connected with it. Here also is a House of Ref-
uge for juvenile delinquents; and a Penitentiary
for female convicts. There is another almshouse
on Blackwell's Island. But it is scarcely possible
for the city to meet all the demands upon it in
this department of eleemosynary aid. The bur-
dens of this kind are induced to far the greatest
extent by the immigration of paupers, or of those
who soon become paupers, from Europe. How
large this item is liable to he may be inferred from
the fact, that there is continually going on a ship-
ment of paupers, direct from the poorhouses in
Europe. On board of one British vessel, arriv-
ing at New York in 1851, the whole number of
passengers, 230, were derived from this source.
“ On what principles of comity, humanity, or
justice,'' to adopt the words of the commission-
ers of immigration, “ the poorhouses of Europe,
and sometimes the prisons, are emptied on our
shores, it is difficult to say. The fact itself is
notorious. Ship loads of these helpless and often
vicious persons are sent here, sometimes in the
depth of winter, without means or place of des-
tination beyond this city, and become a perma-
nent burden from the moment of their arrival.''
The whole number of foreigners who arrived at
the port of New York in 1851 was 289,601; of
whom 163,256 were from Ireland, 69,883 from
Germany, and 56,462 from other countries.

It was probably fortunate for us as a nation,
that, in the earlier period of our republic, the peo-
ples of foreign nations had so little confidence in
the success of our political experiment, in the
capacity of free institutions to sustain themselves,
and secure a permanent prosperity to the people
under them. This distrust kept back the tide of
foreign immigration, until it may be hoped that,
even in our large cities, the native American ele-
ment of the population has become too strong in
numbers, intelligence, and wealth to be greatly
modified by the admixture of foreign elements.
But with our continued stability and prosperity,
the people of other nations, especially the more
oppressed and poor among them, are beginning to
regard this country “ as the haven of the poor man
from the fears of want; as the mine whence the
enterprising and adventurous are to draw wealth ;
as the theatre wherein the political economist is to
realize his theories ; as the church of all creeds,
wherein those deprived of liberty of conscience
in their native land may worship without fear of
molestation.'' Hence, as one has said, “ the tide
of the world's population is tending to our
shores ; and the safe and beautiful harbor of New
York receives the ships of all nations, bearing
their freights of men and goods from every part
of the earth.''

The foreign residents in New York have vari-
ous associations among themselves for humane
and charitable purposes ; as the St. George's So-
ciety, composed of Englishmen; St. Andrew's, of
Scotch; St. David's, of Welsh; also societies
of Germans, French, Spanish, and Hebrews.
The St. Nicholas Society is composed of the de-
scendants of the early Dutch inhabitants. Be-
sides these, there are the Orphan Asylum, at
Bloomingdale, a very large institution, established
in 1806 ; the Protestant Half Orphan Asylum, on
Twelfth Street; the Roman Catholic Orphan Asy-
lum, on Prince Street; the Asylum for Colored
Orphans ; the Lying-in Asylum ; the Female As-
sistance Society for the sick poor ; and the Socie-
ty for aiding Respectable, Aged Indigent Females.

Several of our great national institutions of
Christian benevolence have their seat of opera-
tions in New York. Such are the American Bi-
ble Society, founded in 1816, in which the several
evangelical denominations cooperate; the Amer-
ican Tract Society, and the American Seamen's
Friend Society, of which the same is true; the
American Home Missionary Society, and the So-
ciety for aiding Colleges at the West, supported
more especially by the Presbyterians and Con-
gregationalists; the American and Foreign Bi-
ble Society, for circulating a Baptist version of
the Scriptures; and the American Society for
meliorating the Condition of the Jews. Other
organizations of this class exist, which are auxil-
iary to their parent institutions in Boston, Phila-
delphia, and Washington. Such are the Agency
of the American Board of Foreign Missions;
the Central American Education Society; the
New York Colonization Society; and the Sun-
day School Society. The operations of all these
associations are very extensive, and constitute a
noble feature of the religious enterprise of the
age and country. Their anniversaries, which
are celebrated during the second week in May,
are occasions of great and general interest.

The number of churches irji the city of New
York, as enumerated in 1852, is 250; Presbyte-
rian, 46; Episcopal, 45; Methodist 40 ; Baptist,
31; Roman Catholic, 21; Dutch Reformed, 20 ;
Jews, 12; Trinitarian Congregational, 10; Lu-
theran, 5; Friends, Primitive Christians, and
Universalists, 4 each ; Unitarian Congregational,
Second Advent, and New Jerusalem, 2 each;
Moravians, 1.

Some of the houses of public worship are
among the most splendid ornaments of the city.
The rapid increase of business in all the lower
parts of the city, for a number of years past, and
the consequent demand for a larger proportion of
the space for its accommodation, has necessarily
led to the abandonment of most of the localities,
on which the earliest houses of worship were
erected, and to the removal of their respective
congregations up town. Hardly any of the church
edifices of New York existing at the present day
bear the impress, or are clothed with the associ-
ations, of a venerable antiquity. Only three,
or at most four, built before the revolution, are
now occupied for public worship. These are the
Brick Presbyterian Church, Beektnan Street, built
in 1767; the John Street, Methodist, the first of
that denomination in America, built in 1768 ; the
North Dutch, corner of William and Fulton
Streets, built in 1769, at the then northern border
of the city; and St. Paul's, Episcopal, Broadway,
nearly opposite the Park. During the occupa-
tion of New York by the British, all the churches,
except the Episcopal, were either destroyed or
used for barracks, hospitals, or riding schools, by
the soldiers. The old building of the Mid-
dle Dutch Church, on the corner of Nassau
and Cedar Streets, now occupied as the post
office, with very little change in the exterior,
presents perhaps the most accurate specimen
remaining in the city of the former style of eccle-
siastical buildings, particularly among the Dutch
settlers. St. Paul's Church and the Brick Presby-
terian occupy two of the finest positions in the
city, and are among its handsomest ornaments,
particularly the former. This beautiful structure
is adorned with a portico of the Ionic order, con-
sisting of 4 fluted columns of red sandstone,