Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 22, 1874, Page 8

THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1874. TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE WERME OF EUBSCRIPTION (PATABLE IX ADVANCE). R S R0 Seasky 52:38 Parts ot a year at the same rate. To prevont delay and mistakes, be sire acd give Post Off ce address ia fall, including State and County. Remittances may be mado either by draft, express, Post ©Ofce order, or in registered lettor, st ourrisk. TERMB TO CITY SUBCRIBERS. Drfly, delisered, Somday excepted. 25 cente per week. Pelly, celtrered, Sunday incloded, 30 cents per weok- Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Dearbora-ste.. Chicago, Tll. AMUSEMENTS. HOOLEY'S THEATRE-Randolph strect, betwoen Qlark 2nd LaSalle. ** Divorcod.” "VIOBER'S THEATREMadison strest, botwoen g%flfnf,‘&s safi:f‘ Engsgement of Edwin Booth. SI0— Halsted strect, beteen Mad- A O agmngat of Olives boud, Brron, firnoan: Boneht toO. L. Graves. Eveniog: ** Doasld Bckay ELPHI 'EATRE—-Corner of Wabash svenuo e sireat Variety entortaiamont. ZATREDesplaluesstreet, betwocn Mad- T femant of Joteph K. Examet. =iz, Oar Gousin Gurman.” MYERS' OPERA-HOUSE- Monroo strest, betwesn Dearborn and State. Arlington, Cotton, and Kemble's Hinstrein, . Dinstreley snd comicalitios.” Cosmoramical fioalon, ** Our Grest Oltz.™ ZEINGSBURY MUSIC HALL—Clark street, betwcon fi.ggfifin nnd Leke. Léctars by Thomas Nast. Subject: Lh catures.™ S o PARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH~ 2 s HoT Pomell, tao Eaplarer of the Colorada. DR. KARN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM-~No, M8 Bouth Clazk strest. Bciecco znd Art. The Thicagy Tribune. Sundsy Morning, February 33, 1874. CREED OR CONSTITUTION? The Judiciary Committee of the House of Bepresentatives, through Mr. Batler, reported a fow dsys sinco, a8 our resders will remember, adversely to the memorisl praying for the ac- ‘nowledyment of Almighty God and the Chris- tian religion in the Constitution of the TUnited States. The reputation of the Committes for piely may possibly euffer throughout tho conn- try for baving made the report in question, snd it mey possibly interfers with their futare canonization by the body which sent tha petiti 20 Congress. As statesmen, however, 88 con- -eistent Republicans, as defenders of the Consti- totion of the United States, thoy did only what wil lovers of the Constitution and of republican fnstitutions must approve. The action of the House Committee in ‘the promises does mot by any means imply that they do mot believe in God, or that they look with disfavor on Christianity. Tho advocacy of God's existence and of the divine character of Christianity are both perfectly reconcilable with opposition to the recognition of eitber in the Constitution of the United States. Tho Con- stitution of tbe Tnited States is a law, not & creed. - It is even the supreme law of the land, & 1aw of which all courts must take cognizance, & 1aw which binds the individual citizen, the sev- eral States, every word of which may be cn- forced, the violation of any provision of which is attonded by linbility of some kind, civil or criminal. Into this supremo law it is proposed tointroduce an acknowledgment of the existenco of a Supreme Being and of- the Christian relig- fon. Now, if the Constitution is not to becomo a creed, if itis to remain what it has bitherto ‘been—a law—such provisions are most certainly out of place in it; for, if a law, then courts must teks official notice of these provisions, they fust bind thoe individual, and muxt be susceptible of enforcement by the United States. But this the first amendment o the Constitution ex- preesly prohibits. Congress, it provides, shall Doser pass a law establishing a religion, The Constitution should, to say the least, ba consistent. But, in addition to being & Iaw, the Constitution is our solemn act 2 people laying down the principles by which we shall be gov- emed. How can we, then, on the one hand, pro- hibit the establishment of s religion, and intro- duce an article - of religious faith intothe very instrument in which wo probibit it? A religion with only one srticle of faith is a3 mucha re- ligion es if it had thirty-n,oe, or any other num- ber of articles. The religion whose whole creed is summed up in *I believe in God,” is 28 much excluded from the Constitution asif it embraced, in addition to this, “I believe in the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.” If the obe can bo imserted into the Com- stitotion of the United Siates, why mnot the other? I is clear that 1f we “put God in the Constitution,” we must expunge the - provision which probibits Congress to pass a Inw esteblishing a religion. But thisis not the only inconsistency which the ackuowledgment cf & Supremo Being and of the Clristian religion would introduce into that ingtrument. How can we, 18 8 people, profess our faith in Him, and ab the eame time, and in the same formula, retain the right to doubt whethor Ho is or not, by pro- iding for freedom of conscience, or tho right to deny that He is, by retsining that of freedom of #peech, or to argue, write, and publish. that Ho is not, or that if Ho is Heis not knowable, by clinging to the freedom of the press? Bhould we introducs into our highest laws the dogmas in qusstior, we would be making of it a very in- consistent and even contradictory instrument, —not wholly a creed, and, yet, not wholly a isw. Buch a profession of faith in God's existence and in the Christian religion would ba more thian an inconsistency and a contradiction, Bowever,—it would be a falsehood. Ail the peoplo of the United States do not accopt the Christian religion. There are some even who do not beliove in & God's existenco, There are those who neither affirm nor deny His existence, but content ihemselves with saying that they have no data on which to gronnd s belief. A majoriy of the peoplo of this country may be- ieve in both, but the majority, in matters of re-. ligion, are mot the “people™ of the United Btsces. They are the * people” anly in politi= cal matters, The majority in theso United States wo delegate to make our ordinary laws, . and, under certain restrictions, our Constitution oven. We do not delegate to them the power to make our creeds, our faith, or