EDITOR'S TABLE.

On the day that the boiler of the Reindeer exploded,

ANOTHER terrible accident on our waters leads us (there was no storm or raging wind driving the vessels to make a few remarks upon the loss of life which, together; and yet over two hundred lives were sacriwithin a few weeks past, has overtaken the traveling ficed by mere carelessness or wilfulness. community. The awful calamity of the Henry Clay, by which over eighty human beings-seeking protec-it does not appear that she was racing, or running against tion from the fierce approach of fire in the tranquil wa- time, or that she was subjected to an undue pressure of ters-found their graves beneath the treacherous ele-steam. So far as the testimony goes, it would seem that ment; the still more fatal catastrophe of the Atlantic, by which hundreds of men, women, and children, who had laid them down in supposed security, were roused from sleep to grope their way for a time in darkness, amid shrieks and groans, and then, after a brief strug gle in the gurgling waves, to die; the awful disaster of the Reindeer, by which scores of human beings were mangled and scalded, some killed outright, and others, after lingering in pain and suffering for a few hours or days, finding it a relief to die-these awful calamities appeal to every one to use what influence he may possess to guard against their repetition.

her boiler always had been defective, and that this de fect had been for some time past increasing; and yet that it had either never been discovered, or else not rectified. How far the accident may have been caused by an original defect in the iron, we cannot say. This much, however, we know. The Reindeer was built two or three years ago. The press and the public were loud in their praises of her extraordinary speed. Her wonderful feats were duly chronicled and applauded. She stood alinost without a compeer. She was on the water what her namesake was on the land. She bounded along and over the Hudson like a trained racer over the course, shaking off all competitors. And when she had the river to herself, she found an

to meet the demand upon them.

The terrible sacrifice of life which has occurred calls sternly for reform. If we would not have a re

The first seems the result of sheer recklessness, in which owners, officers, and men are alike implicated; their degree of guilt to be measured only by the ad-opponent in the iron horse which drives its headlong vantages of education, of social position, and of autho- course through mountains and over valleys, on the rity, which they possessed. Thus, the greatest share land; and every nerve was strained to bring the difof guilt lies at the door of the owners, for their advan.ference in time between them down to the lowest postages, in all the respects we have mentioned, were sible point. To accomplish these results, her boilers superior to those of the others. One word from them, must have been subjected to immense and constant and the Henry Clay would never have been a racing pressure, and perhaps it may be that their powers of boat. They knew that hundreds of lives were daily resistance had been called into exercise, and tried so committed to their charge. They knew that their ves-often, that they were at length weakened and unable sel was propelled by means of the fierce and terrible agency of steam, the child of fire and water, and, if anything, more terrible and destructive than either. They knew that safety was to be secured only by keep-petition of these melancholy scenes there must be a ing these elements and agencies sternly and inflexibly in their position of servitude-that they were good servants, but dangerous and deadly masters. They knew that, under the excitement of a race, the cooler judgments of officers and men would be overcome by the desire for victory, and that ventures would be risked in the struggle for success which would peril the lives committed to their care. They knew all this, but paid no heed to it. Of course they did not intend to produce the catastrophe; but they did, or permitted that of which the catastrophe was the natural result, and which they knew was fraught with danger.

The case of the Atlantic was different. It appears to have been the result of gross carelessness on the part of some, and of a stubborn obstinacy in the pilot of the other vessel, (the Ogsdenburgh,) which was willing to sacrifice human life rather than yield an inch. The collision might easily have been avoided

change. This cannot indeed recall the dead, nor bring light to the darkened home, nor peace to the wounded and stricken heart; but it may save many a life and much suffering in the future. It is said that the fault is with the public; that they desire speed, and where there is a contest between two boats, urge the officers of the one in which their feelings have become interested to use every effort to win the race. True, the public do desire speed, are clamorous for it, even when they can derive no benefit from it. But they do not desire it at the expense of safety; and if they know that the boat is making all the headway that she can, consistently with a due regard to safety, they are sa tisfied. It is also true, that many become excited when there is a race, and are ready to risk much in the strife for victory. But who is responsible for this? Undoubtedly they who have the control of the boat. By starting the race they create the excitement to which they afterwards appeal for their excuse; where

