The New York herald., 1863-12-03

the magnitude Of crime is sometimes ebe best
| excuse for it. IL one man kills another we call
him murderer; but il he kills several thou
sand he becomes a hero. So the shoddy con
tractor may argue that to steal few
dollars is State prison offence, but to
steal few thousands is rather noble and mag
niicent. Then, again, there is the old argument
that to cheat one man may be knavish but to
cheat an aggregation Of men, called nation, Is
by no means dshonorable. Conscience ex-
poses all these contemplate sophstries. In
the pathetic words of our repentant fellow citi-
zen. it is impossible "to make conscience be-
leve" any such fallacies. We can imagine
nothing more painful than the workings of
shoddy contractors conscience in regard to
these matters. The wretched man does not
enjoy his dinner and talks wildly in his sleep.
He is afraid to ride in his carriage, for the
creaking of the wheels sounds like shrieks of
agony. In the sparkle of his wife's diamonds
he sees the mocking winks of exulting fends
The family Bible becomes nuisance to him,
and his favorite pastor breaches at him with the
dsagreeabe emphasis of a prosecuting at
torney. II he goes to beautiful Broad
way he sees brave soldiers with his
condemned muskets upon their shoulders, or
his shOddy uniforms on their backs, or his spoil
ed beef under their belts. II he goes down to
the docks, with an indefinite idea of drowning
himself, he beholds government transports
which he sold, knowing them to be no better
than cofins, or rotten ships which he has dis
posed Of at extravagant prices. Life is bur-
then to such mau-a burthen which he can
hardly bear and is yet afraid to throw off.
Let him take our advice and refund. Let
him sit down at once and write letter and
check for Secretary Chase. The notes which
we published last Saturday will do very we'll
for models, with a slight change in the amount
Of money returned. How comfortable will he
be then, and how happy. He may have to ride
in an omnibus instead OF carriage; but
the wheels will creak different tune
His wife's jewelry may be of steel instead
of diamonds; but he will discover that
it sparkles quite as brilliantly and much
more honestly. He can open his family
Bible with complacency, which will be all the
sweeter If he pastes copy of his letter Of
repentance inside the cover. He will see his
own portrait in his pastors picture of Gods
noblest work-an honest man. Broadway and
the docks will be equally free to him, and the
sight Of soldiers or of ships-of-war will excite
his patriotism and not his conscience. His wife
and his children will be very happy, even if
they are not very rich; for they will feel that
they have strictly vrtuous patriot in the
family. There should be a strictly virtuous
patriot in every contractors family. Like Mrs.
Toodles' coffin, such character is handy to
have in the house. We know of no cheaper, no
easier, no better, no more certain method of
obtaining one than that which we have here
pointed out Let us hope that many uncom.
Portable sinners will walk in that path at once
1t is narrow, and it may prove little thorny;
but it is the path of pleasantness and peace
Brethren, the services will conclude with the
doxology in long metre.