even our opin- jons. Faiths and creeds are personal, not politi~ cal, matters. i3 To scknowledge God and the Christian relig- 1on in the Constitation would be to the extent of thesotwoarticles to constitute i this conntrythe relation of Church and State. ‘This wonld be the effoct of making them constitutional provisions or efirmations—or thoy would have no effect whatever. Nothing would ba gained by granting the peti- tion of the memorialists. To *put God in the Constitation ” would not make one convert to The- fem, nor incresse the faith of & single person in His existence ; while it would excite the ridicule ©f those opposed to it. - To put-the Christian &eligion in the Constitution would be, 28 e have just said, to ntter a public and notorious false- Liood before the entire world, eincoit is well known that there aro hundreds of thousands in this country who reject it, and other hundreds of thousands who, although they may not reject it, certainly do not so far accept it as to warrant » public profcssion of it—s falsehocd which could cartainly not be very mogtnbl» to God, unless He is & very different Being from our conception of Him. Insll this wo arenot arguing egainst God's existence, or the Christian religion, but only for the propriety of koeping both out cf the Constitution, which, after all, is & profane snd human instrament—not & raligions one. A con- stitntion 18 nok a creed. A creed 1s not a consti- tution. Politics are not religion. Religion is not politica. We have kept our religion and our politics scparate hitherto, and the separation has worked well. There is no resson now to change our course. Lot the majority meke our laws. Let tho majority adopt the creed and fol- low the faith their conscience spproves. BAPTISMAYL REGENERATION. The doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal Church on the subject of baptismal regenerstion is stated by one of tho witnesses in the Cheney caso 88 follows; Infantsare born in original sin; therefore, they need regenerstion ; and, 15 regencration takes place in baptism, and all who are bajtized uro regenerated, excopt, of thelr own will, they put & bar sgainst the work of the Holy Spirit, sud infants put’ no such bar, —all infzats, {herefore, ara Tegecerated fo baptism, | and are baptized in the Church for that intent and purpose. Tho pot in dispato in the Cheney case is not whather the application of water to an infaut really produces an inward change, whereby the infant gets rid of his distributive sharo of the offense committed by Adam and Eve, but whetl- er the Protestant Episcopal Church Lold that’ doctrine in such & way that a clergyman cannot omit it from his ministrations without placing himself outside the pale. Thisis, of course, tobe determined by the weight of eviderfce. A few years ogo o Dishop of the Church of Evgland, Colenso by name, officiating at Natal, in Soath Africa, sllowed that the story of Adam and Eve was 8 fable, and that the five books of Moses were not only not inspired, but in many respects untrue, ‘contradictory, and impossille. Ho was put under arrest in the ecele- piastical eense, just ss Nr. Cheucy has been; was tried, found guilty of infidelity, and sentenced to tho loss of his Episcopal ofiice. Ho appealed to various highor conrts in the Church of England judicature, and finally to the Privy Council. In theory, tho Queen is the head of tho Church of England, being tho lineal suc- cessor of Honry VIIL, tho founder of that Churely; of rather of tho schism which tcok the Church away from Romanism. In theory, also, the Queen decides all quostions—civil, military, political, and religious—which como bofore her 83 the head of Charch and State. She eelects a Privy Council, however,—or hor Chief Minister does,—to whoso advice she naturally defers, baving a large family of hor own to look after. s do mot recollect whether the Chizf Min- ister, st the ‘time Dishop Colenso took bis sppeal, was & Jew or s Christian, but that is immaterial, eince the Jows aro, equally with the Christians, - familiar with the fivo books of Moes. Atsll events, the Privy Council took np the Thirty-nine Articles of tho Protestant Episcopal faith and put on their spec- tacles; aod, finding nothiug therein avouching the inspiration of the Scriptures, decided that Bishop Colenso was entitled to belicve anything he chose regarding Adam 3nd Eve, and the jour- neyings of Israel in the desert, and the shew bread, sud the shittim wood, without molestation from his brother Bishops. Thereupon he went ‘back to his plrce at Natal, where he has officiat- ed moro or less, with no other interruption than the hooting of urchins and the breaking of his window-panes. Now, if Bishop Colenzo csn dispense with Adam and Eve (and hence with original sin) en- tirely, and still logally retsin his place 28 & high tunctionary of- the Protestant Episcopal Church, why may not Mr. Cheney dispenes with baptis- mal regeneration, which, according to the defini- tion given in Judge Williams' Couxt, is only the avaidance of original sin ? KING GARBRINUS OR THE WAR-PATH, The war between tbe brewers snd the saloon~ keoepers—the middlemen of King Gambricus— has come at an unfortunate time. In the first placa, the followers of the lusty old monarch bave' donned their armor fusé sta time when people want good beer, snd & good deal of it. In the second place, they are quarreling among themselves on the edge of » precipice. A great temperance wave ia rolling over the conntry, aud there s no telling at whas moment . both breweries and beer-saloons may be besieged by &n army of women, and the familiar * ein, zwei, drei™ of tho thirsty souls change to the one, temperanco psalm. _This division of forces in the face of an encmy g0 persistent and zealoua that 1t will not sllow the grocer tosell cider, or the druggist to sell alcohol, isunfortunate. Now, if ever, King Gambrinus should unite his cohorts towest the cold~water army, which is coming like an avalanche against him. The situstion at this critical moment is sob- tho price of beer from $10 to §12 per barrel, bo- cause they cannot manufacture it for any less and make a profit, ' The price’ of hops has rigen from 30 to 40 cents, and malt from $1 to $2.25. At these figures, the manufacturé of beer 2t $10 per barrel mnst involvo a losato the