as, if they refused the race there would be no excite.
ment, no danger incurred, and every passenger would
commend the act, as evincing a proper regard and care
for the lives and comfort of those on board. We do
not therefore lay the chief blame on the public, but on
the owners and officers of the boat. A fast boat is a
favorite, because the public think her speed is the re-
sult of superior excellence, and is not gained by dan-
gerous risks. The officers of the boat know the dan-
gers of which the passenger is ignorant. Did they
instead of announcing in flaming handbills, the "safe
and commodious steamer," and when they have thus
succeeded in alluring the unsuspecting traveler, seek
to quiet his apprehensions by assurances that there is
"no danger"-advertise that they intended to reach a
certain degree of speed, and that to effect this, an un-
due pressure of steam must be attained, or unusual
and dangerous fires must be kept up, would their
boats be crowded with human life? A few venture-
some spirits might, indeed, trust themselves to the
der mercies of steam and fire, trifled with by reckless
and daring men, and might risk such tremendous odds
as their lives against an hour or two. But the travel-
ing public would find it both to their comfort and
fit to commit themselves, their wives and children, to
the less ambitious craft, which makes safety the first
grand object, and then seeks just so much speed, and
no more, as is entirely consistent therewith.

the altar of cupidity and reckless folly. Those over whom the deep waters have closed, and those whose torn and mangled bodies strewed the deck of the illfated Reindeer, and those whose stricken and bleeding hearts mourn the loss of dear ones, ruthlessly snatched from their embrace, appeal to us against the wickedness of the act which has thus hurried hundreds of our fellow-beings into the presence of their Maker. May their appeal not be made in vain!

THE BISHOP OF NEW-JERSEY.-We have received New-Jersey to the Clergy and Laity of this Diocese," a pamphlet entitled, "A Letter from the Bishop of &c. From this we learn that Bishops Meade, Mellvaine, and Burgess, have made another presentment of the Bishop of New-Jersey, and that the Court of Bishops have been convened for the 7th day of October; the day to which the Court, called under the first presentment, had been adjourned by Bishop P. Chase. The specifications under this presentment are, for the most part, the same as those under the first. There are, however, four which were not in that. Two of these relate to pecuniary transactions. Another charges him with "obtaining much larger supplies of ten-intoxicating drinks for the use of his table than was becoming or proper in a minister of the Gospel," &c.; and of becoming unduly excited thereby; and in November, 1851, on board of the steamboat Trenton, of being in a state of intoxication." The fourth alleges pro-induced one Joseph Deacon to indorse for him, by that during the years 1846, 1847, 1848. and 1849, he drinking cider brandy with the said Deacon, at his his (Deacon's) house.

The law has its enactments to guard the lives and

In regard to these, Bishop Doane says: "They are either utterly false, or capable of such answers and explanations as divest them of all claim to the character of crime or immorality."

precisely thirty days before the time specified for the This presentment was served upon Bishop Doane trial-the very shortest time which the canon allows. This prevents his calling a Special Convention, as that requires a notice of four weeks, and could not be brought together until the very day before the meeting

of the Court.

There are many suggestions called up by this proceeding, and among these: Whether this second presentment was not got up to furnish a ground for a new call of the Court, and thus to do away with the illegal act of the Senior Bishop in ordering an adjournment, the new matters, which must have been known as well when the first presentment was made as now, having been thrown in to give it the form of a new bill. But our space, and the late hour at which we received "the Letter," render it impossible for us to dwell upon the subject. Before our next number the Court will have convened, and probably ended its work.

property of the traveler, and its penalties for disobe
dience. These should be enforced, sternly and inflex-
ibly, that they may be, what they were intended to be,
a security to the traveler. But the public bave another
remedy: let them be assured that any contest between
steamers, or any extraordinary speed by them, is al-
ways accompanied with danger, and let them avoid
both the racer and the boat that runs against time.
Let the exploits of these boats, instead of being bla-
zoned in large capitals by the press as splendid achieve-
ments, be held up to merited condemnation and re-
buke, and the public be warned against trusting them-
selves where the danger is so imminent. Let that ves-
sel which makes safety its first object be recommended
to the public, and receive the public patronage. Should
such a course be adopted, it would be seldom that ca-
lamities like those we have just noticed would occur.nity
Speed would then be connected with and subordinate
to safety. It would be the result of improved model
and machinery, and not of an excessive and dangerous
pressure of steam. The speed of a vessel should be
tried and tested with just that head of steam which
can be carried without the slightest risk. The relative
speed of different boats would then be exactly known,
and if any exceeded this, it would be known to be by
an undue increase of steam, and the offending vessel
should be promptly condemned and avoided.

