Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, November 17, 1872, Page 6

6 THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1872. TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. TEXMS OF STEACRIPFTION (PATARLE 1l ASTARCE), Ay, by X d: oS24 TeedpelS1E:08| e 260 'aTt5 of & year at the same rate. _Zoprovent delay and mistakes, be sure and gire Post Sce address in fall, inclnding State and County. ~Remittances may be made elther by draft, ezpress, Posk ® order, or in registered letters, at our risk. TERMS TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. 115, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents por week. 45, Gelivered, Bunday inciaded. 30 conts per wesk: iaddress THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Dearborn-sta., Ohicago, Ll TRBUNE Branch Offics, No. 469 Wabash-av., In the sokstore of Messrs. Cobb, Andrews & Co., whe: Ivertisements and subscriptions will ba received, 1l bave the same attention as if loft at the Main co. The hieage Tribume. Sunday Morning, November 17, 1873. On and after Mondsay, Nov. 18, the counting- som and advertising department of Tee Trrs- ~E will bo in the new TRrsUNE Building, corner i Madison and Dearborn streets. HE NEW CHICAGO AND IT8 GREATER FUTURE. The style in which Chicago is rebuilding will an effect to enlarge, expand, and elevate 1e future business of the city at large rela- ‘ely to that of all its rivals in & degree which ew even of those who have carried out 5o nobly e work of restoration have begun to calen- * . Every owner in rebuilding has sought his 7 true interests in putting up s building that rould be more attractive to tenants than those o his neighbor. But, in so doing, he aggregate owners of Chicago bhave ucceeded in imparting to the rebuilt susiness section of the city a marvellons eleva~ jon of tone and variety and besuty of style, shich promise to render Chicago the most at- :ractive business city in the world. Unqguestion- 1bly there is a world of success and wealth for —ities as well as for churches and individusls in -walout deeks, that combination of conveniences and attractions which we express by the single word style. Itis sractically everything. I{ makes the difference hatween the imposing beauty of the wership of the cathedral and the incoherent rant of the * - '_prencher. It constitutes the difference setween the gentleman and the gawk, between e magnetic man and the bore. It is the open Eesame to society, and the avenue to the highest ‘success. No class of men understand its importance so fully as our first-class mer- _chants, bankers, real estate dealers, law- sers, publishers, commission mem, under- writers, and business men generally. RMer- chants in stylish buildings sell twice ‘es many goods a8 the same merchants having the same stock in ill-lighted, ill-ventilated, or penurious-looking spartments conld sell. Bankers in good quarters receive larger de- posits. Real estate dealers are no longer taken for shysters when their offices correspond with the dignity and profits of their trade. Lawyers, publiehers, insurance, and Board of Trade men all feel the inspiration there is in black- high cellings, heavy panel- work, end tile floors. Each of us has felt that his own particular business would be facilitated by bringing it into a stylish building or locality. But the prosperily of a city at large is made up of the aggregate of . these particular prosperities. The city at large eclls more goods, handles more capital, attracts more value to its real estate, and does more business of every kind in exscily the pro- portion that each business man in it finds his facilities for doing business increased. If there has heretofore been apy advantage in favor of Chicago, in her competitions with other ‘Westorn cities, owing to ber. location and facili- ties for transportation, to that must scon be added the higher sftraction of being the best- built city of her population in tho world. Itis impossible, and would be invidious, to select particalar blocks, whers nearly all attsin the same high standard, and the sole differences re- snlt from the necessary difference in the designs of various architects, Probably two-thirds, per- haps three-fourths, of the business section of the : Burnt District has rebuilt or begun to rebuild. Yet it is safe to say that the portion already re- built and begun will, when complete, have more room and afford far greater facilities for business than the whole did before the fire. When our leading hotels are complet, the Pacific will sur- pass the Fifth Avenue, the Palmer will surpass the Continental of Philadelphis, and the Sherman will exceed its former self. Visitors to our city 2nd merchants coming here to trade will experi- ence aplessurein doing business here which they could never have done befors, and which will diminish every year the number of those who will go eastward of Chicago. Already we hear that & number of the firms burnt out in Boston are intending to transfer their busi- ness to Chicago. The fact that the business accommodations we can now offer them are equal to those of Boston, New York, or Phila- delphia, will have no small influenca over their choice. Chicago bas laid the foun- dation for & broader and securer business prosperity in the fature than eho has ever heretofore known. Architectural solidity and stability invite to a citythe financial strength which they express. Chicago hes built boldly, trusting to the fatare to verify her enterprise; 2nd we believe the result will Jbe soon spparent that ehe will certainly sell a far larger percent- age of goods annually, and to transfer and ex- port & far greater proportion of the produce of the West and Northwest, than it her policy in rebuilding had aimead only to restore a city equal to that we had before. Let our legislators and business men now move forward to the great work of making Chi~ cagosportof direct communication with Ea- rope, by converting the Welland and St Law- rence Canals into ship canals, through which vessels of 1,000 t0 1,200 tons can pazs without breaking bulk or transfer of cargo. The entire Northwest is more vitally intereeted in this messure than aven in the Union Pacific Railroad! and its cost will be but a tenth a8 much. If members of Congress were selected, as they should be, with reference to the benefit theycan be to their constituents, no member of Congress west of Oswego or north of Vicksburg would ever be selected without first giving in bis adhesion to the policy of convert~ ing our lakes into a