THE PEOPLE'S JOURNAL, JAW. S. _MANN, J. A I'ER I', Editors. IMES COUDERNPORT, PA. tIIURSDAY 31(711 - NITCG, DEC' 21, 78.34 BISHOP POTTER. This gentleman delivered the Edu tationalAddress ou Manday evening of Ccurt Week. It was listened to with deep interest by the people, aid we hope that ,action will be the result in every school district in the county. The lecture showed that the subject of the Education of the People was . no new one to the speaker ; it shows that he feels an interest—=a deep in terest—in the cense, and an unbounded confidence in the ultimate triumph of Intelligence, through the common school system, over Ignorance and its results. He gave a brief btft sufficiently com prehensive sketch tif the origin and history of common schools, reverting eloquently, to the ordinances passed by the , Pilgrim Fathers of New-Eng land, to whom the credit of originating the system Was due, Common schools had been attempted in Europe, and patronized by the Governments under 'which they existed, as .a means of Making loyal and faithful subjects. So the common school system of America was a means of perpetuating Republicanism, and as sack demanded our firmest and heartiest support, as a duty not only to ourselves and our children, but to our country. He titioted from Lamartine, the French poet and statesman, " The cross and the press are the engines of modern civilization;" but held that Christian-. ity or freedom of speech would he very poor engines indeed, were it not fur the education of the masses. He Ingo] the necessity of employing hone but competent and efficient teach ers, and of offering such compensation as would lead young, men and women to fit and prepare themselves for this arduous and important undertaking.. His address was eliaracterited through but by a beautiful and easy flow of language, the soundest reasoning, and a blending of the practical that was No person could have listened to him without feeling, that it Was his or her duty to do something more for the advancement : of:the cause thin they had yet done; nor could .any person hare heard. the lecture without feeling that the subject of common school education was a more i►tiptttant one than lie had heretefore domed In this lecture we have the evidence of two things •zrs far as Bishop Putter is concerned. First : that he is a pro gressive man, and believes that man is progressive ; and were his real sentiments known, believes that the common school system would bedefit the cause of Republicanism in the South as much as it has in the North, where it originated. - Secondly : that he believes something else necessary besides moral suasion to stop. tho traf fie In intoxicating liquors. " 1 thank God that there is one county in. this Commonwealth where uo license is grunted, to deal out Rum : , and that that county my name bears," is his own• la-nguage. We fear that had the result been left to mural suasionists, the Bishop would - not have bad the pleasure. of expressing. this glorious sentiment. The- lecture was a timely, Instructive, and' we hope .a beneficial tme- to ou,r county, front a great, and good man. Let 113 all'rcsolva to profit by the noble effort so kindly and so grace. fully made in our behalf by one of the ripest scholars hi the Stata; and as the result of this lecture, let us make ru cfßirt for the Educational interest in Potter county, whose influence shall be . felt by every school in our midst, for thus we shall reward Bishop . Potter for his kindly aid. rir At military funerals in Californiajt is said to be the practice, of or blazing the dead, to have the band go back to the residence of the deceased, and serenade the widow. Strange custom that but in one of California's sister States they have practices quite as strange. We have heard of a place where it is the fashion to make donation parties for the minister, and after bringing in their gifts, the pious donors send for a fiddler, and dance till midnight. In some places it is the custom when a band of mourners assemble to devise means for improving and beautifying the spot where their dear ones are buried, to conclude their deliberations with a cotillion. MALL SLANMEIY - RULE THIS NATION This question must. now force itself on the attention of every one who his a spark of manhood and intelligence. The'Slave Power . secured the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and thus threw down the barrier that protected : our vast .North-West territory _from_ the inroads of that blighting curse; and now we find Kansas already taken possession of by the slay ebolders. There is 'hut one thing . that will pre vent the extension of slavery to all the- territory 'of the United States; and that is the formation of a patty of freedom, whose controlling prie, ciple shall be, "No more Slave States." The deceptive cry of no danger, can no longer deceive any but the willfiilly blind. Our readers are already in-. formed that a pro-slavery delegate his been elected to Congress from Kansas, Hate that was done, may be seen from the following item in the St. Louis Inlelrgencet Atn.