We ask our friends to think of these things. We live in a Christian land, and it is a burning shame that human life should be thus wantonly sacrificed upon

To SUBSCRIBERS.-We take this earliest opportu to return our acknowledgments to those of our subscribers who have promptly and handsomely responded to the call we made upon them in our last number. We felt sure that the delay was the result of a very natural oversight, and that our claims needed only to be brought before them to be duly honored. We believe that all have had their bills forwarded. Those who have not yet remitted, will oblige us by sending on the amount due without delay.

To CORRESPONDENTS.-We must ask our correspondents to bear with us for a month or so. As we design to bring the two serials, The Queen's Fate, and The Superannuated, to a close with the present volume, we are obliged to devote to them more space than usual. Although this will prevent our giving our usual variety, we think our readers will be fully satisfied.

Our Book Table is unavoidably omitted this month.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO INSTITUTIONS OF THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, AND IN THE DIOCESE OF

NEW-YORK.

CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER,

ERE a thoughtful observer) in which apparent prudence, and good strength, to name the aspect of and willing toil, and clear advantages, fail of earthly affairs that ap- the happy result, and more particularly, the peared most wonderful, disparity is so vast, so immeasurable, between it would probably be the the poverty of some and the wealth of others, broad distinction of rich that we find it impossible to trace the means, and poor, continually the motives, the tempers, in the human agency over prominent in all cultivated by which the providence of God effects the human society. Many dark evils ob- amazing result, and are almost tempted to retrude everywhere upon his notice, fer to His direct hand the greater part of the which yet a vigorous mind, humbly strange and excessive inequality of mundane taught of God, can fairly enough fortunes, and also of their excessive and explain but the bitter evil of utter equally strange mutability. poverty and want, and the masked evil of enormous wealth, each perpetually aggravating and mocking the other, seem the most obscure of all the clouds in this lower world. Grief and sorrow are likewise part of the awful primal sentence: but, as we have deep sensibility at the very root of our love of friends and our attachment to valued things, it appears but congruous that inroads upon that vivid feeling are proportionally affictive. Since, however, the earth can and does maintain all its inhabitants, furnishing enough for both necessity and comfort,-and since available industry is developed as the general rule, and always may or might be developed, in proportion to the wants of men, -why should there be so boundless a difference between the rich and the poor? Some moderate range of plenty and inadequacy may be expected in a faulty world, founded on less or greater individual prudence, on the inclination or the disinclination to labor, on the manifold favoring or adverse casualties of earthly life; but there are cases innumerable,

Without conceding the truth of the opinion, that divine Providence acts without means, we cordially affirm, and humbly and thankfully believe, that God is the ultimate and supreme Ruler of all created beings, and of all their affairs; and that, however much we ourselves are the means, our earthly condition is of His appointment. In this therefore we rest. Whatever of right or wrong, of prudent or imprudent, of wise or weak, of good or evil, may occur in the particular conduct of the fortunate or the unfortunate, both the general appointment and the particular appropriation of wealth and poverty are for the best. The Deity holds it RIGHT, that, in this fallen world, some be rich and some poor. In God's own language, the poor shall never cease out of the land." In the language of Christ, "ye have the poor always with you."

