Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, August 30, 1874, Page 8

THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIRUNE: SUNDAY, AUGUST SU,- 1874. TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. A28 OF SBECRIPTION (PATABLE IN ADVANCE). &fl Ly mall. Bl”—"ml Sunda; .50 el §:00! Weorly "Parta of & yest at tbe same rate. To prevent delay and mistakes, be sare and give Post Oft:ce address in full, including State and County. ‘Remittances may be made eithor by draft, expreas, Post Otaos axder, or n registered lottars. at our risk. FERMS 7O CITY SUBSCHINELS. L Dafl>, delivercd, Sunday excepted 25 contr per week. o Sundar eladed. 20 cents per woak. ety celiered, Sanga IoSUNR COMPANY. Ganer Madison and Dearbora-uta.. Ghicago, 1il- TO-MORROW'S AMUSEMENTS. HOOLEY'S THEATRERandolph street, betwoen Clark and LaSalla. **Led Astras.™ W'VICKKR'S THEATRE—Madison street, betweon Dearborn azd State. Kngagemeut of Edwin Adsms. “*he Red Light; or, The Signal of Dangor. GRAND OPERA-HUUSE—Clark etrect, opposite Enerman House. Kally & Loon's Minstrels. 1ZMY OF MUSIC—Halstod streot, botween Mad- -.:.Qfl Monros. Kngagement of Rebort MoWade. **Rip Van Winki SOCIETY MEETINGS. 4, )NTAN CLUB—~The regular monthly meeting o2 next Tocsday evening, at 8 o' ‘clock. All mcmbers aro Foquastidd 10 8GR, DGR T. OAG, Fourtt Chieftain. HAPTER, NO. 2 R. A M.—Hall, 71 A T O ovocation. Sondsy Svering, Aus 81, at 8 o'clock, for wnrk'o‘!;hmnll_ x?'g’:fif?:im}:'k‘:‘wi? Clrdlahy favised o mest with ua. 1 arder of tho . 1—CHICAGO_COM- it sunciave. Monday NDER) B Spec oas esening, An 1305 clock, for work on K. T. Order. v Savited. By order of th ialag Si Kalghts conpieoishy INETATIE) Recorder. BUSINESS NOTICES. HESNEY, CORNER OF CLARK AND R warants. tho. tncst and best foll ‘sct of 18th tor 85, Batisfactiun given or moaey refunded. The Chicags Tribnne, Bunday Morning, August 30, 1874. MR. BEECHER'S FUTURE. ‘We have pernsed the report of Mr. Beecher's Investigating Committee with a8 farvent a desire todeal with it charitably as s consistent with justice in tus slage of this affair. The Com- mittee wes composed of the bosom friends of tho person on trial. Four lawyers constantly attended it for the defense, and none for the “investigation™ or tho prosccution. It began its sessions without the knowledge of the pros- ecutor or the public, aud continued them with- out iuviting the prosecutor to be present oxcept 238 witness, Theso fscts raise a presumption ierely that the Committes was in 1o sense judicial or truth-eceking. The Committee fails to ask the attendance of Xliss Anthony and Mrs. Staoton, through whom tho very scandal they aro investigating was made public, 1t permits botb Carpenter and Mouiton, who purport to be the direct witnesses to Mr. Becch- ex's confessions of adultery, to go unexamined. It ignores the public statoment of Mr. Moulton. It doesnot wait for thot of Dr. Patton. Theso facts look like concealment and suppression, nob investigation. There is much testimony which the Committee has declined to see or hear. What they have obtained has pot been handled judicially. They have not observed, m their re- port, thst Moulton's good character is so su- thoritatively vouched for by Beocher that to charge . Moulton with being & man of infcrior character is to convict Beecher of being & man of inferior discernment, which he certainly isnot. The Committee blame Beecher for mot taking church-members into bis confidence instead of Monlton. Hsd his course been as pure as he now saye, he could mot ressonably bave done otherwise. But, if his offense were adultery, would Plymouth Church members have made good confidential agents? We may hope not. The Committes donot do justice to tho hun- droeds of fearful scntences in Mr. Beecher's let- ters indicating that he held his position, 85 a minister and & man, by the mere sufferance of Tilton, Ly reason of some great unpublished the nature of the remainder foroshadowed. Yet, in tho judgment of the world, Doecher hss fallen. Slowly but surely the verdict of the im- ‘partial ontside public will environ and smother the potty devices of the Brooklsn Committoo £nd the sesumed hilarity of the aceused proacher. The “povwer of great darkness” under which he says be has dosporately struggled for & few years past will decpen Like the final night that closed on the blindea Ajax in his dying con- test with Hector. After the excitement of his votarios in the im- mediate drama of his defense shall havo sub- sided,—after their combativeness ehall no longer bave anything to push against,—Mr. Beocher's docline and fall from public respect will bo manifest to all. Clristian men and women value their own self-respect even moro bhighly than they ecsteem Beecher's oloquence or wit. It cannot long be fash- fonablo for pure women to attend the minis- trations of any msn whose famo is, whethor justly or otherwiso, eo smirchod and clonded. Fow will become martyrs through their faith in bim. Tho subscriptions to his paper and books will tumble. Tho attendance at his church will fall off. The number of friends once proud to kmow him who will now avoid him will incresse. Ir it is not his crime, it is at least his fally, that has ruined the Tilton housebold, and reduced & woman, once among tho moet loved, to posi- tion now the most pitiable. In ecither dilemma he is unfit for further pastoral work. Beside this catustronhe, Ms usefulness ssa preacher fails. His plain duty s to falfll his promise and “Step down and out.” The advisers who lead bim forwand to more desperate battles in tho courts of law only reuder mors complete his ruin. THE MAN WHO ENOWS ALL, ABOUT IT. The Beecher investigation has given soveral hitherto unknown persons a notoriety that has been meat and drink to them. Prof. Roasitor A. Raymond is the last to appear upon the scene, 1tis strange that be hss boeu quiet 8o far, for, 45 ho modestly announced from the platform of Plymouth Churcly, he is “the only man, by the concurrence of circumstances, m Plymouth Church or in the United States, to-day, noé member of the Committes snd not a lawyer be- foro the Committee, who happens to know all about it.” Other people have grasped a fact here and there, but only the cmniscient Raymond knowsitall. He says Beecher is spotless. 