—The Glasgow Times says that one hundred persons lately left Saline County, Mo., for Kansas, and were in that Territory to time to look after the election of Delegate to Congress. Likely." Beautiful popular sovereignty that. The following • correspondence of the Cleveland Herald is to the same purport ! • The country is eminently adapted to slave later. Wealthy slaveholders can go. there with plenty of "help" and means, and make money subduing and cultivating these lands. They will do so, and despite all efforts.nqw making or means yet adopted by the free States to prevent it, Kansas is sure to become a slate State! • The Emigrant Aid Companies (as they are termed) are doing very little indeed to no cotnplish their object. They have eheour aged hundreds of poor, well meaning and honest people to lease their homes and rush into the Territory without means to sustain themselves, there, who must suffer every thing but death. I hear of "Aid Associations" with heavy capital, &c., &c, To accomplish anything practically, this capital must be em ployed to ," aid" and sustain settlers after they reach, the Territory, until they get a start and provide for themselves. Mbney thus emp'oved will make , Kansas a free State, otherwise money wilt make it slave. The South will spend MOSEY freely to accomplish their object. The North must make up its mind to do the same if Freedom there is worth its investment. It is time the troth was known, and I intend to speak plainly and truly. The first election for delegate to Congress will he held on the 29th. Gem Whitfield, a thorough Pro-Slavery man, has been nom inated. by those favorable to slavery in Kan sas. I think he is the Administration candi date. He will, I fear, be elected. - Great frauds will be practiced , in toting. Hundreds of residents in Missouri intend voting. and *ill do so on pretense of holding claims in the Territory. . Gov. Bigler's sincerity in declaring himself in favor of 'controlling' the liquor traffic, may be judged by this fact, which we find in the \Vest Chester Register: • John D. Whitesides, tavern keeper in \Vest Fallowfield township, who was convicted do Thadsday last of selling liquor to a minor, and sentenced to pay a fine of v. 5, the cost 0r prasectitidn and to undergo an imprison ment of ten days, was pardoned by Governor Bigler on the following dayl This man was convicted under a hiw Which Governor - Bigler and his friends hid enacted last winter for a special purpose—to stave off a prohibitory liquor law from the shoulders of his excellency until atter the erection. The election having:been lost by Wm. Bigler lie has nofurther use for Senator Bueltalew's masterly treatise on Legislative Poisoning, and thus takes advantage of the pardoning power to ignore itti prai!tical application in 'controlling' the lipior traflld.—Loneaster Er press, . . . . Those Tempetance democrats who deceived themselves that they could consistently vote for Bigler are asked to look at the above, and our friend of the M'Kean Citizen will confer a favor on us, if he will tell us by .what pro- Coss of reasoning he comes to the con elusion, that nothing was decided by our State election. Does he believe the liquor men can use- Gov. Pollock as they have used William Bigler? E ,T'' The Literary Association held a special meeting on Saturday even ing last, at which time Rev. Alonzo Potter, L. L. D., favored our .commu-• pity with a Lecture on the character and habits of Washington, which no words of ours could eulogize in fitting terms. The great merit of the Lec ture in our estimation was, its minute and practical instructions to' every business man. The great duties of life were explained and enforced with such earnestness of purpose, and such beauty of thought, that the roughest and dullest of us must certainly re ceive much instruction and some im proTemeut from the evening's enter tainment. ar The communication of Punch is very acceptable. Please write again soon. We do not agree with his mode of reforming the school sys tem, but we agree that there is much need of reform, and the evils pointed out by Punch area serious drawback to the prosperity of our schools. We hope to hear from others on this subject, also ou the agricultural inter ests in this county. Now is the time for