Mediterranesn Sea for ocean vessels, and making every port on theman ocean port. The cost of the work would be but one-eighth of what was burned up in the Boston fire, or, 8ay, twelve millions of dollars. But it is not even required that we shall payit for enlarging the Canadian canals. It is only roquired thet we shall trade with the Canadisna with s near an spproximationss the necessi- ties of our revenue permit to the freedom and reciprocity with which we trade with each other. "This grest messurs consummsted, would be second only to our railway system a8 a means of developing the Northwest, and filling up tho mo- ble ocommercisl edifices which are now so rapidly rising on every hend. I¢ would dispense with very much of the mailway transportation between here and New York, affording greatly needed relief from s pressure thatis growing more oppressive. It wonld about double the price of the grain and corn of the West, and expand the value per acre and the area of cultivation in prorortion. It would transfer to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, snd Buffalo, in their proportions, but most Iargely to Chicago, a liberal share of the present direct trade of New York with Europe. We are now approaching & gession of Congress at which some action should be had on this matter, and wo Dbelieve & properly organized expression of the interests and fecling of the Northwest upon it would go far to secure such action. The states- man who will lead the movement to success will be the DeWitt Clinton of the West, and will link his own name indissolubly with the future pros- perity of our city. It s only & question of time, but there can be no more sppropriate time, thus to extend our avenues of commerce than at this very juncture, when we have so largely added to our facilities for transacting it. OUB CONGRESSIONAL BOARD. The election being over, now comes the division of the spoils; and in Cook County the pickings are numerous and rich. There is & Postmaster, with soveral subordinates; the Collector of Customs, Deputy Collector, and various others; Collector 2and Deputy Collector of Internal Rev- enue; Assessor of Internal Revenue and nu- merous Deputies ; Marshal and Deputies; Dis- trict Attorney; these, with Storekeepers, Ap- praisers, Gaugers, Lighthouse Keeper, Marine Hospital Doctor, Steward, &ec., make a goodly list of officers, having salaries from $1,800 up to $8,000 a year, with incidentals. The paironsge of late years has been made to include the let- ting of contracts for all’ Government work, every contractor being an officer of the Government, as much through the favor of the ruling power as sny watchman or clerk in any of the offices. There are now threo Congressional Representatives whero there had been but one; and this pstronage is now to be awarded by & Board of three. This Board consists of Messrs. Rice, Ward, and Farwell. These gentlemen constitute a syndicate. A dif- ficnlty presents iteelf in the fact that all these offices are now held by men of the trne faith; and to reward any of the outside soldiers will require the dismissal of present incumbents. This diffculty, however, is lessened by the fact that Chicago is particularly rich in diplomatic talent. There is hardly & mission abroad that cannot be admirably filled by a citizen of Chi~ cago. In the Berlin mission, Chicago hes a pre- scriptive interest. The mission to Bruseels, it may eafely be gaid, is filled from Chicago as it was never filled befors. If Galena is to surrefider the French mission, Chicago is prepared to fill the vacancy. The mission to Bogota has been surrendered by the State of Boone, and, of course, there is a man in Chicago prepared to take it. The mission to the Argen- tine Confederation was declined by a Chicago man, a few months 8go, and, of course, awaite the other man whomsy be presented by Chicago. General Logan declined the mission to Mezico, and, possibly, that placeis sgain open for a Chi- cagoman, This city has farnished a Secretary of Legation to England. That was twelve years 8go, and we are now prepared to furnish a full Minister. Ithas slso furnished & Secretary to Berlin. Under these circumstances, the difi- culty of dislodging the present office-holdera to make room for others is somewhst lessened ; the displaced officials may all find places abroad. The obstinacy of the President may, however, create unexpeoted obstacles. General Hartranft and Simon Cameron, and thirty other leaders of the party in Pennsylvania, called on the Presi- dent on Friday, and in & set speech told him that the result in Pennsylvania was due totheir ‘personal efforts, and that his re-election was due to the result in Pennsylvania in October last ; therefore they demanded that the person selected by them should bo sppointed Postmaster at Philadelphis, whick office is about to become va- cant by the resignation of the pres-nt incum- bent. The President,—who, it appears, has been reading the Cincionati platform and has been seriously impressed by it,—replied that he was convinced of the mnecessity of Civil Service Re- form, and intended in making his appointments sccordingly ; therefore, he would have to fill the vacancy in Philadelphia by promoting the Assist- tant Postmaster. This excelient decision is apt to disarrange the programme of the Chicago Congressional Board. For instance, if they force Eastman outof the Post Office, that won't put McArthur in, The only way to make McArthur Postmaster is to have him appointed a letter- carrier, and, by continuous deaths, resignations, suicides, and disabilities, of those above him, have him gradually promoted fo the chiet placs. For the present, to remove Eastman is to make Squires Postmaster. In like manner,to send Judd to Berlin or 8t. Pe- tersbarg will not open the way for General White. It will make a vacancy to be filled either by the reappointment of Collector McLean, or the promotion of Deputy Ayara. To cut off the Pension Agent's head will require the promo- tion of his deputy, and in this way nothing will beleft for the Board to divide among their friends, save subordinate places, where there is ‘hard work and small profita. Under this condition of affairs, all the present incumbents who refused to pay their assess- ments and their subscriptions to tke New York Times, and other special organs, will probably retain their places. New appointees must begin at the foot of the ladder, and it is possible that one or the other of Mr. Farwell's Irish fricnds from the Eighteenth Ward msy get the Collector of Customs under the promotive system abont the year 1900. Ttis likely that all Mr. Farwell's appointees and friends will, in any event, retain their places, and the friends of Messrs. Rice and Ward must take the lower places and work their way up. The seasions of the Board, therefore, will hardly possess that interest which they would otherwise have. The reform of the Civil Bervice has apparently begun. In the policy adopted toward Hartranft and Cameron, the President will win the ap- proval of the whole country; but it is neverthe- 1ess hard upon the Chicago Congressional Board, snd the legion of hungry and impatient bum- mers who are clamoring for the reward of their servieas. p— THE JURY BYSTEM. The 1asc Legislatore, with the purpose of breaking up the system of professional jurors, devised the plan of drawing jurors from the poll- lists and requiring them to serve gratnitiously. 