206 THURSDAY, AUGUST »9, 1881. JOHNW. HEARS, EDITOR. associated with ALBERT BARNES. i GEORGE DTJFFIELD, J». THOMAS BRAINERD, JOHN JENKINS, HENRY DARLING, I THOMAS J. SHEPHERD. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. PROM A THEOLOGICAL STUDENT. Bev. J. W. Hears, Dear Sir-The Ame rican Presbyterian being in a " tight place,” I contribute for its benefit, as I do not wish it to go down. I have something to give for good papers, though poor enough, and trying to prepare for the ministry. But we can all trust in God, who will lead' 1 ns out of every difficulty. ( *ROM A PENNSYLVANIA PASTOR. Yon have taken a noble stand. Xam proud of the American Presbyterian on account of the bold ground it occupies. It is “ American ’’ to the back-bone; in keeping with our past his tory as a denomination; true to the church whose sentiments it represents, and true to the nation in its hour of peril. Had the other re ligious papers taken the same stand, our present national troubles would not have come upon us. The tone of the religions press in the Horth has had much to do in encouraging the spirit of rebellion at the South. But in this truckling to slavery the American Presbyte rian has not participated. Its course has been manly, and kind, and eminently Christian. I trust it will be sustained, for our church cannot afford to do without it; it is doing i good work for our denomination. I was very sorry to find yon compelled to BUSpend its publication even for once or twice. But I hope you will be enabled to go on regu larly soon, and that the American Presbyte rian will continue to live and flourish even m these “ troublous times.” SUBORDINATION We have recently learned that a volunteer rfficet, high in command at one of opr principal posts, and conspicuous before the country, has been superseded by an offioer in the regular army. The volunteer general is understood to have acquiesced io the arrangement, and to have accepted a sub ordinate position at tbe same post. This is a gratifying piece of intelligence. Professed devo tion to our country in time of peace, has not been nocompanied very often with a willingness to ex cbange a high position for a subordinate one. That men can he more useful in a humbler, than iu a higher rank, too seldom reconciles them to such a change. If this time of trial has brought out such a genuine Bpirit of devotion to the coun try, as to make men willing to serve it in any, even the humblest station, and as to more than reconcile leading men to a change which robs them of their former ohanoes for notoriety, it has effected already no ordinary amount of good. There can be no efficiency where men look down upon all the humbler opportunities of action, and become tbe prey of an uneasy craving for elevated and conspicuous places. This is true in like manner in the ministry and in the Church. We, too, constitute an army. We are soldiers, who like our volunteers are not machines, but thinking men, who have a reason for our enlistment. Our efficiency depends upon the degree of our devotion to the cause we have espoused, Our grand aim should be, each to ac complish the greatest amount of good we are ca pable of. It is utterly inconsistent with this aim, that we should strive for the pre-eminence, or that we should cherish an uneasy discontent in regard to the field we providentially occupy, or vex our selves with the thought that we have not attained the breadth and height of opportunity we are fitted to fill. While we hold ourselves in readi ness for every indication of Providence which seems to oall us to a higher position, our present duty is contentedly and faithfully to labor to oc cupy our present Bphere. Here, even if it be in a comparatively humble field, our powers can be well taxed in. laboring for the salvation of im mortal souls, and the moral and spiritual awaken ing of the community. Here, and m ten thousand other snob places, tbe most important work is to be done. And tbe better men we and all tbe su bordinate workers are, the better will this vast work be done, and the more rapidly and effectu ally will the character of a country and a peo ple be elevated. Soundness and health will per vade the body of tbe Church, so that to its re motest extremities it will vigorously respond to tbe calls of Providence, or array itself for solid op position to its foes. Good subordinate officers and privates are of vital importance to the best of armies. Men who will not serve in the ranks, or in the subordinate positions, because they con sider themselves fit for a high command, should remember that their fitness for a high office will only render them more valuable in a lower. Surely that would be a mighty army whose privates were fit to he captains, and its captains fit to be colo nels, and its colonels equal to the duties of bri gadiers and major generals. If such material could ba reduoed to proper subordination, what a splendid army it would make! How perfectly would all the plans of its leaders be carried out! How irresistibly would it move forward upon the foe I To a patriotic mind, it cannot be other than consolatory to think, that the highest attainments and capacities fit one all the better for the hum blest duty be may find opportunity to perform to his country. Thus should every minister and layman endea vor to feel in the church. What if, good brother, away off in yonder obscure village, you apply the talents which you and your friends believe to be neither few nor small, and which have been cul tivated by the most complete education, to a field seemingly narrow and beneath you; think that these very talents, if they be anything above mere smartness, and this education if it be any thing but mere varnish, qualify you all the better thoroughly to fill the station you occupy. The duties and responsibilities of a minister of the gospel, and a pastor of a congregation, are never trivial or unworthy the application of the loftiest powers. Go! labor in the spirit of Paul’s injunction to Timothy: make full proof of the ministry. Imitate Baxter in Kidderminster, Jona than Edwards in Northampton, Dr. Emmons in Eranklin. Let every corner of your little field glow with evidence of your careful tillage. Plow deep if you have not much land to plow. Spread your fertilizers of doctrine and pastoral labor, the thicker in the narrow space. The occupants of small farms, if they are wise and capable husband meo, grow rich, while others on large estates are impoverished year by year. We cannot all hold high positions. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? There must be hands and feet, or the body is de formed and its usefulness cut short. Every mem ber, every joint and finger is needed to be of the soundest materials, so that the whole body may be an efficient organ. Let us rejoice if we, as the hands or the feet of Christ’s body, can, by the faith ful use of powers capable of higher duty, in those humble positions, contribute to the efficiency of the whole. Our system in church and State is voluntary. Hence we can give freer play to our ambitious strivings. Hence, too, our acquiescence in arrange ments which leave us in important, yet compara tively obscure positions, may be more graceful, and the virtues of contentment and fidelity, which in those stations we exercise, more sincere and valuable. But we do need greatly an esprit de corps, a patriotic and a spiritual dovotedness to our work in church and State, which will make such acquiescence more prompt, more of a habit, less marked by querulousoess and disposition to change. ' What the member of a Popish order does from a blind fanaticism, we Should be equally; willing to do from an intelligent ehoice, and a self-sacrificing devotion to our dying Redeemer s cause. We do greatly need in the church the op posite of spiritual ambition, —subordination for Christ’s sake —a readiness to undertake the hum blest, the remotest work of the church, as equally necessary with the most conspicuous, for the wel fare of the whole. August 16th, 1861. Simply because the weaker sex cannot bear arms and endure the stern realities of conflict, it is idle to regard them as exerting no influence, and having no duty to perform in a crisis like the present. On the contrary, woman holds in her hands tbe reins which may eventually decide the struggle. She, at the bead of our homes, with such a powerful hold upon the hearts of the hus bands, sons, brothers, and friends within those charmed circles, may decide the numerical strength of our armies, and the moral character of their materials. When our President says go! she, with a far more potent voice, may say, stay! When our afflicted country pleads for our services, her tearful eyes may make a far more powerful plea. When our hearts burn with patriotic zeal to hasten to join our brethren in arms, she may make the struggle with home affections too hard for us. She may persistently cultivate only the narrower range of affections which centre about her own home, and refuse to enlarge her heart to comprehend the circle of our country —the na tion’s home. She may refuse to share the nobler aspirations of a son, a husband, a lover. She may refuse to imperil her delightful prospect of a life of tranquil happiness in the society of the beings whom it is her nature to love and cling to with the tenacity of life. She may dwell upon vivid imaginings of her loneliness and helplessness if bereaved of these objects. Or, on the contrary, her quick instinct, outrunning that of the man, may catch an early sense of the importance, the dignity, the holiness of the contest in which we 1 are engaged; her fine moral perception may com prehend at once the enormity of the crime which I meditates the destruction of the government on which our whole social structure rests, may im part a glow of irrepressible indignation and eager anxiety for its punishment to all her thoughts. She may rise in angelic self-forgetfulness and in patriotic ardor to he a light and guide to her more grovelling husband, or son, or lover. She may stimulate him to the noble undertaking, bless and applaud him when he goes, hold up his example to sons and neighbors, hope cheerfully for his return, and weep, but not in the sadness of dishonor, at his untimely fall. Those who go and risk all perils of the battle field, have much less of a trial than those dear ones who have consented to their departure, and who remain behind in loneliness and apprehension of what may befall. Woman’s portion of this cup is the bitterest of the two. Her consent and her farewell, are wrnng from deeper places in the heart thau are the decision and the farewell of the sol dier. She would scarcely be woman if she did not hesitate, when called to yield the treasures of her heart and home to the fearful chances of war. We do not ask her to unsex herself. We do not ask her to unchristianize herself, and become a Spartan woman. But we do ask her, and our country asks her, without abating one jot of her natural affection, to consent to yield these treasures, in all their richness, to the higher claims of the hour. We can scarcely expect to have them in any abundant measure without her consent and her encourage ment. The responsibility, in a vast multitude of instances, perhaps in enough to turn the scale of battle, rests with her. The question as to the spirit with which our soldier enters into conflict, rests, too, in a great measure, with her. If he can feel that the women of America—of the North —as a body, are following him to the field with a patriotic interest) that Christian mothers, sisters, wives, have sent him forth with a blessing, and are following him to battle with their daily prayers; that in any mishap that may befal him, they will mingle with their grief a most comforting sense of the holiness and the glory of the canse in which he fell, or, on his return, will welcome him with an affection transported and exalted by honorable pride in the loved one who has faced death for duty's sake—if he can feel this, he will be moie or less than human if it does not nerve him for the thickest of the fight, and console him in the darkest day. Woman! it rests greatly with you whether the country shall be saved or lost. You may dampen, or