our farmers to think, read, and write. • • • , PREACKaiO POLITICS" About a year ago, certain Divines of the conservative school, with 4 feW of their supporters, formed a mission ary society to aid the South in main taining that, kind of preaching which ignores the sin of American slavery. This Society . held its first - Anniversary meeting a' short time since; in New 'VOA: It is called the "Southern Aid Society:" The receipts amount to $4595.12; .disburse ments at the South, in furtherance of their .work, $2420; Salaries, home agencies, office expenses etc., etc ., that is, cost of working the machinery of the Society, $165228. The Society aided, during the year, .inis sionaries of 6ve different denominations. Addresses *were delivered by Dr. Hutton, Dr. Cox, Dr. Bethune, and Dr. Newton, The lasf.named gentleman is 'from Jackson, Miss. He ridiculed the idea of any man who preaches Christ's Gospel being in danger at the South. He thought the only Gospel hope of the South lay in the Southern Aid Society, and that its political influence, even, would be most beneficial. Whether it would be safe to preach to the master, on the duty of emancipating his slaves, .he did not say. It is nearly a month since Dr. New ton declared, right under the . nose of the "Presbyterian," that the ministers supported in the Sonth by the South ern Aid Society would exert the most beneficial pOitical' influence, and yet we have not heard of any paper,- sec ular . or religicius, finding , fault . with •him fot "preaching politics." This is not the first time We have noticed that it is only thoSe movements which operate against slavery, that • meet with opposition from our conservative "preserVers of the peace, and guardians of the Gospel. 'Whatever movement operates fur slavery is all right. From • all such religious advisers, froni their blindness of heart, selfish-. ness, vain glory, and hypocrisy, may some good angel deliver us. tHOTiGHT AFLOAT "I have an idea!" exclaims the tnan in the play. "Have you,. really 7" is the retort, which invariably raises a laugh. The laugh is against the man who has the idea; and it seems to be based upon a belief that the hay ing of an idea is one of the commonest of possible occurrences; so common, in fact, ! that lot a man to suppose his acquirement of an idea to be a fact worthy of special. an, nouricenteht, argues in him an extraordinary , poverty of mind. The question, " nave you. really ?" calls the arention of an enlightened. audience to the circumstance ; hence the , laugh, For once, an enlightened audience is mis taken. An idea is one of rarest of the pro• ductiorls bt nature, and the moat ptecious. Au idea wjjl go further, last longer, produce more results, than any other commodity yet discovered. The natural equality- of men was once an idea in the heart of one man; it tvill revolutionize the *odd, and rube:illy change. every human IHAtitution. And so forth.—Life Illustrated. 'We commend the above to those. captious gentlemen who are endeavor ing to detract from the merits of Mr. Young's lecture. If none of us are • to say anything . that is not original with ourselves, there will be precious little said. • a' . Since it has become the fashion for. men to' confess their past errors very freely in books, it is boldly asserted that there is no material difference between an auto-biogra phy and a naughty biography. • After readiilg the "nakeity biog raphy" of P. T. Barnum, in which he details with apparent pride a great many youthful peccadilloes which he ought to be ashamed of, and boasts of his more manish humbugging schemes, we felt to exclaim, "There is more truth than poetry in that bold asser- tion."f Er We -regr . et to say that Dr. Sniith has been reelected Mayor of Boston by' nearly 2000 majority.— "Mayor Smith was very active in se curing the return of Anthony Burns to slavery, and his reelection shows that a majority of the voters of Boston are in favor of making Massachusetts the hunting ground of the kidnapper. We do not believe there is another city of New England the would give such a vote. The idle should not be chissed among the living; they are a sort of dead men who can't be buried. Man ought always to hive something which he prefers to life, otherwise life itself will appear to him tiresome and void, • A:want of confidence has kept many a roan silent. A want of- sense has made many persons talkative. • EDUCATIONAL MEETING At a meeting of the inhabitants of Potter county convened at the Court louse-on Monday. evening of Court weak, Dec. 18th, 1854, H. H. Dent, Esq., was called to the chair and William McDougall appointed Secre tary. Introductory remarks were made by C. W. Ellis, Esq., and