1t is very questionable whether this hss worked very successfully, st least in this city.- In the’ first place, it is oppressive upon one class. All these citizens who work at their trades, or at other employments, snd who depend upon their daily earnings, can ill afford to give a week or two to the service of the public without any com- pensation. There is, therefore, a constant struggle on the part of this, the most deserving part of the community, to escape jury service. The vacancies on the panel bave to be filled by talesmen who, despite thefact that thereisnopay, are always resdy to serve as jurors, It has be- come » part of the business of some lawyers to take cases, particnlarly those cases where damages for torts are involved, npon shares. Thus, s man who breaks hisleg by & fall on the sidewalk can find counsel who will prosecutethesuit upon an assignment of 30, 40, or 50 per cent of Whatever damages may be recov- ered, Tt is possible that the readiness with which jurors, not legally drawn, can be found willing to serve the public without pay, may be a natural outgrowth of the system of pursning justice on shares. Thus, a man who is willing to give 50 per cent of his just dues to an attorney for prosecuting damages for an irreparable injury might be willing to bleed 10 per cent additionsl for a verdict. Or, his contract with the attorney might in- clude all incidental expenses in satisfying the twelve good and-lawful men of the enormily of the injury sustsined. There are those, whose ‘business it is to note the facts, who declare that there is & general increase in the verdicts for damages, especially against municipal and other corporations, for alleged torts, and that the ver- dicts are invariebly for the plaintiffis. We have no knowledge of the matter, but such is the im- pression, formed upon a careful examination of the results of current trials in the courts. ‘Whether this be true, or whether if trueitis in any way due to the changed mode of select- ing jurors, is a question for inquiry for the Leg- islature. Jurors who are taken from their work, and who are dependentupon their earnings for their living, ought not to be compelled to serve without pay. The alternative, of serving a ‘week for nothing, to the loss of work, situstion, and the means of supporting & family, or of mak- ing terms with & plaintif? or defendant, ought not to be offered any juror. It is asking too ‘much of men who can least afford any sacrifice of time or wages. The Legislature, therafore, will probably have this matter before them again, and it is to be hoped there will be some means adopted to remody the grest and admitted evila of the jury system. NO JOEE, Mr. Sdammon says thatheis uiterly unable to sce any humorons side of the Boston Fire. There aro a large number of people who aro atterly unable to see any humorous side to the Mutual Security Insurance Company,—for in- stance, the dozen or more individuals who were called upon, the other day, by Mark Kimbell, ‘Bsq., Assignee, to pay up their stock notes. Judgments were obtained against them in the due course of legal proceedings, and, as the parties ara 21l good, the money will be jocularly forthcoming at an early day. Some of those who had pledged their word to pay when re- quired are handing over the cash. One gentle- man mirthfally drew his check yesterdey for more tham $9,000, payiog in fall. The money of the Company ($40,000) in the hands of the Treasurer, Jonathan Y. Scammon, of Chicsgo, is, if possible, & more sacred fund than the stock notes. It was paid in, in small sums, by the insured, and now, under the malign influence of the Hon. J. Young Scammon, of Milwaukee, Jonathan Y. Scam- mon, of Chicago, the Treasurer of the Company, refuses to hand over this money to the Assignes. Does .- not.—every. —grincipla. of honesty and fairness, 28 well as humor and drollery, require that he showld do so? ‘Why ehould not the Treasurer of the Company humorously hand over this $40,000 and take his dividends with the poor policy-holders? The Assignee, shonld he do 80, could mske & serious dividond of 83§ per cent, instead of & comical oneof 6 per cent. Every policy-hclder can ensily calculate how much of his money the Treasurer is humorously trying to grab. Is Mr. Scammon, of Chicago, forced to hold on to this money in order to continue the publication of his dry newspaper? Surelysomosuch necessity must ‘be added to the baleful influence of Hon. J. Y. Scammon, of Milwaukee, upon Treasurer Scam- mon, of Chicago, to induce ourmirthful and die- tinguished (?) citizen toadopt such *ways that are dark and tricks that are vain.” In the name of hundreds of the poor policy-holders of ibe Matual Becurity Insnrance Company, We urge Mr. Treasurer Scammon to walk emilingly up to the office and settle, take his dividends with the fest in » ride-splitting manner, and prove that he covets the jocose honor of being esteemed an honest man. MARIO AND OTHER BTAGE VETERANS. Thirty years sgo, the snnouncement that Mario was to appear in concert would have created a furor of excitement, To-day, the an- nouncement only cauges the concert-goers of the past generation to shake their heads sadly, stimulates a little idle curiosity on the partof the present generation, and leads the coming generation,—the young lsdies who are just drop- ping chewing gum, and the young gentlemen Who are just looking after the down which har- bingers the monstache,—to ask the question: «Whois Mario?” ixty-three yearsago, onlyten Feara after Mozart dled and one year after Men- delssobn was born,—just at the time when Beethoven, Cherubini, Spohr, Mayseder, Ferdi- nand Ries, Hummel, Moscheles, Von