8o that question is cottled. Persons throughont the country who hava been holding contrary views will please change their minds at once. Raymond has epoken, and he knows eversthing. Sinco this is 80, it is & grievous disappoiutment that ho has told us so little. To be sure, he made the wretched Moulton an oateast for the rest of his life by ssying that ho had poisoned the minds of all the parties to this little dispute with his * infernal lies.* It wag patural that the Plymouth Church Chris- tiaps, having thus learned from the lips of Om- niscience that Moulton was guilty, should have flourished pirtols and expressed their pious de- gire to ‘‘lay bim ont,™ **kill him,* **shoot him,” etc. It is sad to think that some worldly-minded policemen snould have res- cued him. Raymond did, however, let fall one precious scrap of information, which en- tirely destroys all the arguiaents against Beech~ er. Omniscienca tells us that Mrs. Tilton wrote a letter in the fall of 1870 to ber husband, ask- ing him to removo the lewd pictureshe had bung in his room, and to abandon the society of evil women. A “friend” was with her when the letter was gent and when the answer came. Ars. T. read the letter and faigted. Her friend =vailed herself of tho chance to read it. She £sys now that ehe had previously been asked todo so. In it Tilton swore frightfully, snd told his wife that be would have whatever pictures and go with whatever women he wished. ‘When Mrs. Tilton revived, she said that ** Dory ™ hod written her a terrible letter, and then she wrong which he Lad committed against the lat- ter, and wluch the latter was liablo hourly to di- valge. Take the following, in his letter to Moul- ton of July 5, 1672 . If my destruction would place him (meaning Til- top) all right, that shali not stand in the way, I am willizg 10 step down and ont. No one cau offer more than that. Thot I do offer. Sacrifice me without hesitation, if you can cleerly see your way to his safety zud happizess therebs. 1 donot think there is auy- thing to be gained Ly #. E. (mezning Mrv. Tilton) and tho children would havo their future clouded. Tho above occurs, not in the famous “apol- ogy.” but in Beecher's own handwriting. By etopping down and out, what does Beecher mean if not that retirement from the pulpit which Tilton a yoar earlier, on Dec. 26, 1870, had demanded? Does Beecher fulfill his offer to *stop down ond ont"? On the contrary, does bo not ndw sacrifice Mr. and Mrs. Tilton to save himself as freely a8 he then offered to sacrifice himeself to save them? And how would Mrs. Tilton acd her children have their future clonded by reason of Beecher's ** destraction,” unless that destruction consisted in the public proof of kis adultery with Mrs. Tilton ? Aguin ; remembering that Mrs. Morse, Alrs. Tilton's mother, has steadily fought her daugh- 1er’s babble, as sho understood it, and that, had Beecher's * oense ” consisted in advising Mrs. Tilton to leave her husband, it would have been exsctly in accord with Mrs. Morse's own Jjudg- ment, what do we make of tte following in her Ietter of upbraiding to Beecher, a fac simile of which, as of all the letters in this controversy, appeared in the Graphic af the 22d inst. Speak- ingof other troubles, she says of her daughter : Tbis she could endure and thrive under, but the publicity he's given to is recont and most crushing 8f alltroulle is what's taken the lLife outof her. I know of telve porsons whom he has told, and they to turn hive told others. I had thought we had as muck 35 wo could live under {rom his neglect and ungovera- sble temrer. But this 38 tho deati-blow o us bot, 32 1 doubt not Florence hes hers. Do you know, when I hiear of your cracking your jokes, from Sunday lo Suaday, and think of the musery yon have brought 9pan us, I think, with the Psalmist, thero is no God ! What wes the misery which Beecher had broughs on Tulton's family so great that for bun to spice his sermons with bis ususl humor seemed to Mrs. Morse to be suflicient evidence that thero conld be no God, or He would smite the great prescher intosilenco? A previous line in tha same lotter tndieaton that the source of this misery was also Mre. Tilton's sin, She "L;:u concerning her daughter: e has not seen any “ 58 5T b 1 v, s soemiTous Woees i think, fs enongh o mn.(u:xhlo—(uwfln. !;m. ‘Tilton's lotter to her busband from Scho- barie, and especially her two letters written elandestinely to Mr. Beecher after it had been sgreed that communication betwoen thom shonld cease, and in two of which the word “ nest- hiding ™ appears, sufficiently show tho nature of the sim. Two witnesses who bave heard Mr. Beecher’s plain arsl confessions of guilt oxist, but were not called by the Committee, or, it called, were permitted to depart substantially destroyed it, saying that no living being should ever sceit. Her conscientious friend concealed the fact that she had read it. Sho after- wards told the Commiiice and Raymond sl about it. Of oourse, this ‘“fact™ proves Baccher's innocenco conclusively. However, it is idle to eny anything agaiust tho great preachoes, now that Raymond, who knows all about it, hns pronounced him innocent. The truo theory al the case is evidently this: Tilton and 3Moulton, while classmates at school, made up their minds to ruin Beecher. Tilton afterwards married in order to be able to accuse him of adultery with Mrs. Tilton. Moulton got 10 per cent of sll the blackmail. This sccounts for tho whole thing. Beecher's playful letters sbout wishing ho were dead, and his rere jest about hanging on the eharp and ragged edge of despair, were made usé of bythem to accomplish their heltish de- sign. It is ovidont now why Hallidsy would havo retused to believe Boecher guilty even though an angel from Heaven had told him so. Halliday had Omuiscience ever by him in the person of Raymond | — THE FALL TEADE. Notwithstanding the prescnt decline in wheat, and the set-back it has given to business, there is very generally a hopoful feelivg among our merchauts, which is also strengthened by ad- vices from New York that the fall trade will be healthy and prosperous. Since the panic of Inst yoar, the fermers bave been gotting high prices for corn and wheat, ana