the object' of the meeting stated, viz : the advance ment of Common School Education. Col. Kilburn and S. S. Mann, Esq., also Addressed the meeting The Pt:einem — thin introduc6, Bishop Potter of Philadelphi4, who delivered an able leCtore upon tbci subject of education.. ,At the -close of the lectere_a motion was made anti seconded that the thanks of the meeti ing be given to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Potter 'for his "able - and eloquent , ad; - dress. • • • On motion, a Committee of three Was appointed 'by 'the !Chair , .for the pitrpoe of procuring' Lecttirer for the next term of Court. C. N. Ellis; Wm. McDougall* and ;Rev. John B: Pradt were appointed that Committee: On motion; a - Committee was ap.- pointed . to organize a t - system for the promotton of education_ in Potter county. - Committee appointed by the Chair, Messrs. J.'S. Mann, J. Bloom r • ing,dale and F. W.. Knex: • On. motion the proe - edings of this meeting he published: in the county papers. . '- . On motion, meeting adjourned. H. H. DENT, President W. McDOUGAI.►., Stey. Coudersport, Dee. 18 ,le5:1. /%lESSRS. EDITOR The issue of the late electionsin the Northern States seems to cause a great deal of -specu lation on the 'probable consequences involved in the result. r The instability of party platforms, and the insecurity of office-holders and spoili-mongers in genera], is but anotkpr illustration of the transient character of all sub lunary things. The rout and utter -defeat of old huniteriim is a consum mation which may well rejoice the heart of every friend of Progress and Humanity. We rejoice in the result not ,as a partisan triumph, but as a triumph of the People and right prin ciples over mere party and unprinci pled demagogues, who in tic name and 'under the cloak of Democracy, do things that would disgrace any desiotism in Europe. The people 'understand very well that the leading ideas of the age- find,fittle sympathy with the party which arrogates to itself all the Democracy, their Phari saical pretensions,to Which naturally reminds one of the chaiacter described by Pollock (not (? 4. Pollock, my hunker friend)— • " Who sto!e the livery of 7the court of heaVen To serve the devil in."' • • This use of the term Democracy has worked like a charm in keeping together the incongruous elements of the party ; it has been their battle cry, their Shiboleth, 'by Means of which they have heretofore been able to Whip in the disaffected, and adjust the party collar to their necks, and make them . pull true in the traces, according to the direction of the sachems. But now the spell is broken, the scales have fallen from their'eyes,—they have discovered that there is a greater good than the good of the party. Great Babylon totters to itse fall. Who shall stay the mighty ruin? • Who shall re store its beautiful proportions? The arm of the "Little Giant" has become palsied; his hand is impotent to save ; the music of his voice has departed ; the Southern Delilab.has shorn him of his strength, and, like others before I him, he has lost the 'confidence of the North, Without winning the esteem of the South ; and amid the universal upheaVal of parties and the demolition of old fogyism in general, it is feared that Pierce, : Douglas, and their road ' jutors will be "left alone in their glory." But the people will do them justice, and should they succeed ,in their schemes of still further extending and aggrandizing the "peculiar insti tution," their fame Will be inlperish ' able ; .they will have gained an im mortality (of infamy) incomparably greater than that ofthe !man who set firo to the magnificent Temple of Diana at Ephesus, ! that his name might he transmitted to posterity,. I commenced: thii article with the' view of suggesting ;that the people of this State had a riglit to expect of . the men whom they have elected to office some decided •refornis in the civil and adininistrative poliCy of the Slate. It is a fact 'too notorious to try to con 7 ceal,, that Pennsylvania .enjoys the reputation of being !rather behind her sister 'States of the North in many respects. But I intended hero to call attention to only one subject—a re fonn which I think is • very much needed. I. allude . to our Common School System. It !should be made morellemocia . tic. ' I would abolish the : ! • present system of township districts and directors, and let each sub-district bean independent district, and elect its own district officers, 'to serve With. otit cotnpen — sation. I would also abet. lair - the office . of County Superintend- . - cut, and establish that. of Town Super intendent, who should have the general supervision - of all