Weber, Meyerbeer, and Rossini- were filling the world fall of music, and the Iislian and German schools were fiercely contesting for the supremacy,—Giugeppe Mario was born, by virtue of noble rank, the Marquis of Candia, by virtne of music, for which he cast away nobility, to be afterwards known only 28 Merio. Thirty-five years agohe made hig debut in Paris in * Robert le Diable,” and at onco achieved a success which placed him side by eide with Rubini, Lablache, Tam- burini, Malibran, and the lovely Henrietta Son- tag, whose beauty of facewas & fatal gift, and whose beanty of song once inspired Beethoven to dream of writing another opera for her: For twenty-five years succeeding, his career was one of constant triumph, and ever growing fame. He was the idol of the public wherever opera was known. They showered riches and sp- plause upon him, snd, for a quarter of a cen- tury, he basked in the sunshine, burdened with souvenirs of Kings and Princes, worshipped by besutiful women, snd greeted with the ap- proval of the most cultivated and eritical sndiences in Enrope. But time is inexorable. It spares nothing in its flight. The fruit that is not gathered inthe summer, withersand shrivels in the late autumn, and, althongh it may cling to the branch until winter winds blow, there is no bloom, nor sweetness, nor perfume in it, and the loitering school-boy will not plack it merely becaunse onceit was fair to see and sweet to taste. Mario still lingers mpon the stage, ‘but not the Mario of old days. The Mario of to-day is & tradition, a reminiscence. There is no hint in his feebls, vague, and wuncertain singingof the prison music in *Trovatore” that he was ever the grandest Manrico on the stage. There is no trace of the Raoul, which delighted even Meyerbeer, in Mario’s einging of that pas- sionate third-act music. The prescnt Mario is but a shadow of the great Mario, His voice is but & broken, whispering echo of that voice which once thrilled and fascinated. He has out- 1fved his successes, and theyhave gone into musi- cal history as facts belonging to another gen- eration. He has outlived almost all that glorions company of singers whom our fathers remember with delight and reverence. Some of them are dead and others have retired from the world, andlive over their triumphs in imagination, count their faded souvenirs as a miser counts his gold, and nowand then fancy they hear ngain the ringing plaudits which welcomed them ond spoke the delight of assembled thousands. He has outlived his fame. He can add nothing more toit. He has no farther delight except to please an old man's innocent fancy, and now he accepts, with all the joy and eagerness of & child, what he would have sparned with royal contempt in the palmy days of his glorious voice, when all the world was a his foet, when women loved and men admired. By a curions coincidence, there are at present three other artists in this country who may bo styled contemporaries of Mario. They'are Mad. Anna Bishop, who has wandered -the whole world over in tho last thirty yoars; Carl Formes, ‘whose voice has been wrecked by time and Gam- Dbrinus combined; and Ronconi, forty years ago tho delight of sll Europe, and the pet of Ros- sini and Donizetti, now glad to accept any position on the stage, a great buffo actor yat, but the voice all gone. As one thinks of this vener- able quartette, aggregating in age over two cen- turies, dating back in successes over half a cen- tury, still clinging to the stage, unwilling to give up its fascinations, unable to live without the tribute of applauso which has allured them 80 many years, it must inevitably produce & feeling of sadness. They must know that they are no longer capable of giving pleasure; that if the public goes to hear them it is simply to gratify s curiosity ; that if it ap- plauds them, it applauds from sympathy. We can conceive of only one way in which this nota- ble quartette could delight their aunditors. An evening with them, over their wine and walnuts, devoted to reminiscence, would be one of the pleasantest and most ambrosial that could be imogined. What doya and nights of revelry; what piquant anecdotes; what musical and con- vivial recollections; what glowing pictures of past triumphs; what strange adventures; what stories of passion, and jealousy, and intrigue, they would recalll How many fascinating vol- umes might b written ont of their experiences! Link them with the past, and they at once are interesting. Connect them with the present, they have nothing in common with it. A gener- ation has grown up sbout.them to which they are strangers. Tho songs they once sang are now sung by younger, fresher voices. The ap- plause they once gathered, and which they now covet, is given to the new comers. Why, then, do they still cling to the stage? There are two answers. First, the majority of artists live from dsyto day. Intheir prime they draw large salaries. But they are imprac- tical and improvident. They save nothing for the morrow. They never look forward to the rainy day which is inevitable. They never im- sagine that a time is coming when the public will 1o longer care to Uster to them; w5d when their powers of fascination will be gone. But that tima always comes, and it comes sooner than they ex- pect. Then theyare without money. They have de- voted their lives to music and they cannot adapt themselves fo any other employment. They have always dwelt withina restricted artistic circle, and they do not enjoy general society, which has little in common with them. There- fore, they are obliged to sing on as best they may, and discount their prestige for such small BumS 88 managers are willing to pay. And so they haunt the stsge, thess shadowy specires of the past, subsisting as best they may upon what small Mammon there is in a memory. The second reason is this, there are some artists who mansge to save enough upon which to live when old age comes and they can sing no more. But they have been intoxicated with years of applause. They have lived &0 long upon it, that they cannot do with- outit, any more than the drunkard can do without his morning beverage. It growstobea necessity of their nature. Forrest is an instance of this on the dramatic stage; Mario on the Iyric. But neither of these factseffect the sad- ness of the spectacle. There has been nothing 1more pitiable in the musical record of Chicago than the appearance of this feeble old man, with the shadow of a voice, surrounded by fresh, young artists, to whom, when he was ot their age, he