Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

en,who- have been. put in power," in, the
language of ari..appeal to them, " to initiate af;
thorough and radical system of city reform. They
nitiSt see plainly that. things have come-to a crisis.
The•metFupolis has been and is the Worst governed
city in Christendom. The prope holders aro
. .
compelled to pay . enormous and constantly
increasing- taxes for. a Government
,which is only
nominal. There is really no security for .life and
property here, so' far as 'the , administration bf the.
local- authorities is cOncerned. The autocrats of
Tammany Hall, with their •intrigues; corruptions,
and chicaneries, have treated .the voters like so-
many cattle, to be bought and Sold by the hunt
dreds or thousands. • TheYhave parcelled out the
Offices and :divided the • spoils -with,-Ahe : most
unblushing impudence, and have used. -the. city).
!treasury as a place- where all might come and_pick
lup other Peopi e's:lnoney, „upluestiOned by the
proper, .owners.. They have been surronilded: with
a tribe of hungry . retainers, pugilists, bullies,,
gamblers and scoundrels of all sorts, whose-peculiar
services they have been obliged to reward at the,
expense of the plundered- taxpayerS. They have
now received a check, and it depends upon_the
dominant party to say-whether or not the estoppel
Shall -be'.finat.' I quote this .as affording-al futthbri
illustration of the,
,working of the institutions',
municipal_as_well:as 'politieal,:of this_country._
discloses a state of things for which republicanism
is responsible, and of which :you will scarcely,'
think, feel.much enamoured, , • • •

4re PPe The aars to 'be a considerable falling-off
the sale of public lands during the past year.

quantity- sold during. the 'five quarters ending-
Scpt6iiber 30, was 4,804,919
,aorcs; for which 'was
reeeived-$2,534,192, The-military- -land warrants
located amounted to '6,083,110 acres. Over ten
millions of acres of lafid have been sold underiltAi
graduation-law of 1854, at. the price of !;twelye and
la half cents per acre. Over 15,000,000 acres have
;been surveyed and are ready--for market in Kansas
'and Nebraska. Such is an abstractlof the official
istatemcnt. The vquantity of land sold' in 1858 is
not half that of 1857. The largest quantity sold
in any one ' year!during the -last _quarter of a
century, was in- • 1836, when it-amounted to up-
Wards of twetity millions of acres. The price, toe,
seems to have, fallen, as much as ene-half. The,-
average 4ett. toroduct used to ,-exceed a dollar en._
acre : now it. is ;little more than half -a dollar The decrease of the number -of .einigrats, has no,-
)doubt a good deal to do with'the diminution 'ma the
Sales of --the. public lands:- Muting the year 1858;
;there has been - a total of 1b,9,89 arrivals against
'178,511 ja 1857. This is a great falling ofr.
• Then, is another decrease with -whichlhedis-.
posal of-public lands has alsO Something 't,o do,—
that
Of the "Indian," or abroginal population. I
find 'that the last report of the Indian 'bureau.
States 'the *hole number Of Indians within the
.imits.of the United States,a,t 350,000:, - Over 393

treaties have.beezi ratified. with 'the lalians since.

the 'adoption Of the Constitution,
,by which did
States-have ;acquired ,581,163,188 acres ,of land.
This is certainly a tvery• pretty acquisition. But
We see-from this report of the present population
of `lndians how fast the race is dwindling away
bafore the tide of civilisation which is flowing over
:their ancient domain. ' The numbjrl of Indians
within the territory of the United States, in 1853,
was estimated by the Commissioner of Indian
'Affairs at 400,764. So that in fle=e years their
number has decreased nearly 60,000. At this rate,
in the'Course of another eight or ten years; they
will have 'entiroly disappeared from the 'United
States territory. , .„

