughfares. The Russ pave
ment is magnificent. It is a good thing to see
the stages roll over it—but then it costs. The
Custom House paving is much cheaper. It is
formed of blocks of flat joist, laid endwise on
planking. If the plank were laid on charcoal,
and the crevices filled with some such antiseptic,
it would do,
Social Progress—l. O. of O. F.-'-There will
be written, not many years hence, a history of
the rise and progress of the Independent Cider
of Odd Fellows in the United States. No doubt,
it will I ea curious and an interesting work.
The name of the Order is evidence enough that
it was a very small acorn, which produced this
overshadowing, broad, massive, sheltering oak.
It seems but yesterday, that we read of the orga
nization of one of the first Lodges in the United
States.
Since the last regular meeting of the Grand
Lodge of the State of New York, there have been
two special meetings for the restoration of sus
pended or surrendered charters, and the granting
of new ones; and there are now 291 Lodges,
holding charters, numbering from No 1 to No.
291, with a single exception, that of No, 17, and
it seems a pity that some of the members of this
Lodge would not make an effort to render the
number complete
Here then are almost 300 organizations in this
State, all governed by the same constitution,
laws, and discipline, and all acting together upon
the holiest principles that can influence the hu
man mind—principles of order, mutual protec
tion, and social equality—in the words of the
motto of the Order, the principles of* Friendship,
Love and Truth.’
There are in the city of New York, about
eleven thousand members of this order, of all
parties, creeds, opinions, professions and call
ings It is out of the power of any sect, or any
class or party, to obtain an influence, from this
very circumstance. The organization has safely
passed that danger. On all sides it is jealously
watched, and we apprehend no harm to church
or state.
It is a cheerful spectacle for a warm hearted
man to contemplate Here are eleven thousand
men, each one of whom has a large circle of
friends and brothers. Is he sick I they visit, and
comfort, and support him. In death they are still
around him, and follow him to the tomb—and if
he leave a widow and orphsfri children behind,
he closes his eyes in peace, knowing that their
welfare will not be neglected. This is as near a
realization of the idea of the brotherhood of man
as we have —this is practical Christianity— it is
humanity in the brightest phase, and the most
hopeful aspect it has yet exhibited.
We are not absurd enough to eulogize Odd
Fellowship as perfection—but we are quite sin
cere in declaring that it is one of the longest
strides toward it that has yet been made—and it
is so much the better, that the next step will be
comparatively an easy one.
The present movement of Odd Fellowship, is
one of concentration, by which it will gather
strength, and dignity. The 4th day of June next,
is set apart, for a grand celebration of the Order,
of the whole state, in this city. We shall see a
procession of thirty thousand, perhaps; of itself,
an impressive sight.
One of the ceremonies of this day, will be the
laying of the cornerstone of the grand edifice,
about to be erected by the Order, in the very heart
of the city—fronting on Grand street, opposite
Centre Market. In this building there will be a
great number of Lodge rooms, a library, and we
should hope a great, room for public meetings,
concerts, and especially for the,lectures, courses
of which should be delivered before ihe Order.
This must not bo neglected. 21 great library,
a well furnished reading room, and public lec
tures, for the intellectual improvement of the
families of Odd Fellows, ought to be a part of the
system ; carried out with as much liberality and
as little exclusiveism, as circustances will admit
Odd Fellowship is probably not the best insti
tution that can be; but we feel sure that it is one
of the best that is.
The Last Indication of Bigotry and Preju
dice —Swedenborg tells us that an angel once
endeavored to make him see clearly the nature
of faith and charity and their necessary connec
tion.
‘ Think of light and heat’ said the angel.
‘Faith, in its essence, is the truth of wisdom,
and charity, in its essence, isrthe affection of
love ; and the truth of wisdom in heaven is light,
and the affection of love in heaven is heat. The
light and heat which tne angels feel and enjoy
are nothing else; hence thou mayest see clearly
what faith is when separate from
what it is when conjoined with charttyT Faith
without charily is like the light in winter with
out heat —the foliage is stripped from the trees,
every green herb is killed, the ground is hard, the
water frozen ; but the light of spring, which is
light with heat, (faith united lo charity) causes
the trees to vegetate, first into leaves, then into
blossoms and lastly into fruits; it opens and
sofiens the ground, whereby it yields grass,
herbs, flowers and fruits; and it also dissolves
the ice so that the waters flow from the foun
tains. Faith separate from charity, is like light
without heat—it deadens all things; faith con
joined with charity, is, like light and heat, it en
livens all things. Where faith is conjoined with
charity, there are paradisical gardens, flowery
walks and verdant groves, gay and delightful in
proportion to such conjunction ; but where faith
is separate from charity, there does not grow so
much as a blade of grass, nor any green thing,
except it be on thorns and briers.’
That was a sensible angel.
Swedenborg goes on to say, that there stood at
a little distance from them, some of the clergy
whom the angel called justifiers and sanctifiers ol
men by faith alone, and also arcanists, that is,
dealers in mysteries. ‘We related to them these
things concerning faith and charity, but they
turned their backs upon us, and said. *We do
not hear youwhereupon we raised our voices
and cried, ‘ Hear us now then;’ but immediately
they stopped their ears with both hands and ex
claimed, ‘ We will not hear ’
As the angel and Swedenborg combined, could
not make the faith-without-charity men hear, we
shall not even attempt it. But we have a story
to tell.
The concert at the Apollo rooms, on Tuesday
evening last, was given in aid of the funds of the
Samaritan Society—a society whose object is to
locate an establishment on Staten Island for the
reception of reputable females who are destitute.
Several of our best vocalists volunteered their
services, and it was hoped that a handsome sum
of money would be raised.
But three or four of Tuesday’s papers gave the
public a friendly caution! * The Samaritan
Society was a Roman Catholic organization!'
The Commercial Advertiser was particularly fear
ful lest the fact should not be known. Its pious
editors were apprehensive of public misappre
hension, and so let out the damning secret .that
these Samaritans, who wished to gather together
poor and helpless women, and minister to theii
necessities, in the name of the Great Master,
who fed the hungry and clothed the naked and
bade all men imitate his example—that these
Samaritans were Roman Catholics! It was
equivalent to saying ‘ Let no Protestant dollar be
added to these funds; let the poor woman starve,
or sink into infamy, for those who would feed
and protect her are Roman Catholics !’
