The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-02

Spiritual scintiliations and Crumbs
Of Cancellation from Our Religious
Contemporaries.
Our religious contemporaries this week are
rather more than usually interesting They
discuss variety of current topics, and, in the
absence Of any other particularly striking
feature OF tho day, touch upon the Credit Mo-
bilier Investigations dish, however, that is
beginning to pail the public appetite.
The Christian Union lets little light into
the Mobilier temptation and fall In de-
scribing the Credit Mobilier concern it says 8
An old Pennsylvania charter was cheaply bought;
MobiIier OF America" This revamped concern.
The Union Pacific Railroad Company, and into II.
straightway, got all the principal members OF the
railroad company and nice voyage they nave
made OF It'll What happenedY Why, as there was
but difference OF name between Credit Mobilier
and Union Pacific, as the same men managed both,
Credit Mcoer the issue was, that the gentlemen
entrusted with the management OF the Union
Pacific road made bargain with themselves TO
build the road for about twice the actual cost ana
p0cketed the profits, which have been estimated az
about thirty million dollars
The Union might have added that the sum
of one hundred dollars is alleged still to be
due at the Office of the Secretary of State Of
Pennsylvania for the enrolment tax on the
aforesaid "Fiscal Agency" If such be the
case, is it not q question whether any of the
transactions under that charter are legal and
valid? The Union says that Senator Wilson
and Speaker Blaine seem, by general consent,
to have come out of the ordeal unscathed;
''but the rest" it continues, present more
pitiable plight than was ever before seen in
the history of the American Congress-" or any
other Congress, it might have said.
The Independent discourses upon the subject
of 'gubernatorial pardons," and, after an
analysis of certain statistics, arrives at the
conclusion that sentence to imprisonment for
life becomes legal sham if the actual term in
such cases is but six or seven years, and if
about half Of the whole number of such SEN
fences is set aside by gubernatorial clemency.
''While we are contriving remedies to secure
greater certainty of just conviction" says the
Independent, 1t is necessary also to secure
greater certainty that the convicted will suffer
the proper award of law. The abuse of the
pardoning power is crime against society"
The Independent thinks that s'any honest
man, with properly developed wisdom-teeth.
should have been very shy of Cakes Ames''
when Congressman began to jingle the
enormous dividends of the Credit Mo-
bilier in their pockets. The number
of congressman, then, who do not seem to-
have cut their wisdom-teeth must be extremely
large Congress can no longer, therefore, be
regarded as the "congregated wisdom of the
nation. It is pretty evident, however, that sew
eral Congressman have, to use the familiar
phrase of smartness, 'cut their eye-teeth."
The Baptist Weekly also touches on the sub
ject of gubernatorial pardons, and is Of opinion
that "too often District Attorneys, contesting
with counsel for the defence, forgetting that
they, as servants of the State, owe thought to
victory in forensic forray, and labor for con-
viction more than for justice. The men who
pronounce verdict ought to be swift to
hear but slow to speak, when liberty, and
perhaps life itself, depends on their utter
ance." The Weekly comes to the relief of the
pOOI UIOtuc1 WIZ, W o 1CCOAV AA0, AO0V u Au4-
dred sermons which had never been preached,
and was hauled over the Goals for keeping So
many homilies in pickle and AYERS that ''there
are just few things, like a good plum pud-
ding and mince pie, for instance, that inn
prove with little age. And there are few
good old sermons in almost every minister's
herring box, but the bulk of them deserve to
be burned. We lit is the Rev. DR.. Patton
who is speaking) made bonfire of about two
hundred of these articles few years ago, and,
being dry, they burned brilliantly, giving
more light than we had any thought of being
in them
The Liberal Christian regards the Credit
Mobilier as an unworthy and improper fnan-
cial trick, and submits that the ''worst feature
of the investigation is the unmanly and gar
bled testimony Of many Of the accused. Il
has done more to encourage extravagant and
unfounded suspicious than any other one thing.
If they had had the manliness and wisdom
to tell the whole truth from the very beginning
of the investigation the country would not
now be 80 full of distrust and Islander of our
public men,"
The Evangelist bids "ahearty godspeed to tho
project for putting an end to the East African
slave trade and planting o new Liberia of
converted natives and released captives on the
East African Coast This is the plan which
DR.. Livingstone recommends, and the expe-
rience of the West Coast shows that it ia at
least feasible. 1t will be one great step tow
so long neglected and almost unknown"
The Golden Age moralizes on the defeat Of
Alexander H. Stephens, the penalty of vio-
lated law, Horace Greeley's Christian faith,
Miss Faithfulrs reception and other mat