The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-05
On the slop BASIN

90 . Q Q . . > 2
JAMES GORDON BENNETT, y
The Advocate n
Or RIGHT AND JUSTICE. n
90 Q > . Q Q Q . . o
This splendid testimonial comes from some OF
the merchants and mechanics Of New York, as
tribute to the HERALD, and their sentiments
on the subject are expressed in the Inscriptions
We have given above an exact account of its
reception, and we are still in the dark as to the
names of the donors It is the most substantial
token of public appreciation that we have ever
received. We have been connected with the
American newspaper press for thirty-fve years
The New York HERALD, now in its twentieth
year, was the pioneer Of the independent press,
and it claims to have been the first to expose
the corruptions of the old parties, and to pre-
pare the way for better state of things; and
while it continues to receive the support of the
merchants and mechanics of New York and of
the Union, 1t will live to see through the pre-
sent great revolution, and to enjoy the brighter
days beyond.
We thank the donors of the above named tes-
timonial for the splendid gift. 1t will be con-
sidered as part and parcel of the HERALD
establishment, and it will be handed down
from generation to generation. 1t is mot for
day, but for all time"
Decay OF Abontionism In the North-Curtail-
mcnt OF the Anti-slavery Newspaper Press.
Abolitionism in the North is in state of
decay-rapid decay. The present hard times
have put 1t to the test, and it is sinking under
the pressure. This fact has been strikingly il
Illustrated within the last few months, in the
curtailment Of the daily anti-slavery journals,
open and disguised, Of this city-the last and
most striking example among them being the
cutting down of the Journal of Commerce to
the extent of about one-third from its late am
bilious but ruinous dimensions.
In this matter Of curtailment the Tribune
led the way. in q marked reduction Of its size,
and in the substitution of cheap and inferior
quality of paper in the place of comparatively
good and expensive article. Next our junior
Seward organize Iimes-adopted the same
expedient Of making both ends meet" Next
the Sun, in the reduction of its sheet, at sim
gle blow diminished its annual bill for white
paper to the extent of ten or twelve thousand
dollars; lastly, the Journal of Commerce. the
founder ofthe whole school Of our modern North
ern anti-slavery daily journals, has, from the
same causes, been driven to the same extremity.
Hopens the new year very considerably shorn of
its fair proportions Another such downward
step, including its limited and rather private cir
culation, will bring it fairly within the reach
of that Robert Macaire of Wall street, the New
York Express.
Our hard-up contemporaries of the Journal of
Commerce, with their issue of the first day of
the new year, say that, with the compliments
Of the season we present our sheet in some
what reduced form, though stin large enough
for convenience" No doubt Of it, especially
for the convenience" of the publishers. They
further say, that from the reduction Of the
California and Australian trade, and the gen.
eral dizziness of business, 1--WE are enabled to
curtail our dimensions without damage, we
so, too; and, in fact, have very little fear that
any important interest will suffer from this
abridgement. Even the paper mills will feel
their loss on this account very slightly, i'm
portaDt as the saving may be to our hard
pressed compliments. But they say, too-and
this is an important saving clause-that we
hold ourselves in readiness to expand again
whenever the pressure of business requires it,
This may appear to some an extraordinary de-
claration; but we have not the sli CHEST doubt in
the world that the Tribune, Times, and Sun
will be equally ready to text and again whenever
the pressure Of business shall require it. Aud
the same may be said Of al the SPECTATORS,
shavers, and kite-fying fnauciers OF Wall
street.
Here, then, are the facts The Journal of
Commerce, like the Tribune, Times, and Sun,
suceumbs to the pressure of the existing hard
times, and, with the compliments of the sea-
son." presents its sheet, in somewhat re-
duced FORM" Why is this? Why should the
Sun and the Journal, in this curtailment fol-
low SO closely upon the heels Of the Tribune
and the Times? The answer is simple enough.
tits because they are all more or less identified
with abolitionism; and because abolitionism in
the North, sioce the late Know Nothing eec-
tions, has fallen into a rapid decline The
younger readers of the Raced Wall street
journal may think this singular classification;
but few historical facts will fully establish it
as entirely correct
The Journal Of Commerce was the pioneer
the Christopher Columbus of the daily abolition
newspapers of the North. 1t was started some
thirty years ago by Arthur Tappan, the great
leader Of the modern aboitionists not as an
antislavery paper Of the class to which
the Tribune and Times now belong, but as
an outand-out flaming frebrand OF i'm
mediate emancipation. Tappan put into this
dashing enterprise a society investment of
some thirty thousand dollars. The object was
to " carry the war into Africa'--that is, into