was incomparably superior, but who now, by contrast, only bring into stronger light the mournfulness of the ruin. DARWIN ON FASEIONS. ‘Though Mr. Darwin's doctrine of Evolution remains an undemonstrated theory, it is sus- ceptible of interesting application to various phases of human life and society. Iis originator ‘has himself given further proof of his ingenuity in adopting it to the development in dress, which he does in & recent number of Mac- millan’s Magazine. The generalidea of devel- ‘ment in dress is the same as that of “election " 28 applied to tho successive spacies of humsn life, one form yielding to & succeeding form better adapted to new surroundings and conditions, but reproducing characteristic remnants of a former condition. There are ‘many analogies between certain forms of dress to-day and those of a formoer age which are curions enough in their relations to the doctrine of Evolution. A few instances naybe cited. The narrow black bands which clergymen wear about their necks seemn tobe utterly use- Iess, but their present retention can be explain- ed by tracing the intermediate stages throngh which they have passed in coming down from the serviceable wide collars worn in the days of Milton, and still retained in their origi- nsl shape by some of the Cambridge choristers. So it is with the hat-band, the only present use of which is to conceal the seam joining the crown to the brim. But these het-bands are the legitimate successors of cords, used in early times just where the present bands are used, for the purpose of fitting the Heod to the head. This change of function is similar to the development, traced by Mr. Darwin, of the swimming bladders of fishes, which give them lightness inthe water, into the lungs of mammals ‘and birds for supporting animal heat. The stove-pipe hat itself is the result of a series of evolutions from the cock-hats of the seven- teenth century, and the silk of which it is made was suggested at first for the ' parpose of imitating the fur originally used. The gen. tleman’s coat of the present day affords several curions instances of this development. Take the two buttons which are universally found on the back just above theslit in the coat-tails, These are of no possible uss, but are the rem- nants of & necessity several hundred years old, when the vest was used a3 a coat is now, and waa fastened behind by & short strap attached to two buttons. Flapping coat-tails, now made available for pockets, were originally employed on account of the general custom and even ne- cesity of horse-back riding. 8o in uniforms. It was cusfomary at one tims to turn upthecorners of the coat-tails; hence, inmany of the uniforms made now, the buttons, along with & change of color in material in these flaps behind, are re- tained, While the practice of actuslly turning ‘back the cort-tails ha been discontinued. Near- 1y all coats, to-day, are made with the semblance of caffs; even buttonsare sewed on to complete the couiiterfeit. This ia simply conforming to the rule of reproducing the characteristics of former ‘species, as, when coats were made of silks and velvets, and were very expensive, it ‘was customary to turn back the cuffs, inorder not to goil them. The custom of making the collars of uniforms of a color differing from the coat iteelf is'simply & tradition of the time of great coats When the collars were turned back and showed the lining. In boots, it isa general ‘practice to make the tops a bright color, though, covered by the pantaloons, they are never seen. It comes down from theold top-boots, worn with koee bieeches, which were frequently tarned back so asto display the inside lining. Numerdus other developments of & similar na- ture might be traced. g Mr. Bret Harte was announced to lecturo in Boston| last Wednesday evening, on the subject of “The Argonauts of *49,” but failed to appear. The Boston fire conld not be made to account for hissbsence, though the Boston fire, like that of Chicago, will be held responsible for pretty much -évery confrefemps that may occur. Mr. James ,Redpath, the manager of the lecture- coursé; was constrained to remind the andience that this was the third time that Mr. Bret Harte —the “Heathen Chinee,” Mr. Redpath called him—Ind dissppointed & Boston sudionce, and . muggested that it is high ° time this man is teught his place.” Just what place Mr. Bret Harte's is, Mr. Redpath did not undertake to define. Mr. Bret Harte and he might differ materially in regard to this. It is not impossible that Mr. Harte may believe his place in America to be'pretty much that which Mr. Dickens occupied in England. Mr. Redpath, on the contrary, may be of the opinion thet there i not enough of Mr. Harte to epread over the whole of Boston and Norih Americe, and that he would have douo betier to remain amid the primitive surroundings of Red Gulch and Poker Flat. The popular judgment will proba- bly conclude that Mr. Harte's place is certainly ot that of an autocrat in the literary field of America. Ho has been a favorite, al- most & pet; but he has mot yet ai- tained the privilege of disdaining other people. Much has been promised for Mr. Bret Harte which he has failed to accomplish. The series of prose sketches, which he made on the Pacific coast, ware ontertaining in themselves, but chiefly remarkable as promises of eomething betterto come. Mr. Harte has not fulfilled the expectations of his friends and patrons. There was to be an American novel ; there was to be an American play ; there were to be varions de- velopments of dormant genius, and elaborations of a new humor, which have not made their ap- pearance. Mr. Harte seems to have been rest- ipg on his lsurels, and luxuristing on a high salary, for a year or more. He has only been beard ‘from occasionsBy, and then, most frequegtly, in the way of insulting some proffered hospitality, . disappointing andiences, or trifling with the puplic. Actors with an am- bition to achieve a reputation for eccentricity; circus-riders given to excessive indulgence in the flowing bowl; handeome fenori accustomed to be petted by the public, sud prime donne sub- Ject to sudden indispositions and peculiar pet- tishness, have been known to contribute some- thing to a profitable notoriety by freaks of a kin with those which Mr. Bret Harte has sometimes committed. Sensible people, bowever, have usually associated these displays of petulancy with ill-breeding, and we should be sorry to think of Ar. Harte a8 a rival of any of the lyric, histrionic, acrobatic, or equestrisn