•250 LETTER FROM SARATOGA. BY MV. DANIEL MARCH, ». l>. The summer tourist, sweeping at railroad speed through the green valleys and along the hillsides of the blooming and busy North, sees few evidences of the great conflict with which the Dation is shaking. The cities are thronged with people ; the villages resound with the tireless wheels and hammers of re munerative industry; the fields and farm-houses are as quiet and beautiful as ever; the harvest waits to bo gath ered by the sower’s hand, and the graz ing herd ai*e. secure in their peaceful pasturage. On all the great lines of travel, trains are crowded with passen gers, moving in .every direction, in pursuit of business, or health, or recre ation; the iron track groans boneatb the burden of merchandise; public houses are thronged with guests; and every Outward aspect of society would indicate to the flying observer a stato of peace and of prosperity. And the old visitant at Saratoga, whose annual pilgrimage to the health giving waters extonds through a quarter of, a century, discovers little change in the customary round of life at the Springs. Morning and evening the parlors and piaazas of the great hotels are alive with guests. The hum of cheerful voices, the, flutter of costly robes, tfie sparfsle of brilliant gems, the radiance of looks and eyes that lend the fascination of life to the cunning devices of art, all are here, in this season of battle and of death, as they used to be in the halcyon days of peace. As in Other years, quacks are here with their nostrums ; jugglers with their tricks; their “manifestations lecturers with their loud sounding words; gamblers with their clerical cos tume and saintly manners; pedlars, with promises of great bargains, and the “poor Indian,” with his baskets and bows. If there be any change, the liv eried equipages upon thostreet havo be como a little-more numerous; the dress Of the drawing-room a little more bril liant and costly, and the company in general a little more indifferent to hard fere and,heavy bills. Such is the aspeot of things, as seen by one who pays a flying visit of a day and a night at, the / Springs,” The. longer resident, and the more careful observer, finds hero a full representation of all the great elements of feeling and of action by which the whole country is moved .and controlled at the present time. The delioate hiss of secession is sometimes hoard in the circles of the beautifel and the gay; and tho deep: ourse of hate and ingratitude is the re compense which some return to their country /or the peace and protection whioh .they arp permitted to enjoy here. Bat in all this throng of idle people there is more earnestness, more devo tion .to God and country than appears at tlio first glance. Tho union prayer meeting was opened last week at the Presbyterian Church, and the full at tendance, and the fervor and courtesy with which the country, the govern ment, the soldiers, the slaves, and all the great interests of instruction, benefi cence, and freedom in the land were re membered in prayer and exhortation, showed that many who come here for recreation bad brought their patriotism and their piety with them. A few days ago it was proposed that the old custom of evening worship should be resumed at tho “ Columbianand now, with tho full co-operation of the new proprietor, Mr. Benedict, the parlor is occupied for that purpose a half hour after tea. So far as I know, tliiß is the only hotel on “ Broadway” in which tho service is held. In this caso it was only necessary that voices should he heard singing the good old domestic tunes, reading the Word of God, and offering prayer, to show how large a portion of the guestß in our well-filled house sym pathized with the service and counted it a privilege to attend. Our evening worship has had a wonderful effect in promoting good acquaintanceship and a home-likefeeling among all the company. Tho many Christian people who have found a homo at this house in former years will bo glad to learn that it is still consecrated by tho evening sacrifice of prayer and praise, and that the new proprietor is not behind tho best of landlords in attending to the wants of his guests. Notwithstanding the high prices of the market, our table is loaded with every thing that the season supplies, and some one who has tried the fare'at the .larger houses expresses a decided preference for this of the Columbian. And I. would say for the comfort of any who feel that they cannot afford-to visit Saratoga iin. these costly times, that hoard may.sflill ho had in respectable private hous.? a?; low as five dollars per week. At the- hotels, the charge ranges from twelve to thirty dollars per week. There is undoubtedly a great deal of frivolity connected with this life at Saratoga, as there is much-evil connect ed with all human good in this world; but it would bo a sad calamity to the country to have these fountains dried up. No medicine compounded by the art of man can equal the value and effi ciency of these