The angel said truly, and Swedenborg faith
fully recorded the truth ‘When faith is sepa
rate from charity, there does not grow so much
as a blade of grass, nor any green thing, except
it be on thorns and briers ’
Thankful for. Small Favors.—Some of our
political capital making temperance men, got up
a meeting, last Wednesday night, at the Taber
nacle, * to rejoice’ over the decision of the Su
preme Court of the United Stales, in regard to
the excise law.
That the state of New York, under the consti
tution of the United States, may enact laws, re
gulating the sale of gin cocktails, without vio
Itting that instrument, is nothing to make aims
about. The question was formally put—can we
pass such laws without a violation of the Federal
compact! The answer is, yes. It is nothing to
Louisiana who s-lh gin cocktails in New Yoik,
and therefore it is not, so far as the Union is
concerned, unconstitutional. But what a thing
to hold a public meeting and rejoice about !
A thing may be constitutional without being
right. There is nothing in the constitution
against a man having six wives, if our state
chose to pass a law to that effect ; but because
such a law is constitutional, it is no matter of
rejoicing, except to those who want more than
one. Tnere are absurd and ridiculous laws,
which are or might be passed with a perfect re
gard to constitutionality, which has nothing to
do with expediency. To rejoice, therefore, be
cause a particular law is constitution!, isparticu
larly absurd.
But there is one point in this matter,which we
must not neglect to touch, though it is a delicate
matter, and should be treated tenderly. Arnont
the speakers who were to take part in this legal
rejoicing business were two ministers of thegos
pel. We'are sorry to see clergymen in so inde
licate a position. With all respect,we insist tha>
they have no business with spouting at politica
meetings. Law making is out of their line: the)
have other matters than the constitution to at
tend to, and if they knew their duty, or under
stood the doctrines of the religion they pre
tend to teach, or properiy appreciated their owr
position in society, they would refrain from
mixing themselves up in such matters.
Let clergymen, as most of them do, confine
themselves to their proper duties. They ma'
preach temperance ; but had better refrain fron
making laws. They may be as active as the)
like in the proper duties of the pulpit; but the*
will gain nothing by making themselves busy a>
the polls. i
Crisis in the Temperance Gause-—-The Evils
and the .Remedies.—We are glad to learn that
the advice we gave our temperance frrends last
week was well received, and made a good im
pression upon their minds. They will soon be
lieve that we mean well, towards them, and so
ciety. We see the temperance cause shaking
and tottering—the prey <sf evil counsels, and, we
fear, of bad men. It is on the brink of ruin, and
nothing but a reform in the cause itself, will save
it.
Success is a sad stumbling block to associa
tions as well as individuals; and it is as true of
one as the other, that ‘ pride goeth before des
truction and a haughty spirit before a fall.* The
temperance party, as it is now unhappily termed,
is experiencing the sad effects of pride and am
bition, in some of its _members and would-b©
leaders.
Our Temperance correspondence, during the
past week,discloses a strange state of things. In
©ne communication we have it charged that the
exhibit of the famous temperance committee was
not correct; and it is asserted that two amounts
known to have been paid to the accredited agents
of the concern were not accounted for. We
have not the report before us, nor the vouchers,
to enable us to say that this charge is correct.
Other letters give us a very amusingly melan
choly account of an affair which came off at a
recent meeting of what is called the Parent So
ciety, at National Hall. The late President,ha
ving resigned, an ambitious temperance man
rose and made whit our correspondent calls ‘ a
furious and blackguard personal attack upon the
late president.’ The latter replied, in the same
style of Billingsgate invective, saying, among
other things, that { a clique had come there that
night for the purpose of electing as President a
man, whom the Parent Society never did, never
could, and never would tol-rate.’
This ridiculous and contemptible quarrel pro
ceeded, until the ladies, by their hisses, put a
stop to the disgraceful scene.
That it may not be supposed that we exagge
rate, we give below, one of the letters received
by us during the week upon this subject .•
Messrs. Editors.—Being a member ofjhe Old Pa
* rent Temperance Society,J_fexii—iirTluty bound to ex
pose the infanious cohduct of those temperance poli
ticians, who for along time have been heaping disgrace
on our cause through their low and selfish practices
The last disreputable fracas to which I would part cu
larly call the attention of the temperance community,
camo offon Thursday evening, 18th in-t., before the
Parent Society, at National Hall. The quarrel arose
between the aspiring candidates for the office of Presi
dent for the ensuing quarter, and such a row can be
better imagined than described. Billingsgate compli
ments, without reserve,were mutudiy exchanged until
the ladles, the guardians of Washingtonian pr nciples,
and the respectability of the society brought the row
dies to a proper sense of their misconduct by hissing
them into silence. Many members of the society won
der why the politicians dont leave, since all eves are
turned towards them,and their characters have become
liable to the strictest scrutiny. But I see no cause for
wonder ; for while a prospect of emolument presents
itself to their eager minds, they will hang on to the so
ciety like leeches ; they are just about as sens! live,and
should be treated as leaches frequently are, pulled ofi,
salted, and made to disgorge to keep them from spoiling,
When officers of societies resort to opprobrious epithets,
and publicly proclaim each other swindlers, scoundrels,
blackguards, fee., &c. &c., it behoves the society to re
gard them at their own valuation, and dismiss them for
their want of decency, if for nothing else. Yours,
A WASHINGTONIAN.
Temperance men! Temperance ladiesofNew
York’—how long will you suffer your cause to
be profaned by men, who would bring a disgrace
on the holiest cause that human hearts could he
engaged ini Why will you be imposed upon by
a set of beggarly wretches, without principle?,
reputation, or common decency 1 Can you ex
pect your cause to prosper, when the whole com
munity sees at the head of your ranks, where
they have impudently forced themselves, the rt
king, of your gutters, the scun of your prison?,
the outcasts of political factions, the butts and
laughing-stocks of the respectable portion_olthe
community ; men who have neither mental ca
pacity nor moral worth, nor social respectability
to recomtne tfiepi—and whom nothing but
sheerimpudence could have ever pushed before
the public in a prominent position 1 And these
are the men, who, by the aid of the temperance
cause, expect to be made magistrates and legis
lators, and to fill the most sublime and dignified
positions in the state I
We see but one course to pursue—we know of
but one mode of action to advise, and that is to
repudiate at once, utterly and forever, all those
men who are the disgrace and will be the ruin of
the temperance cause. The ladies can do it;
aad if they will talk the matterover among them
selves, they will doubtless be able to act as we
advise. Let them refuse to attend meetings,
wh ere bra wling demagogues ad die s_s_t he m—l e t
them withhold their countenance, their support,
and above all their money, and the mischief will
soon be at an end ; and we may once more see
the triumph of moral suasion, and the glorious
success of the temperance principles and cause.
