Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-24
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.


gradual lapsing of the great religious organiza-
tons of the Northern United States, that were
formerly national into abolitionism, which, by
the by, has been strictly pari> passm with the
spread of infdelity and the growth OF the delft
cation of their passions and prejudices among
the {" new light" or very progressive Christians
at the North. One by one, church after church,
and society after society, has taken such po-
sitions on the slavery question as to force
sectional division in its organization. Things
that our purer and in all respects better fore
fathers-tor no well-informed man can doubt
that infdelity, vice, and crime have in
creased far more rapidly in our land than its
population, as astonishing as has been the in
crease Of the latter in the last half century
considered no crimes, or even improprieties,
are now written down by the modern Northern
church to be the greatest if not the only crimes
of the times; and to substant that idea it
has become christian" there to lie, to bear false
witness, and to hate with. an intensity such rs
no community but q genuine puritanical one
can manifest.
We have mourned in our own heart over this
state of popular christian" sentiment at the
North, as doing more than aught else in the
work of making the people of the United States
two nations in feelng-towards producing that
state Of mind between the two great sections of
the confederacy which must sooner or later bring
about its dissolution. For as religious ties are
stronger than all others, so religious antipathies
are more undying, bitter, unreasonable, cruel,
vindietive, and unappeasable, or there is no
truth in the written history of civilization since
the fall of the Roman Empire. Right glad are
we, therefore, that at length one great christian
association at tho North appears to be able to
Withstand the tendency of the times there. We
refer to the American Tract Society; the only
great organization with which up to this time
every branch of the American Protestant Church
has been identified directly or indirectly 1t
seems about to be able to rival the Catholic
Church Of the United States in withstanding the
pressure of demagogism which SO distinguishes
the era in which we live, in all countries claiming
to be Free We may not appropriately remark
here, that the events of the last ten years have
done more to strengthen the Catholic Church in
the United States-to secure for it the active
sympathy of men of mind, sound reputation and
means to make their sympathies felt, than the
world at large cOmprehends now. Time, how
ever, will show the fact conclusively, or We are
greatly mistaken. But we are depressing.
Our purpose on setting out to write this ar
ticle, was simply to introduce the following
quotation from the Journal of Commerce of
Saturday last wherein, it will be perceived,
hope is held out that the American Tract Society
may eventually be able to resist the Abolition
tendency of the times.
THE TRACT SoCIErY.-The fever-heat Conyre-
gationalists of this city continue to saw steboy,,
'steDoy," to set this Society upon a Southern
war of aggression. They will probably scare
the weaker managers into Southern bile by and
by. Then the Tracts will cease to be read south
OF the SuSquehanna and Ohio, and the Society be
converted into political organization North.
much resisted home elsewhere Ns,U York
Express.
'Let the Express be patient. The Executive
Committee of the American Tract Society are
men of tried faithfulness, moderation, and wis
dom. They will do nothing rashly They will
not knowingly ruin the Society because fever
nounce them for not doing it. One thing the
Express and all other conservative friends Of the
Society should bear In mind, viz that it has not
as yet, published anything offensive to Southern
Christians In this respect ii has kent itself
strictly within the limits of its constitutions
which requires it to circulate only such Tracts az
are calculated to receive the appreciation of all
evangelical Christians What it will do in time
to come, is best known TO its officers and mana-
gers. But the past history Of its administration
should stand guarantee before the public
that Its officers and managers will not be scared
nor coaxed into any folly. AS the executive agents
OF the Society, il of necessity devoves upon them
to determine, in the first instance, what is the
fair meaning Of the two resolutions passed at the
last annual meeting of the Society relative to
slavery-one OF which expresses the sentiment
that those moral duties which grow out of the
existence OF slavery, as well those moral evils
and vices which il is known to promote and
which are condemned in Scripture, and so much
deplored by evangelical Christians, undoubtedly
do fall within the province of this Society and
can and ought to b. discussed in fraternal and
Christian spirit while another. the closing res
olution of all, is in the words following:
"Rssotred, That with great confidence in the
wisdom of the Executive Committee we antici.
pate that their action in CARRYING out the prnci-
pies contained in the previous resolutions, will be
such as will tead to promote the widest and best
usefulness OF THIS Society throughout the whole
country"
HE CHTSEsE IN WARM common with our
countrymen generally up to the commencement
OF the current Chinese war, we entertained very
mistaken notions of the proves Of the Chinese
in battle, imagining that they relied more on
the uncouth noises made with their gongs and
the hideOus devices upon their banners to
brighten their enemies, than on their skill
IN gunnery and the science of fertilization.
We, however, have been staggered by the de-
fence they make against the English, who, 80
far, have not, with all their military and naval
skill, been able to make a substantial impress.
sion upon and progress against them
In recent number of the New York Times
we find the following interesting letter, which
embraces key to the mystery of their capa-
bility of sustaining conflict ION their own soil)
with Britain, which present them to the world
in military point of view in which, we feel
very sure, few in this country were prepared to
expect to see them:
CHINA, June 10, 1857.
To the Editor of the Ne,c York Daily Times:
One OF the most misc hievous errors committed
by the press of the United States is In the self
compliment ignorance with which il speaks of the
waTllke means and abilities Of the Chinese A
Chinese fort Is spoken of as though it were a mud
| wall to be kicked down, a war Junk as though IL
Were as fragile as Chinese lantern, and the Chi
nese are considered capable of little other war
Il ftrp hat of .a,Ei T..a >,