The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-13


equate to the pressing demands Of the work. .nr
classes. This is not temporary pre- Ssure.
which may cease with the opening O., sprin,,
but judging from present appear Ances Il il
not at ell improbable that it will cootinue for
two or three years, like the great finaucial
revulsion of 1887. Ia the. meantime what are
our unemployed mechanics to dog Are they
to remain in state of idleness, depending
upon the chaElty of their fellow citizSns
for the support of themselves and families,
while there is sufficient employ mens for
them in the construction of public works
which are demanded by the wants of
the city? There is the new City Hail. the great
Central Park, avenues to be opened aud graded
to the furthest Limits of the island. stone piers
to be constructed from the Battery to Canal
street, sewers to be built, ADD many other
things which are of equal Importance While
such works al these are required, and while
labor is so cheap as it 10 ct present, we regard
the ten thousand dollars appropriated by the
Common Council, and the hundred thousand
that may be subscribed by tue public. US so
much money thrown away-nay, worse for the
manner in which it is expended can only tend
to demoralize our working classes by taking
away that feeling of manly independence
which should always be cherished and en-
couraged in free country. Let the public
works be commenced at once-she city needs
them, and our working men are driven to the
verge Of starvation for want Of employment.
the Know Notllngs.
According to the batch Of letters from our
Virginia correspondents, which we publish to-
dsy, the contest between Henry A. Wise aud
the Cabinet spoils party on the one side, and
the wings and the Know Notnings on tue
other, is becoming very animated and interest
ing. Excepting Q few ambitious leaders who
remember nothing and learn nothing, it ap-
pears that the whg party is practically identi-
fled with the Know Nothing movement. Hence
the struggle is narrowed down to the simple
issue between Mr.. Wise and the Know No
things.
We are also advised that this new, mystic
rious and incomprehensible party, without
stamping, without newspaper organs, without
the employ ment Of any visible agencies, have
been 80 actively at work in Virginia that it ia
supposed among tnoe who ought to know
something that one. half the voters Of the State
are already converted into Know Nothings,
cole cted from the debris of both the OH 90
lincal parties. Assuming that two-thrds of
these Know Nothings are wings and one third
democrats, Mr.. Wise has remaining on hi- side
something over three -fourths If the democra
tic strength Of the State; while the whig re-
served corps, Of perhaps ten or fifteen
thousand men, belongs uoquestionably to
the opposition. This classification exhi-
bits very elm chance for the dash
ing cavalier of Accomac. Nor is this
the worst of it. The Know Nothings are in
creasing all the time and the election does not
come on till the month Of May On tue other
hand, the declining fortunes Of the administra-
1ion show no ~ mptoms OF an upward tendency.
Neither Cuba, nor Grey town, nor Hayti, nor
the Sandwich Islands, afford the slightest hope
Of alienation. Tier is no hope OF q diversion
at Washington calculated to give either
party in Virginia There is no oth-r prospect
than still cont'nuing dowoward tendency of
The administration aud It's Cause in the Old
Dominion; and the election does not come on
till the month of May.
The case thus appears a desperate one, in.
deed for Wise and bis associates on the demo.
cratic State ticket. Toe moral force of all the
late elections in the North is against them aud
in favor Of the opposition Know Nothing coali-
tion. The administration is DESTROYED in the
North-from New Hampshire to Missouri. it
has been routed, or SO seriously damaged in
every encounter rs to leave it entirely at the
mercy of its enemies. 1t has fallen back upoa
the South, and into the citadsl Of the Southern
democracy, the hitherto unwavering indexible
and trie and trusty democratic Old Dominion.
But the invisible emissaries of the Know No.
things have crept even into this citadel of the
Southern democracy. and are rapidly proselyt-
ing the garrison. WHAT'S to be done? If vir-
GINA is lost, all is lost; for whas Stare in the
South can resist the Know No hugs If the
steady Oid Dominion shall succumb?
Fully apprised of the danger of the position
Of their Virginia standard bearer, the Cabinet
spolsmen at Washington have been industri-
ously Illuminating through their official aud
kitchen organs the most INSCRIPTIONS m4repre-
sensations against the Know Mornings, touching
their principles and platform upon the slavery
question. They are declared 60 be a part of tae
new Northern aoti-slavery coalition against
the South-wolves in sleeps clothing, traitors
in disguise, abolition emissares and anti. slavery
propagandists In aid, also, Mr. Wise, s nth.
ern administration members have been edfying
the House OF Representatives and the couatry
with similar expostioDs of the anti slavery asso-
Citations, proclivities and purposes of these bor-
rible Know Nothirgs. Lastly, we are informed
that the administration members of the United
States Senate, acting rs q sort Washin gton