heroes in this respect. Mr. Thackeray used occasionally to disappoint the public when announced to make & speech, but he did so from an unconquersble difiidence. Besides, thero is a degree of success in litera- ture whero the public will forgive everything. Mr, Harte should ask himeelf seriously whether he bas reached this eminence. Meanwhile, ho should delegste to his rival Poet of the Sierras all the extraneous aids to notoriely trat are to be stiained by & defiance of public sentiment and by vagabond infringementa upon the pro- prieties of social life. [ The burtat of the recently-deceased Thecphile Gantier called together a larger assembly of the prominent people of Paris than has been found outside of the Academy since the funeral of the elder Dumas. There were presentMme. Georgo Sand, the Princess Colonna, the Mmes. Brohan, Mesars. Alexandre Dumss, Arsene Houssaye, Emile de Girardin, Taine, About, Paul Feval, Sardon, Gustave Dore, Jules Sandean, and many other literary and social celebrities. Victor Hugo, in his extrems selfichness, was sbsent, just as o few weeka before he had declined an invitation to the wedding of Gautier's daughter, writing a8 snswer to the’ invitation thathe was ¢ busy that day marrying a news- paper to the public.” Bub all the rest of the Paris world was there. M. Alexandre Dumas delivered the funeral oration, and it is spoken. of as the most brillisnt or- atorical effort he has ever made. He pictured Gautier's character most eloguently, in a couple of sentences. Ho spoko of him as fol- lows: * Gautier was & Greek of the time of Pericles,—that is to ssy, he dated from the creation of the world. With Phidias, Socrates, Alcibiades, and Aspasia he ehould bave chatted of .an evening in the gardens of Academies more hospitable than those of to- day; snd the bees that settled upon the lips of Plato shonld have shaken their wings on the lips of Gautier.” _———— In commenting upon the fattering reception which Mr. Froude has found from American andiences, the London Vews notices & redeem- ing characteristic of the American lec- ture system. It is tihe popn_lnr dis- ‘position to give every man of eminence or ability a fair hearing, o matter bow directly his gentiments may be opposed to those of the ma- jority of the people who compogo bis andiences. This feature of impatiality in the formation of Jecture courses is'almost peculiar fo our Iycenm system. Andiences are attracted by the reputa- tion of the speakers or the'interest of their sub- Jects, without special regard to the partisanship of their views. Mr. Wendell Philipps, Mr. Carl Schurz, or Mr. Sumner can always connt upon » large sudience at the announcement of one of their lectures,—an audience thatis made up of the most heterogeneous political divisions. So M. Froude will find everywhere in this country a5 interested a hearing when he spesks his mind on the Irish question, asif he were amonga ‘people unanimously in sympathy with his views. POPULAR FALLACIES. BY PROF. WILLIAM MATHEWS, OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF CHICAGO. * Bome writer remarks that there is a wonderful vigor of constitution in a popular fallacy. When once the world has got hold of a lie, it is aston- ishing how hard it is to get it ont of the world. You beat it about the head, and it seems to have given up ‘the ghost; and lo! the next day, like Znchary Taylor, who didn't know when he was whipped by Santa Anna, it is alive and as lusty a8 ever. a Proofa of ths truthof this observation will suggest themselves to every one. Of the scores of fine sayings that have the advantage of being fallacicis, one of the most pop- ular is the assertion that a boaster is always a coward.” It would be very agreeablo to find this 805 but so far is it from being true, that among the bravest people on earth are the Gascons, who are such bioasters that we have derived a contemptuous «pithet from their name. They are unquestionably the most coursgeous and fiory-spirited of the Frankish race—ssucy, full of gibes, and quarrelsome as & wedsel,"—and their valor and coolness i danger, their im- menss vamity, and “mountainous iE,” as Emerson would term it, are so notorious that they are almost invarisbly selected for heroes by some of the best; French novelists. ‘Was Achilles, orany one of Homer’s heroes, & coward? Yet tho great father of poetry, who dis- sected the human heart as keenly as any modern anatomist, makes his champions “crow like Chanticleer” over their achievements on all possible occasions. Who is ignorant, too, that Milton’s Satan, whose sublimest characteristic ishis “unconquerable will, the resolution not to submit or yield,” brags incessantly, in the most sarcastic and biting language, of the *‘fell rout” with which he has visited the hosts of heaven? With s few exceptions, the Southern rebels were all insufferable boasters, from Jef. Davis downwarci; yet did they often show the white feather on. the field? Did evera braver man draw sword than General Wolfo? Yet we are told that dining with Pitt, the British Minis- ter, on the day befors hisembarkation for Amer- ica, he broke, as the evening advanced, intos disgusting strain of gasconade and bravado. Drawing his sword, he rapped tho tablo with it, flourished it around the room, and talked of the mighty things which that sword was to achieve, till the two Ministers, Pitt and Temple, stood aghast; and when Wolfe had taken his leave, and his carriage was heard to roll from the door, the former, shaken for tire moment in the high opinion which his deliberate judgment had formed of the soldier, lifted up his eyes and arms, and exclaimed to the latter: ‘“Good God! that I should have entrusted the fate of the country and tie Administration to such hands!" It is said that “a barking dog doesn’t bite;” but those persons who, relying upon this saw, heve pro- Joked a bull-dog to plant his teeth in their calves, know better. Read the life of that brav- est and most braggazt of artists, Benvenuto Cel- lini, compared with whom Falstaf was an incar- pation of bumility, and you will abandon ihe popular but foolish motion that real talent is never vain, and real courage never boastful. Akin to the foregoing hackneyed fallacy, is another on everybody's lips, viz., that “ brave men are never cruel” Bravery has nothing to do with either cruelty or clemency; it is alike independent of either. There are cases, doubtless, whera brave men, not fearing their onemies, have spared their lives; while & coward, from very fear, would have shown nomercy. But the brave men who ‘havebeen habitnally merciful, have been very few. Did any man, however he might have execrated. the cruelty of Haynaa, “the Austrian butcher,” doubt his courage? True, he Wwas a woman- whipper, and proved himself to have had a bru- tal disposition ; but did he ever show himseif pigeon-livered on the battle-field, or, if insulted by another, would he have hesitated to measure swords with him? Was Graham of Cleverhouse & coward ?