you may fan the flame of patriotism at the North to a degree that will prove decisive. You may contribute your part now to the education of a race of brave men, whose bosoms are susceptible to every noble and patriotic impulse, who shall! cast a long and lustrous line upon our country’s history, and shall show that the blessings of free dom were transmitted to generations that knew how to estimate them, seeing that they counted their own lives of less value. Or you may act with enervating influence upon your children, and may find, when it is too late, that you have helped to rear a degenerate race, unable to defend the purity and tranquility of those firesides for the sake of which you kept them from the fray. We thank God for those noble mothers who have already freely given up their sons—-those wives who have parted with their husbands—those daughters of New England, of the Middle States, and of the West, who have bidden brothers and lovers God-speed. It was of such noble women that the volunteer who was asked whether he did not dread to go to battle, answered, “We fought our battle when we parted with our wives and WOMAN’S DUTY. SmnifM and (Suatiplisrt. families.” Another such, in far away Minneso > is spoken of in the last Home Missionary. e writer, Rev. L. Armsby, of Fairbault, spea mg of the better effects of the war, says: . It will tend to lift us above the selfish l° v ® ° our kindred. It will now he seen that -men love their country even more than they ’ ov ®,, dearest friends. A case occurred m a neig ing town, illustrating this. A young man a consulting with his wife whether he should en as a volunteer. He came up to, Minnesota from Illinois last autumn, with his wife, scarcely more than eighteen years of age, who has now a young child if her arms. He did not like to leave her there alone, among strangers, to take care of the child. But she rose from her , B ® at , "“J* “David, do you go and enlist and fight for your country. I can take care of the child. Noble young wife 1 She would be degraded by comparison with the women of Sparta, who knew nothing of the sweet ties and endearments of the Christian homes of America! Many such have arisen, we doubt not, in this contest. God will strengthen feeble woman among us to as many such acts of self-denial as he sees his cause de mands. i CORRIGENDA—THINGS TO BE COR- RECTED. 1. Deferring to the London Times as the “ leading journal of the world,” anxiously in quiring for its opinions and the opinions of its correspondent in America, as if they really de served our regard and truly represented the attitude of the people ofi England towards this country. The people and press of this couhtry have gone to a ridiculous excess in this matter, and it is full time that a change were made. Those who condense the foreign news for our papers ought no longer to be encouraged to give the first place on the list to extracts from this venal and unprincipled journal, which gave currency to the Arrowsmith lioax, and de nounced the straggle of the Italians for liberty and unity, until it was clear they were about to be crowned with success. Is the New York Herald a sincere and reliable exponent of the public opinion of this country? Do we feel complimented when we learn that it is so quoted in England, and persistently held np by many English journals as the representative of the character and spirit of the American press? It is jnst such a blunder that we are guilty of, in deferring to the opinions of the Times on any subject where the lowest British prejudices can come into play. It is very nearly the Bri tish counterpart of our New York Herald- Let us hear rather the opinions, and let us have telegraphic extracts from the leaders of the London News, which is the respectable popular paper of the metropolis, with an im mense circulation and under an editorial ma nagement which has an eye to truth and princi ple. The tone of this journal since the begin ning of our troubles has been manly, intelligent, and sympathizing. Even the first and worst news of the Manassas disaster has not abated a jot from its friendly tone. In spite of Mr. Bussell’s malicious and contemptuous descrip tion of a flight in which he outran the fleetest, we learn that the News “defends the Northern army.’’ ' And why should our press serve us with a rehash of the most exaggerated accounts of the flight of our volunteer army, with all the unfa vorable embellishments which the skilful pen of this prejudiced correspondent of the Times could add? Are we to be taught to take a morbid pleasure in the repeated contemplation of our disasters and disgraces ? Have not such multiplied rehearsals of a single defeat mueh the same effect upon the spirit of the people as multiplied defeats themselves? And while we would scorn to reprint from the Journal of Commerce, the New York Day Book, or the Philadelphia Christian Observer, such a de scription of the defeat as they would wish to publish or have published, even though com mended by manifold excellences of rhetoric, shall we eagerly catch up and spread broadcast among the people a narrative equally hostile in its spirit to tho government, simply because it appeared in a foreign journal—and a journal whose fictitious reputation is kept up among us by jnst such toadyism as this ? 