Our Singing Master..—This extraordinary
genius persists in boring us with his criticisms
upon the musical performances,at the ladies’ tem
perance festivals, which are so popular, because
in many ways so charming. He also persists,
ungallant wretch that he is I—in his assertions in
regard to Mrs. Washburn. That amiable lady
and charming vocalist is received by crowded
houses with tumultuous applause—she is encored
in every performance. She produces the most
marked sensation. All the young men are in
ecstacies or in agonies, when they can. or cannot
get a sight of her. Their hearts palpitate when
they find that her beauty is equal to her talent and
sensibility. Whenever she sings, people, and es
pecially gentlemen, rush to hear her. The house
is filled. The shillings or quarters, as the case
may be, pour into the ladies’ treasuries. Every
thing goes off delightfully. If there is any disap
pointment in regard to anybody else, it is made
up by Mrs- Washburn, and everybody is satisfied
Everybody but our discontent
ed,distracted Yankee singing master; who finds
fault with Mrs. Washburn for singing, with the
ladies for inviting her, with the sovereign people
for applauding her, and with us for commending.
It won’t do, Mr. Singing Master. You did as
sail a Tempi® of Virtue when you assailed a
singer they applauded! and a Temple of Virtue
is not a thing for profane to meddle with.
We shall stand by the ladies and by Mrs. Wash
burn, at all hazards- She is one of the best Tem
perance singers we have ever heard. Her voice
is wonderful,in its depth and power. Her style
is one of noble simplicity. In spile of all the
Yankee singing masters in the world, she is ail
she is cracked up to be ; and th© charming ladies
of the Temple of Virtue, were right—are right,
and, we trust, always will be right: and no Yan
kee singing master, not if his voice ran through
five octaves, if he could play the music of the
spheres by note, and keep time with creation—
not if he wound up the solar system like a music
box, and used the milky way for a fiddle bow,
and had the North Pole for a tuning fork, shall
assail a Temple of Virtue, or a lady, and particu
larly n eharming and clever lady, who sings fur
them. Thai’s all.
Nect/.r —connoisseur of the Boston, Post
gives a ‘ Recipe for nTW-ttg » A kiss from
a woman’s sweet lips, a smile whenfefsmilc
most placid, a pout of her ripe lips, a sneer full of
scorn from some fond, jealous witch, the tear of
beauty, a glance of her eye, and the love tone of
her voice. Thisffs a mixture which we would
partake sparingly of, if at all.
For our own part, we like plain drinks. The
simple kiss, when uaderstandingly taken, is quite
enough td fill the soul with rapture. You press
your lips gently to the lips of the loved one : you
are not like a foolish school boy in haste to seize
the fruit; the pressure, we say, is gentle at first,
until your eye has caught the responsive expres
sion of her own: then you feel your pulse quick
en, the blood leap in your veins, the bosom throb
that delicious throb. Don’t be too hasty; enjoy
this intermediate state; there is too much of
heaven in it for mortality. Did you pay your note
to-day 1 Bah ! what do you care for the note Ils
your business prosperous 1 Pshaw I what pro
fanity to talk of business at such a moment. Does
the world treat you well ! The world may go to
the . Very well, you are in Paradise. Now
then, pretend that you are going to imprint the
kiss, but don’t do it. Did you detect that expres
sion, half offender reproach, half of regret, that
sprung into the dear one’s face 3 ’Twas but a
feint. But you cannot linger. No, you must do
it! There —it is over! That long drawn sigh,
audible only to your own soul, tells you that it is
over. But you can repeat it! Don’t do it, my
voung friend Be temperate in all things ; the
abstemious man lives a long life and a happy one.
Ve were once inordinately fond of fried clams—
soft .hells—we eat them every day for a month.
We have never eaten them since,but we often look
□ack with regret to those delightful days, and
would give a lump of the purest gold to enjoy
ried clams as we did then. Our foolish excess
cut off a source of indescribable delight.
New Works in Press.—Williams Brothers,
have published a very interesting novel, trans
ited from the French, called the ‘BlackMendi
cant.* We learn that the Appletons intend soon
».o publish the ‘ White Mendicant.’ A long story
of amusing hoaxes and impudent imposture.
Evening Service at Trinity.—At 9 of the
morning and 3 of the evening of every day,
prayers are read in Trinity Church.
We were in the churchyard, last Wednesday
afternoon, looking at the new monument to Law
rence, when the bell for service to ring; a
few men and women entered and presently the
gates were closed and locked. As we are in,
said we to our friend, we may as well hear the
prayers—the evening service, if slowly and dis
tinctly read, is solemn and impressive.
So we walked into the church. Just within
the railing of the altar, stood the young deacon, in
his white gown, reading hurriedly the lessons
and prayers. It was evident enough to us that
he had not dined and was very hungry. There is
no mistaking the manner of a hungry man, whe
ther he he.a judge on tli« bciicti, a juror in the
box or a parson in the pulpit. Our young deacon
was in a hurry to get his dinner, and he made
sad work of the beautiful service of ihe church.
Praise the Lord, O my soul; and all that is
within me praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O, my soul; and forget not all
his benefits.
These two verses of the psalm, the young dea
con read, and omitted the balance, and so with
the other lessons—they were either cut short or
galloped over.
There were, all told, thirty-three men and wo
men in the church, and a baby who was brought
in to be christened. As the sexton walked up the
aisle with the mother and child, we took out onr
glass to see how the impatient and hungry young
deacon would resign himself to this additional
infliction. We thought that he betrayed a little
vexation, but he turned immediately to the for
mula of baptism and ran it over. The child was
baptised, the sacred symbol impressed on its fair
young forehead, and the solemn declaration —
We receive this child into the congregation of
Christ’s flock, and do sign him with the sign of
the cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be
ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified,
and manfully to fight under his banner, against
sin, the world and the devil; and to continue
Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his
life's end—
made by the young deacon, whose appetite
seemed to be growing sharper and sharper.