—yet did he not shoot innocent peas- ants without hesitation or compunction? Was Bonaparte a coward >—yet did he not, with cold- blooded cruelty, order Palm, the bookseller, and the Duke & Enghien to be shot, and butcher thousands of Turkish prisoners at Jaffa? Did he not leavs a legacy to Cantillon, the wonld-be assassin of Wellington? IsNa- . poleon IIL. & coward 2—yet - did-he~not,.on -the: 2d of December, 1852, mow down thousands of the citizens of Paris with his canon to place him~ gelf on the throne of France? Did Marius or Sylla ever show the white feather, or the conrage of Richard the Third ooze out, like that of Bob Acres, at his fingers' ends? ~ The Duke of Alva, who shot down the Netherlanders like dogs, was never twitted of {imidity. Nobody ever donbted Lord Nelson’s bravery, yet 2 British writer ad- ‘mits that he practised the most atrocious cruelty on the Neapolitan patriots, to say nothing of the iufamous breach of faith by which those cruel- ties were precoded. Another popular fallacy s, that “murder will out.” That such were the fact, is a consumma- tion devoutly to be wished ; but almost every year proves its fallacy. The crime is, indeed, of &0 startling a character, and the remorse often 80 poignant, that the perpetrator cannot so easily remain concealed as the knave who robs a bank or picks s pocket. There is an astonishing number of cases where the crime, even after long concealment, hue been discovered; and the esceptions are comparatively 8o few, that they may well deter those who meditate the act. Yet there have been murders, the suthors of which have never been, and probably never will De, rovealed,—not, ot lesst, till the lifting of the curtain at the Last Day shall disclose them. Who has forgotten the famous Canmon street murder of 1866, committed at 8 o’clock in the evening in ono of tho most crowded thorough- fares of London—a crime to the author of which not- the alight- est clue has yet been found? Or who has forgotten the Rogers homicide in New York, the perpetrator of which is still ehrouded from the public eye,—a homicide that took place at7 o'clock in the morning in the open street, within & few steps of Broadway, when much of the in- dustrial life of the city was already astir? To these instances we might 2dd the myaterions murder of Parker gome tweniy years agoin Manchester, N. H. ; that of Estes, the fireman, in Boston; that of Appleby, the grocer, on Ran- dolph street in this city, about 9 o’clock in tle evening, in 1856; 2nd, more recently, the yet | ‘baffling mystery of the Nathsn murderin New York. A strange paradoxin the history of soma ' of these crimes is that the difficulty of tracing : them to their authors has been aggravated, 2p- parently, by the very lack of caution and secrecy in their commission. Another popular fallacy, which is on the tongues of the friends of political liberty, is that *it is impossible to stifle the expression of public opinion.” A very pleasant doctrine this for those to believe who live under adespotism; monotonous music. The martyr's blood has not: alwaysfallen on fruitful soil. Many s heresy hog died in the bud, which, had ‘it 'been 1éft to- ripen unmolested, wonld hawe blown into'a vie- torious creed and a dominant Church. The pop- ular opinion on this subject .ould . not easily have gained credence s few centuries sgo. Mr. " Mill has ehown, in his esssy on Liberty, that it is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat one after another till they pass into com- monplaces, but which all history refutes. Twenty times before Luther -the reformation broke out, and was put down; Savoranols was put down ; the Albigenses were pat down ; the Tollards were put down; the Hussites were put - down; and so were the folllowers of "Luther everywhere, except where the. heretica were too strong to be effectually persiccuted. In Spain, Italy, Flanders, and the Austrian Empire, Proke estantism was rooted out; snd, had Mary lived, or Elizabeth died, the same. probably wonld havoe been its fate in England. Itis a pieceof idle sentimentality, says Mr. 24ill, to affirm thst truth has any inherent power dienied to error, of prevailing against. the dungeo nand the stake. The sum of the matter is, that i bis only at a time when it appears *#Willing to wound, and yet af raid to strike,” when it only temses and irritates, withont destroying, that persecutiom is followed by an effect contrary to that in- tended. *Parsecution - not effectnal!” ex- claims & writer,—*it might be s proper to eay that steel and poisom do nmot kill. The real truth is, that there is a tendency in things, mn- der a certain amount of persecation, to rise into, greater vigor, 2s fire burns more brightly mder- a slight sprinkling of water ; but, under a sufi- cient emount of persecution, their repression is 25 unavoidable ag the extinction of the same fire by = eufficient quantity of waber.” 0f all the plsusible fallacios which pass car- rent in spite of repeated oxposures of their shallowness, there isno one which has got a firmer hold upon the public mind then that ‘con- tained in the phrase, “It is always - circulating money.” Chide ‘s fast™ man of your scquaintance for his reckless espenditares, end ho meets yon -with the tri- ; umphant reply that ho is doing int'nitely more } good by spendiug than by hoarding:; he is a i blessing to his race—s public benefactor ; he is i “doing all he can to circulate monex.” Half 5 ! dozen young epicures meet at a hotel or restau- rant, and order a dinner at $5or $10 a head: | they guzzle or waste food and wine the price of i which would maintain sn ordinary family a { month ; this unenjoyed, unenjoyable excess ia not only not censurable, it ig absolutely praise- . worihy—¢ for, d'ye see? it is always circulating money.” The economists, on the other hand, who husband their means, are demounced “They lock up i without stint or measure. money, and keep it from circulating. Nobody is the better for i, not even themselves.” The truth, on the contrary, is that the savers of money are the ckief benefac- tors of a country, for it is by them, more