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We have the satisfaction of presenting this month the portrait of a most estimable man and valuable citizen, Alderman Jesse Read, of Brooklyn. Alderman Read, who is a native of New-Hampshire, came to this city in the year 1828, at which time he commenced business as a ship-grocer, and he has continued in the mercantile profession until the spring of 1851, at which time he retired from the active pursuits of business; and, with a well-earned competency, he is now enabled to devote a fair portion of his time, energies, and ripe judgment, to the good of his fellow

men.

Early impressed with a sense of the dangerous effects of foreign influence, through the chicanery of demagogues, upon our free insti tutions, the subject of our present sketch, though not one of the originators, was found among the earliest pioneers in the Order of United Americans. In the year 1845, the existence of such an organization and its objects were made known to him, and we soon after find his name enrolled in the membership of Warren Chapter No. 3, then just organized in the city of Brooklyn. Like all others of the pioneer Chapters of our Order, Warren was compelled to labor through a difficult field. The prejudices of an entire community, who had no appreciation of the character and objects of the Order, were arrayed against its progress; and to the discreet management and calm judgment of brother Read we are greatly indebted for its final triumph over the numerous obstacles that were thrown in its way, to accomplish which, all his energies, both moral and financial, were cheerfully bestowed.

With Warren Chapter he continued through all her darkest days, remaining in her councils until her position and influence were completely established, and, in fact, until two

other Chapters were in successful progress in Brooklyn. Then it was that he conceived and carried out the plan of erecting another Chapter, in a portion of the city not yet represented in the Order; and Plymouth Chapter, No. 26, embracing in its membership many of the most wealthy and influential citizens of that city, was the result.

For several years, brother Read has represented the Chapters to which he belonged in the Chancery of this State; and at the annual election for Grand Sachem in September, 1849, he was chosen to fill that distinguished and responsible office, bringing with him, on assuming its duties, all the elements of a wise and competent executive officer, and retiring at the close of his term with the heartfelt respect and confidence of the whole Order.

In the spring of 1850, brother Read was elected Alderman by the people of the Third Ward of the city of Brooklyn; and as the operation of the new charter cut short the term of the Common Council, he was reelected to the same honorable station in the month of September following, contrary to his earnestly expressed wishes. In that capacity he continues to represent the people of his Ward; and on numerous occasions his deliberate wisdom and business experience have been found of greater service to the people of Brooklyn than the reckless ebullitions of partisan zeal which so generally pervade our legislative assemblies, both State and municipal, of the present day. Possessed of a clear perception of men and things, a well-balanced judgment, profound experience, a kind heart, and unblemished integrity of character, Alderman Jesse Read may be regarded as one of the very few public men of our time who come up to the Jeffersonian standard, and in whose hands the interests of a constituency may be confided with safety.

EDITORIAL.

THOMAS R. WHITNEY, EDITOR.

CAN A ROMAN CATHOLIC BECOME A CITIZEN? We see by the Boston papers that, at the recent election held in that city, the vote of a Roman Catholic was challenged by Jesse Mann, Esq., upon the ground that, being a subject of a foreign potentate, and one who regards his obligation to that potentate as superior to all others, his oath of allegiance to this government is null and void. The Catholic swore in his vote under a protest on the part of Mr. Mann, and we learn that it is his intention to test the principle by legal proceedings.

This is a subject worth all the trouble that Mr. Mann has taken, and we hope to see it decided on strict constitutional grounds, after a careful survey of both sides of the question. In order to see both sides, it is necessary that we should know how far a Romanist may shake off his allegiance and still remain a papal subject; next, whether he can forswear his temporal allegiance to the Pope, and still remain a Catholic; and, finally, what estimate he puts upon an oath renouncing the sovereignty of the papal see. In the instructions given to the Jesuits, we read as follows:

Bellarmin, Controvers, Lib. 5, chap. 6, p. 1090: "The spiritual power must rule the temporal by all sorts of means and expedients when necessary. Christians should not tolerate a heretic king."

The subjects of the Church, then, are so temporally as well as spiritually; and if the Roman sovereignty does not allow its subjects to tolerate a heretic king, the same objection must apply to a heretic president, because in the Romish vernacular all Protestants are heretics. And as the spiritual power must be made to rule the temporal by "all sorts of means and expedients," and the demands of the civil law give way to the mandates of the

Church, it would seem that the Romanist can

not abjure even the temporal authority of his foreign potentate without abjuring his religion.