browers,— at lcast, they say so. There aro two ways in which the brewer might save himself: first, by making poor beer,—thst is, by using more water and less malt; and, secoud, by making the qusntity in 8 barrel & fow gallons less. Un- fortunately, however, the vassals of Gambnnus won't drink poor beer, and the ssloon-kecpers won't buy twenty-eight gallons for thirty-one, if they can help it. In view of these facts, what are we to do? Tnless the temperance wave washes the brower- jos away, we must have our beer. We not only want our beer, but we want goed beer and cheap beer. ' But the ssloon-keepers eay we will not pay 812 per barrel for beer. Whynot? - Why can't the saloon-keeper pay £12 por barrel and still sell beer atfive contsper glass? The brew- ermakes sbout a dollar on a barrel, and the sa- Ioon-keepor sbout €10. How that profit is made the victimized beer-drivker knows foo well There was & time in the good old days when a beer gless was a thing of beauty and a joy fora quarter of an hour. Ithélds good honest pint after the fosm was off. It was thin-bottomed snd of uniform circumference all the way up. You could sit down to it with perfect confidence in its integrity. The glass was honest, the beer was honest, and, after the refreshing draught, it wss 50 satisfying that there was mo need of the saline pretzel to make an appetite for more. Oue glags, or two at the most, were enough. A whole day's sustenance and a whole evening’s entertainment were con- tained in them. With the lspse of time and de- cline in virtue, however, the beer glasa has grown into the shape of a trancated come, and the baso-of the glass haa becomo 80 extraordina- rily thick that it forms s very effective weapon in a scrimmage. Into this narrow-mouthed de- formity the saloon-keeper draws his beer, and the rosnlt is a half-glass of boer, which is half foam. In one respect, the increass made by the ‘browers is an advaniage to. the community. Thero i no certainty that thoy will be able to sustain it, but, if they do, it may have the ten- dency to expunge about 500 superfinons saloons. The protits are o great that every one is rush- ing into the busincsa. Given, & beer-rack and & ocounter, three or four tables aud chairs, a wooden likeness of Gambrinus, which the brewer furnishes gratis, a plate of pretzels, another of cheese, and another of herrings, and any one can start a beor-saloon and make money. There are too many beer-saloons and too many dead- beats engaged in the busuess, and, if the brew- era maintain their advance and thereby diminish the number, it will be a general advantage to thp' community. Mosnwhile, betwoen now and the 1st of March, it bebooves the browers and snloon-keepers to come to some kind of an understanding ; for with tho ides of March may come the march of tho female crusadors, laying siege to the strongholds of Gambrinus, and cut- ting us off from beer altogether. The warnings aro coming thick and fest. It is no time for dissensions when the epemy is close at hand. A CHAPTER ON CORN. The repugnence of John Bull to Indian corn as an article of human food has always been smazing to Brother Jouathan; and it would secm that the old gentleman is at last beginning to inquire whother his prejudico is well-founded. Mr. Buight, in & recent corrospondencs, has raised this query, aud hias gono so far as to sag- gest that tho use of maize for human consump- tion in the British Islands should be encour- aged, . From 1825 to 1820 the value of corn and corn menl exported from this country was only $1,424,000; for the ten yoars ending in 1840 it was $8,880,000; for tho ten yests ending in 1850 it was $45,000,000; for the next ton years it was $46,000,000. Tn 1867 it reached $16,000,000, and in 1873 about $17,000,000. From 1825 to 1863 the value of the corn and corn meal exported was $189,000,000; and that of the wheat and flour exported in the eame time, $865,000,000. The value of corn s an articlo of food is mot fully spprecisted, even in this country. In the Southern and Bouthwestern States it hos always been in general use. The settlers in the West brought with them the tastes of their old neigh- borhoode, and the use of corn bread is a protty good indication whether the family migrated from gouth or morth of Mason & Dixon's line. Corn bread is considerably used by the people of thoe Now England States, but it hea never attain~ ed smong.them anything like the general use which it has had in the South. There is, more~ over, o wide differencs in the mode of making corn bread in the two scctions. The saleratus, baking powders, and various comprossed prepa~ rations for ‘‘lightening™ bread used at the North aro wholly unknown at the South. The corn “pone " of the South, nich with milk &nd eggs, is a form of breadlittlo known at the North, and here only to those who have learned its mystory at the South. At the North the use of sirups and augsr in corn bread is genmeral, while at the Bonth it is scarcely known, the corn-* meal, with the simple sddition of water, salt, snd eggs producing a bread that is delicious to thoss who have been accostomed to it from in- fancy. In Europe the prejudice against corn as an article of human food is stubborn. In 1846, during the season of famine in Ireland, it was with difficutty that the starving poor could be in- daced to useit. They were iguorant of the mode of preparing it, and even to this day its use in Ireland is mainly confined to *‘mush.” William Cobbett, who had visited the United States, ond hed mitnessed the mse of corn as food in all its variety of preparations, wrofe su essay, in which he said: Am I to be told that the people of England, and especially those’ who have Kot enough of suything at all to eat, will not use the flour of corn? If they can- not get it they will mot; but if thoy can they will, and two, three which marks tbe rhytbm of some- stsotially as follows : Tho browers have raised the porridge, and the mush, and the cakes, and the ‘puddings, will s00n banish the villainous potato from theland. On1‘only let us get the corn, and the result will bo no difficulty in getting the fiour, In various parts of Italy corn is cultivated to some extent, and is freely used ss food, and in soveral forms. It i8 also produced in Austria and Hungary. In Greece the corn meal is mixed with the