for all their other crops. Everything which they hava put into tne market hoe made them z re- munerative return. At tho same time, the immediate influence of the panic was to induce tho practice of & rigid ecouomy. The result of thisis that tho country people bave plenty of moucy, but very small stocks of goods. Un- doubtedly they will continue, s they ought, to practice economy ; but they must Sll up their stocks again, and will do it by buging what is neceseary. This will indace a steady and rogular demand,—in o emaller way perhaps than usual, —but ont of this will como the advantsge of 8 cash business, or very short cred- its, equivalent to cash. Nearly oll tho lesding branches of trade in the city report fsvorably, and claim an increase in busi- ness. Reporis from Now York show that, while there is no probalbility of large sales ar of any general rpoculetive business this fall, owing to the caution of buyers, yet, on the whole, trade is satisfactors. Instesd of buying shead and au- ticipating another season’s business by storing sway, they buy for the current demand and pay cash. The New York Bulletin says: ** All thig is aggravating to the large distributors of goods, but affords no reason for jumping to the conclusion that the sggregate business this sutomn is net to be good. Confidence is each day strengthening, and, with the good crops we are now assurcd of, there is reason for hopeful- nese.” Tho only cause for anxiety is the pres- . Bat balt the cese has yet boen published, and ent declive in wheat and the possibility that it sy cantinue. We havo 20w but two and a balf months of lake navigation left, and there is on hand in Chicago and Milwsukee nearly three times as much wheat as lsst year at this time, being about six and a balf willions against two and & half millions. Should the prosent declino continue somo woeks, and forco large shipments upon the balance of tho season, & gorge would follow, necessitating shupment by rail st high rates. It is perhaps to0 early to speculate upon this, although the indications are thut wheat will rale low from the lack of foreign demand. To the farmer, how- ever, it will be more than an averge sear of prosperity, inssmuch as the high prices he is gelting for com and oats will more than offsct any deficit on wheat. On the whole, thoro is a steady and healthy incroase in the general volumo of trade, and the fact that people are still living econom- ically, and buying only what thioy need, is by no means a discouraging eign. On the contrary, it is & sure indication that the recovery from tho September panic has bogun, and, while this ro- covery must bo slow, it will be steady and sure. DAMAGED CHARACTER. There is a vast amount of damaged character scattered in all parts of the country. Down in Lrooklyn thore are some awful wrecks of procious fame and credit. Tacre is Mr. Boocher, who has cause for action for damages to his roputation sgainst Tilton, Mre, Tilton, Miss An- thony, Mrs. Stanton, Bowen, Moulton, Carpon- ter, * Gath,” and soveral thousand newspapers. Then Tilton has his cause of action sgainst Booclier, Bowen, Wilkeson, Shearman, and an oqual number of newspapers, Mrs. Tilton has causo of action against as many libelers as Mr. Boocher, with the addition of the Investigating Commitiee of Plymouth Church. Mr. Carpen- ter, Mr. DMoulton, Miss Anthony, Mrs, Belle Hooker, Bossie Turner, Miss Proctor, and s number of other persons, have all causes of ac- tion for damages to their characters ; and, esti- mating tho damage in each caso at the avorage smount claimed in libel suits—g250,000 each—the aggregute dumage in Brooklyn slone amounts to many millions of dollars. In Jerscy City, on tho other side of New York City, is the Rev. Mr. Glendenning, who claims to be the victim of extraordinary scandal. A dring young womaa charged him with crime, and ho has been published far and wide as a scoundrel, and he proposes to vindicate his good name by libel suits against the city ofticers, soveral of his brocher clergymen, and against tho nowspspers, for damages to his character, to the extent of $50,000 ia each case. Passing over the bad lot of damaged character et Washiogton City, whore the District offi- cials and several Scnators and Representa- tives are waiting for verdicts in high dama. gesagainst those who bavo slindered them, we come to Chicago, where the mine has just been opened, and where damaged character is to appeal to the courts for compensatian. It is dif- ticult to estimate in dollars and cents the ruin thet has boen wroaght. Some woeks ago, thirty members of the Common Council were named as thieves, and published as such. Since then there has been an almost gimilar arraignment of members of the Board of County Commission- ers, and of one of the contractors for the sup- ply of tho County Hospital and Insane Asylum. No less than ten members of this Board have been, by name, denounced as thioves, and their character, as well a8 that of the thirty members of the Common Council, totally damaged to tho extent in tho sggregate of possibly $2,000,000. Ar. Ashton, President of tho County Commissioners, leads of in the libel- suit business, claiming the modorate sum of $100,000. But, then, ho 1s President of the Board, and, of counse, baving moro character than his associates, and a higher official rank, the dumage in his case would paturally and necessanly be greater thsn inthe caso of any other Commissioner. How far the other mem- bers have beew, or consider that they havo been, dsmaged by these accusations, has not yet been mado known. Thero ave thirteen other members, who, if they value their reputations at the moderate sum of £50,000 oach, and fecl that those roputations have been destroyed by what bas been published concerning them, have s clear claim, in the aggregats, of $650,000, ex- clusive of the $100,000 claimed by Mr. Ashton. If to this be added s like claim for 250,000 each by tho thirty Aldermen denounced by name as thieves, making $1,500,000 more, we have, in this city alone, a grand aggregate ef over two ‘millions of dollars of damaged character wait- ing reparation. Thisis & goodly sum ‘in these herd times. If this claim can only be collocted by the aid of courts and juries, it will be more