2. Lenient dealing with traitorous men in the North. Many complaints against the government have doubtless arisen from the most mistaken opinions or the most mercenary motives; but we sympathize deeply and entirely in the complaint made of its excessive leniency towards the nurses of treasonable opinions and plots in our midst. There has been loud talk of generosity and mag nanimity and the conscious strength of a great government; hut we are fearful that the very timidity and want of nerve which brought this awful condition of things upon us, has not been utterly banished from the councils of the Execu tive. It is criminal trifling at such a. crisis to prate of liberty of speech, and of the press, and of the freeman’s right oi%abeas corpus, when all these privileges are abused for the very purpose of destroying the ' government which alone can guaranty their existence. “lean be tolerant,” says Coleridge, “of everything but every other man’s intolerance." That government which is so free, and so infatuated with the idea of re specting the liberties of its people, that it dare not interfere with those who openly and in its very presence declare their sympathy with rebels in arms, knows nothing of the restraints of true liberty, and cannot expect, as it does not deserve to live. We rejoice at every indication that we are to have an end of this sham tolerance; we are grieved to think that Fo the midst of much that is encouraging and honorable, stay degree of it still remains. No government is worth anything which is not a real terror to evil doers, and which does not become a greater terror to the greater evil, which is not, in fine, most terrible of all when the highest of all crimes cognizable by hu man government is to be dealt with. In this just, wholesome, and Scriptural sense, we go for A REIGN OF TERROR AT THE NORTH. Not the reign of the mob, but of the government—the stern and awful presence of the aroused ministers of God, bearing not the sword in vain, face to face with those deeply-dyed offenders among us who have struck hands with the foes of the highest and saeredest of all institutions in heaven and earth, but one. We believe that the people would more than sustain the government in putting forth such unmistakable tokens of earnestness, —nay many of them are burning with mingled impa tience and shame at the absence of all terror from its aspect towards open traitors at home. The people would more than sustain it, if it had taken such an attitude towards Breckenridge, and Bur nett and.Vallandigham, in tlie recent Congress; or if it had put those judges who have interfered with the discreet and proper suspension of the habeas corpus b ct beyond the reach of that act themselves; or if before the mob does it, it by due course of law puts a gtwetusupon every North- crn journal in sympathy with its armed oppbnents. We confess our heart leaped to our throat when we read, —not that the very city which is the seat of our threatened government, and for the defence of which vast armies are gathered, and the lives of hundreds of onr people have been, and will be sacrificed, is governed by a man in sympathy with those who seek its overthrow —not that the oath of allegiance recently administered to him acted as Ithuriel’s spes* did upon tbe disguised emissary of the pit in the garden of Eden, but that for the space of a single half hour after the fact became known, an unmasked sympathizer with treason was permitted to hold the office of Mayor of Wash ington City. At this writing we know not what disposition, if any, ha? been made of his case, but let it be as severe as it may, the prestige of prompt ness, that grand element of terror in an assailed government, is,in this instance, irrecoverably gone. We are inclined to believe that onr honest President, with his eminent clearness, shrewdness and common sense, has a very tender heart, and that Secretary Seward is aiming to be very politic. But such tenderness to individuals is rank cruelty to the people, and such policy will avail nothing for the conciliation of? enemies, while it'bewilders the friends of the government. We have waited long, trying meanwhile to feel tender with the President, and to seethe wisdom of the Secretary of State. But wts ohn do so no longer; with Mr. Everett, we must Regard it as romancing in the midst of fearful aitd Unparalleled realities. There will be an end of itlnay we believe the end has already come.', [Subsequent events require us to say that the above article was written and put into the hands of the printer before the multiplied evidences of a revived energy of the government in its dealings with traitors, had transpired. Mayor Berrett is now a prisoner of state in Fort Lafayette, N. Y., and scores of .other persons have been arrested, both male and female; in Washington and other parts of the country, on good and sufficient grounds of suspicion as to their disloyalty. It is a course of conduct which is elevating the government in the eyes of all faithful citizens, and diffusing a healthful sentiment through the country.j THE SPIRITUAL WANTS OF OUR SOLDIERS. A large audience assembled in Rev. Dr. Wylie’s church last. Sunday evening, at the call of the Young Men’s Christian Association of this city, to hear addresses and take action in regard to the spiritual wants of onr volunteer soldiers. Rev. C; who is employed by the Association cp; New York, to labor for this,object in Washington, was expected to be present, bnt was detained in that city, it was said, at the express wish of the President. The exercises, consisting of prayer, singing, reading the Scriptures, and addresses by several in dividuals, were very interesting and well-calcu lated to strengthen patriotic feelings, and to promote the object of the meeting. Mr. Geo. H. Sttffirt explained that it was the wish of the Association to awaken an inte rest in behalf of the spiritual wants of the sol diers ; it was their desire that every regiment should have a chaplain, and every soldier carry with him a Bible and short sketches, such as our publishing societies were now issuing for the purpose. They needed money and devoted young men to go and carry the tidings of salva tion to our camps. Rev. Mr. Faris was here, introduced, and. made an argent and appeal for. soldiers of a right moral and religions character to carry on this war. - ■>.. . He was followed in a very interesting and effective address by Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, of the Reformed Dutch Church in this city. . He said that great crises in the history of the na tion and the developed the noblest principles. The Indian mutiny brought out the martyr spirit both in native converts and in missionaries, including some noble spirits from onr own country. The recent famine in that country has called forth the noblest munificence. So when the cry of distress rang out from the Syrian plains, how Britain and America re sponded. lam