The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-01-21

society, and those whom he deneunces as snOba
wood sawyers wheelbarrow trundlers, &c. We
shall then be able to see the whole matter at
glance. In the meantime we advise the ladies'
and gentlemen who are getting up the Calico
Ball to be active, cheerful and energetic, and
they will have success beyond all precedent.
Cry AND COUNTRY DEPRAvrY.-The acouit-
tai of Smith for the murder of Carter, the Presi-
dent of the Tamaqua Bank, has given rise .
some severe structures on the conduct of the Phi
ladelphia jury that tried him. We look upon
this case as one in which it is difficult for the
law to crush out the natural feelings of indig-
nation and horror which villany like that a
the murdered man must excite in every manly
breast. We do not excuse the verdict of the
jury in view of their legal responsibilities, but
neither do we feel ourselves called upon to pro-
nounce an unequivocal censure upon it. In no
country, and under no system of jurisprudence,
no matter how strict, would any jury be found
ready to return verdict of guilty in such .
case. The plea of insanity, 60 natural under
the circumstances of this most atrocous injury,
would everywhere have been gladly seized upon
to spare the law the odium of such q con-
demnation.
We notice this trial, not for the purpose Of
replying to the objections raised to the verdict
of the jury, but to submit tito the righteous
and God loving people of Philadelphia, Boston
and other large villages, as another illustration
of the care which persons living in glass houses
should exercise in finging stones at their neigh
bors. Whenever crime presenting any un-
| usual features Of enormity, such as the BurdeM
murder, is committed in New York, it is imme-
diatey seized upon by the country press as q
theme for invective and abuse against the supe-
! rior wickedness and depravity of our city. In
view of such cases as the Stout and Littles mur-
| der, and the Robertson wife poisoning charge
| at Rochester, the murder of a father by his two
children at Dracutt, Massachusetts,, and the stiM
| more horrible parricide at Hamilton, New York.
we think that our alleged pre-eminence in
| crime will not bear the test of comparison.
Contrary to the ordinarily received notion, it
| would appear, from the experience of recent
| events, that the more advanced in civilization
| community is the more common place and
! vulgar becomes the character Of its crimes.
Murders, burglaries and petty larcenies at
present constitute the prevailing features of our
city criminal statistics. In the rural districts,
where patriarchial habits, simplicity of man
ners and strictness of religious observance are
supposed to be the ruling characteristics, we
find an righteousness of wickedness a refine
ment Of depravity and recklessness of public
opinion, which We have not as yet arrived at in
New York. With such evidences before the
world, is it not time for our rural contempora-
ries to leave off playing the Pharisee? If they
would only be content to accept human nature
as they find it, in town as well as in country,
they would spare themselves the ridicule at
taching to the assumption of superior righteous
ness.