profitable to the recipients thau their service iu ecither Council or Commisgions. No business that has ever been before the two Boards has offered such an alluring prospect for dividends. Down in St. Louis, in Cincinnati, Philadel- phis, Cloveland, Pittsburg, Milwaukes, aud in all the minor cities, snd even in country towns, there are innumerable wuits pending for the recovery of com- pensation for damaged character. Taking the wholo country through, it is wonderful how much capital thero is investodin character, espe- cially among Aldermen and City Treasurers. Wo may form some fains idea of this when the com- paratively small number of Senators, Representa- tives, Aldermen, municipal oflicers, and ex-of- ficials of every degreo, ss woll ‘as clorgymen, who claim to have been slandered within the last vear, and who havo suffered damage, are en- titled to not less than ten miilions of doliars. If the dsmage wrought by slander to the character of two hundred persons be computed at ten millions of dollars, who can estimate the total value of the characters of the 69,000 persons holding office in the country, and of the msny millions of other persons exposed at any momont to injury and destruction? Is it not hazardous for men having 2o much invested in character— Mr. Ashton for instance—to sccept any official placs, sud oxpose themselves to such logs ? THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. The Trustees of the University of Chicago have appe:led in s wsories of reeolutions, which we published yesterdsy, to tho poople of Chleago, to commemorate tho Centennial of the Natiopal Independenco by the creation of a fund of 50,000 to be permanently invested for the sssiatance of worthy and peedy students in the University. They express the hope that such a benevolont and patriotic purpose will commend itself to the judgment and liberality of all. Itis believed that no more fitting and excellent object can be sccomplished in the way of & national commem- oration than .by this permanent endowment of the University by s fund which will belong to needy students, to whatever clasa, sex, or re- ligion they may belong, and bo used exclusively to give highor education to those who msy ssok it, and who have no other means of obtaining it. The Univareity is a Chicago institution, snd such an endowment by the poople of this city would be recognized by tho whole country as an act of patriotivm and of most benevolent and practcal benefit. The dopation to such a fund, which is not a large one, will be held by a Board of special Trustees independent of' the Trustocs of the University. This Board can bo composed of such men 85 Lyman Trumball, Judge Drum- mond, W. F. Coolbaugh, snd others, who would proteot it and seo that it was applied to tho ape- cial object of the endowment. We commend the propoeition, a8 an excellent aod charitable one, to the thoughtful aud Liberal consideration of tho citizens of Chioago. THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. Curiously enongh, while thero is a powerful movement under way for compelling woman to bear an equal share with mau in the burdens of tho Stato, thereis & growing disposition to re- lease her from all responaibility for the only sin against socioty which cannot be committed with- out hor partacrship, The custom of branding the woman with an indelible odium, and leaving the man the froedom of socioty, seems to be giv- ing place to an opposite one scarcely less unfair or mischievous, The change may be ephemeral, but illustrations of it are at hand. The admiration which Mrs. Tilton’s “ purity” ond “eainthiness” awakened in thogo who have suffered most from her breaking several of the commundments is fresh in the memory of the observing moralist. And if Elizaboth is the full corn in the ear, *‘Bessie” should be con- sidered the blade at lcast. A gentloman at Indiunapolis in an obituary of kis daughter, who commutted suicide upon find- ing herself overtaken by the consoqueuces of ber gin, doescribes her *‘ profound veneration for the Deity,” and hor *sublime con- fidence io,” not only her Maker's *justice,” but in her own ideas of the samo. ** Bhe told her story to her father, and pleaded for forgiveness, not so much for her sin as for the want of confidence in him.” Then * all was forgiveness,” snd then all was suicide and dogolation. The frenzied father shot down, and gave nearly thofull measure of his desorts, to tha monster who had wrought ruin upon his home. But supposing tho guilt of the aggressor (who is the male animal nearly always in such cases) to De, s it probably is, of unusual enormity, does that exonerate his viettm from all blame? Or, in other words, even if he is s brute for whom no scorn can bo too hot, is she to be pronounced a being of excoptional 1nnocence and sanctity ? But if this is the pardonable ountburst of a stricken father, the case at Jersey City presents tho samo theory deliberately indorsed by public opinion. A young woman dies in childbirth, fathering her child upon a clergyman of the place, who, sha further doclared, hed seduced sher under promise of marrisge. Tho accusod, it is eaid, holds a certificate of his innocence, signed by the girl, forced from her, it is claimed, by her injurer. An jmmenseand intense pub- lic meoting, while roquesting the in- dictment of tne sccused by the Grand Jury, bears testimony fo the ® purs, honorable character and lady-like deportmens of tho decessed until lod astray,” ete, Again we join in the public reprabation of the man in tho case, and again have no hesitation in believing him by far more to blame of the two; never- thelees we must express oar apprchension ss to the digposition of the woman in the case. We sympathize with the popular anger at Jersey City no loss then with the pmntnl)fl'ath at Indisnapolis ; but we must be allowed to fear lest thers should come as much of evil from this apotheosis of the woman as of good from this hstred of the man. We presume no ooe will deny that the gocial constita- tion, as wo understand it m this country, does not admit of the woman consenting to bo *led astray " any more than it admits of the man’s leading her astray. Perhaps no one will venture to aflirm that the woman, however *‘lady-like in her