Trinity Church pays a rector and three assist
ants large salaries each, and they should take
their turns in the regular performance of the
daily worship, which ought not to be entrusted
to a ‘ sub/ to slight and hurry over. Where was
Dr. Berrien, last Wednesday afternoon ! At home
eating his dinner. Where were the three assist
ants! At home doing the same thing. Surely
this is a grievous neglect on their part, for which
they will be held responsible.
We avail ourselves of the occasion to say, that
the usual music of the church should not be
omitted in the daily service. Trinity can afford
to pay three or four voices and an organist, to do
the chaunting, which we do not doubt would
cause a larger daffy attendance—that is if the
officiating clergyman will kindly take our hint
and his dinner before going to his duty.
State of Religion —The New York Observer,
a widely circulated and influeniial religious
paper, publishes, in a late number, a very de
sponding article on the state of religion in this
country. There have not been, for a long period,
any revivals of religion, and the Observer fears
chat the churches must dwindle towards extinc
tion.
Such, undoubtedly, is the fact; and we think it
may be accounted for, to some extent at least
The last great religious excitement was that of
Millerism. For the space ot two years there was
scarcely a religious mind which was not in some
degree affected by that strange delusion. When,
for the last time, the day appointed came and
went, and the world rolled on as usual, then
came a reaction, powerful in proportion to the
excitement, and sufficiently strong to prevent
any other religious excitement springing up fora
long period.
Another reason is to be found in the various
movements of the day, of a moral, and semi
religious character, which give new channels to
popular excitability. The chief of these has been
the temperance movement, which has absorbed
much of the enthusiasm, which otherwise might
have found a vent in religious revivals.
There may be other reasons, such as the culti
vation of certain sciences, and the promulgation
of certain philosophical notions, which cannot
but have a strong influence upon the public mind.
Our impression is—and we do not doubt that the
Observer will agree with us—that the cultivation
of such sciences or theories as mesmerism, phre
nology, geology and astronomy, must have an
unfavorable effect upon revivals of religion. We
do not mean to say that the tendencies of science
are irreligious—for that would be denying the
truths of either science or religion, but we have
no doubt that certain sciences and certain
schools of philosophy are opposed to that class of
religious excitements, the want of which the
Observer finds reason to deplore.
Literary.— ‘ Typee’ and ‘ Omoo.’—We learn
by the last European steamer, that the new work
by Herman Melville, author of Typee, is to be
published by Murray, in London, about the first
of April, and will be issued at the same time by
the Messrs. Harper, of this city. Mr. Murray,
in a note to a gentleman of the American legation,
expressed a very high opinion of the work ; and
we have no hesitation in promising that the ad
mirers of Typee will not bo disappointed in this
new production of its gifted author-
It has been our especial good fortune to read
each of these works, in advance of their publica
tion ; and the last we perused very carefully, both
in the MSS. and proof. Our judgment of Typee
was confirmed by that of the whole English and
American press, and the author, by the very first
stroke of his pen, found himself famous; and Ty
pee will live long after civilization shall have de
solated the beautiful Marquesas.
‘ Omoo,’ the forthcoming work, has a wider
scope, and a greater variety of interest. Its sea
scenes are wonderfully vivid—its descriptions of
the island scenery of Polynesia, enchanting; its
account of life on shore, principally at the Socieiy
Islands, a series of pictures so full of graphic
beauties, that they are impressed upon the me
mory forever. It is a great deal added to one’s
life to read a book like ‘Omoo.’
Some of our readers, not deep in church his
tory, will be a little surprised at the account of
the curious Christian sects which sprung up, and
flourished to a greater or less extent, in the first
two centuries of the Christian era. We find
among these sects, almost every description of
religious creeds maintained /at the present day.
There are the Unitarians, Universalists, Calvan
ists, Shakers, Battle-Axers, Transcendentalisms,
Millerites; in fact, e'very shade, singularity and
eccentricity of religious dogmata. In such mat
ters we may hold with Solomon that there is no
thing new under the sun. Without wishing to
dictate, we have suggested to the author, that he
should proceed with similar sketches of the
creeds of Christianity down to the present time,
dwelling with a fuller elaboration on the faiths
now existing.
Musical.—As me season of the Italian’Opera
draws to a close it increases in interest. As the
sun approaches the horizon, glories gather more
gorgeously around it. I Lombardi, Linda, and
Lucia have been given this week, and have each
been received with unbounded enthusiasm.
We are to have at the close of this season, a
grand sacred conceit atthe Tabernacle, with the
whole strength of the company, chorus and or
chestra, and then opens the next season under
the brightest auspices.
The competition of the Havana company, at
she Park will only make the season more excit
ing; and if the two companies will arrange
to take alternate nights, it will be for the benefit
of both.
Christy’s Minstrels, increasing daily in popu
larity, bid fair io remain with us permanently, as
they might do with still increasing houses, if
they could find a place to hold them. We hear
but one opinion of unqualified approbation of
these elegant and talented minstrels.
A concert is to be given to-morrow evening, at
the Minerva Rooms, Broadway, by Miss M. J.
Marius and Mr. George A. Hoyt, graduates of
the New York Institution for the Blind. A lady
assures us that, aside from the claims these per
sons may have, on account of their condition,
their music is really worth hearing.
The Alleghanians give their last concert at the
Tabernacle, to-morrow night
The return of Mr. Barnum has had one happy
result. The Museum band has either been
changed or greatly increased in efficiency, and
on every pleasant evening a large crowd is col
lected on the opposite side of Broadway. As
soon as political excitement gets warm enough,
the gutter is to be cleaned out, when the front
seats on the curb stone will be reserved for the
boys, and the back ones, St. Paul’s railing, for
the nursery maids and their little charges That
Mr. Barnum is a public benefactor is everywhere
acknowledged. Those who are particularly im
pressed with this idea are in the habit of handing
over two shillings occasionally, to his manager.
The Right Time.—lf you want a good watch,
one that will inform you of the right time, and
never play you any tricks, apply to J. Y. Savage,
of No 92 Fulton street, who has a large stock of
gold and silver wa ches, every one ot which he
guaranties. His stock of jewelry, gold pens, etc.,
is also large.