flour of othor grains, as is also the case in Portugal, where the common bread is made of a mixture of corn and rye meal. ‘In France corn is cultivated s food for poultry, snd in England is largoly used a8 food fof pheasants, In Germany, and Northern Europe generally, the prejudice against it .has been - decp-rooted, though of late years this is gradually giviog way. Much of this projudico has been due to the fact that, when imported in the form of corn weal, it ‘has epoiled, or, technically speaking, soured.” Improvements have been made, however, in the mode of shipment whercby the meal can be kept sound and swesi. Of Iate yoars the poople in some parts of Germany have learned the art of making bread of corn meal, and the Ameri- cana traveling thero can now hear of corn eakes and corn bread baked after the manner at home. . The analysos of corn and wheat show 93 per cent ‘of nutritive maiterin wheat and 77 per cent in corn. Their relative value on this chow- ingisas 77 is to 93. The 23 per cent of corn which 18 rejected .28 not outritious has, how- ever, anotner valao ; it operates to promote di- gestion. Corn bread is always easy of diges- tion, its own constituents farvishing the sgents for that end, snd enbancing tho value of the meal as an articlo of nutritious aud wholesomo food. The relative prices of corn and wheat do not, however, maintain the relstive proportions of their putritious properties. On Friday lest corn gold in Chicago at 53 cents and wheat at $1.18 per bushel Equalizing the prices by weights, we have, with sufficient accuracy for comparison, corn at £1 per hundred pounds, and wheat at $2 per hundred pounds. The one has & commercial valuo twice as great as that of the other, while as an article of food their relative efficiency is about that of 14 of corn to 17 of wheat. Measured by their pro- portions of nutrition, when wheat sells at £2 per bundred pounds corn shonld sell at 81.54 for the same weight. Or, to put the case otherwise, and ‘more directly, the purchaser who pays 1 fors hundred pounds of corn gets seventy-seven pounds of nutritious food, while the fame dollar paid for flour will only purchase forty-six and & balf pounds. The European or the home consumers of wheat, therefore, psy heavily for their predjudice | sgainst corn bread” and for their ‘néglect. or re- fnsal to learn how to- make it. Those who are familiar with good corn bread oopaidor it equally palatable with wheat bread. It is always healthy, and can be eaten by old or young at all times. Compared with ordinary baker's bresd, which is the only form of bresd used by multi- tudes of consnmers in the large citics, it has the recommendation of being always sweet, al- ways pure, and it costs but one-ifth as much. It can be prepared ezsily, baked quickly, and, as s whole, is. more wholosome than white bread made from whest flour, e The price of good flour, such as families use for the bread they make at home, aversges $11 per barrel in this city, or 53¢ cents per pound. Pure white corn meal can be had st 13¢ cents per pound. This §11 expended for a barrol of flour will purchase 182 pounds of nuimtious wheat flovr, whilo the same $11 will purchase 485 pounds of equally nutritious food, contained in 783 pounds of corn meal ; while it will pur- chaso not over 140 pounds of ordinary baker's bread. Al the considerations of health, nutri~ ment, convenience, and economy point to the more general and universal use of corn as an articlo of food, and to the study and improve- ment of the mode of making it into bread. A WASTEFUL REFORMER, 2 The Cincinnati Enguirer has published Dr. Dio Lowia’ official programme for & wook's eat~ ing, which he mede publio a few yoars ago. The substance of it—if thore can be said to be any substance in such eating—is a8 follows: Mon~ day, hulled corn and milk, cost, three cents; Tuceday, oat meal and milk and boiled wheat, six conts ; Wodnesday, beans, vinegar, bean por- ridge, and bread, five and a holt cents; Thurs- dny, hominy and sirap, two cents' worth of beot in a stew, and Lelcestershire sauce, eight cents and a haif ; Friday, oat porridge, milk, beans, and cracked whest, six and & half cents; =nd Saturday, hulled corn, milk, beef stew, Leices- tershire sauce, and Lominy, soven cents. Sun- duy is Dio's oxpensive day, and, that our resdora may know how sumptuously the fifty-dollar ro- former fates on the Lord’s day, we give his consses entire : One cent's worth of catmeal porridge and a quarter of o cent in sugar, together witha centin cracked ‘wheat and 8 balf cent in milk. To this wzs added 2 cents’ worth of milk and 1 cent in rye or Indian bread. Dinner conslsted of @ small 3-cent lobster, 1 cent’s worth of loaf bresd, and 1 ceot’s worth of hominy 8alad, to which was sdded 2 cents’ worth of cracked wheat and milk, No supper. Now, it must be remembered that Dio don't allow any drinking, except of water, which don’t cost anything, so that his expenses for living per week are only 5414 centa. This being the case, why should he charge $50 per diem for his sorvices in behalf of humanity? He is recelving $350 per week, which would get an ordinary per- son, with a reasonable stomach, three good squaro meals & day snd then losve him & handsome profit. What does Dio do with the £849.453 which be hos left over? And why can't he provide his lecturcs for about 81.5D npiece. This would lcave him $9.953¢ per weok after paying for his eating. His drinking don’s cost him anything. A man of his simple tastes might live like an Emperor on $9.953. In point of fact. it would puzzle him to get rid of such an extraordinary sum. In tho course of & few years he might lay up s colossal fortune of at least $100, which would provide him with bran and beans for several years. THE NEXT TRANSIT OF VERUS: Great prepsrations have, for o long time, been making to observe the crossing of the suun's disc by the planet Vanns, on the 9th day of December next. Governments and scientific bodies mani- fest extraordinary interest in the matter. Con- gress, some time 2go, appropristed £150,000 to 8id in making the observations. The French National Apsembly has voted 800,000 francs for the same purposo ; while Russia, England, and the Germsn Empire have ‘slso desoted large sums to assist in the enterprise. For ten years the astronomers of the