It would seem from this extract, also, that when the foreign potentate deems it necessary to destroy the civil or "temporal" govern

ment of a people, his subjects are bound to use all sorts of means and expedients to accomplish the object. His right to do this is promulged in the same code of instructions, where we read as follows:

Salmeron, Comment Evan. Hist., vol. iv. pars. 3, tract iv., page 411: "The Pope hath supreme power over the whole earth, over all kings and governments, to command and enforce them to employ their power to promulge Popery; which mandate of the Pope they are bound to obey, and if they resist, he must punish them as contuma

cious."

This power, which is claimed for the Pope, is of course constructive in its character, and he never enforces it except where the material power and the ecclesiastical power meet on equal terms. The material is comprised in the members of his Church; and whenever their numbers have been sufficient, he has never failed to exercise the ecclesiastical power which, it appears, is invested in his office. This brings us to another quotation-Sanctarel, Tract de Hæres., cap. 30, page 296, which says:

"The Pope can depose negligent rulers, and deprive them of their authority."

If this be so, we could scarce expect him to leave heretics in authority, for they would certainly prove "negligent rulers" under his direction.

Rebellion against heretical governments is also encouraged, and the priesthood are encouraged to incite it. We find-Emmanuel Sa, Aphor., page 41, these words:

"The rebellion of Roman priests is not treason, because they are not subject to the civil government."

Now, a word as to the oath of allegiance by which the subjects of the Pope are made

American citizens, and we are done with

quotations for the present. Lessius, Lib. 2, cap. 42, dub. 12, page 632, says:

"The Pope can annul and cancel every possible obligation arising from an oath."

From these extracts it would seem that a

Romanist cannot renounce the Papal authority and yet remain a Roman Catholic; and if he cannot do that, how can he give allegiance to another government, that government being at the same time heretical? In a word, how can he become an American citizen? He may swear allegiance, it is true, to forty different powers, with a clear conscience, because the Pope has power to cancel his oath; and, moreover, he is commanded by the Church to use "all sorts of means and expedients" to make the civil power subordinate to the spiritual; by which is meant, as we understand it, that all civil authority must yield to Roman Catholic supremacy, whenever the physical power is sufficient to sustain the authority and will of the Pope. In the United States, the most effective "means and expedient" to accomplish this object is found in the ballot-box; and as Bishop Hughes has avowed the intention of the Roman Catholics to be to make our government Roman Catholic, we have a perfect right to believe that thousands of papal subjects go through the empty formula of a naturalization oath for no other purpose than to accomplish that intention. Such men cannot be American citizens. The very oath that they take becomes an act of treason; and whatever may be the legal decision on the question, we favor the opinion of Mr. Mann, that naturalized subjects

of the Roman potentate cannot relinquish their allegiance or be citizens of the United States; and hence, that they are not competent to exercise the right of suffrage.

CHURCH AND STATE.-We cut the following truthful and significant paragraph from the

columns of the American Banner of Philadelphia. Judge Campbell was the avowed Roman Catholic candidate for a high judicial station at the last election in that State, and was defeated :—

"The Price Paid-We see it announced that Governor Bigler has appointed the lately defeated Judge Campbell Attorney-General of the State of Pennsylvania. There is something to admire, and much to condemn in this. We certainly admire the religious discharge of a debt, the price of the Catholic vote, on the part of Col. Bigler; but we also condemn the appointment as a dangerous precedent, establishing the basis of an annual bargain between the Catholic Church and the Democratic party. Henceforth, Presidents, Governors, Congressmen, &c., must pledge that Church some prominent officer, before they will dare to risk their claims of preferment solely on their merits; and

the chances of success will be narrowed down to the simple question, 'How many Catholics will be appointed to office? Such party tactics, now fairly established, will soon give the Pope of Rome the ascendency in our legislative halls and judiciary; and then-God save us from either the law or justice dispensed to an enslaved people! However, aside from this gloomy prospect for the future, Judge Campbell has been pronounced wholly deficient, in point of ability, to fill the station, by prominent members of his own party. This testimony from his friends affords ample evidence that the dignity of that responsible office has departed

for a season."