Weekin (Gossip.
Mr. Giles, the lecturer, is in Philadelphia, en
deavoring to screen Falstaff from the charges of
cowardice and boasting Will these Shaksperian
doubts never be cleared up! Shall we never
know whether Hamlet’s madness was real or
feigned ; whether Hamlet’s mother was privy to
the death of her first husband, whether Falstaff
was a vain glorious boaster, or a wit gi
ven to sack and exaggeration ! And then, too,
there is a doubt about Ophelia. Did did not
love the philosophic prince, and was not her
death caused as much by his brutal treatment,
as by the murder of her father! We confess
that Desdamona’s conduct is not quite satisfac
tory rtnacia »vo.<3 a. fair, gwd looking Venetian
—Othello a soo’y moor. It is suspicious.
According to Professor Mitchell, the particular
system of the universe to which we are attached,
takes eighteen millions of years to complete one
of its revolutions. If the Mosaic chronology of
the creation be true, we have scarcely got a fair
start, yet, in our first turn round, and it will take
8,994,990 years, to get half round. As it is but
natural to suppose, that such a vast machine re
quires several turns to get into regular operation,
we think we can promise Mr. Greeley that in
about fifty millions of years we shall have every
thing going as smoothly as even a Fourierist
could desire. We congratulate him and society
at large.
Mrs Bennett, who is writing charming letters
for the Herald, has left her lord in Paris and gone
off with her ‘ cousin, little baby and two servants’
in the direction of Rome, where she wishes to
pass the Holy Week. We hope the Pope will
behave as politely to Mrs. B. as the Parisian gal
lants seem to have done. There are no handsome
men out. of Paris, and Paris is the most seduc
tive city the world—Mrs. Bennett says—two ad
missions which should prompt a prudent Scotch
man like Mr. Bennett, to come home and bring
his household gods with him.
There are forty thousand British sailors in the
American marine-service, seduced from their
own country’s flag, the London Examiner thinks,
by our higher rates of wages.
These sailors are seduced into our ships, the
same as the hundreds of thousands of English,
Scotch and Irish people are seduced into emi
grating to the United States, as farmers, me
chanics, laborers, etc , and on land or sea, they
all become good American citizens. England
has as much reason to complain of the loss of
one class of citizens as the other.
The discovery of the inhalation of ether, as a
means of performing surgical operations without
pain, has been hailed with rapture in England
and on the continent, and the papers are filled
with its results. About twelve years ago, we
made some curious experiments, and developed
some interesting facts, in connection with this
substance. One effect of the inhalation is to turn
the mind for a time, quite topsy-turvy. The
right appears the left—black white—a dog is a
cat, a horse is taken for a cow, and so on, to the
most ludicrous extent imaginable.
One of our exchanges says that it is provoking
to know, that a celebrated dancer will make as
much in a week with her legs, as Carlyle does
in a year with his brains. We do not think that
Carlyle would growl about it, or feel vexed. The
fact only proves that the dancer’s legs are more
attractive than the author’s speculations. Be
sides there are a thousand people who can appre
ciate a well turned limb, to on© who can appreci
ate a well turned sentence.
We must give our Broadway gallants a single
lesson in etiquette. We do not blame them for
being curious about pretty faces; but to pass a
adj r and then turn round suddenly and stare at
her, is insufferably rude. Do it in this way t
Get in advance of the fair object of curiosity,
at least a dozen paces. Then raise your eyes as
though you were looking for a star, at the same
time turning your head slowly round until she is
within the line, when you can drop your eyes
gently and gracefully to the proper range, and so
satisfy your curiosity without offending the sub
ject ol it. Try this plan, boys.
The guillotine, the favorite instrument for the
death punishment in France, is becoming po
pular all over Europe ; but they are mostly man
ufactured at Paris, where, from great experience
in their operation, these.instruments are better
made than elsewhere. Within a short time five
of these beautiful instruments have been export
ed j two to Greece, two to Germany and one to
penmark.
Bennett is in Paris. It is Mrs. Bennett who is
in a transition state just now. Leaving the old
man to look out for himself, she has gone off to
Italy, with no escort but her cousin, leaving all
the handsome men of Paris behind her. This is
the most wonderful instance of self denial, re
corded in modern history.
The present existence of the Native party is
involved in about as much doubt, as that of the
new-planet, which it is now said has not been
discovered, after all. Our Brooklyn neighbors
are determined to have a big telescope, when
the natives and the planet may both be found at
the same time, and, perhaps in the same position
—sky high !
There has been some talk again, about a French
and Spanish expedition, to establish a monarchy
in Mexico. It is even stated that troops and ves -
sels of war have been concentrating at Cuba for
that purpose, but all this smacks very much of
moonshine. All the great European powers;for
tunately for us perhaps, have got as much busi
ness on their hands as they can attend to.
An English clergyman has been severely han
dled in the London papers, for refusing to attend
the funeral of a suicide. In this city, within a
short time, three clergymen were solicited to
attend the funeral of a woman, and all refused.
Had the suicide, or this woman, been a murderer,
there would have betn do lack of clergy.
The London illustrated papers have dispatched
artists to Ireland, who are giving representations
of the horrible scenes constantly witnessed there.
He is to be pitied whose eye does not moisten at
these pictures; and they are not the less affecting
that they are contrasted with scenes of lordly
magnificence.
Boston capitalists are making an organized
movement to build healthy, comfortable, and at
the same time cheap tenements for the poor.—
Something might and should be done in this way
in New York. The lowest portions of the city,
the oldest houses, inhabited by the poorest peo
ple, pay the highest rent.
A drying house, attached to the Bronx powder
mills in Westchester co., blew up on Wednesday
last, killing one man and severely wounding
several others. The Westchester Spy, in an ex
tra, got out under high excitement, ealls this ‘ a
sparing manifestation of God’s mercy.’
The King of Prussia has given his subjects a
constitution of a very liberal and popular charac
ter. A despot has voluntarily become a consti
tutional monarch, without being forced to it.—
Kings are learning wisdom—and the world is ta
king a quick step in its forward march.
The appropriate name of “literary world” has
been given to the block on the north eastern cor
ner of Nassau and Beekman streets. It is full
of book stores below, and printing offices and
binderies above. Instead of being placed across
the centre of the block, the sign is modestly put
on the corner.