world have been discuss- ing from what points the observations should be made 80 as to insure the best results possible. Tho stations have been decided on, the instruments are all ready for the expedition, and the savants'to take part in the undertaking have, we are informed, completed their prepara- tions, or are on the point of completing them. The passage of the planct over the face of the sun will be visible only In part of Africs, in Esstern Asis, in’ Australia, the Southern Sess, in Greece, Turkey, in the Pacific Ocean, in Vie- toria, and the south of Russia. The English are going to make an effort fo observe the transit from Victoria. Thero are to be stations of ob- gervation at' Bourbon, Tahiti, Pekin, and Yoko- bama. Thé Russians slone expect to watch it from twenty-four different points. . The- object- of all tbis preparation is to ascertain whethier the sccepted value of the angle called the sun’s parallax is correct. The true determination’of the angle in ques- tion depends, of course, on the accuracy of the measurements. made of it. .And, since oar kuGwledge of the earth'’s distance from the sun rests upon the correctness of our information sbout .the sun’s parallas,—the parallax being used in- calculating it,—it is easy to see why so much interest is manifested in sscertaining whethor or not the figuro obtained by observ- ing the last travsit does not need correction. The last transit of Venus wes made in 1769. There will bo anotber Dec. 6, 1882, atter which time there will not be. one till June 8, 2004. Till about ten yesrs ago the astronomer Encke’s calenlation of the sun's parallax,—s calculation made in 1824, and based upon the observations of 1763,—wag universally accepted. Encke com- puted tho sun'a parallax to be 8.57 seconds, ‘which gave for the carth's distance from the sun 8 little more than 95,000,000 miles. For some yoars, however, it has been surmised, we might almost eay demonstrated, that wo are two to four million miles nearor than this to the centro of our system. Leverrier, from various dats, came to tho conclusion that Encke's figure was too small by one-thirtieth of itself. Foucault, by experiments on the velocity of light, showed that the sun's parallax must bo 8.86 seconds. Han- sen arrived at a likeconclusion by a different road. In 1862, Mara was observed inoppoetion with the aun, from stations in Europo, the Cape of Good Hope, aud Australia. From the dsta obtained by the observers at these points, Stone and Win- necke reach the conclusion that the parallax of the sun must be 8.9 seconds. A young astrono- ‘mer, Powalky, re-exsmined the figures obtained in 1769; and found that they confirmed the con- clusions reached by Leverrier, Foncanlt, Han- sen, Btone, and Wmnecke. Binco tnis time the parallax of the sun has bedegm: at between 8,84 seconds and 8.94 seconds. The 9th of December next, clear weather favoring, will decide whether this flgure is the true ope. Before the parallaxof the sun was measured it was not possible to discover how near our earth | istoit. Up o the seventeenth century, peoplo thought their world twenty times nearer to the #un than it is. Tnere was notthen, andthere isnot now, a direct methodof obtaining the parallax, —and the indirect methods, of which there aro several, were not then discovered. The transit of Venus had not been observed till 1639, and ‘Halley was the first to point out the scientific “value of the observation. The first attempt by mesus of it to fix the suw's parallas, and thus discover the radius of the earth's orbit, wss made in 1761. The stations, however, were mot properly selected, 2nd no result was reachied. In 1769, & second attempt was made, with the result we have givennbove. The expedition contemplated for the close of this yearis the third effort in this direction ; and scionce has made =o much progress eince 1769 that we may hope for a prosperons igsue. Three methods of observation have been pro- posed : First, direct observation of the con- tacts ; second, micrometric measuroments of the several positions of Venus on the sun during its ‘passege ; third, photographing the sun's face at near intervale. . The spectroscope will be used to determine whather the agitation of the luminous envelope of thio sun does not produce disturbances cal- culated to hasten or retard. the apparent begin- ning or end of thotransit over the sun’s disc. 5 A NEW CHAPTER OF HISTORY. The recent trial of George O. Evans, the do- fanlting War-Claim Agent of Pennsylvanis, inci- dontally added & new and very important chapter to the history of the War of the Rebellion. Duoring hia trial it became necessary to summon Gov. Curtin to expiain the menner of recruiting the Pennsylvania Roserves, which wero at firat Intended for the defense of the southern borders of the State, and why and how they were ult- mately transfarred to the General Government for activo duty in the ficld. Gov. Curtin ten- dered these troops to the Government early in 1661 for operations in Virginia; but they wero declined. The counsel for the defense inquired what he moant by tho Genoral Goversment, and asked if Mr. Lincoln refused them. *No," wos thoreply. *“Did Mr. Chase refuse them 2™ # No," was the reply sgain. *'Then who did?"” Gav. Curtin promptly anawered: “ Gen. Cam- eron, betweon whom and myself not tho best of feeling existed at the time, and who suffered his hostility to me £o fntcrfere with the public good." Ta appreciate the full force of Gov. Curtin’s comment upon Gen. Cameron's extraordinary action, it must be remembered that, at the time Gen. Curtin made this offer, it was daily expect- ed that the Confedorates would move on Wash- ington, as the Federal forces had fust met with the overwhelming reverse of Ball Run. As soon 88 this defest became known, then Cameron gent word to Gov. Curtin to ‘‘Send on the Reserves." In twonty-four Bours the troops; eight regiments in all, wero in Washington, and there was no further danger of the Confederate movement on the city. This was the first dovelopment of that petty parti- sanship of Cameran, which ultimately brought upon his head the censure of Congress aud his dismissal from the War Department by Mr. Lincoln in a very peremptory snd indignant manoer. Had Gen. Cameron been & patriof in- stead of a politician, and accepted thetroops which were offered him, it is by no means impossible that the Bull Bun disaster. might have been averted along with the train of misfortunes which followed it. It would have boen & blow st the Confederacy which might havo shattered the Rebollicn at the very outset, instead of firing the Southern heart and encouraging Northern sym- pathizers, It s the darkest pagein the record of ths corrupt politician, and ore which will play a very important part when the future his- torisn comes to make up the story of the War of the Bebellion. ** BHOVING THE QUEER.” Counterfeit five-cent nickels are becoming very common in Chicago. The profits of the ‘mannfacture are £0 contemptibly small that, as somebody bas said, nobody in his five centses would dream of going into it. Its extent, how- evor, can be inferred from thoe fact that & single horse-ratlway in thus city gets from $8 to.