of loudly reproving the profligacy that comes to their very doors, and meets them at every corner of the streets, must cower before the wrathful majesty of vice, express their regret cautiously in whispers, and speak in trembling under-tones their apprehensions for society. As we have already stated, it is no part of our design at present, either to affirm or abnegate the statements of the report. Indeed we should have in all probability continued silent respecting it, if we had not seen, in a respectable journal of New York, the account which our readers will find on our third page, of a public meeting on the subject. Such an attempt as is there described, to do without law, what the law will not do; so bold an effort to prevent, by intimidation, all further prosecution of this inquiry, should cause every sentinel of the public safety, and every friend to the liberty of the press, to speak out. If the declarations by which they are so egregiously exasperated are untrue, let them be refuted, and there let the matter rest. The gentlemen by whom they have been published, do not, we are persuaded, shrink from a legal investigation of their conduct. If, then, they have violated the laws of their country, let them be judicially condemned and punished; but let us not be disgraced by the enormities of a mob. For ourselves, we are free to declare that nothing would be more likely to predispose us to believe the statements of the report, than this wild and irregular excitement about it. The great master-spirit of British poetry has shrewdly said, that it is the galled jade that winces." The remark is as true of a community as an individual. And if our neighbors do not take care, there may be some bold enough after all to think that their populous, and wealthy, and, alas, (like our own,) wicked city, would hardly make so notable an outcry about this matter, if her withers were really unwrung. 66 These remarks are made, of course, with the reservation that the meeting at Tammany Hall was really what the paper from which the extract is taken has described. For ourselves, after being for some time distant and dispassionate spectators of this contest, we have come pretty fairly to the conclusion, that while many worthy and respectable men are highly incensed (and perhaps with reason) by the statements made, there are multitudes who are offended, not so much at the declared results of the Magdalen investigation, as that any investigation at all should be attempted into such abominations. The truth is, that the managers of this society have stirred up (somewhat rudely perhaps) a nest of rattle snakes and vipers, who have long been accustomed to concoct, undisturbed, in the dens and caverns of society, that venom which was to poison domestic peace, and pollute the fountains of social feeling. And now the whole reptile race of sensualists throughout the land, startled by the few rays of light that have been thrown into their hiding places, and terrified at the idea of having these tenebrious abodes of wickedness exposed to broad day-light, have lashed themselves into a universal fury; so that a man who is known to be friendly to morality and social order, can scarcely go into an hotel, or step for a moment on board a steamboat, without being annoyed by their angry hissing. We dismiss this subject with the following well-meant suggestions. Let those who feel themselves aggrieved by the New York investiga tion, resort to redress but that which they can obtain by argument or law. Abuse and personal violence will not be countenanced by-public opinion in this country. Let those who are engaged in prosecuting the Magdalen reformation, proceed with prudence, and yet with unyielding firmness, in what they suppose to be the course of duty; unintimidated by threats, and unawed by popular excitement. And let the Christian public beware that they wrong not the cause of morality and religion, by a mawkish sensitiveness to the disclosure of facts, which the interests of society may render it necessary in some degree to lay bare before them. It is behind this false delicacy that the genteel and respectable profligates of the country love to take refuge from that public sentiment, which, in the United States, must ever be restless. No. 29. CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE-JULY 27. 66 'MAGDALEN SOCIETY. Some of the newspapers of this city have affected to doubt the reality of the facts detailed in the report of this society, while others have thought and said, that, allowing them to be true, they should not be spoken of in such plain and pointed terms. We cannot vouch for the truth of the statements, though we believe the gentlemen engaged in this investigation took much pains to arrive at accuracy, and they certainly could have had no motive to impose on the public by erroneous calculations and conclusions. "But such truths must not be told." Why not? It is indeed mortifying to a virtuous mind to be under the necessity of believing that so much licentiousness exists. But must it be concealed for fear of offending the ears of delicacy? Has it come to this? Must Satan and his emissaries he allowed to delude immortal beings into the commission of crime, so boldly, that he who opens his eyes must see it, and then succeed in making the public-the Christian public— believe that this vice is of such an odious character that it must not be named! Then may they succeed in their nefarious designs upon the peace and happiness of mankind. We have read of one of old who said, "Let us alone-why torment us before the time?" And if the abettors of crime can succeed in making good men believe that it is an offense against modesty and delicacy to drag the monster to light, and to hold him up to the indignant gaze and just execration of mankind, they will also succeed in keeping their goods in peace," and the strong man will still keep possession of his house. 