Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, April 27, 1873, Page 8

THE CHICAGO' DAILY TRIBUNE:.SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 1873. TERMS: OF THE TRIBUNE . TPRNS OF SUBECIPTION (PAYADLE I ADTANCE). Dail roall.....812.00 | Sunday. i R 500 ey Parts of a year at the same rate. 3 . _To preveat delay and mistakes, be sure and give Post O ce nddresa in full, including State and County. ‘Remittances may be mado eithor by draft, ugxw, Post Ofiica ordor, or in 1cgistercd ottors, at our TG 7o GITE SUB: 2 ..::85-50 Deils, delivered, Suoday excepted. 85 conts per woek. Dails, dolisered, Sanday faclnded; 50 centa, nor soe Addres THE TRIBUNE COMPANY. Corner a4 Dearbora-sts.. Ohicago, Il BUSINESS NOTICES. OVERNMENT ARTIFICIAL LIMB MANUFAC- DR. J. E. GARDNER, cornor Bixtecath st A o zicont sbaali v, Iatho ooly one 15 Chicago sathorised > 2 en: the Government’ spparatus. The Chicags Tribune. Sundsy Morning, April 27 1873. THE TAXES FOR 1873. The good citizens of Chicago who express sur- prise at the largo difference between their tax bills for 1871 and - 1872, should remember that the tax-rate of 1671 was reduced one-half after the fire, while thers was no corresponding re- dnction of the appropriations and expenditures. e consequence was that there was a large de- ficiency. This deficiency has been increased from time to time by the refusal of large prop- erty-owners to pay their taxes, which refusal they have boen able to mako socure by sppeals to the Bapreme Court, and other devices. Bince the fire, the city has beenin the receipt of the money from the State on- account of the Canal lien, which has been practically & loan, a8 the city hes to pay the interest, and eventually the principal, of the bonds issued for that work. Considering the cxtraordinary circumstances of the city since the fire, the ratcof texation has ‘becr extremely low. Bunt the time for payment, end tha time for taxation to meet that payment, hos come; the tax bill for 1872is of necessity ‘much greater than that of 1871, bub the tax bills for 1878 promise to be of much greater ‘magni- tade. The city tax levy for 1872 was abont §4,200,- 000. The expenss of the polico and fire depart- ments was puid largely-out of the money ob- tained from the Btate, and it Was not unreason- gbla to expect that the direct levy for 1873 will 2211 short-of £5,000,000, if ‘indeed it *do.not ex- ceed that sum. The city portion of tho fax levied for county purposes for 1873 was abont $1,200,000,—the only reason wby it as not twice that sum was the sbsolute limitation of the now Constitution. The * Btate ‘Auditor having now resolved to gquadruple the assessment or +aluation, the County Commissiorers will have power£o maks the ::it}\s share of the county levy any sum not exceeding \32,800,000 for now expen- ditures, snd 08 much additionel as may be needed to pay the interest-end principal of the debt existing before 1870, How far this addi- tional power to levy taxes and expend money +will be exercised by, the Board of County Com- missioncrs - can bo best understood by reading over a Hist of the names of the Commissioriers. © It is probable that the city will be called upon to contribute at least €9,500,000 towards the county taxes for 1873, The samo Board has obtained suthority to issue bonds to tho sum of 1,500,000, provided the people vote affirmatively therefor at the next election ; but, if the valuation or assessment be incressed four-fold, the Commissioners will have suthority to issus the bonds withont ssking the popular cousent,and the issue of these bonds will invelve an additional levy of £105,000 annually for interest. - The -State tax for 1873 will be sbout §500,000; but, should there be n0 change made in the school levy for State' purposes, the aggregate, State tax in this county will not bo less than $900,000." The town taxes in the eity will be sbout $50,000; the West Sido Pork tax €175,000; Sonth Side Park taxes £250,000; North Side Park taxes $300,000." The cost of special improvements will be in round numbers £1,000,000. The tax levy in Chicago for all_parposes, for 1873, will approximate to In this estimate there is nothing the city's share of the new Court-House. - There is a portion of the money derived from the State . applicable to that purpose. - When that shall bs expended there must bo{resort to direct tax. That {he ccunty is to bear half the costof the Court-House is & mere legal fiction,—the city constitnting, so-far as taxation is corcerned, six-gevenths of the connty. B Includod in the list of -taxes is the million of Aollars for specisl improvemonts which will bo ‘borne' by those whose property is benefited. The Park taxes zxo 50 _equally. distributed - that they may be considered & generaltax. Doduct- ing the special nssessments, there will be & tax of from’ eight and & half to nine millions" of Hollars to be collected in this city for.the year' 1873, “Is thiat tax, under all the circumstances, oxeessivo? It incindes s large portion of ex- penditures ‘made nocessary by the fire, and by the changed policies of tho city and State Gov- * ornmente. Some partion is dus; also, to tho loose wiiich city affairs isve been conducted in the past,-which fact has boen moro complicated | by the ‘destraction of ali tho ‘city. records. It has-been mado. necessary by the great iich hils taken plsce in all manner of Pusiness in Chicago, and to” tho extension of ‘business quarters to points lefetofore considerod romote. - The new city is' not only the old one robuilt; but tho ‘ares covéred with permanent buildings is double what ‘it -was before the fir. ‘The bubrirbs of the city have been'moved out- wrard in all directiors, and the once bare and tn- covered places” are novw - habited and cecupled. The demand for fire and police -ecrvice has been- correspondingly increased, and in' like manner’ all othor. hiriches- of the public, servics have grovn In gize and expenso.” Wien this wliole tax, feghlar and oxtraordinary, for Stite, Oduity, and Manicipal, is sproad upon the whole property | wslacs of the city, it will-be~ found to be flaige only by comparison‘with the taxes of previous years, and to bear 3 smaller proportion to the sctug] value of the taxables in the .city- than is - the tax-levy of any other large city in the coun- try.. Théro has never been o full assessment of the value of property in this city, nor hos there sver been more than a méfe approximation to tho value of two-thirds of the proporty. The sooner there is an assessment ; upon ' actual valucs, not only ‘of property in tho central parts of tho city, bubin all its sections, tho soonér will ihere be an honest and fiir distribution: of the sthole tax “upon all property 'according to- its walus, and the sooner will it be found that that tax is