Gen. Gaines, at the Astor House dinner, and
Col. Webb in the Courier and Enquirer, have
abused the administration; and under all the
ircumstances,both of them haff much better have
said nothing. We were in favor of Col. Webb
being made a General; but are not disposed to
be very savage because he Was not appointed.
Col Barnett, of the New York volunteers, re
ceivedfroni a committee, appointed here,a stand
of colors at Lobos Island. His wife and little
child were present at the presentation.
The City Reform paity were not able to orga
nize. When the effort was made, it was found
that every member of the party insisted on ha
ving one of the highest offices, and as no com
promise could be effected, the party dissolved.
The Fourier discussion in the Courier ano
Enquirer and Tribune, is to be kept up till the
millenium, and we are laying by the numbers to
read when that happy time arrives.
Among the recent conversions from the Eng
lish to the Roman Catholic Church, are six emi
nent clergymen of the Episcopal Church, and the
celebrated Lady Duff Gordon.
Men sometimes write to newspaper publishers,
for papers, and do not inclose the cash, either
forgetting, or not intending to do so. Recently 5
a man wrote, ‘I enclose you one dollar on the
State Bank of Missouri ’ It happens that this
bank never issued a bill of less than ten.
A letter from Mobile was sucking on the Pos'
bulletin yesterday, stating that General Tayloi
had been shot by a Mexican. The letter wat
dated the 18th inst. The Mobile papers of th<
19th do not mention the rumor. It was humbug
of eourse.
Ipolicc Recorder
The Rsv. John N. Maffitt —Outrage in
Brooklyn —Mr. Maffitt is about fifty nine years
of age, an age at which, with the majority of
men,
‘ The hey day in the blood is tame ; it’s humble
And waits upon the judgment.’
An age z when man begins to think of the pall and
the tomb, not the nuptial couch; when he con
templates the cypress, not the orange blossoms.
But Mr. Maffitt is not like other men. Though
his life has been an active and a harrassed one,
his spirits retain the elasticity of youth, his step
is as light and springy, his eye as clear and ex
pressive. Old he is—a half of a century and nine
yeers;—but, hale and hearty, he may, addressing
his young bride, adopt the language of old Adam
to Orlando, in -zls You Like It, and say
‘ I am strong and lusty ;
xFor in my youth I never did apply
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ;
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weakness and debility ;
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
Frosty, but kindly : let me go with you ;
I’ll do the service of a younger man
In all your business and necessities.’
The announcement of the intended marriage
of Maffitt, to a lady not yet out of her teens,
created a deep sensation in the community.
Some of the warmest friends and admirers of
this gifted man, ourselves among the number,
deemed the step an imprudent one, since it would
revive all the prejudices and annimosities which
he had been doomed to encounter in his brilliant
career. But it was too late to prevent the alliance;
the lady herself, it is understood, had conceived
a violent passion for him, and declared that with
out his dear companionship and love, her peace
of mind would be forever destroyed.
Mr. Maffitt is a sensible man and experienced;
he is aware of the inplied, if not stipulated, obli
gations of the marriage contract, and he knows
that when an old man enters into this coniract,
without the power to fulfill his part of it, he justly
subjects himself to the dersion of the world, the
contempt and abhorence of his partner, and the
whole train of ills and evils flowing from so un
warrantable an alliance. In ordinary business
contracts, the failure of one of the contracting
parties absolves the other from all responsibility.
When the marriage contract is so regarded and
expounded, old men will be less anxious to marry
young wives. All this a sensible man like Mr.
Maffitt very well understands; and it is not for a
moment to be supposed that he has assumed re
sponsibilities which he cannot discharge.
There was then no occasion for any public exhi
bition,either of approval or censure, because of the
marriage of our clerical friend to a very young
lady. Much less was there warrant for the indig
nation of a thousand men, riotously gathered in
front of the house where the nuptial ceremonies
were proceeding. The Calathumpian Band of
Brooklyn, which distinguished itself on the oc
casion referred to, was organized several years
ago by a gentleman who is now one of the police
magistrates of that city. The object w«s to
ascertain whether oi not there was music in a
furious blast from a conch shell, and how far an
old sheet iron stove might be made to do the
double duty of a bass and a tenor drum. For
several years the band continued its experiments,
omitting no opportunity to
‘ Wake the dull ear of night’
and elicit a frank and full expression of the opin
ion of the happy parties who were;serenaded;
The appointment of the leader of the band to a
seat on the municipal bench, put an end, as we
supposed for ever, to these nocturnal performan
ces. We are told, but will not vouch for the
correctness of the story, that Mr. Francis B. Stry
ker, the present Mayor of Brooklyn, was at one
time a member of the organization, and that
when he appeared, last Monday night, in his
magisterial capacity, with a copy of the riot act
in his hand, his old associates were overwhelmed
with surprise, mortification, and grief t
‘ Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms,
Quite vanquished them; then burst their mighty hearts.’
The Calathumpians dispersed, never we hope
to gather again ; Mr. Maffitt and his bride were
left to the happiness and repose they had counted
on, and which no body of men had a right t) mar
and Mr. Francis B. Stryker went to his own
homo.
We hav<t been thus particular in our de cription
of this affair and added our own comments there
to, partly because the nature of the occui rence, be
ing nothing less than a gross infringement of indi
vidual rights, seemed to demand something akin
to indignant rebuke, and partly because we are
friends of Mr. -Maffitt, and as such will not see
him treated with indignity, while a pen is left us
to wield in his defence.
Mysterious Disappearances. -We do not
doubt the truth of a statement made by high
authority, not many years ago, that * there are at
all times in this city fifty desperate ruffians, any
one of whom would nothesitane to commit a mur
der for fifty dollars?
Enquiries are frequently made for missing per
sons, traced to this city,where they have sudden
ly and unaccountably disappeared. These en
quiries are generally fruitless. At the same time
it is rare that a resident of the city is robbed in
the street, or at houses he may enter, or that any
outrage is attempted upon him. The simple rea
son is that knaves of every class and degsee,
from a pocket book dropper to the burglar, high
wayman and murderer, look for their victims
among strangers, who are as imprudent as they
are inexperienced ; and carefully avoid the citi
zen, who is always on his guard.