much mistaken, said he? if when the annals of onr times are written, it shall not appear that a Christian heroism was developed among, ps, paralleled only by the magnitude of the interests involved. Onr Chris tian people will come rip to the occasion. I conscientiously beliejb that we may quote the inspired “ The battle is not yours, it is God’s.” Government is of God, and we war for that. Ours is a war of pure defence, restitution, and upbuilding. Onr object to-night is one of mercy. It is to go to scenes of suffering and the direst wicked ness. If our Saviour were in Washington at this time, where would he go? Not to the Presidential mansion—not to the palatial struc tures which our go vernment has there erected— bnt to the hospitals. We need men for this work. He referred to a letter which he had received from a chaplain of one of the three months’ Pennsylvania regiments, who said that Brig. Gen. Williams remarked that “the most needful men in our Pennsylvania regiments now were chaplains.” j There is work, said Mr, Taylor, for the ladies in this cause. A depot for supplies, spi ritual and otherwise, had been secured in Wash ington. Devoted young men, ministers, and noble women, had already engaged in the work. He bad a papert|e hand of a lady in his congregation who bad paid two visits of mercy, of several days eacjV to the wounded in the hospitals of Washington. From it he read some statements of ah exceedingly touching character, that left? few dry eyes in the vast assembly. One was of a wounded soldier who took his situation so patiently, although his arm had been removed to the elbow by an operation on the battle-field. Upon hearing an exclama tion of sympathy from the lady, he quietly re plied: “It is only my left arm—that is not much to give for my country.” Another was a mere youth—a gentle lad who was evidently soon to depart. The name of Jesns, he- said, was not new, and it was sweet to hear it again. He was the son of a pions mother, who at first would not listen to his enlisting; “but,” said the youth, “we both prayed over it, and then she said, I gave you to Christ when y.on were an infant, and this is Christ’s cause; you can go.” /The lady placed her hand on his brow, and he slept: when she removed it, he started and said: “Qh I t dreamed it was Annie’s hand.” “ And whi ’li 1 Ahnie?” "said the kind visitor. “ Annie alhd I are twins. We were seventeen since I enlisted.” In a day or two the spirit bad fled. ' There is in some" of our regiments a very de cided religions interest. . X Pennsylvania regi ment has been visited by the speeial influences of the Spirit, and three have professed a change of heart. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper would shortly be administered, and three hun dred of the regiment are expected to partake. Their colonel is a pious man. Ex-Governor Pollock was now introduced, and with much earnestness advocated the object of the meeting. He spoke of the apparent con tradiction between the peaceful nature of our religion, and the warlike burden of the meeting. But war, said he, is Christ’s instrument in accomplishing his purposes. Amid the battle sits the Prince of Peace, and we can hear him say: “Be still, and know that lam God 1 ” Not a bullet flies on the battle-field but is directed by the unerring wisdom of God. We, as a na tion, will come out of this conflict purified. There is a harmony between patriotism and re ligion. Christian and coward never go together. There is nothing more magnanimous and noble in the soldier than the avowal of Jesus. From the time of the Roman centurion who exclaimed; ‘Truly this was the Son of God,’ down to Yi cars and Havelock, such an avowal has been honorable to the soldier. He rejoiced to know that we have a Christian general at the head of onr army, and he earnestly called for prayer for onr rulers. A collection was at this point taken np to furnish the Association with means for procuring books, and sustaining such as may offer them selves for the work of distribution. Rev. Dr. Brainerd was introduced, who in a very brief but pointed manner characterized 'the present struggle as the most important ever waged. Humanity itself is to be tried whether it is capable of self-government or not. "I re gard the soldier;” said he, “as my volunteer— as going to face death as the agent of humanity. I desire to go with him in my deep sympathy and earnest prayers. War nourishes great vir tues, and exposes to great temptations. Our soldiers are frequently idle; they are far from homeland away from its gentle influences, and from the enjoyment of Christian institutions. There was never an influence more benevolent than that which aids to sanctify our soldiers.” Rev. S. H- Tyng, Jr., of the N. Y. Young Men’s Association, here appeared upon the stage, and spoke very highly of the work ac complished by the body he represented. One hundred of the members of this association had volunteered; hence the interest felt in #ie spi ritual welfare of our army by the association. It is thus, too, enabled to work in the army. Mr. Tyng was very severe upon incompetent chaplains, and upon the venal considerations that sometimes led to the choice of exceedingly unworthy men for this high position. He spoke of the facility with which prayer-meetings had been organized in some regiments. In the T9th New York Regiment two hundred had been as sembled; There were eighteen or twenty such prayer-meetings in various encampments in and around New York city, and the young men who go to hold them are received with great enthu siasm by the soldiers. Recurring to the subject of chaplains, he said that the Government had assured the society, that, upon pointing out unworthy chaplains, their case would be in quired into. Mr. Tyng charged the nurses and young surgeons generally with culpable neglect of the wants of the soldiers, particularly as re gards the distribution of the little comforts pro vided by the friends of the soldiers, When he sat down,.Dr. Brainerd rose to say that his ob servation of several days in the Washington hospitals impressed him with the fact that the mem