streams, which rise in perennial abundanco from the bed of this quiet valley. No drugs of the apothecary, no prescription of the phy sician can infuse such life into the wear ied and exhausted frame as these healing waters when judiciously employed. As I go from fountain to fountain for my daily libations, I never cease to wonder what mighty laboratory beneath tho earth can keep up the unfailing; supply, and maintain the constituent element unchanged. And the social influence which arises from this gathering of thousands, year by year, from all parts of the land, could not well he spared. The friendships formed, and the good words spoken during the brief days of recreation are not all forgotten. And some who-come to drink of these earthly fountains, for the healing of the. body, here first partake of that water of life, of which if a man drink he shall never die Columbia Hotel, Sabatooa, August 2, 1864. CENTRALIZATION AND INDIVIDUALISM BY REV. E. H. GILLETT, D. D. When Louis NIY declared “I am the State," he personified in himself that centralizing principle of a consolidated despotism which represents one extreme of social order. When the chosen peo ple of old did each—in the absence of authority—wbat was “ right in his own eyes,” the principle which, represents the other extreme, and which implies a more or less complete anarchy, was practically applied. On every side wo see opposite tendencies, corresponding to these principles, at work. They are the centripetal and the centrifugal forces of the * social isystem,, and the great problem, of order and organization is to preserve between them a just equi librium. The poet, Pope, has somewhat crudely presented the same thought, which is constantly pressing itself upon the no tice of the thoughtful observer. He .says:. “ Two principles inhuman nature reign, Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain.'' But the antagonism which he finds thus in the individual, exists really throughout our social experience. Here •f self-l'ove’’ takes the form of selfishness, or self-assertion. It is individualism assuming independence, sacrificing tho common good to its own interest, re fusing to acknowledge social obligation, and'making a tyrant of its own will. It tends directly to the dissolution of all social ties,, to disorganization and anarchy. This is true alike in the family, the oburoh and the state. The first is made the scene of discord, of mutual strife and alienated affootion. Brothers be come strangers; parent and .child are at variance; the common; welfare is sacrificed to individual caprice. In the state the principle of selfishness is the real germ of secession, treason, party strife, lawlessness and insurrection, and the danger which this principle implies is constant and ever impending. The other principle which tends to consolidate and unify, threatens us from the opposite direction. A common in terest, impelling to common effort, gives opportunity for centralizing forces to work, thus reducing the social or civil organization from complex forms with rival or hostile centres, to a unity which subordinates them all, and which results in the triumph of oligarchy or tho (I one-man power” of disciplined party or consummate tyranny. The practical wisdom of organization and government must guard against both these extremes. The operation of the two obverse principles must be mutually and wisely adjusted. Liberty must be harmonized with law, and individual right with social order. There are times indeed when it may be a question from which direction the danger is greatest. Sometimes the crushing force of ignorance, terror,'su perstition or wrong, has seemed almost to annihilate the individual will, and the last sign of opposition, the last whisper of protest is effectually—for a time at least—suppressed, But as a general thing, the danger is greatest from the other direction. Selfishness is forever a constant force tending to make everything revolve about its own centre. Selfish will ever insists on independence of control. There is no time when it is not at work, calling in whatever invention, energy, or appliance it can command to pioneer its way. Abundant illustrations of this are afforded by the history of the times. The rebellion that now curses the land sprung from the disorganizing germ of PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1864. political selfishness. Its watchword the motto blazoned on its banners—- was independence, but it was the guilty independence of selfishness revolting against subordination to the national welfare and the common good. It is true that the attempt to realize its projects provokes reaction. It calls antagonistic .forces into operation to suppress it; but meanwhile it works its own mischief, and threatens the very life of the state. In the same way and from the same causes, there is inherent in all organizations, industrial, social and civil, a tendency to'disintegrate under the operation of the.selfish prin ciple, to fall apart into independent