deportment,” or however active in hor church relations, or however * saintly " in tho estimation of her relatives, may yiold, evon under a promise of marriage, without dsmage to her character and peril to society. Granted that sho ia the woaker vessel, perhaps it would be just as well for the public morsls if she shonld become stronger. Suppose sheis * the victim of misplaced confidence,” would it not be advisa- ble for ber to bo a little more chary of her * confidence ?" At all events, now that the elevation of woman is the chief end of man, it might be of use to take into consideration this peculiar element of her subjection. It is a social question. Woman is one half of society, sud it is conceded by evergbody that society is her *‘sphore,” what- ever else is, oris not, her sphere. Therecin she is supposed to rule by buman, as well as divine, right. The social relations of the sexes are therefore largely intrusted to her guardianship. At that outpost she cannot be too “‘strong- minded,” since, if she * falla ™ there, the enemy will come in on us like a flood. Whoever may share in her guilt, aod however emall hor sharo in it may be, all are involved in its cobso- quences. Let her champions awaken the public ‘mind, especially the fomalo mind, to a roaliza- tion of this, and we siall have fewer oppor- tunitios for repudiating tho man and more acca- sion for applauding the woman in the case. THE INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY. The history of the Church of England during the sixtecnth century is substantially the history of England. On tho Continent, at the same timo and long after, churchmen pervaded every sphers of political activity. Cotton Mather and his like were tho kings and law-givers of New England. They laid down the law, sacred and profane. The two were synonymous. The question whether divorces could be granted was decided Ly the suffrages of tho ministers of Now England, and the question whether captivo Icdisns could be held in elavery was decided in the affirmative by a text in Deutaronomy. When the avenucs of politics were gradually closed to them, they exerted a commanding in- fiuence in matters of morality and religion such 88 they do not wicld now. The decline in their power hasbeen by no mesnaan evil o them. So fa as it has induced them to withdraw from the fields of action they had usurped, it has been & Dlessing. They have, howover, felt this decline in matters peculiarly pertaining to their sacred calling. The causes of the grester Tespect paid them in the past are to be found in four facts. We must premisa that our argument applies anly to this country. First—More roverence was paid to religion in the olden time. It was in many places sn es- sential coudition of office-bolding sod even of voting. In the Colotial Assemblies, the Bible was appealed to as tha sapreme law of humsn action with & frequency and familiarity that would excits unbonnded wonderment in our State Legialatures. When men came to America far re- ligion's sake, they naurally made the religion for which they had sndsrgone sash haedehips the corner-stone, not only of their lives, bat of their laws. Its ministers were regarded with almost superstitions reverence. They waxed in yoars and recown together. Tumning them adrift because they were old and replacing them with infants fresh lrgm a theological seminary, was thon somethiog unknown. Second—Tho ministry was the best-educated class in the country. This single fact involved the exercise of tremendous power. Third—Oratory was in its glory. In mat- ters of religion, it probably exerted s more weighty inflnence than # did in our politics during the war. Whitfield went marching through Georgia as victorionsly as Sherman. Tens of thousands of hearers sobbed and shrieked under the weight of his famons seutence: “I can writo damnation in the dust that covers your Bibles.” Fourth—The great liberal movement of the Iast four conturies had then, in early New En- gland times, only extended, in religion, to a revolt againnt formalism. The scalpel of acience was not at work dissecting creeds. Fervor was breaking down barriers. Men left the Estab- lished Church, whatever its polity might b, for the sake of Leing more, not less, religious. The Church was therefore sggressive. It therefore thrived. Its ministers led in the warfare, and reaped the glory of success. These four caufes have lost mach of their old potency. Bome of them have ceased to exist. Thus, the ministry isno longer the best-educated class. Instruction inside of theological semina- ries has not kept pace with thgt outside. Cler- gymen, instead of being the possessors of all koowledge, have no lenger exclusive possession even uf their own specialty. The laity invades tho domain of theology, tries to boldly teach, in- stead of being roverently taught, and disputes the dogmas 1t once thought too holy to be ques- tioned. The relativeimportance of the clergy as a class, arising from their superior education, oxists no longer. Nay, they aro looked mpon by many as behind the aversgo student. The decline of oratory has weakened the power of ministers in common with all other speakers. The average pulpit makes a good delivery an im~ possibility. This spparently insignificant cause Dsa really had a great deal to do with making ministers, a8 a class, indifferent speakers. When a wooden wall effectuslly prevents the natural sweeping gestures, and compels & man to gestic- ulate with his arm oo s level with his shoulder, affectation and forced rigidity become inevita- ble. The lack of new, strong religious move- ments has told upon munisterial influence. Fer- vor is being ruled out as norefined. All existing sects are sinking into formalism. Whule the high-churchman rivals Rome in candles and burn- ings of incense and genuflexions, the Presbste- rian and Congregsationalist adopt printed forms of gervice, respouses by the people, and songs by a select fow who praise the Lord at 8o much per week. There ia little aggression. Thero is consequent dullness. There are two main means of restoring to the ministry a portion of its old power. It can never regain the whole. It is well for the world and foritself that it cannot. Bat it may perhaps once more guide mankind