were well taken care of, kindly nursed, and in good hands generally. He believed the sur geons did their duty faithfully—he had a son among them. As to the chaplains, unless minis ters were disposed to be as attentive to the wants of the men as he and his Brother Taylor, for i instance, were to their own flocks at home, the ) duties of the station would not be properly < performed. Such men were needed—men who ? would make themselves familiar with the indi-' vidual soldiers, and yet be able to reach and in- ; fluence the highest officers. ! The meeting was now brought to a close; after having extended to past 10 o’clock; the j benediction being pronounced by Dr. Brainerd. For the American Presbyterian. ISTGHAM UNIVERSITY, lEROY, E. Y. It seems proper, Messrs. Editors, that, con nected as we all are, and rejoice to be, with the Presbyterian Church, we should now and then report progress to your readers and the public, to keep all of them posted, in respect to the in terest of our noble University. With your con currence and assistance, we are encouraged to at tempt it. Ournext term, anticipating our Twenty-eighth Commencement, occurs next month; September 18,1861; third Wednesday of the month. Our past year has been a happy one. Our Faculty did well; faithful, noble, coßperative, able, united. As to our Students, they were uncom monly regular, harmonious, assiduous, subordinate, progressive; and, as Christians, devout: with com paratively few exceptions. In one relation we are unique. We belong, “by donation in fee simple, as entire property, to the Presbyterian Church; the Synod of Geneva, representing our total denomination, formally and morally owning the Institution, in trust, for the whole body, and virtually for the nation and pos terity. That body of about 125 ministers and as many Ruling Elders, elect all our Council, in spect our operations, and receive annually our Re port at their table. With wisdom honored and mature as the best, and education as truly elevated and extensive, to say the least, we glory in keeping the expenses LOW, AND PRACTICABLE TO ALL THE WORTHIER classes OF society. Our food is wholesome, adapted, various, good; and our board and tuition is only -—— 150 dollars per annum !or 875 per Term. If we had the means, we would say to all, espe cially to ministers of the Gospel, it is not your limited income that shall prevent your beloved daughters from an education of the highest and best description! To this end is our aspiration: when will our wealthy brethren remember us in their Wills; or will it, and be their own execu tors; so that the places Bhall be Teady, and the pledges be all redeemed, in the culture, excellent and mature, of their then truly accomplished daughters? Our plan is to raise, rather than to lower, the standard of attainment; to engage a Faculty ever worthy of public confidence, for health, learning, manners, and every attribute that may evolve and form excellence of character; to expand our ca pabilities of education in every practicable way, according to the best models and- the most worthy improvements. For all this, however, we must ask gome exte-j rior and auxiliary support. Our legislature are always going to go to help us; and as yet,there is always something occurrent, there was before the war—and always will be, we fear, why our im partial and enlightened conscript fathers, that know so much themselves, and are such rare ex amples of learning themselves—what blessed mo thers had they! why they must, just now, when ever importuned to it, decline all help to our Uni .versity 1 .So it is. * We need assistanee-r-none the less, because, so little clamorous for it. The founders, the donors, the constant observers of its progress, these worthy sisters feel with us, that, if others had equally done their part, our'lnstitution might now have been amplified, self-supporting, tbree-fold'greater than it is, a glory to our Imperial State, and so more a blessing to our country, our a ge, our species, our world! It is well situHed, accessible, and so retired from the din of war and the infection of vicious example, that we commend it to the consideration of parents and guardians, who care for the best, the temporal, the eternal interests of their beloved daughters. Samuel Hanson Cox, Chancellor. Leroy, M T. Aug. 24, 1861. P. S.—A synopsis or catalogue sent by mail, whenever desired. “ SLAVERY RUINS OUR CHILDREN.” The late Thomas L. Hammer, a few months be fore his death' in 1854, was assigned the State of Georgia as the field of his operations for the Sun day School Union. He urged the circumstances of his family as a reason for refusing to. accept this field; his wife at the time being prostrated i by severe and long continued illness. Her dis ease was pulmonary, and it was suggested to him that a winter’s residence in the South would pro bably he of decided benefit to her. In discussing the question with a friend, Mr. Hamner remarked, that his chief objection to going was on account' of his children. “I will not bring up my chil dren in a slave state!” said he. It will be re membered that Mr. Hamner was a Virginian; ever ready to take up the gauntlet for the South; and quick to resent the slightest rebuke of its pe culiar institutions. “ Slavery ruins our children,” continued he, “it makes them helpless, indolent, inefficient, selfish, arbitrary, overbearing and tyrannical. In short, it ruins them! I will give up my connection with the Sunday School Union, before 1 will take my children South'.” We have seldom beard a better anti-slavery lec ture than was delivered on this occasion by this Virginia clergyman, under the promptings of his parental impulses. ' The conversation after this becoming more dif fusive, embraced the evils of slavery in general to the master, the slave, to young men, and to the country. A gentleman present, who had passed some dozen winters in Washington,, and took the ground of these evils being greatly magnified by abolitionists, said: “Although I have been so many years in Washington, I never yet saw a slave either whipped or sold.” “Is it possible?” replied Mr. Hamner, “ You may see both, every morning of your life , if you will get up early enough, and go to the right place” He said private families did not like to whip their servants; and when a misdemeanor had been committed by one of either sex; he or .she was sent under the poliee of another slave, with the number of lashes to he. administered, to the .pro per place of exeoution. REV. DBS. GEO. JUNKIN AND ROBT. J. BRECKINRIDGE. The Presbyterian Quarterly Review hgs an ar ticle commenting with great and just severity on the authors of excision in our church. But we beg our readers to believe that, while our disapprobation of those measures, and the men who promoted them is unchanged, we cannot be insensible to the true he roism and martyr patriotism of Rev. Geo. Junkin and Rev. Robt. J. Breckinridge. In our admira tion of the qualities which they have recently ex hibited, we feel disposed to forgive the wrongs which they have inflicted on our church, and to bless them in the name of the Lord. We know this represents the spirit of the conductors of the Review. From the Independeut. PROGRESS OE RATIONALISM IN GER MANY. In our last article on Germany, we spoke of the great agitation which pervades the Protest ant churches in a part of Sonth-westem Ger many, and which threatens to pave the way for a new inroad of Rationalism into a number of German state churches.' The contest hat since: waxed warmer, and is already beginning to as sume dimensions which will soon claim for it the attention of the entire Protestant world. The reconstruction of the State Church in the Grand Duchy of Baden is rapidly progress ing. As we explained in a former article, there are two parties in the field ; the one conserva tive and orthodox; the other progressive in the question of church organization, but at the same time containing the entire Rationalistic element of the Church. The latter party have held the reins of the church government in their hands since the close of last year. A draft of a new constitution was issued by it in April, and soon after elections were ordered for a new General Synod, which was to decide on its adoption or rejection. The main features of the new con stitution are that the influence of the secular government on the government of the Church is,nearly annihilated; the principle of ecclesias tical self-government is, in the main, acknow ledged; the General Synod, which is the most influential body of the Church, is to consist no longer of two-thirds of clerical and one-third of lay members, but of an equal number of mi nisters and of lay deputies, who are to be chosen by a direct vote of the evangelical inhabitants in an electoral district. It is characteristic of the Evangelical party in Germany, that these principles, which in the main differ but little from the common rule of Presbyterianism, filled them with the utmost fear for a speedy defeat of the evangelical ele . ment in the Church. At a conference which the leading ministers, and the laymen of the party held at Brucbsal, most of the speakers admitted the belief, that at the election of lay represen tatives the Rationalistic party would almost al ways come off victorious, and- they avowed to have a greater confidence in the appointment of the high officers of the Church by the Go vernment than in their election by the churches. The reason of this fear has been frequently pointed out by ns in onr articles on the Euro pean churches, and it is, in itself, the strongest condemnation of the principle of state-chnrch ism. The Evangelical party are fully aware that the majority of the people, neither in their be lief nor in their lives, conform with the doctrines of the Church, that it is impossible to enforce church discipline, and that their only hope for securing a controlling influence on the rising generation is the aid of the princes. And, nevertheless, they prefer putting their confi dence in the support of the secular govern ments to a separation from a church in which they all know the majority of the nominal members hold Rationalistic views. The history of the Church of Baden during the last months will be a severe lesson to the Evangelical party in all the European state churches. The election of a General Synod has given to the progressive party an over- whelming majority. The clergy was about equally divided between the two parties; but the lay deputies, without a single exception, are all progressives, and, we believe, identified with the Rationalistic party. And yet, they have this time been chosen, not’directly by the congregations, but by presbyteries in whose composition the congregations have had no part. It is, therefore, impossible to conceal any-longer the fact, that so soon as direct elec tions by the congregations will be established the orthodox party have no chance of securing a single lay deputy. b The proceedings of the General Synod re sulted, as was to he expected, in the adoption of the new chnrch constitution, which was in particular advocated by Hr. Rothe and Dr. Sebenkel. A remarkable incident was a speech of the Grand Duke, who had determined to make use of his right as Supreme Bishop of the National Church, to open the Synod in person. He strongly recommended the pro posed democratic change in the constitution of the Chnrch, in order to educate the congrega tions for ecclesiastical self-government, and ex pressed the hope, that, by making this change, they would at the same time lay a stone for the reconstruction of the Evangelical Church of Germany, of which the Chnrch of Baden claimed only tq.be a part. ThS final, result of this struggle, we believe, can.be but little doubtful. The churches of Germany, like the states, are longing for a na tional union. The congregations protest from year to year, louder and more generally, against being ruled- against their will; they demand a decisive voice in the government of the National Chureh. The masses are still largely under the influence of Rationalism, and, as most of the leaders of the free chnrch movement happen to be Rationalists; that influence is likely to be strengthened. We consider it probable