66 But this shall not be. Though it is a reproach to the press and the pulpit, as well as appalling to the chaste ears of a Christian au dience, to "speak of those things done of them in secret," the "trumpet must sound long and loud"-the truth must be spokenthe horrid deeds of darkness must be disclosed, and the midnight revels of the debauchee must be condemned by one universal voice, which shall sound the eternal reprobation of that vice, which is of "monstrous mien." But where does this reproach fall? Not on those who condemn it in language that cannot be misunderstood. Not on those who utter its reprobation with a view to rescue the unhappy victims it has ensnared. Not, in a word, on that benevolence, as pure as it is expansive, which exerts itself to sweep this breeder of plague and pestilence from the earth. No indeed. It falls on those who are guilty of decoying the innocent into the snares of vice. It falls on those hardened wretches, who, regardless of a mother's moan and a father's pity, "lie in wait to shed blood"—on those "fools who make a mock at sin"-and on those ungodly beings "who are loud and stubborn," and "with much fair speech cause" the unwary "to yield" to her wiles,"till a dart strike through his liver." These guilty ones are responsible for the mischief-for the reproach—and not those who are endeavoring, by much self-denial and painful sacrifices, to purge the land from this abominable pollution." No. 30. NEW YORK COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER- "MAGDALEN ASYLUM. "We have read with such sensations as the melancholy detail is calculated to excite, the report recently made by the committee to the truly benevolent society which labors in this city to reclaim a peculiar class of outcasts from the common sympathies of the virtuous. Some of the details might perhaps have been withheld; but revolting as they are, they are probably fearfully true, and not exaggerated. The main object of the managers of the society is to operate by the influence of the religion which brought life and immortality to light upon those for whom there is no other help. In several instances they have been successful, and where this fact is known, the heart must be cold indeed that would not rejoice in so good a work; and the hand must be illiberal that would withhold its mite in furtherance of the charity. Mr. John W. Leavitt, the treasurer of the society, may be found at 166 Pearl street, where donations and subscriptions are received.” COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER-AUG. 22. "And since we are called upon to advert to this topic, we take the opportunity again of regretting for the fourth or fifth time, that it was unfortunate in its exaggerations, most especially because it has afforded a handle to those whose moral sense is radically corrupt, of abusing good and pure men, and under the hypocritical pretense of vindicating the character of our city, of offending modesty, and polluting the columns of the press. These are the very fellows who could probably give the best account from their own experience of the statistics of the wickedness. But being furnished with an opportunity of descanting on the popular side of the subject, they do as much evil perhaps as the society can do good. Were this understood by many respectable editors abroad, who unwittingly echo the remarks of the worthless and bad, made under the pretext of apologizing for the morals of this community, but really for abusing good and pious men, and nullifying their laudable efforts to improve the condition of society, they could treat the matter differently; and while they regretted the error as to the extent of the evil would commend the motives and labors of those who seek to remedy it, such as it is. And it is admitted on all hands to be very great." No. 31. HOWARD-JOURNAL OF COMMECE, JULY 2. 66 NEW YORK MAGDALEN SOCIETY. Messrs. Editors-I have just read the first report of those who manage this institution. While this document might perhaps in some parts have been written with much better taste, it must be admitted, that it brings to light facts and circumstances in relation to the Great Evil of which it treats, deeply affecting to every virtuous mind. As I turned over its melancholy pages, I again and again exclaimed, how is it possible that our city authorities, our wise men, our moral men, our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, and above all, our Christian brethren, have so long slept over the ravages of this crying sin and curse of our city! Oh! what tears and anguish and lamentations are following its course even here on earth; and what woes and wailings must continue to follow, as its consequence, through the coming ages of eternity. I am truly thankful that an association is now formed (and composed of men who in the fear of God execute what they undertake) for the purpose of checking the progress of this desolating scourge, and of rescuing, if possible, a part of those unhappy beings whose "steps take hold on hell," and who are drawing an increasing train of others with them to destruction. These benevolent friends may expect opposition, reproaches, perhaps calumnies, for their self-denying labors, but let them not be intimidated nor disheartened; they have with them the best wishes of all the virtuous, and the approbation, we doubt not, of Him who himself came to seek and to save the lost. It is evident from the report alluded to, that the Magdalen Society has hitherto been maintained by the charities of a few. The experiment made has already been so successful that the benevolent may now be called upon in every part of the city to aid in carrying forward the plans which have been adopted. There is no justice in leaving those, who make such sacrifices of time in order to benefit the outcasts of society, to sustain also the whole pecuniary burden of the attempt to reclaim them. Let every man who reads this article, settle the question with himself at once, whether he ought not to send to the Treasurer, 166 Pearl street, what I now resolve to do, an annual contribution. HOWARD." No. 32. EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTHOR'S DIARY. Oct. 21st.-A riot at 2 A. M. in the street under my window. It originated in a house of ill-fame. The number of persons engaged in it amounted to about twenty. The watch was called, but did not make his appearance in at least fifteen minutes. He was probably at some considerable distance. Oct. 22d.-Three females of the town fighting at the corner of the street under my window, at 3 A. M. Two were beating one. The battle lasted several minutes. One appeared to be injured? Whose daughters are these? At 2 A. M.-A man in Mulberry street beat a woman unmercifully, and a wench of huge dimensions was cursing him at an awful rate. The children were crying, and perhaps twenty persons assembled in the street in front of the house, to hear the confused noise, and to see what sights they could. Some people were looking over a fence some ten and fourteen feet high to see if any person was murdered. On entering the house, I saw a woman, about fifty years old, sitting at a window, in tears. "What is the matter with you, madam ?" "Oh, said she, he," pointing to a man, "has almost killed me. Here, see how he has hurt my leg." It was bandaged. I believe there is a law in England that makes it legal for a man to beat his wife, but not to break her bones, or bruise her flesh. It is doubtful whether Americans have such a law. At all events, it is disgraceful for a husband to beat the wife of his choice. Oct. 23d.-At 2 A. M. a riot nnder my window. Two men were fighting. The one was drunk, and the other looked like the man who keeps the liquid that makos men drunk, at a certain house I |