in matters of religion, provided it can carry into effect two changes: First, the preparatory studies must be greatly extended. It would oe difficult to name a science that does pot directly or indirectly touch the dogmss of religion. Darwin snd Tyndall are 88 truly wnters on religion i Hodge and Paley. The works of the school they represent should be studied in the seminary,—not diluted representations of them as theological opponents see them, but the ‘works thomselves. When the ministry once more represents the sdvanced enlture of the day, it will once more find that knowledge is power. Second, the creeds must be remodeled. They are behind the age. Dr. Patterson’s declaration during the Bwing trial, that the Westminster Confession necded to be revised, was as wise as it was manly. Beliefs farmulated long years ago cannot be implicitly receivod now. A creed must grow with the sge or bo rejected by the age. TAX-FIGHTING, Mr. Derickson, in his speech before the State Board of Equalization, hit the nail on the head when ho said that the inequality of taxation in this State * had made tax-fighting respectable.” On general grounds, it would be supposed that a man who tried to shirk the payment of his dues to the State, county, ar city would bo looked up- on with aisgust by his fellow-citizens. Such ac- tion is mean. A mao avails himself of all the advantages offered by municipal organizations and then tries to mske his ncighbors pay his sharo of tho cost of thoso advantages. All this is changed, howover, when the taxes he rofuses to pay are unjust and unequal. He then appears 28 the champion of the right. He i8 hailed 88 a beuefsctor, 28 a man who has the nervo to resist wrong, no matter how powerful the sutharity that tries to inflict it may be. The news of his victory in the courts is re- ceived with general gratification. When such a state of things prevails, all tax-fighting becomes respectable. Injustice is so general that a man striving to cvade the payment of his just dues has but to assert that his property has been grossly overtaxed to find ready belief. More- over, men who begin by resisting unjust taxes are very apt to continue by fighting those that are just. It is 8o easyto eay to one of the dozen lawyers who are cslebrated as “‘tax- fighters” in this city: “Oppose this levy for me.” Time is surely gained; there is no risk of reputation; and the tax may, perhaps, even when it is wholly just, be overthrown. No law levying & direct tax can be framed in which legal ingenuity cannot pick some plausible flaw. The result is, that each attempt to collect the sinews of Govern- ment gives birth to » brood of suits. They occupy the time of the Judges to an extent which seriously increascs the proverbial delays of the law. Every decision sgainst the legality of any particular tax-law shakes popular confi- dence in all of them. It strengthens the feeling that our whole gystem is unequsl and therefors uojust. Men arme that they are justified in re- sorting to any measures to defest a tax which in all probability weighs more heavily upon them than upon some of their neighbors. They hand in ingeniously false returus, or they quietly ig- nore the schedules which the Assessor leaves at their doors, secure in the knowledge tnat that fanctionary’s rough guess at the amount of their Pproperty will probably fall 2 good way below any sum they would honestly or' eemi-honeatly re- turn. If he puts the figures too high, thecourts are open to them. These are no imsginary evils. Evervbody who bas studied the working of our taxstion knows how real and how grave they are. No State Board of Equalization can remove them, if it strives to folfill the ob- Jocta for which it was nominally organized. It i impossibls for any tax by valustion to be Juatly lsviad and coliscied. Eiiher (ndividualy or elve whole classes will pay more or loes than their just share of the municipal expenses. The way to stop tax-fighting is to stop that system of taxation, Under the indirect system, there aro few temptations to perjury, because thers are fow or no returps to be made. The ground for appealing to the courts is mearly all cat awsy. A man who pays & fraction of s cent more on a pound of beefsteak in order to help defray the license-fees of his butcher cannot ap- ply for an injunction to prevent the latter charging the extra 2 or 8 mills. The matter can be readily summed up. Taxes, unless they are equal, and just, and inevitable, will be resisted. They can be made equal, and just, and inevitable only by the adoption of the indirect system of taxation. POLITICAL ECOROMY IN S8CHOOLS. Mr. Montague R. Leverson, of Denver, bas forwarded to us, in consequence of our recent editorial urging the study of political economy in schools, an article on the same subject, which he published in 1871. Mr. Leverson is a student and author of some repute. Gottingen Uni- ‘versity bas made him a Ph. D. His life haa been devoted to the study of educational reform, ana we take pleasure in reproducing the subatznce of his essay. The general ignorancs of the truths of politi- cal economy is 20 dense that the people do mot evenknow that they areignorant. Thesciencehas not been studied in school. The average man finde no time to study it after his school days =re over. The result is that our econamic legis- 1ation ia apt to be stupendously silly. Congress- men make rash offtand attompts to settle sub- jects which require the study of years. Since Mr. Leverson wrote bis article, the country has had astriking proof of this statement in the ignorance of Congress on the currency question and in, the airy claim of Logat that he had mas- tared the science of finance in the spare houra of two woéeks. The way to grapple with the popular ignorance that makes such things possi- ble is to train the next generation in the truths that lis a¢t the very foundation of our livea, 80 far as this world is concerned. The objection that children should not learn such things at the expenss of the State isunten- able. When tho whole theory of State aid to education rests on the assumption that educa- tion fits children to be good citizens, is it not the height of folly to rofuse them instruction in the very rudiments of the knowledge that makes