that the development of the Rationalistic element will soon force a large portion of the Evan gelical party out of the state churches and into separate free chnrch organizations. THE RATIONALISTS IN BAVARIA. In the Bavarian Palatinate the prospects of the Evangelical party are even worse than in Baden. The most influential men of the Church, among them Dr. Ebrard, have resigned. The choice between the old Rationalistic and the new orthodox hymn book having been left to the decision of every individual congregation, nearly all the congregations have decided in favor of the former; and the number of clergy men who have been able to retain the latter is said to be less than ten. The clergymen who sympathize with the Rationalistic majority of the congregations have formed a society, which already counts forty members, and is constantly increasing. Among the people the Rationalistic party is not only more numerous than in Baden, but also more daring, and it can be but little doubted that they will soon get the control of the Church. , : EDWARD EVERETT ON SECESSION PAPERS TN THE NORTH: There are presses,.for the most part in- £he Bor der States, though some of them are, found in citiesmore remote from the scene of action, which are daily pleading the cause of the euemy, mis representing and villifying the Government of the United States, exaggerating; every article of unfavorable intelligence, and exertrog themselves to the utmost to dishearten the friends and de fenders of the Constitution and the Union. But such is the all hut superstitious devotion of the people to the libertyroflthe ipress, that'these per nicious journals have, with the exception of a single instance in St. Louis, never been interfered with. It seems to have been thought better by those in authority to tolerate the mischief of these unpatriotic presses, than to elevate them to greater importance by proscription, or to encroach in the slightest degree upon the freedom of public dis cussion, which in ordinary times is justly regarded as one of the greatest safeguards of liberty. JSid it is preposterous to sacrifice the end to the means. We should in this respect learn wisdom from .the enemies of the Union.- While: we regard as .unbecoming our Christian civilization that resort to Lynch law, by which every expression of opi nion adverse to the popular sentiment Is suppressed is the Seceding States, we ought to remember in tolerating a traitorous press among ourselves, we practise a liberality which awakens no gratitude at home, and is never reciprocated by the opposing party. It is in fact an absurdity in terms, under the venerable name of the liberty of the press, to permit the systematic and licentious abuse of a Government which is tasked to the utmost in de fending; the country from general disintegration and political chaos.-*—The Governor of Malta was once censured in Parliament for some alleged severity toward the editor of a journal in that island, and the liberty of the press was declared to be in danger. The JDnke of Wellington said he was as favorable as anybody to the liberty of the press in London, hut a free press in the Island of Malta was as much out of place as it would hs on the quarter deck of a man-of-war. We suppose the most enthusiastic champion of the liberty of the press would hardly think it right to publish a journal within the walls of Fort MeHemy, in which the officers of that garrison should he daily advised to desert, and the men be constantly ex horted to mutiny; and whose columns should be filled with pesistent abuse of the Government and all engaged in its defence. Why should journals of . that description be allowed to diffuse their poison beneath its walls amidst the excitable po pulation of a large city? EDITOR'S TABLE. We have on our table no very extended show of literature—-the issues of the periodical pres constituting its principal portion. Rev. W. H. Bidwell is out with his Septem ber issue of the Eclectic, which contains a rich selection from the current old world literature. Such names-as Qavonr, Mrs; Browning and Thor waidsen,. attract the eye and give promise of a great feast in the contents of the number. A fip e large portrait of the scnlptor forms the frontis piece. The Atlantic Monthly, for September, is also a capital number. We can scarcely venture to specify where all are good; but the artiele os Mrs. Browning* the deceased poetess of Italy, h* s been attracting deserved attention. •We have received the first number of The Southern Rebellion, which is designed to give, in consecutive form, a history of the rise and pM' gress of our present struggle. It promises to sup ply a want of the times. A valuable feature oi the work, is a historical suthmary, giving, 'with telegraphic brevity, the events of each day from the election, Nov. 6, and' onward. As only 3- pages of the History itself has appeared, it ssll5 s11 scarcely be judged of with critical accuracy, h' l ’* York: James D. Torres’. Sold by all book sellers and dealers. Ten cents a number. Littell’s Living'Age, for this week, cp eo! with an article on the private character of Thorn 85 Jefferson, from the New Englander. New Volumes op the roun Reviews as® Blackwood commence july 1861. Per any- For any one of the four Reviews, .... For any two of the four Reviews, .... For any three of the four Reviews,. . • * J!:J For all four of the Reviews, ® For Blackwood’S Magazine, For Blackwood and one Review, . .. • f For Blackwood and two Reviews, . .• • ' For Blackwood and three Reviews, ••* * For Blackwood and the four Reviews, . ■ Money -Current in the State where issued wl “ received at par. CLUBBING. ,t c A discount of twenty-five per cent, fro® . above price will be allowed to Clubs or* r ‘ * four or more copies of any one or more u* , above works, Thus: Four copies of F' ac _°f o r or of one Review, will be sent to one addro® ®9; four copies of the four Reviews and b* a ' wood for $80; and S°°n. ajg Remittances should always be addressed to Publishers. , Leonard Scott & I'.’l No. 54 Gold Street, Kew Aug. 29, TERMS.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers