The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-12-03


make manifest. This temperance question Is not by
any means corfned to the United States, but has ex
tended to many of the leading places in the British
provinces In st. John, ~ B., where they haze
very strict anti liquor statute, there considerable
rejoicing the Goth ut the seizure of sixteen
puncheons of alcohol and hogshead of brandy on
board a vessel from Boston.
No business could be transacted in the Board of
Aldermen yesterday for want of quorum. The
body stcnds adjourned till this evening.
We elsewhere publish very full report o! the trial
at Newport of the brothers Morgan, for the assault
upon the venerable Mr.. Hone for having interfeedin
difficulty between one of the assaants and his wife,
a daughter of the late Dudley Seden, Esq. As this
affair has caused gre 1t deal of excitement the tes
mony in the Gaze, which is quite curious and par
ticuarly the letter from Mr.. Selden, viii undoubtedly
be perused with great deal of interest and atten-
ton by the inhabitants of this city, where all the
parties well known. The Morgans, as stated
yester Jay, convicted upon the criminal suit, aud
sentenced to ten days confinement in the county
Jail. The civil suit, claiming damages in the of
twenty thousand dollars, has been Withdrawn by Mr.
Hone.
Dr. Oliver Wendsll Holmes delivered the last of
his of six lectures the English poets last
son and Browning
The military and civic societies and fire depart
ment of Brooklyn he'd meeting last evening, AID
resolved 10 tender public reception to John Mitchell
Great anxiety is felt in all quarters to perase the
three days later news to be brought by the Europa
The E. will most likely arrive to-day and thus enable
to spread before readers full details Of the pro
gress OF the war between Turkey and Russia to-mor
row morning.
Renewal OF the Agitation of the Slavery
Question by the Seward Organs.
For some time past William Fl. Seward has
been comparatively quiet. Appalled, perhaps
by the almost unanimous verdict of the people
in 1852, he allowed many months to elapse
without renewing the agitation which has
brought him into notoriety and sanguine peo
pie began to hope that he had at last awaken
ed to a true sense of a citizens duty, and would
refrain from further attempts to spread discord
through the land. 1t was mistake. Dema-
goguism. like drunkenness, can hardly ever
be cured; once an agitator, the character is only
relinquished with life Stewards silence was
but temporary. No sooner had the last cleo
ton placed the power Of the State in his
hands than he issued instructions to his
organs to reopen the campaign. With
his usual versatility, he devised new
method of attack. Slavery and shareholders
were no longer to be assailed with coarse cpl
thets and loud vituperation this system had
been tried long enough without any percepti-
BILE advantage to the cause. His new scheme
was to Gull from Southern journals accounts of
crimes and acts of violence, and to publish
them together, with view to persuade people
that they were the natural fruits of slavery
His faithful editors are now performing this
task. The Tribune has already published seve-
raj columns of this description of matter, and
the Times has done the best it could, consider
ing the industry Of its editors and it's small ex-
change list. Both have labored to clothe South
ern narratives Of bloodshed, vice and suffer
ing, with romantic air and have insinuated
that such deeds and such scenes were peculiar
to the South and the consequences of Southern
institutions.
We do not know that the invention evincas
sufficient ingenuity to make it worth ones while
to trace it to its source. We may observe,
however. en- PEASANT that Seward has borrowed
it from Mrs. Stowe, whose key to Uncle Toms |
Cabin" is. perhaps, the finest example we have
seen of this sort of Misrepresentation. The fate
Of that work ought to have warned Seward |
against adopting it as model but it seems |
that the arch-agtator is determined to force |
people to read, in the newspapers, what they |
declined to peruse in book.
Everybody has heard Of the monomaniac who |
was possessed with the idea that an invisible
comet Of enormous size was approaching the
earth, and was Gmperceptibly to all but him
self) causing every disaster which afflicted this
planet. The comet caused the rain and the
drought spread disease and disturbed mems
minds prompted evil passions, and fostered |
vicious propensities in the human race ; |
and even went SO far as to spoil |
the temper Of the philosophers wife, and
to persuade his cook to overdo his dinner.
Mad as this poor fellow seems, we have men
among us scarcely less extravagant in their
notions Of cause and effect. Merchants are
constantly imputing the results of their own
folly to the effect of the tariff; and with equal
justice, Mrs. Stowe and the Seward organs
would hold slavery responsible for all the evil
dences Of human in6rmity that come to light
at the South.
What is there, in honest truth in these facts
about slavery?--a master fogging his slave to
death Why. we publish almost daily accounts
of similar acts Of cruelty and barbarity which
occur in free New York. in free England, and |
all over the world. A mother torn from her |
children brother and sister ruthlessly sepa-
rated? Where shall we find an instance in |
these Northern States, or anywhere else,
families dwelling together throughout long
life Of labor and dying side by side? 1t is an
memorable condition of our free existence
that the sons of labor shall be trans
planted from their homes az soon as