$4 a day in this stuff. Thisis a tax on the Company of from $1,000 to $1,500 & year. It is claimed that all the sham pickels received are melted down, but few habitusl patrons of the horse- cars have failed to notice stray pewters in the change contained in_ the. little. enyelopes fur- nighed by the drivers, or have failed to promptly drop them, when noticed, into the fare-box. Bince the business of incressing the curroncy is 50 happily under way, why should not the in- flationists simply help it on by repealing the 1aws sguinst counterfeiting? Their objact, they say, {s to ““make money plenty.” This would make it wonderfully plenty. The only quality they consider as esgential to what they are pleased to term money is the power of circula- tion, and counterfeit currency circulates with greater rapidity even than its genuine prototypo, for when people get it they take =special pains to get rid of it as Boon as possible. Leaving tho statuto law ont of sight, is the counterfeiter any greater oo to society than the inflationist ? The tirst does his best to prevent financial stringency, by supplying the country with nDeatly-executed cos and neatly-en- graven bits of green paper. Truo, the bita of paper carry on their faces a promico to pay that will never be fulfilled, but the inflationist wonld havo the country.iteel go into tho business of shoving the quecr, by issuing greeubacks ad infinifum, until the fulfillment of their promises to pay .would be an impossibility. If the idea that currency reeds to bobased on gold, and redecmable in gold, is uniruo,—if it is & fact that merely stsmping an oblong piece of paper ia enongh to make it * money,” and if tho peo~ ple are longing for more of this sort of stuff,— whynot spare the Government the cost of printing it and just anthorizeanybody to manufacturs it ? And ag it involves eome oxpense to prepare the green paper and tho claborate plates needed to duplicate the present legal-tenders, why not issue 8 new Iot on brown wrapping-paper, with *five dollars " written on each bit, in order to put it in everybody's power to relieve s tight money-market? The nickel counterfeiters aro simply inflationists under another name. It is sufficiently frightful to kuow that dan- ger lurks in mince-pies and sherry wine; that bakers' bread and grocers’ tes contain matter wluch wounld destroy us but for the kindly poisons in eirups and pickles; that land and water conspire to decrease the population, and railroad companies are the emissariea of the Destroyer, without suffering the last terror announced by .science. Dr. Corner, of London, has discovered that tho table-refuso of housekeepers is thrown into the dast-bin, just asit is thrown into the ssh-barrel in Chicago; that it subsequently cnters into the manufacture of bricks, and that the process of baking does not eliminate the deleterious particles of putrid matter. Thus the walls of a man’s house aro perpetually breathing malaria and perspiring poison around him. No matter what he eats and drinke,—whether he be temperate or intemper- ate,—the horrora of death encompass him abont " literally. Dr. Corner, therefore, earnest- Iy recommends the burning of tablo and kitchen refuse, against which ¢ cremation ” there is no sentimental objection. —— GENIUS AND EGOTISAL. BY PROF. WILLIAY MATHEWS, OF THE USIVERSITY OF cuICAGO. : The question whether genius is conscious of its own porers, is one which has often been dis— cnased, and upon which the acutest writers have held opposite opinions. In tho afirmative wo have the opnion of Sterling and others, while the negative is supported by tho elaborate and powerfal arguments of Carlyle. As a general thing, sclf-love i8 8o natural to man thatit would seem - TOE SUREST AYFECTATION in bim to pretead to be supenor to it. Without acertain amount of self-confidence, no man would dare sttempt anything eminently great or glorions, and the most ginat-like intellect would expend - itself mpon the trifles of . & dwarf. Coleridge somewhere says that *The decorous manners of this age attach a disproportionste opprobrium to this foible.” Thore is no reason why the self-con- Bciousness of ren] geninashould be offensive ; and the fact is, that few persons complain of = man for talking with a modest pride of his own achievements or abilities. It is only when be exaggerates the merit of trifles, sndsneers atthe talents and deeds -of others,—when, like the fly upon the chariot wheel, some petty, insignificant human insect boasts that he rawscs sll the dast snd hubbub of the world,~that our indignation is kindled. We are not 50 much vexed at a man’s tarning his own trumpetor, as at his pitching the key-note of his praises too high. But for s mau o really profound genius to af- fect to bo unaware of tho grestnoss of his en- dowmonts, is the most offensive kind of egotism; itis = ¢ TIE PRIDE THAT APES HUMILITY.” Bome of the most gifted men the world ever saw bave been tho most daring of egotists. In rending the writings of Sbakspeare, Milton, Byron, and Wordsworth, one is not more strack with the matchless beanty of their creations than with the intense egotism that pervades them, and the lofty confidence with which they anticipate their immortality. Itis often this very quality that forms tho principal charm of their works. Their poetical’herces, in the ma- Jority of cases, are only personifications of their osn feelinga and passions. Who can doubt that such