A DESERVED TESTIMONIAL.-OUR FIREMEN. We had the honor of being present on the evening of the 12th inst., at Odd Fellows' Hall, to witness the presentation of a service of plate from members of the Fire Department to JAMES L. MILLER, Esq., late Assistant Engineer. The retiring officer, with his friends,

was also entertained on the same occasion with a sumptuous dinner, prepared by the Brothers Perkins in their usual excellent manner.

The testimonial presented on this occasion was in token of the eminent services of Mr. Miller as an officer of the Fire Department, and an earnest of the high estimation in which he is held by his old associates. True merit, wherever we find it, is a fitting recipient of distinction and reward; and there is perhaps no field to which we can turn that is more

prolific in meritorious instances than the Fire Department of New-York. There are few persons who can form a true estimate of the arduous duties, or the acts of bravery and self-devotion devolving upon and performed by the fireman, without fee or reward. They do not consist in the mere external labor of dragging the ponderous engines to the blazing scene, and there toiling at the breaks until the raging element is subdued-these are trifling when compared with the sacrifice of health, business, personal comfort, and the continual risk of life itself, during scenes of imminent danger to which he is subjected; and generally at hours, too, when the great eye of the city, instead of gazing with admiration on his heroic, self-sacrificing deeds, is closed in the balmy sleep of conscious safety-a safety for which the slumbering citizen is indebted to the fireman.

Oh! it is very pleasant to lie snugly in bed when, at midnight, the winter's blast, freigirted with sharp, cutting sleet, whirls around your dwelling, or when the driving snow piles hill

ocks high in the almost impassable streets, and the intense cold congeals the very blood! Whose voice is heard then, above the roar and whirl and rush of the fierce elements, responding to the hollow tones of the alarmbell, as it booms in trembling and solemn echoes over the town? It is the Fireman. He never halts to consult the barometer or thermometer when that signal is given, nor to inquire the state of the weather; and his ear is so nicely practised, and so constantly on the alert, that at the first stroke of the ponderous hammer of the Hall bell, he is out of his warm bed and into his fire-boots. It does not take him long to make his toilet; three minutes suffices, because his fire-suit is always at his bedside, and he can dress as well in the dark as at noonday. And now you hear his heavy, quick footstep along the frozen pavement, and his voice or his speaking-trumpet encouraging his comrades in their noble labors!

And then at the scene of the conflagration. There he mounts the blazing pile as fearlessly and familiarly as a child mounts his father's knee, and face to face, amidst swords of fire, grapples and subdues the devouring enemy. If there should happen to be a life or two to be saved by clambering through sheets of living flame and walking red-hot timbers, the

job is generally thrown in as a sort of episode, for good measure, and there is an end of the matter. Now and then, some good-natured individual in the vicinity of the fire sets his coffee-boilers at work, and invites a few of the brave fellows in to partake of the warm beverage. Such acts of kindness are rare, however, and when they occur, are sure to be followed by "a card" of thanks from the company, in the next morning's Gazette.

And who are these men, these noble philanthropists, who, through continual acts of self-sacrifice and privation, do so much for the community, and receive nothing in return? They are our merchants, storekeepers, mechanics, and artisans-citizens of position, respectability, and intelligence-men who would scorn to receive a compensation for the performance of a common public duty. In this fact we find the secret of the great efficiency and orderly deportment of the New-York Fire Department; and if rewards of merit, like that which has called forth this article, are not oftener bestowed on individual members,

it is as much because of the difficulty of selecting individual cases of desert, where all are alike deserving, as from any other cause.

Our Fire Department is a noble institution, and it is the duty of not only the public authorities, but of our citizens at large, to foster, cherish, and encourage it, by all proper means; one of the most ready of which will be found in the opportunity that is always open to us, of increasing that excellent and valuable fund which has been set apart for the benefit of their widows and orphans. Nothing does the Fireman's heart more good than to hear of a liberal donation to that fund.

THE ART-UNION.-We are sorry, though not surprised, to witness the freezing apathy that has seized upon the public mind in relation to this institution. We regret it the more especially at the present time, when there are so many thousands of persons interested to the amount of their annual sub

scriptions, and who look forward with interest and anxiety to the time of distribution. We are not surprised, however, that this crisis in the affairs of the Art-Union has arrived. Year after year the officers have been openly charged with equivocal proceedings in the disbursement of its funds, and in the general management of its affairs; yet, instead of clearing up the impeachment, or attempting to disprove the charges, some of which could have been easily disproved, if not true, they continued on in the old way, and, as if in very defiance of public opinion, elected and reelected to a high and responsible position in the affairs of the institution a man notorious as a public defaulter. Such a course was not calculated to restore a shaken confidence in the public mind; and the result is, that the institution is bankrupt, or at least in a state of suspension.