There is still another decrease in population that
is not unworthy of notice, whether in connection
with the foregohig, or oth-erviiie. One \would
have thought dint the progress."
.of which the
other statements are . such striking evidences,
would haiie involved- a continued increase,cif the
manufacturing population. Yet .1 find that" in
Lowell, Massachusetts, the Manchester of 'America,
the population, within two years, has fallen from
38,000 to 33,00. At least one thousand tene-
ments are said to be - now vacant in that city..
And -it does not appear that , the manufactures
which have thus evidently:takentheir flights from.
Lowell, have -alighted and taken up their abode, in
any other locality. The fact, therefore, is to be
regarded- as_ evidence. of the- decline of helnanu-.
facturing interest to that extent.
The :new and popular plan of turning-Theatres
into Preaching-places still goes on- swimmingly in
the city of New York. The twe principal concerns
are those of'the Opera -House 'and; the-National
Theatre. At the former,the -service ‘.‘ continues to
be attended by crowded cougregatious, :to the
extent that hundreds are obliged to leave, unable
to get within hearing distance of the speaker,"—
long before the hour arrives for the exercises to
commence every seat- is occupied, and soon every-
available standpoint is lik'ewiselaken. The a'sles,
and even the stage behind the speaker, are filled,
and still the crowd pours in thick and fast, only to
turn away disappointed. At the latter, a recent
Sunday evenilng gathering is thus described in.one
of the daily journals,—" The -parterre was,, filled
with young boys who prowl about the streets,
careless of themselves and unheeded by others.
The orchestra seats, boxes, and:!first gallery were
pretty much •secupied by - church-going people—
probably by members of the preacher's own denc-

urination ; the second and ihird galleries pretty
much by a younger class of perms, who probably
came as much from curiosity to attend preaching
in a theatre as to listen to the preacher on the good
things of salvation. The boys seemed to enjoy
going to church in the theatre, fora time at least,
and before the doors were open quite a crowd was
waiting on the pavement outside. As soon as
entrance was hadthe seats were filled, and before

the services commenced every regular place was
occupied. In the course of the ,evening the
{passages were likewise filled by persons who
remained during :the service, so that so far as
numbers are concerned the theatre pxcaching is a
success." •It is added :that, during-the sermon, " the
boys were rather noisy, but much less so {than at the
preceding services. Notwithstanding this improve-
ment in their _manners," continues the account,
" the singing, prayer and prefatory remarks were
not allowed to pass without cheers, hi hi's,
stamping of feet, and the shrill whistle from some
of the more enthusiastic urchins. In all there
were at. the beginning about five hundred boys ;

but they absconded in iatelLes at intervals daring'
the service, till at last they probably did not
number four score. It struck us that if ,the
sheep ' -would mingle
_with the goats' in fthe

parterre, the noise of the conglomerated mass ;of
hail young fellows well poet' would soon
be heard ;no more, and the
,youngsters would
learn to behave themselves an good society."
It cannot, surely, be considered that there is au
indication in all this that any gervaal good effect
is being produced by these theatrical preachings.

That there is the bail effect of seating irreverence
for sacred things—of associating what is holy with
what is unholy—of treating the most solemn of all
subjects with levity, not to say profanity, and
thereby running the risk, at any rate, of bringing
religion itself into contehipt, can scarcely be
questioned. And this, it cannot be denied, is very
bad. What there may be to set off against this,

remains to be seen. At prQsent, there-is no sign.
Those whom it is intended to benefit, evidently, in
the main, treat it as a joke.

Mawdsley's school-boy pocket pencils in great variety,
3d, 6d, and is. Also, writing cases and desks, from ss.
4, Castle-street,
ACTION FOR LIBEL.—We understand that Mr. Ernest
Jones has brought au action for libel against Mr. Cr; W.
M. Reynolds. Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., has been retained
on behalf of Mr Jones ; and the case, which is expected
to dome. on in Hilary term, is likely to be one of much
interest. .

DEAFNESS.—Having been consulted by Mr. Gosslett, a
gentleman holding a high situation in one of the public
offices in Dublin, who had been deaf nearly forty years,
and pronounced incurable by several eminent aurists, I
did not consider myself justified in holding out to him
any hopes of recovery. He then put himself under the
care of Madame Gardner, by whose judicious treatment
he has been restored to his hearing ; and as I have both
seen and examined him since his recovery, I should be
wantingin candour did I withhold this statement of the
fact.—J. W. Graves, late surgeon H.M.S.—Dublin, 20th
August, 1858. N. 8.-- Madame• Gardner may be etOul-
pt~ at residence, No. 100, Duke-street, Liverpool.