neither exorbitant or oppressive. Friend Enoch Hosg, the Indisn Superintend- entof the Contzal Superintendency, in & recent ' interview with the Secretary of the Interior ad~ vised that ths Government, whonever it intends to send surveying parties intoan Indian country, &hould appriso the Indisns of ils purposo, s0 as to disarm their spprohensions. Perhaps it would be better to quit surveying altogether rather {han inconvenience the distinguished gentlemen who lead rosming lives on the Westorn plains. It would st least be preferablo to & formal notifica- tion when and where thoy can havea certain number of scalps overy time the Government has » job of surveying on hand. Thesmount of solic- itude which Indian Agents and Superintendents have for the Capt. Jacks and Shack-Nasty Jims is as touching as it is tender. THE PIANO NUISANCE. A novel suit has recently been brought in Paris, which has attracted considerable interest in that city, as it involves the piano nuisance,—n nuisance, by the way, which is not confined to Paris. In tho gay capital, however, it is more of a nuisance than elsewhere, 88 most people there | livo in flats and thin partitions are the rale, and there is nothing to prevent piano-plsying on all six floors at once, if there shonld happen to bo o piano on each floor. An enterprising land- lord, the owner of one of the handsomest ‘houses'in the fashiénsble Boulevard Hausmann, who had endured the nuisance until patience had ceased to bo a virtue, recently brought an action against one of the piano-pounders, and, for a time, at least, has eilenced the jingling in- strument,” and dwells in peaco, His tenont, Madsme Chaises, s widow lady, it appears, hasa daughter whose devotion . to the pisno wis something ramarksble, < In his ‘dec- laration he stated ‘that the young lady ploye . all day, from 8 ‘in tho moming until far int6 the night. He complained that the gamut and chromatic scale, and simplo exer- cises, are followed by merciless concertos, son- atas, fantasids, and variations, with every vatiety of adagio, andante, allegro, and presto, most atro- cionsly porformed. - The counsel for the land- ‘lord pleaded the old logal wmaxim, sic ulere tuo ut alienum non ledas (“uso yous own property 80 a8 mot to sbuse your neighbors™). Ho “acknowledged - the ‘Tight of every ' person to have & piano, at homo, and play it, . but -“denied the right of =any ono to use it excessively 50 a8 to disturb a whole neighborhood, and, therefore, asked for an in- ’ junction. Thelsndlord hadmeanwhile offered as & compromise that mademoiselle might play from -11 8: m. to 6 p. m., and from 8 p. m. to 10 p. m., which would give Liér neighbors an opportunity to enjoy their breskfasts and dinners, and eleop without disturbance.” The decision granting the injunction : affeots the piano-playing, how- ever, only temporarily. The-question must come beforo & higher tribunal for. ul- timate settlement,” and tho eventusl dispo- sition of the piano maniacis looked forward to with great interest. - Many sympathizing suffer- ers in this conntry and in this city will also watch for the decision and pray that it may be in favor of tho landlord. ‘Ihere can be no keener torture than to ba compelled to listen from 8 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clack at night, to a mod- erately muscular young ‘woman, who dotes upon s piano and pounds away upon the “MMonas- tery Bells,” or “Battle. of Prague,” sweotly oblivions that there are sad, suffering souls in the vicinity who can't eat or sleep, that thero are nervous people going through various forms of distraction, that thero are cmphatic peoplo +who aro plunging themselves into dreadful pro- fanity, all on ber account. Tho nuisoace is with- out excuse. Thero are ot present about five great fomalo pianists in tho world who have reached their position by _incessant practico and hatd study. There afe at tho samo time ‘probably milliohs apon raillions of young women +who are jealons of these five, and are striving to xéach their position, with the prospect that five more out of these many millions may succeed. Is this any reason why every neighborhood should bo afilicted “with five-finger exercises from eumly mom to dowy ' ove, With running accompaniments of sonatas, songs, and mazurkas. Thero was o time when the hand-organ was an unmiligatod curso, but that dispenser of tunes is peripstetic. It can be moved on by pennies and policemen, but tho pinno is stationary. -No connter-irritant has yet been invented which can stop it. There was & lover of his kind who once invented a dummy piano,” upon which embryonic *artistes could poniid away and run ecales oll dsy long. withont making any noise, but the invention was frormed down Im- mediately, " and thus tho torment con- tfinnes. To those who live in apartments, or aro foreordained to dwell in boarding-houses, where there are pianos of the tin-pan description, and who have exhausted every species of argument, such as pounding with & ‘poker, execuling war- dances on the floor above, disbolical threats in anomymous letters, p.nd -plaintive epistles sot- ting forth the Jow condition of &, mother-in-law, it will come like apoultics to'heal the blows of sourid if:the" fioal decision m Franco shall be against ‘tho -piano nuisance. - A piano, properly instrument § and as long as human natare is s0 constituted that 1o young woman’s educa- tion is complete = without kEeing able piano, _and children . cry- for _it, .. pianos. will bo both mado and played. But this does not oxcuse tho sbuso of them; nor is thero any young person yot born in- Chicago 8o proficient that she has the right to intarfers with the com- fort of & wholo neighborhood. I[f we must have ‘piano, lét it be pia X v : ‘WAS HE T0.BLAME ? _'A very curious, or' at least a very intercsting, case has Tecontly come before the London courts, which, although very ordinary and even commonplace in itsclf, has' novertholoss some extinordinary surrouridings, and involves a prob- lem which ia. worthy of some’ study by sociel philosophers.;. The defendant in tho. case was Mr. H.Weightmun, s London barrister of thirty . years’ standing, and of hitherto irreproachable character, whose offence was purloining & book trom! the Toner-Templo Library, which ke after- wnrd,slolfifmn(e? shillings in order to obtain a dinfer. The yolume was an American legal work which hed just arrived in England. Thero were only three- copies -in the country,-and, as ‘thera was but one in the library, the loss was & seversne. The ovidence wes conclusive against him, : and, upon the finding of ‘the vordict of ‘guilty, - the . Coutt * sentonced him to- six months’ imprisosment st hard lsbor. Commenting upon’ thie - severity’ of the | gentence, the ' London - Fews sarcastically remarks: . “As