This broad fact and truth lying before us, we forget not, of course, that the origin of the wider disparity of mortal possessions is the curse of the soil, inflicted by the Creator on

VOL. IX-NO. XI.

the forfeiture of paradise by our disobedient of the pravity of the soil and its potent opeprogenitors. To "dress and keep" the gar-ration on human conduct. den of God, was but agreeable and salutary But though we have explained in part a exercise. To subdue and hold subdued fields wide unequalness in property and means, by and farms, wilds and wastes, on which hath deducing it from laudable or from selfish mopassed the doom to "thorns and thistles," to tives evolved by the degradation of the soil, other vegetation than "the kindly fruits of we cannot but think that a deeper search is the earth," is wearisome "sweat of the brow," required for unfolding the cause of the exgrinding toil and burdensome labor. And to treme disparity of earthly goods, and the alavoid, as far as possible, this perpetually tiremost fated disappointment of myriads of the some and disheartening lot, came the effort prudent and industrious. And we venture to to accumulate, and also the varied methods propound-that the constitution of worldly of tasking other men for one's own immediate affairs having been contaminated with evil by wants and prospective acquisition. And the defection of men from innocence, that these efforts and contrivements became in taint and the degenerate working of things time, through their growth and expansion, had, and have a tendency to grow worse in with the unavoidable involution of affairs, and (as it were) geometrical proportion, except as the deeper sway of avarice, or of the lust of Providential curbs may interpose, and except the world, or of the "pride of life," these as individually counteracted by the grace of all ripened into the subserviency of the work- God, or, as we unitedly hope, by a yet future ing many to the exempt few. A slight ad- and extraordinary "outpouring of the Spirit vantage of skill or forecast, much more an upon all flesh." Prosperity never satisfies or important advantage, vigorously improved by even allays the thirst for accumulation and sagacity or cunning, elevated success into indulgence, and never relieves effectually the factitious magnitude, and left the unsuccess- poor made poorer, much as the rich grow ful overcrowded and overborne. And thus richer. No nation has ever had a long forwould enterprise be awakened and developed, tunate career without growing worse and -the whole hazard-game of fortune, (and of worse, both in general improbity and immolife,) with all its endless fluctuations between rality and selfishness, and in practical disreopulence and penury, and giving an hundred-gard of the needy and the hapless. As grows fold intensity to the natural lust of riches. the wealth, so grows the worldliness and the The natural desire to escape hard and con- wickedness, and the drying up of genuine and stant labor would, by the largely and firmly actual sympathy. I speak the language of prosperous, be comparatively forgotten, being fact, not of rhetoric. As the gifts of Mammerged in the aggravated eagerness for exu- mon are increased, devotion to Mammon inberant abundance, with or without its tempt-creases, and with steely coldness to those not ing superfluity of enjoyments. All this illi- favored by Mammon. Doubtless, this terrific mitable progress in the inequality of human intension of our natural depravement may be fortunes-limitable only by the duration of resolved into separable and particular motives life-we readily trace to the curse of the and misconduct or mistakes: but, practically, ground. And that malediction was called they are often peculiarly intermingled and endown from Heaven by the wilful and fatal dis- tangled with better principles, they are peculiarly latent, clouded, cloaked, out of sight, As the distinction between rich and poor unexplored, and probably unexplorable. We are content, therefore, to intimate this overbecame wide and glaring, the ambition to "found a family" would supervene,-the am-likely truth as a quasi-mystery :-in this evil bition to perpetuate the ease and eminence world the growth of evil is quam longissime that had been gained, or the desire to trans- beyond the proportion of any other growth. mit and improve the higher education and But for the remedial checks and the remedial mental development that wealth had further-influence from on high, it would long ago have ed. And, to secure all this family stability and aggrandizement, the property-right of primogeniture was invented-for that right is not a natural one-and, laws were framed accordingly,-ingrafting permanence on the hard disparity, and adding to the hardship the injustice of disinheriting several for the un- Inequality, wealth here and indigence there, earned advantage of one. The primogenia! there must be, we think, in the fallen family engrossment of possessions may perhaps be of Adam; it is too plainly unavoidable and regarded as the outer limit, as almost in fact incurable. Nor, be it noted, has the mere disbeyond the limit, of the explicable consequentstinction of rich and poor occasioned political

obedience of rebellious man.

converted our fallen earth into a pandemonium. And on this quasi-mysterious fact, the apparently abnormous increment, self-increment, of evil, we charge the more appalling extremes and results of the unequal dispersion of property.