centres, to establish and confirm the reign of anarchy and confusion. The great danger of our times, if not of all times, is from this source. It is our danger both in church and state. The cry of independence has a charm for some , ears, but strip the word of its familiar sound and unmask its meaning, and it will often exhibit th% features of insubordination, revolutioiw and rebel lion. It is easy and often popular to raise the cry of oppression against just re straint. ' A southern rebel, lashing his own slaves, perhaps, will grow eloquently indignant over the oppression of the North. And so there are. men who will declaim against “ centralized eccle siastical organisms,” with almost equal warmth And propriety. Their language would be pertinent if the church was threatened by danger from tfie direction they imagine—if ecclesiastical power was enthroned in a hierarchy that could wither by its power and crush by a blow—if it was armed, as Once, by the patronage of the state or the terrors of Star Chamber and High Commission— but to speak as though this or anything like it was the ease, in these days, be trays. ridiculous . terror or incredible ignorance. , The great danger is from the other direction, and we have no doubt that many who are blind to it now will at length discover the fact. We believe that.the Presbyterian system combines in just proportions the freedom of the individual local church with that com mon unity of organization essential to effective operation. The zealot for indeponcy may complain that we lack the first, but we offset his criticism by that of th e Episcopal zealot who assures its with profound gravity tjhatourictofect is from thu opposite side. Above all, we feel assured'that in this land, and in the atmosphere of this age, our danger does not flow from the centralizing so much as from the individualizing prin ciple, arid we judge that ere loDg some who are enthusiasts if riot fanatics for tho latter, will repudiate their own Dagon. The subject will bear furthef remark : this much for the present. THOMAS CHALMERS, THE APOSTLE OF CITY HISSIOHS-V. Unquestionably one of the most deli cate and important branches of the work of city missions, is the dispensing of charity. And if that work is difficult in this country, where the means of subsistence are within reach of almost the entire honest and abld^bdied.popu lation, much more serious is the problem presented to . the attemptvttf evangelize the pauper masses of the cities of the old world. When Chalmers commenced the gigantic work of personally visiting the families of his immense parish in Glasgow, ho m6t this difficulty on the threshold. By his office as minister of Tron Church, he was one of the distribu tors of tho city charity, aind when he visited the poor he was received every where with bland kindness, always ter minating in a petition for charity. At first he determined to ricfhimself of the office, and made the people, understand that he only dealt in one article, that of Christian instruction; and that if they chose to receive him on this footing, he would be glad to visit them occasionally. Although this announcement, as he tells ns, even enhanced and refined the cor diality of the people, yet we find him afterwards in the parish of. St. John's, enteringwilh all the ardour of his nature, and all the resources ofhis fertile genius, into the economical improvement,of the pax-ish. And we this as in accordance with the essential character of as a system which is profitable for the life that now is and for that which is to como, as exemplified in the life of its Founder, who wentaboutdoinggocjd. W e should lay our plans of city evangelization with the express purpose of alleviating tem poral distress and achieving that 'eco nomical and social improvement which may be regarded as a test of the genu ineness and efficacy of the doctrines and moral duties we teach. It is this recog nition of a double aspect to Christianity which gives the principal schemes of the Christian church in our age and country—among which we may name the Christian Commissiori—such dignity and power for'good. It is a great mis take to leave out either the human or the religious element in such under takings. There was probably only one field of Chalmers’ labors presenting difficulties more formidable than those in the parish of St. John’s—that of the West Port in Edinburgh, of which we may speak hereafter. When Chalmers first under took to grapple with this Sphinx-like question of pauperism, he was not only in one of the largest but the very poor est parish in all Glasgow. Weavers, labourers, factory-workers, and other operatives made up the bulk of the population. The charities hitherto dis pensed among , them had been solely of an official character, a government pittance to which all who had contrived to got their names inserted on the poor roll looked, as something they had a right to expect. But little personal examination was over made by the officials who distributed it. There was no intercourse