things ‘go; - the sentence wasnot severe. If Ar. Weightman hadbada wife, snd if, posséssed of that tresure, he had forthwith cut her head open oz flung her down a flight of stairs, he would probably have been condemned to & lighter punishment, Bufthe 1aw deals otherwise with péople who steal—even ‘ with poople who only eteal books of law_valued at & fow shillings.” The first remarkable featare of the case is, that a barrister of thirty years’ standing in London, who was well known in his profession, who had always borne o Epotless character, and in whose life there appears to bo no.cause for.failure, shonld have been so reduced in circumstances a8 to find himself unablo to procure & meal with- ont thoft, and that he should have persisted in remaining in o profession which,: after thirty yeara of practice, loft him stranded and without the means of caring for himself in" old age. There are, however, many instances whero men yiad to the fascinations of a certain pro- fossion; and mever leave it, or, if they do, always return to it again, when they know that it can only provide for them the means to sus- tain lifo as they go along, and mnothing more, leaving them in timo of sicknoss or mecessity with nothing for support. Nothing, in fact, i8 more common than to find men of great ability, and even of great learning, who labor hard, lsbor oven by day and by night, and yei at the end of overy year find themselves with no more money than they hsd when thoy commenced. They may bo honest, frugal, temperate, and indus- trious, and yet the result is tho samo. Their sbility, valuable as it is, nevor finds a market whoro any results can be reslized from it. This general view of tho question was the only ono which the prisoner took ; and he fol- lowed it out to its natural sequence and laid the blame upon society, in a speech which he made to the Court. In the course of his remarks, he aid *“ho had lived for weeks and months with- out a dinner, simply on broad and tos, and such nutriment as that. Hohad sold the coat from his back and the shirt from his skin in order to supply bis deily wants, but ho had never been guiltyof dishonesty. Hohad worked hard. On the shelves of tho Inner Temple Library there wero now books of which he was the author, which he, had presented to tho Library, and which were of much more value: than tho 0dd volume which had beon paraded before the Court. He had dono all that mortal man could do to obtain an honest and honorablo livelihood; ‘and, as he understood from the witnesses who had so. kindly como forward-on his behalf, he had guained an irreproachable character es & man of played, s proper times, is a'very tolerabls | to; .execute the ““Bluo Danube™ on the’ honor and & gentloman.” §iHo then spoko with great feeling of tho waste of his life's labor with which he hud sought to lay down some sort of foundation npon which a suporstructure might be erected that would save him for tho rest of his life from sheer poverty and destitution. He then pointed out to the Judge that he had tho power to sentence bim to” five years' penal servitnde, and begged that tho full sentence should be proncunced. He even begged that no heed should bo given to the rec- oommendation to mercy which was ffixed to the vordiot by the jury. * Whatover might be the ‘sentence,” ho oaid, ho hoped he should be able o bear it with iho resignation of a Christian, and with .the fortitude of & well-born, and,— he trusted. ho -might add, notwithstand- ing the verdict,—of o well-conducted English gentleman.” The meaning of all this is that, having tried es well and as faithfully eshe could to getaliving, and having feiled through no fault of his, ho was willing that socioty might ‘punish hirh e it saw fit, and, undoubtedly, in his own mind ho felt that society was ot fault for tho theft, and not ho. Like many another, he had & cloim against the world for a living, and the world, having rofused to pay tho claim, might completo its injustice by any punishment it chose. Many and many a man has felt that the world has not done him justice, and it has been sadly trao in many cascs ; but for have regard- ed it in the philosophical vein of tho book-pur- loiner. * Many get even with the world by stealing large sums, and escape punish- ment. ' This Mr. Weightman would not do. He only took enough to get himself & meal, with the evident conviction that any means to obtain his dinner was justifiable, and, in this view, there is unquestionably both s poetic and practical injustico in his sentence for such an insignifi- cant crime. Why this man, who had not been idlo, intemperate, extravagant, or profligate, should, after thirty years' laborious practice, suddenly find himsel? not only withont provision for the exigencies of old age, but even without money onough to purchase his next meal, is s problem for the social philosophars to solve. TWhether, after a thirty vears' effort to obtain the means of life which had resulted in utter failure, ho was in reslity criminally guilty, isa problem for the moral philosophers to solve. It tho world owed him a living, and refused to pay ity was not tho world at fault in this case? FRENCH TRAITS. BY FROP. WILLIAM MATHEWS, OF THE USIVEDSITY OF CHICAGO. A ) Of ol tho civilized peoples on the globe thers 15 n0 one whosa.character is 80 fall of sceming, if not real, paradoxes, asthat of the French. Al- ways better or worse than they aro expected to be,—one dey sinking far below tho level of hu- ‘manity, at another soaring far sbove it,—now electrifying the world by their brilliant thoughts or deods; and snon provoking its indignation or scorn by their servility, egotism, or meanness,— the French are so unchangeable that their distinctive featuros may bo recog- nized ‘in portraits drasn by Cmear and others ‘nearly two thousand years' ago, and yet so fickle .that omo mot familinr with_ their whole career is often half inclined to doubt their identity. Coleridge says of them, with the usual English narrowness, that they are like gunpowder; cach iodividuil is smutty and contemptiblo; bub maes them iogether, and they are terrible. . Intellectuslly, they are equal- Jy golid and brilliant ; do everything thoroughly, yet display the most exquisite taste in trifles.’ Weo aro wont to speak of them as superficial ; yet where do you find profounder scholars than in France, or workmen who better understand the rnles and principles of their art? Looking on this lively and chattering people, ono. is about ready to concludo that your profound bigwigs aro mostly shallow dogs—that it is only your gay and frivolous . follows. that aro ‘deep! No people have quicker or, keener perceptions ; none probe moro thoroughly to tho coro everything which they investigate. Theyare équally skilled in cards and chess, and in marghaling battalions on the field; they ara alike at home in calcnlat- ing the revolutions of plauets in their orbits, and in cutting pigeon-wings in a balltoom. Thoy have their La Places and their Lubins; they are alike unrivaled in fillagreo and in mathematics. Their profoundsst thoughts fre bon-mots; their jeats voil doep philosophical theories. Tt is Paris that is foremost in Jearned monkoys and in learned sciontista ; Paris that furnishes us with our latest theories of philosophy; Paris ‘that furnishes us “with our latest styles of ‘fancy goods, our latest fash- ions.in dress. ~Qur coxcombs ape the Paris- ian manners; our novelists steal the French writers' plots; our Generals -borrow - from Turenne and Napoleon their art of war. .8ydney °| Bmith’ once "said of Lord John Bussell, that he" was ready at & moment’s notice togoupina ‘ballocn, to perform an operation for cataract, or to take command of the Channel fleet. Buta Frenchman's genius is far more veraatile; he can, in the same hour, discover a-now planet, draw a caricature that will convulse the public with merriment, invent s new soup that will ‘make an epicure scream with joy, golye, an enig- 'ms that Wwould have puzzled the SphinX, nnd carry & Malakoft by s coup de main. There is but one thing which s Frenchman cannot learn to do - well, and that is—to govern and to De governed. Byron - hardly, slandered them when he’pro- nonnced them” "~ A geopls who will not be rule oy . And love tauch rather {o bo.6courged {han scheoled. + Franco was rightly characierized by De Mais- tro, in 1796, a8 a ropublic without Republicans,— - & nation too noble to be eralaved, and too impet- ious to bo free, - Indecd, they ate the only peo- plo that ever existed, among whom -a ,govern- maent can be hissed off tho stzge like o bad play, and ita fall excits less consternation than the vi- olation of a fashion in drese. " g In what otlier peopls can be found such a union of genius and childhood; Eucha fondness for routine, yet sucha prononess, when forced to abandon old customs and principles, to_push the new to their’ farthest limit; so profound & love of freedom in theory, and yet such willing- ness to recognize such s vast standing army as .the onlybasis ot civil government ; 80 exquisite & taste in the ornamental, and 80 savage an Igno- rance of the comfortable; s0.’much ountward re- ‘finoment with somuch inward unscropulousness ; 0 much etiquette,with solittleselt-sacrifico; such fertility of resources in exigoncies, and euch blindnoss to tho lessons of experienco; aspira- tions eo vivid, with so little sense of what con- stitutes true glory ; such a senaitiveness to tri- fles, and such an indifference to & political revo- Ilution? A Fronchran Is versatile, and does all things .with equal gusto and enthusiasm; he chucklos with equal joy at finishinga toy to his mind, “and in giving to & new ecionce its crowning per- feotion. He can spend hours in chasing butter- flies, or ho can pass lifo-timo in_elaborating & favorito theory, and in digging, into the mys- terios of & dry and complex subject. Heis the geyest man on the globe; and the likeliest to send a pistol-ball through his own brain; the most fickle of men, and tho most obstinate ; the politest, and tho -most irnsciblo; the devoutest, and tho most atheistic ; & frisnd whom you shall win with o feather, and lose with & straw; the most pregnant of talkers, and the ‘most diffuso ; an orator who, as Dr. Donne said of Lady Anne, can glide at once from predesti- nation to slea-silk,” or, as De Quincey said of Bishop Borkeley, *pass with -the utmost easo and speed from taz-water to tho Trinity—from & moleheap to the thrones of a God-head.” He will wear, without shame, the shabbiest clothes, yot stop in the strect befors a looking-glass to curl his moustache and adjust his cravat; he will fight liko & tiger for & ropublic, yet lie meek ‘a8 a spaniel under an empire. In ghort, to the casual observer, a Frenchman is a riddle that defles solution—na psychological puzzle. ' He id s compound of paradoxes; & harmony of differ- ences; & being born under the contending in- fluences of Mercury and Saturn. i But, lest we should ‘seem to bo aiming atan- tithesis rathor :than at trath, let us cite the santhority of a Iate French writer, who, perhaps, better than any other, undarstood tho true char- acter of his countrymen. “ Qualified for every pursuit,” saya Alexis De Tocqueville, *but ex- calling in nothing but war, more prone to wor- ahip chance, force, success, eclat, noise, than real glory; endowed with moro heroism than virtuo, more genius than common sense; better adapted to the conception of grand dosigns than the sccomplishment of great enterprises; the most brillisnt and tho most dangorous nation of Furopo, and the one that is surest to inspire admi- ration, Liatred, terror, or pity, but never indiffer- ence,"—the French exhibit the bizarre union of the most oppositequalities ; tho harmonicus jux- taposition of apparently the most antagonistic elements of lifo, of nature, and of character. 1t is unfortunatothat in judging of the French our estimates aro unconsciously more or less ‘affected by the impressions derived from Eng- lish literature. Nothing can bo more ludicrous or moro untrue then the caricatures which most ‘Engiish tourists have given to the world as po- tographs of the French peoplo. Till letely, it has scemed hardly possible for an Enpglishman to write sbout his neighbors across the channel withont dipping his pen in gall ; and jst as the first and the 360th degrees of tho circle are tho forthest apart, though the nearest together, so theso two pooples, thoughbut twentymilos apart, have urdorstood each. othor s little as though living on opposite sides of tha globe. Judging by many of these libels, one would suppose thst one of Nature's journoymen had made the Frenchman, and not made him well. An English historian admits that, till a few yeara 1880, the Frenchman was regarded by John Bull with utter contempt. He was a lean, half- starved, lankoy-legged creature, looking in hope- Toss despair, and with watery mouth and bleared eyes, at a round of English beef. His attitudo was grotesque; his language even becamo im- ‘mensely amusiog, becanse hie did not speak Eng- lish with tho slang of a hackney-coachman and the pronunciation of & Cockney. Ho was _nick- named Jack Frog, because he was supposed to foed on those insubstantial animals, which wero also fancied to be the exact image of himself in happiness of motion and yellownees of skin. Of course, he was an arrant coward, as well as a ‘morephysical ghost of s man, and one Englishman Gould flog half-a-dozen ““motnscers” ‘as easily 85 easily as s Yankee could flog the whols seven. And all this was believed, in spite of the fact that the French