the schools in his inSpection - of, teachers, Vic.; •fie should also, under suitable bonds, - be the receiver and disburser of the school funds belonging to his township. The. Trbstees, or officers . of each district, should be responsible to the Town Superintendent, and he to tho State Superintendent. I throw out these hints merely as suggestions to . others, and I hope some one better qualified to do justice to the subject will take it up. One of the abomina tion's of the present sy'stem, is the _way in which the school moneTs are ap propriated among the several districts. It is neither .just nor right that a dis trict paying $l5O or $2(10 school tax, with forty scholars, should receive no more school mime) , than one paying $25, with seven to- ten scholars. But We see, such to be the. working of the present-law. A . case occurred in this town last winter, where a teacher taught five scholars three months fer $l5 per month, and another teacher (female) taught between thirty and forty at $lO. per month. The first district received nine dollars per head for each scholar taught, the other a little less than one. -It is repugnant to common sense,- and the spirit of the age, fur a district which requires eight or ten months' school in a year to be restricted ter tist six, and that perhaps of the cheapest and poorest kind. We Want a-system that will enabie every school district to manage its own internal affairs, subject only to general State regulations. Each district is its own proper judge. of how many months' school it will have, the teacher , it will-hire; and the amount of com pensation it will give, with various other matters over which they now have little or no control. T 6 do -this, there should be an equitable division of the school moneys among the seve ral districts, without regard to tile number of months' schooling, or.the . amount of wages paid by each, and let each district make up their deli ciency, when there is any, either by a rate bill on the scholar, or a tax on the assessed valuation of the district. It seems obvious to me that some such plan would infuse more life and spirit into. our common schools, and also insure more vigilance and economy in their management. People groan heav ily under their burden of taxes, and the impression -is very prevalent that the benefits derived from our present system do not correspond with the outlay. So here goes fur a reform— who speaks next? • PUNCH. For the Journal A practical result has been realized from Paine's experiments in manu facturing gas from water, which may be witnessed at the clothing store of J. linutoon, in our Borough, It is simply Benzoic in combinatiOn with Alcohol and water, through which a current of air is continually passing. and the escaping gas burns with a bright and clear light, of great brill iancy and illuminating power. The invention-is patented by the "American Gas Company," from whom D. F. Lawrence has secured the agency, and is ready to furnish county, borough,- and single rights on liberal terms. We give the following estimate of the cost, and advantages of the Ben zoic light:—"The present price of Benzoic does not exceed $1,12A per gallon, to which,: add the price of a pint of alcohol, at present 123 : cents, making $1;25; and as much water as alcohol, and you will have a mixture that will produce as much light as will a thousand cubic feet of coal gas, both being measured by the photometer, coal gas costing on au average, in twenty-nine of our. principal cities, $3,77 per, thousand feet. This light is free from all unhealthy exhalations experienced in coal gas, and is also much' more' agreeable to the eye. The refracting power of this light is much greater - than 'that of other arti ficial lights, being much more' like that of the sun and colors arc almost as eaSily-distinguishecl in its rays, as in those of the sun, for (he reason that the prismatic colors of the former arc almost as bright as those of -(he sole; spectrum. It will seen by the above esti mate of the cost of this light, that it is less than one-half of that of other arti ficial lights, including candles, oil, burning fluids, &c., as well as other TVilliamsport Independent res.r. A NEW OAS LIGHT Re.t.utins . is the Sufi. jectOf -Thanksgiving sermon, &h r .. eted in the Arch Street Presbyteria n Chmich, Philadelphia, on last Thanks., giving day, by Rev. Charles Wad s . iworth-- It is for sale at Miner & Cii on S6dthfield street. It is a very able review of this subject, embodying the views of.a large number of our most intelligent people," who do not 'believe that ' , polities should-be 00...5 en .. 