We have had occasion, again and again, to cau
tion friends from the country against their ex
cessive and dangerous curiosity. A desire to see
all that is to be seen, especially of vice and de
gradation, and at the same time an effort to seem
quite at home—an effort so awkward that it is
readily detected—are the origin of more than
seven-eighths of the outrages which the papers
chronicle. An expert city sharper will detect a
countryman as far off as he can see him ; in the
houses of infamy, he is at once known and beset
by the inmates, and wherever be goes he betrays
his verdancy. It seems indeed ae though stran
gers took especial pains to show their simplicity.
The dens of the Five Points, which Dickens
visited under escort of a police detachment, a
cool,shrewd citizen will pass through and through
without molestation; while a countryman strag
gling into the first one, will most likely be robbed,
and if really a stout, resolute fellow, who offers
resistance, perhaps murdered.
We think it not improbable that many of the
missing men, for whom inquiries are made, have
come to an untimely end in this way.
This city is as well policed as any city in the
Union ; there is not a suspicious house, and very
few suspicious persons, unknown to the police-
But no protection is thus afforded to the stranger,
who, unseen by any, strays into a dangerous,
quarter of the town, and is never heard of again.
He is missed at his hotel; in two or three weeks,
anxious enquiries are made by his friends, but
then it is too late. If murdered, his murderers
are safe.
We would suggest to strangers, that, as our
police records show that strangers are, in nineiy
nine cases out of a hundred, the dupes of the
rogues who infest the town, it would be as well
for them to be a little less curious and a little
more cautious.
A bad Slander Case—The Brooklyn Adver
tiser says that a suit has beencommeneed against
a gentleman, holding a lucrative and responsible
position in a large commercial house of this city,
for slanderous expressions of a very iniquitous
character, alleged to have been uttered by him,
of and concerning a beautiful young lady, the
daughter of a gentleman residing, in Brooklyn.
Heavy damages are demanded. The injured lair
one was, it is stated, on the eve of marriage to a
person of suitable rank, when the intended
bridegroom was informed by the individual above
alluded to, that his betrothed was already a mo
ther, and that an infant in the house of her
parents, generally supposed to be her sister was,
ia fadt, her own. Bo startling and astounding a
disclosure—false and calumnious as it was —
could not, of course, fail to produce an imme
diate estrangement of the lovers, and an irrecon
cilable feud between their respective families
The affair has crea ed very considerable excite
ment among the friends and neighbors of the
several parlies connected with it, and on a trial
of the issues which have been joined, some
facts, it is said, will be elicited of a nature more
remarkably strange and extraordinary than any
that have before been developed in a court of
justice in that county.
A singing master, named Quackenbush, having
eloped from Berlin, N. Y., with a young gi<l<
leaving his own wife behind, was traced to Bos
ton, by means of his ‘big fiddle,’and there con
victed of adultery; which though not a criminal
offence in New York, sends a man to State Pri
sons in Massachusetts.
The Police Gazette is too hard upon the ‘lady
thief,’ let off, by the gallantry of a Pittsburgh
shop-keeper. The French, who understand thest
matters, call this propensity to steal, which is
lot unfrequent in the female sex, ‘ manie duvul.
It exists, more or less, in all countries, ano
is very common among the Spanish women oi
Cuba and Mexico.
®be IHrama.
In the fall of 1837, Mr John Pease, a respecta
ble small confectioner of Div.sion street, com
pounded certain vegetable simpb s which, after
being put through a course of- boiling molasses,
received the name of ‘Pease’s Cough Candy,’
and with this patronymic was extensively adver
tised in the papers of the day.
In the spring of the following year, Mr. Pease
united with the Forsyth street Methodist church,
and immediately thereafter twenty clergymen of
thatdenomination publicly testified to the efficacy
of brother Pease’s candy.
Brother Pease’s candy appeared to be peculiarly
blessed. It enabled the preachers to preach lon*
ger and stronger, and a subtle influence seemed
to be imparted to the entreaties of that ‘wrestler
with the devil,’ who armed himself with the word
and a stick of Pease’s candy. To doubt its vir
tues, was to be damned. Revival after revival
followed the use of the wonderful preparation;
enraptured thousands hung on the eloquent lips
of those good men who had licked a single stick
of the candy. Under its influence the human
voice seemed to acquire new strength, greater
volume, more ravishing melody, and to this day,
in despile of the hundreds of miserable imitators
who have, sprung up; in defiance of Mrs. Jervis,
in contempt of Doctor brother Pease’s
candy, still faithfully backed by the certificates of
twenty Methodist ministers, is the sovereign
remedy for coughs, colds,and consumption.
The Richelieu of Bulwer’s play is as little true
to history, as most of the characters of Bulwer’s
novels are to nature. Cardinal Richelieu was not
the man Bulwer has described. He was proud,
ambitious of power, vain and malignant. In one
word, his great mind was concentrated in self, and
he never in the whole course of his life perform
ed a single act which was the fruit of a generous
purpose. But whether a good man or a bad, whe
ther generous or heartless, Richelieu never, we
are persuaded, had the strength of lungs, accom
panied at the same time, by a constant, hacking
and distressing cough, which Mr. Edwin Forrest
gave him on the last Monday night, at the Park
theatre. That cough was not Richelieu’s, and
Mr. Foirest, before he ventured on the stage,
should have resorted to the invaluable remedy
advertised by brother Pease, which would have
speedily cleared his throat, relieved his lungs,
and spared the audience a great deal of uneasi
ness.
The audiences at the Park, during the past
week, have not been as large as Mr. Forrest is
accustomed to play to, partly owing to the in
clemency of the weather, and partly to attrac
tions elsewhere.
The English papers announce the return to the
stage of Mrs. Butler (Fanny Kemble) and inform
us of the brilliant success of her first engagement.
She received forty- pounds a night, was en
thusiastically applauded by crowded houses, and
will, we suppose, go to London, the dictator of
her own terms to obsequious managers. It is
understood that she is permanently separated
from her husband, a gentleman whom she carri
catured in her book on thm country, before she
married him, and for whom she was never sus
pected of having much regard. Mr. Pierce Butler
is a dashing man, who has fought one or two
duels, and done other foolish things besides mar
ry Fanny Kemble. If we have a single regret
occasioned by. Mrs. Bailer’? resumption of the
duties of her profession, it is because she may
exert an influence prejudicial to the success of
Mrs. Mowatt, who, we learn, contemplates c.
piofessional visit to London, early in the ensuing
autumn.