nation, from the earliest period of history, has boen the lesding natin’ of Europe. Iis original racos long dispated tho supremacy of the else all-conquering Romans. They gave to Roman literature some of its most sccomplished orators, &n}i some of its most elegant writers. Cicero leamed eloguence from one of their teachers, and Cmsar acquired in Geul now arts of war. . All through the middle ages, in tho Crusades, in tho grezt national wars, in the religions commotions’ of the sixteenth century, their gallantry was tho,conspicuous splendor of .the times. " Their writers bavesince electrified humanthought; theirbrave “deods have revolutionizod modern politics; their miore clegant arta haye beein tho”despair of all othier péoples, and $heir manners the standard of whatever was polistied, courteous, gracotul, and pleasing in address.. In spite of all thess factg, to many Englishmen, as they look aéross’ the straits throngh'the fogs.by which they are surrounded, the Frenchman is either a dnncing- master or a buffeon, grimating andshrugging his ghoulders more like o monkey than aman, .. Disabusing onr minds then, 80 far s possible, of .the projudices dorived from Anglo-Saxon sources,:-et us proceed: to analyze' the . Fren character, and 66 if'we can ‘ascertain its : pal clements. ' Tn comparing him with the Eng- lishman, the first thing, that &trikes us in tho Fronchman is his mercurial natare,—the extrome delicacy and sensitiveness of his organism. -The ‘English mind is comparatively ‘slow and heavy; it proceeds laborionsly from fact fo fact ; it sal- dom jumps or flics, but sdvances - cautiously, step by stop, making sure alweys -of the firsk Dofore it takeé tho second. - Hence, it ia jeslous of other minds 'that havo.much facility of ‘n8- gociation, and ‘cannot concesl its ¢ontempt for sallios of thought, howover. lawfal, whosa steps it cannot measuro by ita twolve-inch rulo. If hes little sympathy for eccentric grostness, and tHerefore o man of genius can make his way in England by violence only. fighting wildly sgainst a1l that is traditional, g8 did Byron, Wordsworth, and Shelley. - The mental qualities of the French are directly'the opposite of these—consisting in quickmess of perception, self-confidence, and pre- cision'of thought; and theirphysical peculiarities in promptness of action and extreme nervous ex-~ citability, It is -thia intellectual and sensitive organiem which has fittd them for the part they “have played in the warld's history, whether in the realm of matter of of mind. *The ancient ‘Gauls wore like & firebrand in the midst of Europe, setting everything sbont them in a blaze ; and the modern French havs been equal- 1y successful in their efforts to disturb the poace of nstions. Whetherled by a Charlemagne or Francis I, by & Luxemburg or a Napoleon, they have burst like & tempest upon-the phlegmatic peoplo of tho North, and, until the slower enargiea of their Gothic foes were roused, hava swept all beforo them. The ome crowning quality -of . greatness which they. have Iacked, is' patience.: They could carry their victorious eagles over' the burning sands of Syria, or through the chilling snows of Russia ; but they conld never Lave stood all day. in one placo, and beon mowed down by an enemy’s ar- tillery, or cnt Gown by his cavalry, as did Wel- lingtou’s troops at Waterloo. They could build a rond over tho Alps under’ the leadership of Napoleon, while another' people would have frozen in despair; but-in executing internal im-. provements which requiro long and anxious de- liberation to plan - and years to complete, they havo lagged bohind other nations, especially the English. ' by mom ¥ Another striking peculiarity in the character of the French is'what may be called the his- trionic _element—their fondness for the thoatrical. Every Frenchman is s bom actor. Life is to him a stage, and all his plens and acts have more or less referemco tontage effcct. French human nature is not like English 6r German Luman naturo; it is hu- man noture elaborated and edorned by art. Hence the matchless excellence of tho French vandevilles, which are so many photographs of the national mannors ; and hence, also, the in- gipidity .of French tragedy, which, scorning to Do natural, and striving to be classical, neither satiafies the jndgment nor grapples with the ‘heart. Tho proofs of this peculiarity are seen evorywhere in Parls ; in the open street and in the brillisnt salon ; in the House of Parliament and in the judicial halls ; in the artist and in the suthor ; in the garcon and in the graybeard ; from the Primo Minister down to the gamin. No occasion i8 too, solemn,’ mo scene $00 impressive, mo object too beautiful, to check this love of display. Where but in’ Franco do men . twist tho gracefal forms of vegetable life into artificial shapes, sell painted wreathsat cemotory gates, and pronounce .1hetorical panegyrics over the fresh graves of their friends? In what other city than Parisis notoriety, even when scandalous, 88 5ure & pass- port to social distinction as birth, beauty, or famo? Where elso, when a savant dies, do stu- donta drag the hearsoand scatter flowera over his grave? Whero elso would a soldier commit sui- cide by casting himself from a lofty monumont, or a maiden and hor lover make their oxit from life’s stage with a last embrace and the fumes of charcoal? “In what other country would a me-, chanic, in praising a favorite living author, ex- claim, as did & Parisian in ‘oxtolling ‘Beran- ger: “What a man! what sublimo virtue! how is ho beloved! Could I but live to ‘soo his funeral! Quelle speclacle! Quelle grande emotion!” In wbat English, Ameri- can, or German cemetery can one find ‘sorrowing affection expressed 03 st Montmartre— i v & tombstono with & colossal tear carved ‘on it, and undemncath the words, Judge how, woloved him I" In what city but Paris, when & triumphant enemy was thundering ¢ the gates, would the newspapors, as lately in the Fronch Capital, pablish lists of citizens who swoar to die rather than surrender ? A correspondent of the Now York Tribune, writing from Peris during ihio late sioge, tolls us that. tho bourgeois, when he went to the ramparls, ombraced his wife in public, and assumed & martial strut as though he wero & vory Curtius on the way to tho pit. Jules was perpetually embracing Auguste, and raving about * tho altar of our country” which bhe in- tonded to mount ; while every girl who tripped along fancied sho waa & maid of Saragossa. CATHOLICITY AND DARWINISH. DY MARGARET P. BUCHANAN. . Perhaps it will not be considered disrespectfal {o believers in protoplaem to say thet, despite the goneral and persistent discussion of Darwinism, there remain a great many people who do not know what Darwinism is. Nor is there any clear understanding