of any kind between the giver and. receiver. The whole process tended to'foster , indolence and vice, and to wither. every sentiment of self respect. The $7OOO thus annually spent in St. John's parish ■no more met: the evil Ot ;1 tended to abate it, than the panem et c ircenees (bread and public games) contemptuously awarded- by the patricians to -the Roman poor in the beginning of the downfall of the Empire, perhaps hardly so much. Dr. Chalmers’ aim was, in a word, to Christianize the whole system of afford ing aid to the poor. He received per mission from the magistrates to detach Ms parish from the rest of the city; he relinquished all aid from assessments, and undertook frOm church collections alone, dispensed by officers of the church under his own direction, to keep down tho pauperism of tho parish. The magis trate consented to his plans with an almost universal disbelief in their suc cess. But the assiduity, wisdom, Chris tian spirit and personal attention which lie and his co-workers brought to their work, lod them to a most complete* and beneficial triumph over a gigantic evil. Perhaps in all modem times until Dr. Chalmers performed his wonderful ex periment, there was nothing to cheer or encourage the pMlanthropist in his view of the deep and increasing poverty arid degradation of the masses in the cities of Christendoin, but a vague sort of hope in some undeveloped regene rating power in Christianity. The deacons of the parish, guided by Dr. Chalmers' wise and minute direc tions, put themselves as Christian men in communication with the needy poor of their charge; kindly and cautiously sifted out the applications; such as were, the result of dishonesty, .drunkenness, or mere idleness; rendered aid. where i|| was truly necessary, and only there; encouraged and stirred up the unemployed who, were willing to labour, arid procured them situations, urging them by all means to endeavour to support themselves and avoid the humiliation of receiving public charity ; awakening the sympathy of neighbours ( and, encouraging the poor to rise them selves from the class of receivers to that of benefactors, arid learn for themselves the luxury of doing good. He estab lished it as an axiom, says Dr. Way land, that it is of no use to attempt to help tho poor, unless you engage them to aid in helping themselves. The work, at first, was laborious and time-consuming. But as tho people came to understand the fixed purposes and to enter into the plans of the dea cons, and as the deacons themselves became familiar with their field, three or four hours a month for each of them sufficed for carrying on the work. For the result was, that pauperism in St. John’s was not bo much relieved as it was prevented. This appears from the remarkable financial statement that after the first year, the church collections amounting to $l4OO, did the entire work for which $7OOO had previously been required; The collections in four years exceeded the expenditures $4500. And that the needy were not worse provided for in this than in other parishes, ap pears from the fact that nearly twice as many persons came into the parish as left it. Dr. Macfai-lane, the successor of Dr. Chalmers in the parish, testified that the plan . •worked well in all respects. Ten years afterwards Dr. Chalmers informed the Committee of the House of Commons' that the whole cost of pauperism in the parish in the year preceding, which had been one of unusual expenditure, was £384. Several years later, an English poor law-com missioner visited Glasgow, and after careful inquiry into the state of matters in St. John's, drew up a report in which he declared that the- system pursued “had been attended with triumphant success.” AN HONORABLE EXCEPTION 10 THE CURRENT OF BRITISH OPINION. While the columns of the leading English journals are burdened with gloomy and prejudiced views and violent* misrepresentations of the position of our affairs at the existing stage of the campaign, it is refreshing to turn to an article indited in a spirit of entire fair ness and in that encouraging strain which a comprehensive and unprejudiced survey of the situation so manifestly warrants. We refer to an editorial from the pen of the distinguished author Peter Bayne, in the columns of the Weekly Review, the organ of the English Presbyterians, which he so ably edits. It is in the number for July 9. Before quoting a large part of the article, we must express our gratification at the firmness with which Mr. Bayne has maintained his views, in the face, doubt less, of much counter sentiment among his subscribers, and of the general current of opinion among the leading journals of his country. At the same time it must be remarked, that the weekly summary given in the Review, of American affairs, seems to be drawn from the most prejudiced sources and is frequently disfigured by gross ignorance and misrepresentations of fact, as well as utterly gratuitous vaticinations of evil to our cause. The editor himself seems to have access to more correct sources than thoso relied upon from week to week for his subscribers. Can not they be equally favored ? The campaign of 1864 has been re duced practically to the operations of the two equally-balanced forces which contend for Eastern Virginia, and those of Sherman and Johnson, which now frimly confront each other in Georgia, t would bo a purposeless hiding of the truth to deny that this simplification has been mainly the result of Federal successes. The war in the West, which in 1862 raged op to the very borders' of the Free States, has now rolled away southwards to the Cotton Stateß on the Gulf. Kentucky and Missouri are cleaned of rebel armies; Tennessee— East and West—has been Mississippi is destitute of whito rebels, and held down by negro garrisons along the river ; while Arkansas, although re cently troubled in consequence of the failure of Banks, has actually gone through the ceremony of Voting herself back into the Union. In Eastern Loui siana a vast revolution is in progress. The country is not only in possession of the Federate, but the social fabric is undergoing entire reconstruction. In many cases the wealthiest planters have pronounced for abolition, and are calmly settling down to grow cotton by free labor. These are the results of two years of war, and now we find the whole rebel force of the southwest concentrated in Johnston’s army covering Atlanta, while the Union commander has pressed one hundred miles into the centre of Georgia. On the eastern seaboard alone have the Federate made little progress. Thwarted in their attempts to capture Richmond by the defensible nature of the country, the indomitable valor of the Southern army, and the military ability of Leo, and defeated in their endeavor to make Charleston suc cumb to the old flag, the campaign of '1864 in the East; was inaugurated for the unattained objects which had been aimed at in 1862 and 1863. The result of the battle summer of 1862 was en tirely favorable to the Confederates in Virginia. They had been relieved of the attack of McClellan, and had man aged to defeat Pope before the generals of the Army of the Potomacoould bring their forces to his aid. Had Lee re mained in Virginia, his attitude would *have been peculiarly commanding, but be waß foolish enough to invade Mary land, and showed his real weakness for attack, whatever his qualifications for defence. He committed the same blun der in 1863. After successfully foiling Hooker’s advance on Chancellorsville, he was induced to try a dash into Penn sylvania, and met with a defeat more severe and fatal than any of the war. Gettysburg will long be remembered m American annals, for it was the turning point of Lee’s success. Since that period he has acted wholly on the defensive, except one attempt to get into Meade’s rear, which that circumspect general easily defeated. This summer he has had to contend with a leader of very different calibre from those to whom he was formerly opposed. McClellan was scientific; but slow; -Pope, Hooker and Burnside were all brave generals of division, but out of place as leaders of great armies; Meade is an excellent spldier, whom Lee would have tried in vain to circumvent, but he is apparently destitute of that sublime self-confidence without which a general cannot reach the highest pitch of pro fessional excellence. Grant, on the con trary, is never without resources, 1 and possesses that peculiar combination of dash and caution which may bo recog nized in the masters of the military art. With Grant to plan new movements, and Meade as the executive general to carry them into effect, the Federal armies could not be better commanded. The result may be seen in the audacity of their advance from the Rapidan to the James. It has been said that the James could have been reached without that great loss which is debited to Grant’s forces alone, without taking into account the looses of the Confede rates. We are not disposed to assume that the Army of the Potomac could have been safely withdrawn from before Lee’s entrenchments on the Rapidan and passed south by sea to attack Rich! mond. This would have completely uncovered Wash „g<on-not as it is now uncovered, by Grant’s army having gone to the south side of the James river, which compete Lee to follow — but uncovered in a way to invite attack with absolato impunity. In short, it was necessary for Grant to force Lee before him to Richmond, and this he has done by a combination of fierce attacks and skilful manoeuvres which places his campaign in the front rank of military achievements. Neither can we accept the wild estimate of Grant’s losses which the Times aovr coolly puts forth, as if, the vast total were unques tioned. Twice recently in leading arti cles that journal has stated these losses at 100,000 men. We do not know any autnority but the loose-.tODgued and not over scrupulous Manhattan who has ever ventured so far into the regions of Munehausenmm. If the Federal army has lost so largely and yet proceeds on its campaign