The New York herald., 1862-02-04

PIE VI Jne oouJu are not III Lno nloA" VI Sohu.'
tion for any such extremities Of vandalism.
The leaders of this rebellion may be f>'ady for
any atrocity even in the destruction o. their
own people, to save themselves; but Chrih tan
men. with helpless women and children on thcir
hands, will not turn them out in the swamps u
the South to perish at the bidding of such in
famous traitors as Cobb and Toombs
The simple truth Is that this rebellion is in
its dying struggles. The only available capital
left it is that arising from the abolition crusade
preached and urged upon the government by
our diabolcal abolition disorganizers. We say
again, therefore, that if President Lincoln were
to clap few of such emancipation shriekers as
Beecher, Cheever and Greeley into Fort Lafay.
cite, the deluded and frightened people of the
South, returning to their sober senses, would
very soon settle the question Of this rebellion,
exhausted as they are by its extortions, and
surrounded as they are by the powerful fleets
and armies Of the Union.
Social Reforms at the White House-A
Return 20 the Better Days Of the
Republic.
A great fuss is being made by the Washing
ton gossips about the Limitation OF the invita-
tions to Mrs. Lincoln's grand party at the
White House, and one of our correspondents, in
his telegraphic despatch of yesterday, very inn
properly stigmatizes it as "a social blunder."
criticism; for, whether guided by her social
preferences or the precedents established by
the most esteemed and honorcd Of her prede-
cessors, Mrs. Lincoln has only asserted right
to exercise that judgment and discrimination in
The selection of her society to which her position
as lady and her intellectual qualities entitle
her.
1t is vulgar error to suppose that there is
anything in our republican system which rem
ders the Presidential mansion an excep-
ton to the rules that regulate the
hospitalities of any private household
The early rulers of the republic, in
their social relations and intercourse, GER
tainly gave no encouragement to such an idea.
During the administration of Washington no
court in Europe was surrounded with more
etiquette and ceremony than was that of his
wife. The first Adams maintained the same
courtly style, as some Of the interesting gossip
ing letters of Mrs. Adams from the White House
will show. Jefferson, being an old bachelor,
and infected with the liberty, equality and fra
ternity notions picked up from the red repub-
licans during his residence in France, threw the
doors of the Presidential mansion indiscrimi-
nately open to the world. Owing, however, to
the sparseness of the Washington population,
the absence of railroad facilities and the fact OF
there being no jobs in those days, the Presiden-
tial receptions were but little disturbed by the
nconvenient features that have of late years
marked them. Madison. being statesman, and
imbued with all those ideas of courtly polteness
peculiar to the cavalier Of the Old Dominion
maintained the habits of the ancienne regime
The same may be said in modified degree oi
Monroe and John Quincy Adams, the son Of the
second President.
Then came Jackson from the wlds of the
West--a democrat, man Of the people and a
fixed believer in the absolute equality of Tom
Dick and Harry. Under him the mob invaded
and made themselves at home in the White
House. But even Old Hickory soon discovered
the inconvenience Of a too numerous family
circle. The way in which it was brought home
to him was characteristic. A farmer in the
western part Of the State of New York made
him present Of monster cheese, weighing
upwards of five hundred pounds. At one OF
his receptions the entire gift, rind and all, was
eaten clean away from his sideboard This adj
mOnished the old hero to be a little more chary
of his hospitalities; and with the absence Of
temptations in the eating and drinking line, the
popular interest in the Presidents welfare
diminished, and his receptions became less in
conveniently crowded.
Van Buren-a thorough gentleman in train
ing-restored the old order of things, and one OF
the peculiar democratic complaints against him
in consequence was that he was too much OF an
aristocrat to be the head Of a republican ma
ton. To people of discernment, nevertheless
his social administration of the White House
was eminently satisfactory. With Old Tippe.
canoe, fresh from his log cabin on the banks Of
the Ohio, there came a relapse. lie was
elected on the principle that his latchstrine
should be always out; and out it was accord.
ingly The consequence was that in one
month ceaseless swarm of friends stifed and
sent him to his grave. Tyler-a Virginia gen.
tleman of the old school, and left by events
without political party-was not an object for
popular admiration after this inconvenient
fashion. Polka man Of quiet. religious turn
of mind with wife of similar temperament
gave no encouragement to the advances Of the
crowd. General Taylor and his amiable lady
but recently emerged from the wilds of the
Southwest, knew but little of fashionable life
or Washington ussges. The consequence wa:
that, like Harrison he was entirely at the
mercy Of bis friends, and met with q similar
fate. Fillmore was a man OF courtly aspira-
tons and manners, and during his adminstra
tion the White House was disgrsced by none o
the overwhelming scenes that characterized
the days Of Jackson, Harrison and Tay
lor. General Pierce, owing to the infu
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