The New York herald., 1861-12-20

messenger, with a heavy mail bag from Mr..
Adams, our Minister at London, we have this
morning little additional facts Of any moment to
communicate to our readers upon the Mason
Slidell affair.
We presume that the Cabinet has made pre-
liminary examination Of the dispatches from
Mr.. Adams, and that Lord Lyons has been dill
gently employed upon the facts, the law and
the merits of the case as submitted to him. with
the instructions from his government, whatever
those instructions may be, and that within q
few days Mr.. Seward may expect to hear from
him. Meantime, we are gratifed with our
assurances from Washington that no apprehen-
sions are there entertained Of rupture with
| England upon this little affair Of the Trent;
that the President and his Cabinet are perfectly
! calm and unruflled, and that in Congress the
! only voice which "is still for war; is that Of
| Mr.. Vailandigham, Of Ohio, whose zeal is con-
sidered as outrunning his discretion. Meantime
private letters from British statesmen give as
surancc that no demand will be made on our
government for peremptory surrender OF
Mason and Slidel, but only for such apology as
we can honorably grant.
! For day or two past Mr.. Chase, our able
! and indefatigable Secretary Of the Treasury,
| has been consulting in reference to the 'sinews
| of war with our bankers and fnanciers, and
his unshaken equaninity and positive opinions
! of an amicable adjustment with England have
| contributed much to restore confidence and or
| der in Wall street. From the full details Of the
news by the Jura it has also been discovered
that the lapse Of two short days had produced a
| visible abatement of the sudden war panic
which had been aroused in England by the first
| highly colored reports of the seizure of Mason
and Slidoll. The calm and sensible letter OF
General Scott and the seasonabe and convinc-
ing peace speeches of Messrs. Golden
and Bright had been heard, and had
evidently set the idea ahoat that there
were two sides, not only to the affair Of the
Trent, but two sides in England to the question
Of a war with the United States at this crisis.
We may therefore safely conclude that
war panic which is inflated to its climax in two
days, and which then begins to collapse, is but
a bubble, and that the question at issue
will neither be peremptorily presented
for an immediate decision to our Cabi-
net nor hastily considered by our Secre-
tary of State. If the difficulty is of that
grave and commanding importance which the
London ministerial journals have declared it to
be, time will be required to consider it, and if
| the whole matter lies within the nutshell Of
u petty technicality there is no necessity for
precipitate action.
We presume that Lord Lyons will present
his case in one Of those diplomatic notes Of se-
| veral newspaper columns in extent, and that
au appropriate reply will demand an extension
| of the argument, and so on until the issue OF
| war involved shall have melted away into an
| amcable arrangement.
The Mischief Making Heraid-Its Danger
to tho World.
We notice that several of our radical contem
porares are already charging the New YoRs
HERALD with having caused the trouble be
| tween England and this country. 1t is very
! singular, indeed, what q tremendous influence
we WELD. Let any commotion happen, in the
moral, religious, natural, political social, finan
| cial or commercial worlds, and Immediately We
are charged with being its cause and origin
The London Times is popularity known as ''the
| Thundcrer;" but the HERALD is confessedly su
perior to this British Jove; for it is accused Of
| furnishing the electricity for the Times thun-
derbolts, and melting the Times to their use
We certainly have the largest circulation of any
daily newspaper in the world; but what is oul
circulation as compared to our influence? The
HERALD wills it, and, presto, empires are gained
or lost; religion makes proselytes or men be
come skeptcs; a crisis ruins the country OF
trade and commerce fourish candidate is de
feated or party scizes power; aristocracy rules
or democracy is rampant; the earth quakes OF
the fertile soil breeds crops. This is what the
radicals say of us, and it is said SO often that il
! must be true. Onr modesty, which only oul
| merit can excel will not allow MS to acknowl
edge it, however.
Good and bad, a great many wonderful
things are said to have been accomplished by
the HERALD during the tweniy-six years it has,
like Alexander, ruled the world. The HERALD
caused the crisis of 1887, which had been To-
menting years before the HERALD saw the light
The HERALD made the crisis of 1857 by
warning the public to be wise and avert it,
The HERALD, of course, is to blame fer the crisis
Of 1861, simply because the HERALD said that
civil war brought commercial and financial
disasters, and because the other journals--more
fanatical and less wise--insisted that even if
the war came we should feel none Of the hor-
rors Of war; just as they would predict rain
storm without any rain, if it served their pur-
pose to do so. Unfortunately, the HERALD
knew better, and said so and therefore the
HERALD is to blame. Once upon time
cloudy day prevented certain king from
riding out. The king consulted the almanac,
and found that the pernicious book declared,
opposite the date consulted, "about this time
look out for cloudy weather" Then was the
king exceeding wroth, and commanded all the
almanacs in the country to be burned, and the
makers thereof to be put to death, for that they
had told the cloudy weather when to come.
Wise king And how doubly wise are the