The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-24

Atlantic ocean with two nconsiderabe szeeptoo.,
and from the Cape to the fifty first degree Of north
latitude in North America the Pacific ocean, without
sovereign resident American powers There T. M.ore
NO cAassa ,vttia the prescribed sits N which cw Europe
colony could ,o'o &C s'oauosa Without c1aao f serr.
such a colony andby its eSblisAent acquire sovereign
riqs for any Eurepeda poer, must be regarded an o.
admissible eScrodcAfient
Yet in utter defiance Of this declaration, sane
toned as it has been by the whole American
people, we have had, within the past six months,
two new colonies erected by Great Britain, with
in the indisputable territorial limits Of the re-
publican States Of America The Colony of
the Bay Islands," organized in July last, and
the more recent conversion Of q license to cut
iogwood into title of sovereignty in Belize,
are both pointed and emphatic violations alike
Of the great principle here enunciatcd, and Of
the treaty Of 1850, which provides that Great
Britain shall not occupy, or fortify. or solonize
any part of Central America"
We repeat, the issue has come at last-we
must now enforce the immediate and uncondi-
tional surrender Of the Bay Islands and the
territory Of Belize to their rightful owners, or
formally abandon the position which we have
taken before the world and invite the aggres-
sion Of foreign and unfriendly powers. There
can be no evasion-there is no middle course
Our reputation amongst nations and oar in
perhaps even our predOminence upon
this continent-are staked upon the solution
which Congress and the government shall give
to these questions. We believe there is enough
of sound Americanism in Congress to induce it
| to lay aside all minor questions. and give this
matter its present and earnest attention. Some
progress hes been made in that direction in the
| Senate. Mr.. Dixon has given notice of resolu-
ton instructing the Committee on Foreign Re-
| lations to report if the encroachments Of Eng
land in the Bay of Honduras are in contra
vention of the treaty Of 1850; and if SO, to
report such measures as may be necessary
to "enforce a faithful observance of the stipula-
tions of that treaty" We hope this resolution
will be taken up, and that, with an amendment
extending its application to Belize, it will be
passed without delay. Hesitation at this juno
ture, is dangerous. for the exigency is pressing.
THE LECTURES SwAMPED BY THE OPERAs-For
the last month or two, while the attention and
feelings Of the community have been enlisted
in favor Of one or the other of the great mus-
cal celebrities who are now shedding their efful-
gence on this metropolis, the feeble light gen.
orally emitted at this season by the public lee
turers has been totally eclipsed The Taber-
nacle, Stuyvesant Institute. Hope Chapel, and
Metropolitan Hall, have been comparatively
deserted of late by all persons having any pre-
tensions to taste, and the peripatetic phloso-
piers who travel about from town to town, re-
plenishing their purse by means Of a manuscript
or two in their portfolio, find that there is no
profitable market for their literary ware here.
In sooth, it was full time that natural ter
mnation should be put to this unnatural infic-
ton of stupidity, to which regularly for years
past, this community has been subjected. 1t
may be said that people 60 voluntarily to these
intellectual soirees; but, as some sort Of amuse-
ment or out-ofdoor occupation is actually a
necessity to three-fourths Of the population,
they must, in their search for variety. patronize
these lectures. so that attendance at them is
not entirely an act of spontaneity. The opera,
however has been the magical charm which has
all but exercised them and if these learned
professors wish to persist in their philanthropic
efforts to enlighten the public, they must, we
fear, shake the dust from off their feet, as tes-
timony against this city and take their scrip
and staff to journey on to other localities, where
there are no Sontags. nor Albons. nor Juliens
to turn popular estimation from the intellectual
repast these modern Socrates would spread
before the public.
If any one were possessed of so much patience
and philosophy as would enable him to brave
one or two lectures each night of the week. he
would almost be repaid by the sense of the ex-
tremely ludicrous which their diversity of sem
timent and conflicting arguments would inspire
him with. We might illustrate this by referring
simply to two of those literary festivals which
were spread before the curious public in Stuyve
SAINT Institute. on Wednesday evening Before
the holy brotherhood of the Young Mems Chris
tan Association Professor Lewis lectured on
the Six Days of Creation" with the object of
proving that the scope and true meaning Of
divine history was that these were not solar
days. but indefinite periods of time and that the
Church was not forced into this theory by the
discoveries of modern science. but that it had
been recognized by some of the earlier fathers
before they were translated to heaven partcu
larly by ST. Anselm and st. Augustine. This
being his text. the learned lecturer proved. to
his own satisfaction and that of his audience
that science was only stumbling groper in the
dark, and was capable of proving nothing; that
the earth is not the page whereon the history
of the ages has been written. but that in the
writings of Moses alone, can any light be
found to illumine the darkness of the past. Pos
sibly he may think-and, indeed we would in
fer so much fGom his discourse--that the world
was much better off before this darkness was
even partially penetrated, and before material
science came, with its irreligious and anti-Mo-