good citizens? Mr. Leverson's plan of giving object-lessona in political econcmy, and of com- bining them with studies in spelling, writing, grammar, etc., makes the apparently dry subjeot onme of great practical interest oven to little children. Experience has proved it so. In 1848, Mr. William Ellis, convinced that the ex- cesses of the French Revolution in that year were largely dus to popular ignorance of economic science, and, fearing that like causes would produce like results hara, opened a school in an Eastern city, in which he taught paliticsl economy beforo and after business hours. This school was the first of seversl. All mes with success. “The unsnimous testimony of the regular teachers was that in all the schools no lessons wers 80 eagerly looked forward to by the children 85 the lessons oa political eccnomy.” Mr. Loverson ssys: “ Ats very early period of my intimacy with the founder of these schools, I heard him give a lesson fo the raggodest snd poorest children in his city; and I hesrd those children evinco s kmowledge of some of the most abssruse guestions of political economy, such as would have put to ghame not only our Benators and Bepresenta- tives, but mearly all the Professars of our schools and colleges.™ Mr. Ellis aftarwards published & book eatitled ! Progressive Lessons in Social Science.” The first fow of these lessons are supposed to be adapted to chil- dren 8 or 9 years old. They are to cover two or three or even more years. The method of instruction is to write the lesson-text on the blackboard, and question the class on its mean- ing after it has been spelt, analyzed, stc. Lxssow 1.—Men dig and plow, sow and plaat, mow and reap, thrashandgrind, ‘We subjoin some of the questions asked in this firat lesson. They ore illustrated, &8 far as possible, with pictures, models, etc,: ‘What do mon dig? With what do they dig1 Whiat a 8 spade ? Why do they diz? What, with what, and why, de men Fus When do men dig rather than plow ? When do they plow rather than dig? Each word suggests such questions. For children only 8 or 9 years old, those we have quoted would be sufficient exercise for one dav. Larger children ean bo dnlled in the same way at greater length. When the sentence is finally finished, it suggests correlated facts, The teacher may ask: ‘What are the different kifds of grain? Whatia atraw 7—chaff 2—bran 7—meal t—flour? What is a mill? What different kinds are there 2 ‘What fa & hay-stack 7—a shed 7—a barn C What is a farm 7—a market-garden 7 Do tho men who maka plows, and spades, snd sickles, and build barns and milis, help 50 produce the four? When the right snswer to this last question is thoroughly understood, & great stop haa been gained. 7Then comea tew more quenes : Why is the land fenced, manured, and drained 7 ‘What name is given to the men who direct tha tilling of the ground ? Who serve the farmers 7—Why ? Do women do any farm-work 1—What ? Do boys and giris do any 1—What ? How aresheep, oxen, and cows provided with food ? What do men live upon whils they are digging, ‘plowing, sowing, reaplag, building 7 Who supply children with food 7 This leason will involve & dozen recitations for children 8 ar 9 years old, and two or three for children of 12 or 13. The pext lessons are of the eame sort, but treat of different trades: LissoN VIL.—Men move and carry to and fra, send and bring, fmport and export. In the questions on this trade and commarce are brought before the pupils. Inallthelessons they are epcouraged to state any facts bearing upon the subject which they have themsolves secen. This encourages a valuablo habit of keen observation. Lesson VIIL is rather too ab- struse. We quote the remaining ones: Lzesaox IX.—For wealth to abound, industry, knowl- edge, and skill must flourish. Lssox X.—Industry, knowledge, snd sXill cannot thrive to any grest extent except in company with economy. Lrssox XI—Towns are paved, built, and ighted ; roads, docks, and cansls are constructed; nd sckools, museums, and public institutions are established, by tho aid of co-operationand division of Isbor, Lrasox XIL—As the inhabitants of s country be- come mors civilized, their capital bacomes larger. Lzssow XIIL—Industry and skill caunot ba applied to advantags unless they be aided by abundanse of capital. LessoN XIV.—Employers and employed can enly sorve one another in perfection when they mutually teel xnd fuspire confidenca. Lrssos XV.—General well-being is incompatibla thnmlnka' of proving thas this scie readily brought within the comprahens; 4 scholara ¢ our public schools, A ::;!:hi‘:. had gons throngh such & course wonld ey h,'h ter citizen, ten times over, than he eonlg b: without the knowledge thus acquired, gard this matter as one of very great impumn:“- and we urge educators to give i their um:; and thorough attention, —_— 'Tha death of Rear-Admiral 8ir Wisomas, of the Rosal Navy, st St, Joge unraveled & mystery worthy of the L ious romance-writer. The man rgmf“fhm' the Saunders House, St. Joe, as Willian ch.,_.: bers. Ho died suddenly, and the papers in his possession, Twc;;“" Serd death, the Coron i et ba ) er received a letter frop, Downing, of Fairfax, Neb., stating tny, Sue bers was none other thay o ol® Wiseman, and demanding hio p.mu"f"“ Corover declined to deliver thom. & sygqt. 2> £ Latar, lotters from the son of the g, *" were recoived, instructing the Coroner gg g o count to part with them. Then the pyrgse s of the story wero made Imomn, 1t meepe: LY many years ago s noted London Coustesan oy Detrated a bold robbery in & povel o ?" Poeasasing the full crodit of London g " buc ordered an Immense assortment of y goods, jewelry, velvets, and sating from whic:ch choose. Tho merchanta fell into tha trap, yug Ep;:l:;d lfmx with the richest in their posgere.. stead of making salectio; i remainder, she eloped ity by ‘L.'Z""“" peated. The Admiral accompanied ber, Tny reached the Statés without dstection, a0d hew companion purchased a grest deal of land in Gago County, Neb. They ware accompanied in their flight by Downing, the Admiral's valet, When, after four or five years, the Admiral tired of his companion, ha ‘marriod her to Downing, and returned incog. to England. Mrs. Downing sosne while died in a sccret sart of