among intelligent and well- mesning feaders and thinkers, who read and think chiefly through the pulpits, tho magazines, and the newspapers, a3 tothe exact relations betwoen Darwinism s8a scienco and orthodox religion; in other words, between Evolution of Life and Revelation. Tt is the purpose of the present paper to stato tho answer to the question in the preceding par- agraph; and, to do it thoroughl, it is best to consider Darwinism in relation to what is popu- Iatly oonsidered its moral antithesis, Catholic. It will bo conceded that Catholic theology is the antithesis of Darwinism, since it is sasserted that Darwinism and theology are natural ene- mies. It will assuredly surprise tho reador if it Dbe said abruptly hero that a learned priest, occu- pying tho pulpit of & Catholic church in Chicago a fow months ago, demonstrated that the popu- Jar supposition of the enmity between.Darwin- ism and Catholic theology is erronecus. It will bresk tho fall of the reader's mind if it bo added that the current number of the Catholic World, the representa- tive organ of Catholic philosophy in the United States, contains an articlo entitled The Evolu- tion of Life,”in which tho harmony between Darwinism and theology is expounded. The porplexity which previls upon this ques- tion, both as to the nature of Darwinism and 28 toits relations to previonsly-sccepted philoso- phy, arises from two causcs: an in- definite motion of Darwinism, and a loose ides that theology is anatomy and zoology,—if not; in- deod, botsny, pisciology, and mineralogy, and the cience of organs, also: A plain definition of Darwinism would remove much of the misunderstanding. But s plain defi- nition'it isnot easy to give of that which is avowedly indefinite, A science can bo dofined. Buot Darwinism is not & science. - That is & popular misapprehension. Darwinism is & mere hypothesis; a theory; s premiss which Darwin himself does not' wholly grant, or a con- clusion of which he has’ considerable doubt.. It. ia only his ignorant disciples who have sought to elevate his hypothesis into 5 science;- and their efforts'- have been ably sapplement- od 'by’ tho fallacies ond casuistry of that large class of amateur philoso- phers who delight in whipping up & war between natural science and revealed religion, It is doubtfal whother Mohammed had any clear con- viction as to the divino origin of the black mole between his shoulders, which his followers were wont to -look upon as “the seal of prophecy.” Darwin's disciples appear to bo convincod of & . great deal more than ho is. Thoy Lold dogmas’ . swhich he nover proposad for their acceptance. *Darwin's thoory of ‘natural selection ™ and “ ¢gurvival -of the fittest "—his theory merely—is, - that every kind of snimal and plant increases in numbers by & geometrical ratio ; that, because the fofql animal and vegetablo popnlation re- ‘mains stationery, overy individual has to struggle for existenco, and the atrongest survive; that ev- ery animal and plant transmits to.its offepring & _general likeness; that the animal man iathe victoryof this fight aud progression through * practically infinite time. - NG Waiving the objection of tho anti-Darwinists, including Agassiz,—who,contend, upon the samo mass of facts whence . Darwin educos the theory, that the - theory is absurd,— tho . question is, docs this theory con- tradict - theology? Is -this infinitely lomg animal progression, and triumph of the strong- est anims], disproof of Revelstion ? - Is Evolu- tion .a revolution which turns God outof the ‘universe ? ‘It 1 hold by Catholic theologisns whohave ex~ pressed themsclves upon tho subject, that, * with respect to all organiams lower than man,” there " is mothing in - Catholic - theology to prevent belief in = Evolution; that B0 far 28 theology is concerned, anybody 'is free to beliove that *all living things, up to .man exclusively, were evolved by .natural law. out’ of minute life-germs primarily created, or even out of inorganic matter.” Bt. Augustine can be succesafully convicted of this Darwiniam. Mivart, in his .‘ Genesis of Specics,” quotes St. Thomas, Alberius Magnus, Cardinal Cajetan, and others, to show that scho- Insticism freely admits the theory of Evolution to this oxtent. The Catholic Worldsays: “There is nothing in the Darwinian theory, or in"the ‘more genaral theory of Evolution countenanced by facts bearing on tho dovelopment of life, which :Icm.mlia may not accept, if he chooses 80.to 0. i e The Catholio World hesitates to go beyond the limit reached by the discussions of Darwinism in the Dublin Review and the Continental philo- sophico-religious journals. It- will not concede that the body of man is the climax of the pro- gression which it freely admits- may be true of the development of all animals below man.” This esitation srises probably from intellectual prudence. The Catholic World, however, ascribes -it. . to snother cause, Revela- tion. Dat,. if Revelation ' prevent the- supposition- that the highest animal form is [progression frem “an intermediate form, then Revelation estopa the theory that the interme- diate is 8 progresston from a lower form. Gen- esis forbida tho theory of Evolution altogether, or it admits’ Evolution in its completeness,— that is, from tlio lowest to the highest of which we have knowledge. s w w God was 0 free to make man, in his body, & rovised and improved edition of the apo, or the roptile; or tho fish, as He was to make him out of the dust of the earth, or ont of inorganicmat- tor. The Bible has tobe construed to supposs Darwinism in lower snimal forms ; it is not clear why it shonld not be- construed to admit & sequence of the principle of Evolution, since it admits the principle, i The Catholic World quotes the Dublin Keview, that “itwould be at least rash, and probably proximate to heresy,” to question * the imme- diate and instantaneous (or guasi-instantaneous) formation by God of the bodiesof Adnm and Eve.” The plane of thought - between * instantaneous and “ quasi-instantaneous” is generous encugh for .Darwinists and anti-Darwinists. It must Do adniitted, noless theology claims. for itsclf a logic which it denies to all other sciences, that the animal man is within the theory of Evolu- tion; or theology must maintain that the theory of Evolution is inconsistént with Revelation. Bat what bas theology to do with animal mat- teratall?: &t & - To measure ‘natural history by theology, is & confasion of sciencés. If natural history is susceptiblo of anilytical trestment by theology, then arboriculture, and the process. of extracting sugar from beet-root, axe to be consid- ored only in relation to the theory of the circala~ tiom of tho blood ; and, when Harvey discovered that, many people donbted it, less on account of ‘previously-cxisting