than by any other citizens, that not only its material, but its moral interests, are advanced. Railways, telegraphs, schools, colleges, public libraries, museums,—public works in which hosts of lztor- ers are employed,—are only possiblo becanse of these savings. The accumulations of the sordid- est miser are as gerviceable as the cain in a fra- der's till; for they are employed in bank busi- ness, in manufactures, in &' thousend forms of hired cepital, besi’es paying o constent and ever-increasiag tax to the - State. But money spent - mselessly,—as upsn tha turf, for costly wines, or high-priced luxuries,—or money speat for vanity, and not for enjoyment, is absolutely wasted. It maintains persons whose labor, that might ‘have been usefal to the community, is of no ac- tual benefi, either to the spenders orto man- kind. When adollar’s Worth of food is needless- - ly consumed, the. communityis mede just a dollar poorer. When a dollar is sawed, and loaned, or employed, its power to bless the com- munity hasno limitin time, foi all {ke great operations of concentrated labor, by whick a country is made s desirable one to live in, ara the Tesults of capital thus husbanded. 1t is pertinent to the present discussion or applying steam to the locomotion of str:et cara to notice that a reasonably successful e:¥ort in this direction has been made in New Yok City, within the past week, on what is Inown as the Bléecker streét line.” The dummy car 12sed on that occasion is described as follows : Tt has tho appearance of an ordinary street car, ang 15 of the same size. The machinery by which itis pro~ elled occupies the front platforz, is entirily sepa- Tated from the interior, and also invisible from that point. It is provided with a compound engine of five. ‘orse power, which can be increased to 20-horse power without sny complicated mechsnism. T-3e cylin- ders are placed under the front plaiform in direct connection with the forward axle. On this platform is 3 small box containing cosl sufiicient for yalf a day, Itis said that the car can run :ifty milea with 200 pounds of coal. The water-tank '8 beneath the resr platform, the water being heated from tha exbausted steam. The car itself-is heated by means of steam-pipes running beneath the seats on exch side of thecar. No unplessant heat is experienced from proximity to the boiler, as it is separated from the interior by a non-conducting pariition. The enginecr stops tho car by suddenly reversing the engine. ~Even when the car s running at the Tate of six miles an Rour, 1t can be stopped within 25 feet, and with the aid of brakes, within half of #a own length. Two Toen only ate required on & car, a conductor and an engineet. - The car wes run on the track in its usual con- dition, and this line of street railway has mors short curves, sharp turnings at cormers, end steeper grades than any other line in New York City. Yet it did not fly the track-once during the trip, and it is said not to have frightened a eingle horse. It drew another car with it, both containing seventy-five or eighty persons. The President of the linowas presentat the trial, and expressed himself as entirely satisfied with the experiment. Whether this dummy will come into nse will depend upon the action of the Common Council and the Directors of the road. The President signified his intention of recom- mending its adoption. —_— Certain nowspapers of the State scem to be of {he opinion that the only persons now called upon to discuss political questions are those who were elected to some office in the late cam- paign. All others were persistently urged to leave all political questions to the Legisla- tares, all nominstions to the Caucus, and all ap- pointments to the Administration, and “move on.” If there were no other reason, we weuld discuss these sppointments and clections, be- causo the class of papers which demand that they shall be left to the * Cancua ” thereby closa their -own months against all discussion of them, and if they are mot dis- cassed by the independent press they wonld not be discussed at all. The kind of criticism they would meet from the Caucus”™ argans would | be of about as much value 2s that of the man | who inquired of a delegate, after the Baltimore Convention of 1852, *Whom have they nomi- nated?” “Fronklin Pierce, of New Hamp- shire,” angwered the delegate. *Just the man for the place—they could not have named s bet- ter,” responded the enthmsiastic eloctor. “By but it is useless for those who fail to resist the first encroachments of arbitrary power, ere it has become irresistible, tolay this flattering unc- tion to their souls. There are, indeed, a thou- sand cunning devices and shrewd expedients which ingenuity may hit upon to defeat the force of restrictive measures, and enable a down- trodden party partially to circulatets doctrines; and hence, the Abbi Galiani has defined the sublime oraloire as the art of saying eterything without being sent to the Bastile, in an age when one is prohibited from ssying anything. But one has only to look at France and Austris 28 they were till within a few years,—indeed, at the whole continent of Europe,—to ses how completely, for all practical purposes, the ex- pression of opinion may be silenced by bayonets and cannon. One of the most deeply-rooted popular falla~ cies is the opinion that persecution never suc- ceeds, but only adds strength and force to the thing persecuted. A stereotyped illustration of this subject is the damming up of a river, which breaks forth, by and by, with redoubled vio- lence and fary. But historydiscourses no such th way, who do you say it iS—again?” ¢ Frank lin Pierce, of New Hampshire.” ¢ And who thy devilis he?” A new religious sect has recently sprang up ia London of & very novel charscter, which is styled by the ungodly ‘The Howling Repente ants.” The principal characteristic of the wore ship of the sect seems to be howling. Repulsr times are fixed in the day for howling, and twice every nmight tha votaries are obliged to rise and howl ‘When they meet together for service, they meet in the open air and howl in concert. The pros- pects for the spre:d of the mew religion, how- ver, aro nob very cheering. This constsn{ howling ou every occasion, especially in the silence of the nllighfi 1;:)01:, brings them in con- with the police, who have no i e, . ako thom off B thn Tation houses, where sny further attempta to howl are discourzged. by methods well known to poli en. The police evidently have the same opin- o "owling round about it.” * i