sway, and Dowmog absorbed ber property. It was whils on his way back to Nebragks that Admiral Wiseman died, Lotters were found in his poasession corroborat. ing the above facts. How pursuit was ovaded and the gecret preserved so long 18 8 mystery soluble only on the hypothesis of Dritish ro- serve. —_— A distinguiehed French political adventurer has beea sentenced to five years’ imprisonmen tor fargery. Dr. Marie Ermest Troncin du Mersan began political life in 1843 a5 sub-Pre. fect of Compeigne, but waashalved the following yesr. Ho took his medical degree, and then married the wealthy widow of the successfal variety mauager of the day, lived fast, and qusa- dored ail abe possessed. He made friends with the mammon of unrighteous politicisas, snd through 3. De Persigny obtained position a4 Govarnment blackmailer and briber of ths press. Ho succeeded 8o well iu this dirty busi- ness that ho waa promoted to the preas depart- meat of the Corps Legislatif, whose functions are unknown. When the 4th of Beptember swept away the Empire, ho was compeled to trim. He made himself invaiusble to Gambetts, posted the young Dictator, drew up the procls- mation of the Republic in Paria, He served Thiers with audacious coursge and excellent judgment, and wasrewarded with the Cross of the Legion of Honor and a position on Thiars' staff. His croditors, however, pushed him bhard. Pol- itics in France do not yield 85 much sa they do in the United States, and du Weraan was driven toan amusement venture. He decided togive an International Exposition in 1875, and bor- rowed money all round. It was sunk rapidly in the gambling houses, and he was reduced to ths Deceasity, as he copsidered it, of forging the name of M. Lefevre, Under-Secretary of Stata for Finance, to a note for 25,000 franea. He was Getected, arrested, and convicted, and sentesce passed on him ss stated. Had he buthad the advantages of the ordinary earpet-bagger, what 5 mint of money he conld have made out oftha Government! Or had there but been & Freed- man’s Bank in Paris! e 8ir Charles Dilke, the vehement English Be- publican, has found himself siranded. The tide of anti-monarchiam gubsided and left him high and dry. English soctety looked askance at Sir Charles Dilke; tho ladies of the aristocrcy looked right by Lady Dilke withous seeing her. In fact, the family wea obliterated from the fashionable world. This was sad. Lady Dilko eapecially disliked her position, aod the disgusted pair were driven to an expedient to return to the position they once occupied. It was then that s ‘pamphlet entitled ** Prince Florestan * sppeared. It represented ayoung Badical called to the Gov- ernment of Monaco,who endeavored to enlighten his subjects by eatablishing & Republic.. The result of his ** advanced® efforta is his baniab- with Jownesa cZ wages. Lesiox XVL—Well-meritsd credit and well-placed confidence extend commercial intercourss and facili- tate industrial operationa. Lrsaow XVIL—Undesarved crodit and fl-placed eanfidence give rise to insolvency, cezmaraial panic, and tpdustrial disturbanoss, W kavs givss thesh langihy quotuticns for ment from Monaco by disgustod Monacans and his subsequent repentance. Prince Klores- tan discovers that he waa pusbing things a littls too fast, and promises, if allowed o return to his former position, to go slower in the faturs. After the Tary orgaos had approved the work as n admirable effort, 20d & meer at the Badicals, Sir Charles stepped forward and claimed to be tho suthor. Society took him st his word, wel- comed him back, and overlooked his eccantri¢ bebavior. This is tho story of a correspondent of the Loaisville Courier-Journal. If true, it shows Lady Dilke to be the possessor of mort sense than her husband, while it proves him be at heart the miserable toady thalmany pec- ple have suspected him to be. i g ki Mr. Richard Grant White, hsving demolished Richard Wagner to his own satisfaction, now tarns his sttention to Liszt in the September Galazy, and once more shows what be does not know sbout music. Twoof his assertions only need notice.” The first of these is, that Liszt bns “yet to write his first four original bars, which, 28 melody oras harmony, have any charm or significance.” This only shows that he has never heard the ¢ Huogarian Rhap- sodies,” the *Preludes,” and “Tasso,” xwl to mention several of his vocal warks, which 2bound in remarkahle pssages of harmony acd clearcut melodies. Second, :u:. ;%x;n;;y;z has mo powers of arrangemen stupidity and ignorance. The wonderful fzm: ecriptions of *The Wanderer,” ““The Er King,’ «The Fisher Maiden,” *The Midgummor Night's Droam” of Mendelasohu, and of nm;'- ous operatic numbers, 88 well a8 the sething Beethoven's archestral works for tha piano, hsve nevor been excelled, and are fi(_rdayfllfldlld works in every pisnist's repertoire. Not even Thalberg has excelled Liszt in a_pemhfl pll'; phrazes, Mr. Bichard Grant White ought & confine himself to “Words snd'Thur Tses. In writing on music, bs is, wpgluum‘gg-b; possible, making & fool of himself Galaxy. Wall street was thrown into a state of mpl:: alleled confusion a day or t'oqu‘oa bén:lpm sion which paraded in front o o d by a woman carrying & baby. nepmo&h: s mudo up of Give young children arrsnged cording to height, and bearing each & = The placard set forth that Ttley & Dough 7 bankers end brokers, had robbod the family 5,000 by failing, going into baakruptey A% taring over their property lo their Wives It appeared, afterwards, thst tne bro & had negotiated about 400,000 of Roches! rl water-bonds, and that the womn?u hu.s_bln. Lisd bought 34,00 worth. ‘Toe affsir proviag & failure, the firm went into bankruptoy sed volved the bondholacrs in general ruin. Of couss® to Wall-streot men ths sight was very_mn:; recalling incidents in the business G!Pfl"_‘”‘” many of them. _ 3ir. Dongherty wss & Litlo 20 noyed, as was pataral. What added to bis diguation wsa the fact that be bad gmmmd__y given small sums to these pestilent mdlwr:.“. nay, $200,—without kesping sny acoount 0! A After much generosity the demaad for moTe i s ungratsful and gluttonoas as Oliver M“ Thers s nothing the ‘Wall-strect brokae hates ngrititids. oausk Ad —T e e et e e At e e s . rir——— s mem e . e, S 5 M - L e