The sneers of certain of the knights of the
quill at the recent performance of Mr. Andrew
Jackson Allen, at the Greenwich theatre—an
establishment which the last managers facetious
ly called the New York Opera House-are in bad'
taste and meriting only rtbuke. Mr. Allen has
made the fame of an hundred actors by providing
them with showy wardrobes, some of which, by
the way, were never paid for; if the tailor dues
not always make the man, Mr. Allen has found to
his cost that the costumer oftentimes makes the
actor. The late, lamented Spranger Barry, Es
quire, was Andrew Jackson Allen’s friend; they
ate together, drank together and, when away
from home in company, slept together. One
bed and one pillow received their wearied bodies,
and if the last wish of our departed friend is gra
tified, Mr. Allen will sleep the sleep which knows
no waking, in a grave by the side of that on the
hill, in Greenwood Cemetery, where Mr. Allen
and ourselves, with tearful eyes and saddened
hearts, laid Spranger Barry away to his final rest.
At the Bowery, Mr. E 8. Conner, in heavy
tragedy and the popular drama of Putnam, have
been the attractions, and on every night of the
week, notwithstanding ffie 'storm, the attendance
has been large. Putnam indeed seems to have
lost none uf its attraction from frequent repeti
tion, and Mr. Conner is an actor whose profes
sional talents deservedly command, the public
approbation and support,
Mr. J. B. Booth, jr.’s, benefit is announced to
take place at the Bowery theatre, on Wednesday
evening next. The play of ‘ A New Way to Pay
Old Debts,’ with Booth as Sir Giles Overreach,
Neafie as Wellborn, Clarke as Allworth, and
Mrs. Sergeant as Muigarei., w 11 be performed
with other entertainments. See programme in
another column.
Mr. Marshall has been the star of the Chatham,
drawing large and approving audiences, by his
fine delineations of some of the most difficult
characters in the range of the drama.
Signor Felix Carlo, the inimitable Italian
clown, takes his benefit at the Chatham theatre
on Tmesday evening. Among other eccentric
performances, he will ride several times round
the stage drawn by his celebrated stud of tom
cats —four in hand.
Miss Mary Taylor, or the ‘ chaunting cherub,»
as some ot her admirers call her, his been ravish
ing the ears of the frequenters of the Olympic,
with her divine notes. We would say more of
Maiy, if we could, but as we can’t, we wont.
In connection with the Olympic, we are re*
minded-of a promise made to a lady, whom we
highly esteem, to contradict the rumor, circu
lated in the papers, that Mrs. Mitchell has been
returned to the Lunatic Asylum. That fond,
faithful wife, is now a patient and a tender
watcher by the sick bed of her husband. A
sacred duty she is now in the performance of,
and we envy not the feelings of that man or wo
man who would interpose between her and an
office that belongs only to the wife. Mr. Mitcfiell,
we are glad to learn, is slowly recovering, and
we may be permitted to express the hope, that
physical pain and debility have to him proved
blessings in disguise, teaching him, however
harshly, delightful lessons, and winning him back
O loyalty and love.
Mr. Chippendale is playing a successful en
gagement at the Odecn, Albany.
Mr Fleming commences an engagement at the
Museum, Albany, to-morrow night.
Yankee Hill is at the National, Boston.
The Viennoise children are dancing at the
Walnut street theatre, Philadelphia, to large
houses.
The Seguins are at Savannah.
The Keans have arrived in New Orleans, and
are announced to appear at the St. Charles.
‘ The Dry Goods’ Reporter and Merchant’s Ga
zette,’ a sixpenny weekly, just started by W.
Burroughs, jr., with a very full and competent
corps of editors and reporters, looks to us like a
valuable paper for merchants and manufacturers.
The two numbers out contain full reports, and a
greatmassof statistical information. The follow
ing is the first of a list of subjects the editors
propose to dwell upon :
‘ The cunning and hypocrisy of many profess
ing piety, and others engaged in the trade, a sore
evil: tending to weaken confidence between maa
and man, and bring into contempt the scrupu
lously correct and high toned principles by which
every trader should be reeiflaied ’
{KT Thousands have been saved trom baldness,gray
hairs, &c., &g , by ths use of Hill’s Infallible Oaguent,
The following are spec al agents for It’ sale in N.
Y., Brooklyn and Wllllamsburgh, and it may be had at
the principal drug and fancy stores in the U. S. W. H.
Carey & Co., 186 Pearl street; Spelman and Frasier,
83 Cedar street; J. Graham & Co., old s ip; J. E, Trlppe,
Maiden Lane; Johnson, Moore»& Taylor. 81 Maiden
Lane ; J- Harter, jr, 40 Cedar st.; G. Van Eps, 64 Ce
dar street, retail agents, New York—Miss Jarvis, 635
Broadway; d ugg Lt, cor. of Prince and Thompson st, ;
F. Sewell, 482 Grand st ; M. Sloan, 535 Giand s reet,
Brooklyn, L. I.—J. Brice, druggist 27 James street; J.
Jordon, 1 Front street; Mrs.M. Jordon, 131 Atlantic st;
A. Spoonor, 57 Fulton street. Williamsburgh—William
Davis, 51 South 7th street, one door from Third street.
A P. H. Barrett, P. M-, north-shore, Staten Island.—
Principal Office, 13 Nassau street New York, and at the
principal Drug and Fancy Stores, in the Unbed States. '
The principal loason why we consider that tAe
Eldorado Pain dibsiractorls superior to all other oint
ments, 1 inaments, &c'., is, because It at once removes
pain, subdues inflamation, and works a healing and
healthy change in the system, l:s blessings have not
been confined to burns, wounds, bruises,piles and rheu
matism, as mmy suppose, but it has effected cures in
broken breasts, glandular swellings, ague in face and
breast, and erysipelas. In many ol these cases, all other*
means bad been used in vain ; the Eldorado Pain Ab
stractor, however, afforded relief promptly. Call and
see the evidence of this, at 412 Broadway.
Moses G. Leonard was re nominated, by the
Democratic Convention, as Almshouse Commis
sioner. We believe that Mr. L. has made a good
officer.