beliefs; than becsuse his ovn demonstration of it was so defective. * ‘Bcientists need to remember: that materisl theories have no bearing upon the spiritual ; and theologians, out of tho same involuntary egoism of acience, are apt to forget that theology is ot antbropology. = s = ‘Then ariges the question of the goul in man. But Darwiniem cannot.auswer that. It deals Wwith man strictly in . his anatomy; that is: all it professes.. And if -it be - ever - sufficiently - demonstrated for all men, including Daxwin, to accept. it, it will' ot then name the" time, nor point .to tho place,- when and where God let the sonl of manin. It will never cross, with its scientific yard-stick, into the Infinite, to measure God and His intel- ligence. e Revelation teaches that tho sovl began with tlio first man. Itis infidelity, not Darwinism, that raises a hostilo hand against Revelation. CHICAGO AND FATHER MARQUETTE. o the Editor of The Chicago Tribune : Srm: The citizens of Chicago have taken the preliminary steps to commemorate the rebuilding of the city, by insugurating an_Inter-State In- dustrial Exposition, to be opened noxt autumn. Thig is to be commended ; and strangers attend- ing theExposition will see the results of a perao- nal energy, and of & personal prosperity of ‘which the annals of the past afford no precedent. The citizens of other States, at least very many of thom, imagined after the great firo that Chicago was wiped out of tho msp of tho United States; that ehe had become & * Troja fuit ;” a name to .revive alikerecollections of her grandeur and of ‘her untimely extinction. T'wo years, nearly, have elspsed since tho calamitous event occurred ; but to-dsy Chicago exhibits an enlargoment in her ‘business-ares, and & permanence in her struc- tures, combining both solidity and architectural eftect; to which she would not have attained in the natural progress of events. Her geograph- ical position is such, in reforence to the Groat portage, theyreachod Lac Hlinois, now Lake Michigan. From tbis point they coasted along tho west shore of the lake, and arrived atSt. Tg- nace Iate in Septeinber, 1673, havin g performed & canoc-voyage, in the course of four months, of over 2,500 miles. Thus Marquettsand Joliet were the first white men to visit the present site 820 miles day" in boisterous weather would be o reasonable distance to be traversed in eanoes, the distance being over 300 miles, it was probably in the latter part of August that’ths - site of Chicago was first visited by men of Euro- pean descent. ¥ . Arrived at Bt, Ignace, the two explorers gep- arated,—Joliet hastening to Quebes to announca to the Governor the results of ~ the expedition, which had determined the -existence of a great natural - highway from the Northwestto~the - ocean, and Marquette settling guietly down to resume his’ missionary labors among the In- dinns. S5 oy Marquette, originally of s frail constitation, had contracted by exposure tho seeds of o fatal disease, consumption. He bad been impressed g0 strongly with the artlessness and simplicity of the Illinois that he desired to plant among them tho standagd of tho Cross; but it was not until . the fall of 167¢ that he was emabled . to carry his plan into execution. Lato in Octo- | ber, with a canoe aud two voysgeurs, he lett Green Bay, and proceeded to Chicago. The sea- ., son was boisterous, and tho camp-fires st night failed to give a generous warmth. Theso expos- ures brought on ‘a hemorrhage of the lungs, which told so fearfally that the good Father’ . predicted that this journey would be his last. . Arrivod at the month of the river, he ascended about two leagues, probably to beyond where Ward's Rolling Mills now are. Here his voy- | sgours built ahut, in which he passed the win- ter. Gamewas abundant, and buffalo, deer, and . turkeys wore shot without moving from the site | of his habitation. With tho retumn of Spring, . his disease relented. and ho proceeded to the great Indian villago below tho present town of Ottawa, where he gatherod in the avages, and -. préached to them the myateries of his faith. A few days after Easter, he returncd to tho mouth of the riverand embarked for Mackinac, passing ; around the great sand-dunes at the head of the Iake, and thence coasted along the esstern mar- gin to where a small atream discharges itself into the grezt rescrvoir south of the promontery Imown as the “ Sleoping Bear.” * Marquette lsy prostrate in the cance. The warm breath of epring xovived him ro ; the ex- pending buds of the forest, or the song of birds, attracted not his attention. - At this point he requested to be .put on - .shore. His voyagetrs ~ bore him tenderly bank .of tho stream.which -is destined for all timo to bear his name, and erected- over kim abark hut. He was aware tbat his hourhad. . come. Calmlyhe gave directionsas to the mode of his burial; craved forgiveness of his com- panions, if in saght ho had offended them; ad- ministered to them the Sacrament, and thanked God that he wes permitte die in the wilder- ness, a witness to tlie faith-in his the night stdTe on, he inaisted Bhould retiro. fo rest, assuring. -them :that he would call them when the final hour approached. o hours after thoy heard his [eebls ery, sud, a3 thoy resched his eide, found him in the last agony. .This event happened May 18, 1675. Upon tho bank of the stream they dug his gmave, and buried - him; but this was not to bo his last resting- place. A hunting-party cf Ottawas, a Test or two afterwards, having wandered to the vicinity, opened. the grave, and, having placed the precious relics in o birchen box, conveyed them to Bt. Ignace. As.they approached the ghore, singing. their rude funeral songs, priests, neo- - pbytes, and traders gatherad togother to receiv the saéred trust, and deposit it beneath the floor of tho chapel in which the good missionary had B0 often celehrated the rites of his faith. Such is the history of the discoverer of the site of Chicago; and it seems proper that efforta be mede to recover the relics of the good mis- sionary, that they be deposited with pious carein the West Park, near where hie passed the winter of 1674-'5 ; that a faneral oration -be pronounced, reciting his virtues and the great- value of his goographical discoveries ; and that a monument be reared which shall bea conspicuous landmark for all time, and that shall bear this inscription : Here reposes all that is mortal of MATQUETTE & = The first to explore the site of Chicago ; the firet to open to the world the Empire of the Mississippi Northwest, that hore, at the head of Lake iichi- gan, must, from commercial necossity, exist » great city, oven if itasite, like Venice, had to be rescued from a bed of ooze. While it is, therefore, commendable to cele- Brate the rebuilding of the city, there is another _ovent hardly loss signal in our history, which ought not to be overlooked, and that is the second centenary of its discotery. 