We dropped in at the Art-Union rooms a few days since, and while looking around upon the fine pictures that grace its walls, determined to give it a lift. The collection of the present year is, as a whole, unquestionably the best they have ever exhibited; and among the pictures are a good many of rare excellence and beauty; a few are surpassingly fine; and we are satisfied that, whatever may have been the shortcomings of the managers heretofore, subscribers will stand a better chance than usual by renewing their subscriptions to this collection. At any rate, it is better to have the business of the last year

closed up with a distribution of those fine will do in the same premises. If the ocean pictures; and when that is done, the Art- | should dry up, we might catch the sea-serpent. Union will probably close up its affairs at once and for ever.

"IF ENGLAND WILL JOIN US."-This expression has long been the sine qua non with the moderate interventionists of this country. That little word "if" small as it is, has been a great stumbling-block to those who, though prudently conservative, are eager to see the reign of despots brought to an end; and they thus qualify themselves: "If England would join us, we could dictate terms to the continent of Europe."

It is a capital saving clause, that "if;" because, so far as any intimation has fallen from the English government to show that she would, or even might join with us in such a task, it would be just as appropriate if applied to Austria herself as to England. So far from exhibiting any sign in that direction, the government of England has shown, in all that has appeared, the opposite disposition. In the resignation of Lord Palmerston, we have a very distinct inkling of British policy in relation to the condition of affairs on the continent. Palmerston was known to be what is called "a liberal," and was supposed to favor the Hungarian movement; yet even in the official organ during his ministerial career, (the Globe,) we find nothing to favor the idea of intervention, but every thing to the contrary. In an article upon the subject of Palmerston's resignation, the Globe gives us the following unequivocal view of the line of policy to be pursued by the English government:

"The policy of the government has been English; it will continue to be so. It has been directed to the maintenance of peace; it will continue to be so. When foreign countries have successfully established constitutional government, they have received the moral support of England; they will receive in future the same sympathy and the same moral support. But if other nations choose to live under a different form of government, placing more power in the executive, or giving greater control over the executive, this country will always respect national institutions. A policy so simple and so just ought not to excite enmity or require concealment. It is consistent with a respect for the rights and a desire for the prosperity of all nations.”

After this, it is idle for us to predicate any supposable action of the United States towards the continent of Europe, upon what England

THE AZTEO CHILDREN.-No one can look upon those singular specimens of humanity now exhibiting at the Society Library building, without realizing the truthfulness of history and the fidelity of modern travelers who have exhibited to the world the exhumed relics of a race of men, supposed to be extinct, who at a remote period inhabited the central portion of the American continent.

It seemed to us, at our first sight of them, as though they had risen from the dead, or, phoenix-like, sprung from the ashes of a bygone age, to convince the world, in this nineteenth century, by living witnesses, of the fact that, anterior to the discovery by Columbus, this continent was inhabited by a race of people civilized, refined, intelligent, and luxurious; for, if we do not find all these faculties developed in these children, we find in them the physiology, the physiognomy, and the habits, delineated in their ancient sculptures; and when these are taken in connec tion with the monumental discoveries of ancient cities in Central America, we are forced to the conviction that a race of civilized men did occupy that portion of the world before the time of Columbus; and we do not feel at liberty to deny that a remnant of that race is still living in their primitive character.

The boy here exhibited is a perfect original of the sculptures discovered by Stevens and other explorers, in all his developments of physiology and habit; and the girl presents in her physiognomy unmistakable evidence of Hebrew paternity. This latter circumstance sustains eminently the opinion of the most astute ethnologists of modern times, to wit, that the people who inhabited the cities k known now only by their stupendous ruins, came originally from the other continent. Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell found evidently Greek characters on the idols discovered by Dr. Correy in Central America; and Dr. Correy himself says: "There is no doubt in my mind that the tribes which formerly inhabited this ancient city (Palenque) were composed of Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Asiatics, Arabs, and Chinese.

The idea that these children are dwarfs or deformities of any race of people now known

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