men have a proud consciousnesa of their own genius when they dash off some glorious work at & sitting, snd with the rapidity and bappiness of _ inspiration 2 Not to quote from the ancient poets and prose-writers, from Pindar and Horace downward, who"are continu- ally nssorting that they have reared for them- selves ** monuments more lasting thao brass,"” lot us glsnce at some of the great writers of modern times. © 'SHARSPEARE does not hesitate to say in oue of his sounats : Nor marble, nor tho gilded monuments Of Princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; arid, to a large extent, the interest of his plass depends npon the egotism of his hearers and he- roines. Who does not love the cgotism of the ‘mélsucholy Jacques, who fills tho forest of Ar~ denne with the gloom of his own soal; and in what but Lis proneness to selfish thonghtfulness lies the charm of Hamlet? The most fascinat- ing passages’ in Othello aro thoee in which the Moor speaks of his fiery love of battlo, of his personal appearance -and history,.and bids fasewell to the pride, pomp, and circumatance of war, in an outburst of sclfsh sorrow. Brutus is sternly egotiatical; and our interest in Aacbeth reaches its hoight only after the murder, when he reveals to us the workings of his soul, now driven in upon itselt. HILTON, - whose inteneo cgotism has boen pronounced al- most a8 conspicuous us his genius, evideutly be- Hioved his grest epio to be s work which -the world “would not willingly let di In the touching sonnet on the loss of his eyes, he epeaks of the support which he derived in bis afiliction from the proud consciousness of hav- ing - Lost them overplied 1In liberty’s defense, my noble task. Of which all Earope rings from side to side. Frequently, in replying to an opponent, ho digresses into an account of himeelf, his educa~ tion, his plans ; seeming to sy : “Remember, 1t is 1, Jonn Milton, & man of such and such ante~ cedents, with sach and such intellectual powers, who say this." At tho cloge of his hife he un- questionsbly believed bimself to be tke greatest writer in England,—one whose bare ex-caliedra statement should have asmuch weight in the world of mind as the decrce of a magistrate in tho order of-civil life. In this lofty self-assor- tion the great Puritan poet but followed the ox- ample of bis predecessor, OATCER, who, shy and timid 28 ho was in company, caus- ing his host of the Tabsrd to &3y to him, 4 Thou look'st 85 Af thou would'st Snd » hare; Forever on tho gronnd I see thee stare,” yet did not scorn to eposk of himself 28 the “most noble philosophicall poste in Englishe,” and to assert that “in noble sayings " and many other excellent qualities of a poet, he *passeth a1l other makers.” When JOEN DREYDEN was congratulated on the brilliancy of his famous Ode on SL. Cecitia’s Day,—** You are right,” Le roplied, *a nobler ode was never produced, and never will be.” - " ALEXANDER POPE'S good opinion of himself leaks out in numerous passages of hia writings. Publishing his Essay on Man anonymously, he spoke of it s s mastor- pieco of its kind. - He ‘evidently deémed his critical opinions 83 infallible as the religious ones of Pope Alexander. TARD BACON was s lofty egotist, and confidently predicted his own immortality. TUFFON : said that, of great geniuses of modern times, thera were bat five,~** Newton, Bacan, Leibuitz, Montesquieu, and Buffon.” Everybody is fa- ‘miliar with the daring avowal of EEPLER, . - ‘which reaches the sublimo of egolism: **I dare inenit mankind by confessing that I am he who hes turned Science to sdvantage. 1f iam par- doned, I aball rejoice; if blamed, T shall endure it. The die is cast; I have written this book, and whether it be read by posterity or by my contemporsries, is of R0 conseguence; it may well wait for a reader during oue centary, whan God himself doring 6,000 years has waited foran observer like myselt “YWhen I am dead, you will ‘not easily meet with another JORY HUNTER,” said the greet English anatomist. - The stories told of the intense egotism of RICHARDEON, tho novelist, place him in the front renk of lit- erary Narcissuses. - No mother was ever fonder of her childrén than hse of the offapring of his brain. No visitor was ever suffered to leave him till he had listened to some of his preductions; apd, once in s large company, when & gentleman just from Paris told him that he bad scen ope of Lis novels on the Freach King’s table, ho feigned not to hear, because the rest of the company were at tho mo- mert occupied with other topics. Waiting some time for a pause, he asked, with affected care- lessness, * What was that, sir, which yoa wore just ssying sbout the French King?” “Ohl nothing of any consequence,” replied hisinform- ant, disgusted with the trick, and determined to mortify bis self-conceit. GoLDEMITH'S self-conceit is proverbial It ‘‘stuck out” in every look, gesture, and motion. *He would never,” said Garrick, *allow s superior in any art, from writing poetry dorn to dancing » horn- pipe.” Going toan exbition of puppets, he warmly exclaimed, on their doxterously tossin, a pike, * Pshaw! I can do it better mysely; and broke his shins the same even ing at the house of Burke, in trying to ghow that he could eclipse them in leaping over s stick. Oratory, he declared, was & mers knack, and, hearing & speech of Buke eulogized, boasted that he conld do as well bimsel!. Baing dared to the trisl, he mounted a chair &nd stuck fast after three sentences; yot reiterated his ‘boast, saying that on this occasion he was “ ont of lnck.” When Moser, the Swiss, cut short his conversation at an Academy dinuer with a ** Stay, stay, Toctor Shonscn is going to say something,” Goldsmith was almost boside himself with jeal- ousy and rage. HoainTR did not scruple to extol Mariage-a-la-Mode ; LOPE DE VEGL trumpeted his own praises nnder a pseadonym; BUTLER . could harangue with great gust on the merits of Hudibras; and the inscription under BOILEAD'S portrait, which gives the palm to the French matirist over Juvenal and Horsce, is kuown to have come from the pen of—Boilesu. WORDEWORTH wag & thorough egotist. He never hesitated to express his oontempt of his critics, and his selt- assurance of his own powers. In BOUTHEY'S correspondence we find the anshor of * Thalabs ™ spesking with ths utmost