The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-05-26
sossy. in aid of railroads connected with their

that nearly two hundred towns, cities and oounties
in New England, New York, Ohio and other western
States, have, during the last twelve or eighteen
months, raised, in different sums ofmoney an amount
equal to forty or fifty millions of dollars, ia the
shape Of bonds sold in the Market for the purpose
Of aiding and assisting in these railroad enterprises
And yet this vast movement is only in its commence
mept. New England at this moment, is nearly
covered with web of railroads in all directions.
New York is rapidly following in the same course.
Pennsylvania Ohio and the Western States are run
ming the race hard and rapidly as they can receive
the money for city, county, and town bonds to
be sold in the New York market at any and at every
price. According to the most moderate estimates,
the whole amount of capital which has been already
raised for the construction Of canal works in the
United States, probably approxmates nearer to
four hundred millions of dollars than to any other
sum.
We have said that this movement is only in it's
commencement. II certainly is only beginning to
attract the notice Of the other classes of the
nifty, and particularly Of all those who will have to
pay, ultimately, the interest and capital ofthesc dis
bursements. The increase Of these enterprses-the
vast extent of the lines-the rivalry sometimes be-
tween lines and rivers and lakes-evidently prove
that although many of the railroads now in process
ofconstruction will be hereafter valuable property,
yet numbers Of them will be utterly useless in
vestments for money, and will end in ruin to the
stockholders and bondholders who are involved in
them. These railroad enterprises, of all kinds,
dOubtedy add much to the value Of the property in
the country through which they run-probably
moro than the amount originally expended in the
roads themselves;-but the stockholders, and some
times the bondholders, by whose enterprise and
credit, and capital, the roads constructed, are
very frequently the losers, and the other classes
Of the line. The indscriminatc rush Of the pre-
sent day, in favor Of all railroad enterprises, re-
sembles, in great degree, the mania Of a similar
kind which prevailed in England few years ago,
and which ended in terrible railroad convulson,
the effects of which are felt in that country to this
day. We must expect that the same mania will
produce, to some extent, the same consequences
here but the time is not yet come, is the fruit
ripe, for decided rcvulson in these matters. This
country has prospersd Of late years beyond all former
periods of its history the seasons generous, the
mines Of California are abundant, our foreign and
domestic commerce increasing, our population aug
menting every year, both in the natural way and
by emigration; and the Of prosperity are
the most remarkable in their character that ever
were before exhibited in the history of the world.
These elements Of success may prevent or delay
very aggravated species Of revulsion in the railroad
or any other mania Of the day. But nothing can
prevent too great expansion, in any particular
line Of business, from creating reaction Of some
kind, sooner or later. So look out in time.
INFIDRL PHILOSOPHY AND "IsMs. We pub
lished yesterday report Of the somewhat remarka-
BILE proceedings of clique Of infdel philosophers,
who are in the habit Of meeting in public room in
the city, every Sabbath evening, and there discuss
ing and enouncng ideas religion, infdety, agra
ranism, socialism, Rochester knockngs, and all the
equally interesting 'sisms' Of which the present
time is productive. The subject for last Sabbath
was Man and his Destiny" and the lecturer and
prominent debater on the occasion was pretty,
fund lady, Of a certain age, named Mrs. Fanny Lee
Townsend. She took care to state explicitly, for
the benefit of her auditory, that hor mind was not
cramped by any Of the popular superstitons Of the
age, as to future existence, human responsibility,
Christ, or his religion but was, in fact an inf
del in the widest sense Of the term and further was
one Of the lights Of tho socialist community who
claim the right to appropriate to themselves the
public lands She brought down the authority Of
Moses and Christ to sanction her own sentiments
on that head The latter she denominated as a
land reforner," who had directed the people to
gather what they wanted. She did not want "home
eternal in the hcavcns;' but she wanted one here,
and should have it. Neither did she care about the
hell Of the next world, though she did about the
hell Of this. Her only Bible appeared to be the
~l,nxc
incoherencies she had full faith was the Hon. Horace
Greeley, and we might add, judging from the exhi-
btion she made Of herself, that "folly's all
they've taught her."
The lecture room in which these edfying doc
trnes propounded, has been for several months
back an academy, or temple, attended every Sab
bath afternoon by some half hundred men and boys,
and used for the incubation OF ndel notions Of all
kinds, and the propagatng Of "isms" Of all dcscrip
tions throughout the city and country. It is now
about twenty five years since the first attempts
openly made in this city, to establish journals de-
voted to infde philosophy; and the progress Of that
movement has had many variations and many
phases since that time till the present day. first,
such attempts created nothing but disgust and hor-
ror in the mind Of the rest Of the community, in all
quarters Of the country, but particularly in New
England which was then considered the head-quar-
tiers Of the good, sound old fashioned religion Of the
Bible. Of late years, however, it seems that great
change has taken place among large masses Of
society, as well in New England in New York,
and some places further south and west. Journals
oflarge circulation have been established, pretend
ing to all the virtues and morality of the day, which,
under the spccous guise of inculcatng all sorts of
pure philosophy and msrals, have becn sapping aid
undermining the religious notions of the people,
introducing code Of morality of the most afro
cious kind, and cxpunging oil those ancient ideas
ofhoncsty proprcty, and virtue, through the inhu-
ence of which, mankind has beenbrought to the high
state Of civilization in which we live. Those de-
destructive principles are disguised under various
appellations, and appeal to different sentiments of
the human mind. Ratonalism, transcendcntalism,
socialism, Fourricrism, abolitionsm, Rochester
knockings, spiritual communications, agrarianism,