without halting, its gene rals and soldiers must "be the most heroic ever heard of in history. On the other hand, if General Lee cannot clear Virginia of an army which has thus lost the greater part of its numbers, his condition must be more'pitiable' still. We do not believe that Grant has actu ally lost in killed and irrecoverably wounded one-tenth of the enormous number thus put forth to the world on the authority of a leading English jour nal; while his total temporary loss, including the slightly wounded; who will soon return to the army, will not ex ceed 35,000 —an amonnt which has been more than supplied by reinforcements. Tbe respect with which Grant has inspired his opponents is'manifest by the failure of Lee to make any attempt to disturb the remarkable flank march to the James. A movement of a similar kind by McClellan wsi, as may be re membered, a series of sanguinary bat- ■ ties, but Grant was permitted to pass across the peninsula unharmed, and to cross a river, odo- third of a mile wide, without losing a man, a gun, or a wagon. His aim in the attack upon Petersburg is to operate upon the enemy’s commu nications. When Lee invaded: Penn sylvania no sooner did Meadedraw his army into a position menacing Lee’s line of retreat than that general was forced to fight. The position is so far changed with Grant’s army that he can operate on Lee’s communications with out losing his own, as he depends for his supplies upon the fleet, which is a moveable base, and can be changed at pleasure. The strategy is bold, but whether it may be Successful depends upon operations with regard to which it is not safe to indulge in the language of prophecy. MISSIONARY ITEMS. Correspondence opened with En lightened Negro Natives in Central Africa. —After twenty years’ efforts, arrangements for this object have gone into-effect. A box of Arabic Bibles and school books was sent New York several months since, to Presidents Benson and Roberts, of Liberia, to be forwarded into the kingdom of Footah, Hanssah, &c., &c., with printed letters, requesting replies. Eight or ten ancient kidgdoms there have had Mohammedan learning, books, and free schools for many centuries; but the notices of them by Park and other travelers have been overlooked until now. Elegant Arabic manuscripts are. in New York written by learned negroes of those regions. Central Turkey. —Eight young men, says the Missionary Herald, who ha ve ho norably completed their coarse of study in the Theological class at Aintab, wero licensed on the fifth of May, to preach the gospel. All are to be at once em ployed, two of them in connection with the Western Turkey Mission, two or three in the Adana station field, two at Marash, (one, it is expected, as pastor of the second . church there,) and one perhaps at an out-station of Aintab. “These," says Mr. Schneider, “with thirteen others previously licensed, make twenty-one native preachers sent forth from this place,” of whom nine have been settled as pastors. China.— We learn from the same pa per that Mr. Green, of the American Presbyterian mission of Ningpo, reports tbe recent ordination of two Chinese, by the Presbytery of Ningpo,—“faithful men-whom God has greatly blessed in the leading of souls to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesns." He also states that the church at Yuyiao has increased its number of communicants within the year from four to forty, and mentions the baptism, in March and April, of six persons at other stations. The Presbyterian Board sent out, in May, three new laborers to China, Rev. J. Wherry and wife to Shanghai, and Miss S. L. Greeo to Ningpo. The “ Christian World," the organ of the “ American and Foreign Chris tian Union” says that the mission of the Union in Greece has been carried on under the agitation incident to a change of dynasties and the formation of a new constitution; and, of course, with much, circumspection; yet the results of the year are far better than we anticipated. The influence of Rev. Mr. Constantine, through Bible class and Sabbath school labors, and private social intercourse, is obviously much ; enlarged. He is also at the present time traveling, through the northern part of Greece, and also in Macedonia, scattering the Bible that the people may read -in their own language the wonder ful works of God.—r-r The “ World” also says that from Lima, the capital of Peru, and from Caraccas, the capital of Venezuela, most urgent requests have been sent to us for - missionaries. Both are fields of much promise. For one a missionary' is already under appoint ment, and arrangements are partially made for the other. A self-supporting layman, Mr. Gulick, has jnst gone to labor for Christ in Caraccas. On the second Sabbaths after his arrival, he opened a Sabbath school, with five pupils, in the parlor of the American Ambassa dor, Judge Culver,ahd has gained a sup port for himself, and'k position of influ ence, as teacher of English, in the College.
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