confidence of his poems a3 certain to render his name immortal HAZLITT, who could eriticise other writers 8o sharply, had evidently 8 good opinion of himself. Writing “from Winterslow, he saysof his ‘ Table-Talks " 4“1 could swear (were they not mine) tha thoughts in many of them are founded as s rock, free a8 air, the tone like an Italian pic- ture.” Need we ailude to that literary Na:- clssus, - LAMABTINE, who s forever attitudinizing sud survering himsclf in 2 mirror; or to the enormous van- ity or OHATEAURRIAND, which, Bainte-Bauve affirms, Tunirers: ene glouti wWassousrait pas, -and ‘which prompta him incessantly to ack, *What sould the Nineteenth Century have. beea. without - -my ritinge 3" xS The egotism of JULIUS -8CALIGER almost staggers belief. " Ho looked on himself a8 the monarch of lotters, just sa the ancients regorded the Persion King ss The King; and spoke of other scholara with profound con- tompt. e J0IN X¥OT, the Reformer, was n glorious egotist. In his chronicle he speaks of himself always in the third person, as if he were writing the biography of some great man whose deeds he had had tha good fortune to witness. John Knox's figure is ever the conspicaous fguroin John Knox's book. But of all egotists, of anciont or modern times, ' WILLIAM COBBETT 3 towers the highest above his fellows. To such a-pitch does he carry his self-praise at times, that it Beems a8 if he were quizzing his readers, or rather a8 if it were a caricatare, or wicked in- vention of an enemy. ** I am your superior,” he boastingly writes o the Bisbop of Winchester. 1 havo ten times your-talent, and & thousond times your industry and zeal” Few polemica have held & more caustic pen but his* frame was of the Herculean rather than the Apollinean cast; he thought x man could notbe strong eoough unless he incessantly displayed his thews. And yet,in hisbold snd daring self- praise, thereis something quite noble, com- pared with the mean, soeaking, sbuffling tricks of many other writers who would play the sama game- if they had courage. Thers are some men, says Coleridge, who actuaily fatter thom~ selves that they abbor all egotism, ‘and nover betray it in their writings or discourse. - ** But watch these men narrowly,” he adds, *‘ and in the greater number of cases you will find their thoughts, and feclings, and mode of expression saturated with the passion of contempt, which 1s the concentrated vinegar of egofism.” The illustrations we hava given abundantly prove, we think, that therois MORE POETBY THAN TRUTE in the sentiment that gonius is unconscious of its powers. No doubt it is often true that, when & risn of genius is vain, he is vain of what is not his genins. The greatest authors have often ‘been proudest of the poorest af their works. It is natural to exaggerate the value of that which hes cost us much effort to produce. We hug and fondle an object which we have acquired with many straggle; e overprize a talent which wa have trained and cultivated with assidnous care. - But to suppose s msn of extraordinary intellectnal power to be unconscious of the facs is to suppoeo him self-ignorant,—to know lass of himself than smaller men. As well might you suppose & Titan to be igmorant of his mant stature, or & Hercules mnot to know his physical strength. The truth is, an afecta- tion of bumility in such a man, who towers s head and shoulders above his fellows, wonld be as ridiculous as the struttings of s dwarf. “I grant,” says one of tho authors of *Guesses at Trath,” who lecns to the oppositeopinion, “that the unconsciousness which belongs to genins in its purity cannot be preserved undefiled, sny ‘more than that which belongs to goodness in 1ta purity. There are numbers of alarums on all sgides to rouse our self-consciousness, should it ever flag or lag, from our cradle mpward. Whithersoever we go, WE HAVE BELLS OX OUR TOES to rogale our carnal hearts with their music, and bell-men meet us in avery strest to sound their chimes in our ears. Othars tell us how clover we are ; and we repeat the' sweet straing with ceaseless iteration, magnifsing them at av- ery repetition. Hence. it is next to a marvel it genins can ever presorve anyof that uncon- sciousness which belongs to its essencs ; =nd this is why, when all talents are multiplying, genius bocomes rarer and rarer with civilization, 88 is also the fato of its- moral analogon, bero- ism. Narcissus-lke, it wastes awsy in gazicg on ita own sweet image.” Are we lacking in roverence for the father of his country ? To-day is Washington's birthdsy, 2nd the great and good Washington will oaly be remembered at the North Side Toruer Hallby & tablean of * Washington Crossing the Delw ware,” and a social hop, which aro to be compli- ‘mentary to the managerof that ball. Have wo come to this, that the memory of the good little boy who couldn’t tell & a Lie, and of the man who eaved his country, is only kept alive by the Turner Hall frequenters, and made to swell the oxchequer of ita manager 2 pige =il O PPN ‘The latest development in the Episcopal con- test in Wisconsin is that Dr. Hoffman has with- drawn his name, which leaves tho fleld clear for Dr. DeEoven. Inasmuch a3 there ia s probe- ‘bility that the northern part of the State will be gét off from the Diocese of Wisconsin, which will necessitate tho choosing of s new Bishop, the June meeting of the Council will lose much ofits interest. Among the candidstes alreadyin training for the new Bishopric are the Bov. B. N. Parke, of Oshkosh, and the Rev. F.B. Haf, of Green Bay. Vi e e In the 1,818 Granges of Iowa it is claimed there are no lees than 25000 women, esch of whom are intrusted with a vote. The womed are thus being rapidly prepared for the ballot by ipstruction in parliamentary practico, debate, and general business. Thore are eome 7,000 Grauges in the country, to which belong mesrly 100,000 women. ‘The advocates of woman-suf- frage do not sppear to have availed thomselves of this information. Jeff Davis and Jo Johnstons It is said that Jeff Davis goea to Earops 0 escape Jo Johnston's impending military hi=tort, whic%? itis stated, is ternbly severo on b9 Conlederats ex-President, skowing both his mil* itary incapacity and the petty malice and fav.r itisin which controlled him. Davis' friends i duced Johnaton to take one chapter out.