'sun] and devilish' as to kilsgrace th e pulpit in which they are mentioned. the speaker made .a wide distinetiOn between politics as they. are, and should be. " Them is," says he, tiasommo n and indeed a popular sense, in which to carry 'politics . into religion is a curse and a sore wickedness. Take the word politics iii its vulgar Mid most perverted meaning, as denoting the party chicanery of placemen for power—the low artifices of prostitute and false statesmanship for:office and spoils—and the man who would seek its Coalition with any great moral and religions interests deserves at our hands an indignant rebuke, , and will, at God's hand, surely meet a sore retribution. * • But I 'hold it to he my right, nay, my most bounden duty, to seek all honorable legislation to aid me in the suppression of. Popu lar iniquities. -Inteniperanie; oppre.- sion, Sabbath-breaking, profaneness-- these, and the whole - great catalogue of flagrant immurralities, are as very felonies on a 61:111'8 cis:;} rights, as are highway robbery, or adultery or mur.: der: And as . an integral part of suci et2;: fur whose widest welfare only. the government is created, I can come to.that government," not asking but chaining as a right, that it • protect me and my beloved , ones from such foul felonies on my interests." Tho idea that a very large body of our most learned and intelligent citizens shall be frowned down, and forbidden to speak' upon National affairs, or petition against such meas. tires as outrage every better feeling of our natures, is Maintained by those only whose every impulse is selfish, and whofear to bring their measures to the rulof divine tight. We re:minuend the sermon to these who feel an interest in a questioa which dining the last session of Con. press kindled a very ardent feeling in the e country- With most of the views expressed in ,it, we cordially agree. As to the style of it, it is sometime, perhaps, a little inflated.-Journa/ risitrr. WEE REMEDY FOR HARD TIM A New York paper ,gives the fol lowing ;idrice tis applicable to the '•hard time:;,' • "In these tight times, when Wall street is like one's mouth after eating persimmons, when rents fall fifty per cant, -and the 'safest' nten are shaking. it behooves all small dealers to look sharp to their accounts. -Let them owe no Intim if they arc so fortunate.. as to. be thus far oat of debt, and be quite sure, too, that .no man owe) them, vxcept that his debt be secured by.the most undoubted security. in these tunes whoever , has lent, is around looking up the borrower with the'tnost aidnous perseverance, and it. is distressing to note hoti many borrowers - are not at home when such call. Let the ornaments Ao tmboughl this season. Let the "amuse-newts be foresworn. Let the coat—we talk to unpretending people—be coarser than last year ; and, ladies let the bonnet be a dollar or two plainer. Put what you meant to spend fur a Wreath into the coal bin, and what you designed for a velvet that 51)0111(1 . surpass Mrs. Smith's into the flour barrel. Be hard up for weeks together; wear a - pate)) on your garment; wear a napless hat; eat cheap joints instead of 'fine'-onest get sirl(iin instead of porter house steaks r rent a, second floor instead of a whole house; live comfortably itl• stead of keeping up. appearances; do anything that is honest—never mind whether it. is "respectable"—rather than in such times as these_ run in debt." Tut: tit.k uv rue COCONI"I".—We SICAre to see the people of the free States extend free labor over all the territory which of right now or shall hereafter belong to them, but at the same time it is equally important and right that the people of the slave States shall have room to expand their pe culiar system so as to prevent it from bccomin„, , burdensonir and dangerints to them.—Louisrille (Ky.) Journal. What will Mr. Cass say to the sen tence which we place iu italics ? Here is one of the pro-slavery organs* which takes the ground that slavery must become a burden unless it has room to expand. The doctrine of Cass and the doughfaces always has been that increasing the area of slave ry did not . increase the evil, and so .Was a very innocent affair.. But hear what slavery says in reply: We want room, we want new lands, we want a chance to expand; and it' we cannot get these things, our institution is useless. and; will soon become burden sotne and dangerous." Our readers will therefore, see why the share holders have struggled so desperately for the right to extend. It is a strug gle for life, They know that.if slave ry is confined to • certain limits - it is doomed. It at once becomes burden some and must •be cast . off: Its 'only chance for life is in new territory and room to expand.—N. Y. Tribune.