Some portions of the city of New York present as dismal moral deserts as can be found on the entire globe. A portion of the Fourth Ward, with its narrow, crooked, filthy streets and dilapidated buildings, filled with a motley population collected from all countries, packed at the rate of 290,000 to the square mile, has long been noted as one of the principal "nests" for fever, cholera, and other deadly malaria on the island. But the moral aspect of this locality is even worse than the sanitary.

Nearly every second door is a rum-shop, dance-house, or sailors' lodging, where thieves and villains of both sexes and of every degree assemble, presenting a concentration of all the most appalling vices of which fallen humanity is capable. The following statement from the superintendent, Rev. Mr. Van Meter, will afford our readers a concise view of this most important work.

"Rev. J. F. RICHMOND—Dear Brother: In compliance with your request I forward to you a brief statement by the Board, of our work and the way we do it:"

This Mission was organized by the Rev. W. C. Van Meter, in May, 1861, and until 1864 was conducted by himself and an Advisory Committee; when, at his request, it was regularly incorporated and placed under the control of well-known citizens, who constitute the Board of Managers, by whom its finances are administered, and all disbursements regulated under a system of strict accountability.

From the beginning the funds have passed through the hands of a responsible Treasurer, by whom full reports of receipts and expenditures have been made each year, and published in the daily papers and in the "Little Wanderer's Friend."

OBJECT. —The announcement at the beginning remains unchanged:

"Our object is to do all the good we can to the souls and bodies of all whom we can reach, and we cordially invite to an earnest co-operation with us all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."

NOT SECTARIAN. —The Constitution requires that "not more than three members of the Board shall be chosen from the same denomination."

THE FIELD cannot be fully described, for New York has become the almshouse for the poor of all nations, and the Fourth Ward (in which the Mission is located) is the very concentration of all evil and the head-quarters of the most desperate and degraded representatives of many nations. It swarms with poor little helpless victims, who are born in sin and shame, nursed in misery, want, and woe, and carefully trained to all manner of degradation, vice, and crime. The packing of these poor creatures is incredible. In this Ward there are less than two dwelling houses for each low rum hole, gambling house and den of infamy. Near us on a small lot, but 150 by 240 feet, are twenty tenant houses, 111 families, 5 stables, a soap and candle factory, and a tan-yard. On four blocks close to the Mission are 517 children, 318 Roman Catholic and 10 Protestant families, 35 rum-holes, and. eighteen brothels. In No. 14 Baxter street, but three or four blocks from us, are 92 families, consisting of 92 men, 81 women, 54 boys and 53 girls. Of these 151 are Italians, 92 Irish, 28 Chinese, 3 English, 2 Africans, 2 Jews, 1 German, and but 7 Americans.