'Thatevent oc- curred, probably, in thé latter part of August, 1678, and should be appropriately commemorated by speeches, by bonfires, and illaminations, and by laying tho foundations of & monument to the first discoverer, destined to endure for all time. . The firat, . smong white men, to vigit the site where Chicago now stands, was the Jesuit mis- sionary, Jacques Marquette. Ho waa barn in 1637, of an old and honorablo family, which re- gided in the north of Franco. In1668, he was sent to the Upper Lakes, whess, to use his own language, I found myself happy in the neces- sity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes (of Indians), ind especially of ‘the Tllinols, who, when I was at Point St. Espri, had begged me very carnestly to bring the Word of God among them.” . S iy . While at La Pointe, near the head of Lako Bu- perior, Marquottehad beard, through' the Illincis, formerly residing on'tho westorn .borders of TLsko Michigan,. but. at that time. occu- pying o :Tegion thirty ' dsys - west, - of tho ‘existence of & great river which fowed through grassy plains; over which roamed count- loss .heida of biffalos. This information was communicated .to M.- Talon, the Intendant ‘of Canads, & man fally alive to the progress of gao- graphical discovery, ‘and at whose instigation Y.ouis Joliet, s fur-trader, was selected to con- duct the expeditionof diacovery, while Marquette was designnted as+the spirifual guido,—for, st ‘that day, religion and ‘comimerce went ‘band-in- band. The expedition was fitted-out 2t Point’ 5t Tgnace, on. tho noxth shore of Lako Michi- gan, opposite Mackinac. (The preparations were very.mesgre, compared with modern sppropris- Hons for Jexploration, consisting of two canoes, ~ith five , voyageurs, and s supply of cornsnd smoked moat. :They .started: out on-:this memorsble . yoyage ::to :.explore* the -grost artery of the Northwest,® “May "16,- 1673.° ‘They coasted along the shofo of Greon Bay toits head; nscended the Fox River; passed | into Lake Winnebago, and followed the tortuone and sluggish stream to where Portage now stands. “Heére the Indian guides, procured at tho village of tho Miamis, ori the west bank of Lake Winnebago, Tofused to proceed further; bat Marquette, nothing dsuntad, launched his canoes- in the Wisconsin, and descended that stread ; and, one month sfter leaving St: Ignace, canght sight of the bold blafls which bound tho valloy of the Upper Miseissippi between Dubuquo and Prairie du Chien. - Oncelaunched upon thegreat current, day after day and week after weok they floated on, landing at eve. to cook their meals, until they réached the mouth of the Arkansas, when, from the hostils demonstrations of- the savages, who wero armed with Spanish weapons, they deemed it unsafe to proceed further, and rotraced their steps. s This was on the 17¢h of July, 1673. | Amived at thio mouth of thé Tilinois, instesd of, continuing tho voyaga to.the . Wisconsin, they- résolved to ascend the latter stream and cross to Lake Michi- gan. At Easkaskis,—not tho old town below 8t. Louis, but s town about 7 miles below Ottawa,— they procured guides, who piloted them to near the head of the Desplaines, where, by an easy - ho wrote a.novel called “Tho Bar Siniater,” ant Valley. . 3. W. Fostzz. - =t Ko S Anow and very excellent “notion” hsa just been started in Boston, in connection with the public schools. The Chairman of the Committeo on Industrial Bchools has presented to the Bchool Committee a report, which includes four orders. Tho substance of these orders is, that on and after Beptember next, sewing, Which is now taught in tho sixth, fifth, and fourth classes of the girls’ grammar schools, shall be gradually: introduced into all the other classes, 8o that in three years from this time it may bo unifversally . taught. Practical instruction in cutting, shaping, and fitting, and thoroughly maling children’s and ladies’ garments is also included in this schemo, and the appointiment of a com: petent sewing teacher to tako charge of tha Whole department, o8 well as & mall appropria- tion for materials, The report has not yet been acted upon; but it has occasioned considersble discussion and has attracted very general public interest. ' Tho Iatest English papers ricord the deathof . - Mr. Charles Allston Collins, the only brother of “Wilkie Collins, the eminent novelist. * The de= " ceased commenced his career-ng & painter, and-- toolk a high position in arf, but was obliged ta - ‘abandon the easel owing to ill-halth. Ho afe tervands took to literary work, and wrote in ho made soon- after his marriag Charles. Dickens' ‘soungest dsugbter, Kst), e which he_called “ A _Cruise . upon -Wheel anothar -entitled ** Stratheairn.”. - Althongh h ‘neverachioved 80 extended a reputation asbia’ ‘brother, he iras highly esteemed in England, not: only as a litarary man, but.as 3 gentleman of a type now becoming rare. 3 ot . A corféapoiident of the Now’ York Herald hsa zinde o very excéllent suggestion with rogard to - thg - proposed ~festimonial to the Hey. 3r. Anciént, ‘tvhose gallant conduet aided to gavo 0. ‘many lives from the wreck of tko Atlantic. Ho . the fands which. are subscribed - " proposes that’ 3 . “shall go* towards building 8 church for him a3 noar.as possiblo to the cenc.of wreck, tho towar. of which ehall be a lighthouse. In this mannera ‘monument would ba_ erected to tho memory of the doad, and at tho gamo timo his nama would be porpetuated. In addition to this, & fitting “parsonal tostimonial shonld also bo-given to the ‘courageotts cle: . His service on that, gud‘f;nl mnmn'rgfi:: one-of the few bright deeds - which ~ Telicved tho - horror of the catastrophé, and such a sgervice shonld not bo allowed to go unrecognized. st e 20 . Tt has heretofore becn announced that lovers “of peaches might as well mako up their. mindsto. forego their favorite fruit during the. comidg season, as the crop’ would be & failure every- where. An announcement which comes from the East, however, indicates that tho outlook for peaches is not so bad. It gsmtaduufl-ha ‘peach-growers and traders of the Delaware and Chésapeako Peninsula have held's meetingto various [English periodicals. Besldes : * & description of "a “tour in. France (which- " e with "Mr. 7l decido that they must seek eomo othar market : thian New York, as it was so glatted with .the, . fruit _ that they could Dot to 'it. ‘Thoy, therefors, dstermined that they would end their peaches to Philadelphis, Baltimore, Boston, and other cities this year. This action does not look'as though there would be & very serions pench famine at tho Essh whateyer there may be in the Weat.