Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, May 12, 1878, Page 4

YHE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY., MAY 12, 1878—SIXWEEN PAGES, The Tribue. TERMS OF STBSCRIPTION. TY WAIL—IN ADVANCE~POSTAGE PREPAID. $13:00 Double Sheer......... £aturday Edition. twel ‘Ir1-Weekly, one year. Fartsof a vear, per mo o WEEELY EDITION ne o) o8 &b o fobr oo Specimen copies sent tree. Give Post-Oflice address 1n fall, fncluding State and County. Remittances mey be made either by draft, express, Post-Otlice order, orin reistered letters, at our risk. TEEMS TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Dally, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. sy, delfvered, Sundsy included. 30 cents per week. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Dearborn- Chicago, NNl Onders for the delivery of Tie TRinUNE at Evanston. Ecgiewood, and Hyde Park leftin the counting-room ‘% Uireceive prompt eteentios. x has establtebed branch offices Tiy CHIcAGo TEIBUS for the recetpt of subscriptivngaud adverlisements as Tollows: ORK.-Room 29 Tribune Buflding. F.T. Mc- P, France—No, 16 Rue de 13 Grange-Batcliere. H.ManLes, Agent. LUNDON, —Amcrican Exchange, 439 Strand. Hexzy F. GILLI . on day. May 14, at 4 loc] . prompt. The Order of the ross will be conterred. Grand march will occur o'clock. Kulehis of Apolle who can do #o con- ty_are expected (0 cqulp xccording o the Order 0 be wonferred, with white gluves and fatizue caps, ond hie ready for ctive serviee.” All Templars in geod etanding are wel, e 1he Asyium of Apolio Com- meandery, and aré cordisily favited. Knfghts of Apotlo &re hercly individually appolnted 1o Vis{ the respect- fve hoteis und make the acqualntaic:of the large number of Knlehts from sister jurisdictions who have Been fovited to be breeent at this couclave, extending the hand of courtesy and frieadsuip. Tols 15 more especially necessary on account of the fllness of one of your oflicers, who caunot now perform thfs pleasing duty. By orderof the Commiander. . i, DUNLOP. Lecorder. M.. Xo. 134 CHICAGO CHAPTER. Twents-sccond:et.—% sud work uni the R. A Degree. Visiting compantons cordfally {avited. 1y orcerof tie M. k. fi. P. ELUSMITH, Sec. T.~Spectal 19. K. 1638, ot Asylum, k on R. C Vo] r Knizhte_courteouely tnvited. JA: Rec. VAN RFNSSELAER GRAND LODGE OF PERFEC- TI0N will hold 3, Arsenbly on Thursday even- Inzrext. at 7 o' ro. Work on the 4th and Sih Degrees. rder AMOS PETTIBONE, .. P. %G M." ED. GOODALE. Gr. LAFAYETTE CHAPTER. NO. 2 . A, M.—flall 76 Monroe tated Convocation Monday eveniax, My 13, ut and work on the By order of M Degree. L KEID, H. P. ST, R DERT, NO. 35, K. T.— Stated Co cvening, May 13, at 8 v'clock. - T. Order. J.'8. WHITE, E. C. M.—Regu- i P SUKDAY. AAY 1878. 12, In New York on Saturday greenbacks were worth 99} cents on the dollar in gold and silver coin. ‘Westers Town was surprised yesterday by a saow-storm which lasted all day. The snow fell to the depth of five inches in spite of the poems about the beautiful month of May thet have been published re- cently. According to a Boston correspondent, Gen. Bex Bureek is about to organize and lead the Xational perty in Massachusetts. Bat it is hardly probable that Burirm, with his shrewdness and experience, will ellow him- self to be politically Lilled for the mere sake of gratifying a personal malice. The lack of war newsat present amounts to a positive dearth. = ScHOUVALOFF is journey- ing by casy stages to St. Petersburg, twist- ing his cigarettes as calmly s if all Enrope ‘were not breathlessly waiting to hear the re- sult of his interview with the Czar. Mean- while the stafus guo is being rigidly main- tained. The Democrats of the House are in no burry to bring in the resolution calling for an investigation of the Presidential clection in Florida. It ismore than likely that the investigation would compromise numerous Democrats, even if the inquiry were limited to TFlorida. = As will be seen by our dispatches, however, an arrangement has been made by the Re- publican members by which, in case the res- olution is offered, an amendment will be also put in 80 as to mnke the investigation cover the electornl proceedings in Louisiana and Oregon. There are certain unsavory recol- lections conunected with the last-nemed State which will have weight in preventing the Democrats of the House from acting rashly. ———— A strange romauce of crime is narrated in our dispatches this morning. Six years ago, Jurie Lestaxc,daughter of a farmer in Jeffer- son County, Mo., mysteriously disappeared one evening, znd was uever again seen alite. TLast Monday, a negro, while shooting snipe along the benk of the Mississippi River, twenty or thirty wmiles from {he home of Lrrraxc, saw a stray skiff floating down the stream, and, on overhauling it, found it to contasin a female skeleton, which proved to be that of the long-missing girl. The theory is that she was enticed from bome by a discarded lover, strangled, and placed in the skiff, which was then securely frstened to the bank of a creck at a place where the underbrush was so thick as to effectually hide it; that thero the boat re- mained until the ravages of time made the ropes decay, aud thus the loosened boat flonted down the creek and into the Missis- sippi River, The announcement will be gratifying to the Republicans of Wisconsin that the Hon. Horce Ruprze will soon be associated with Gen. ATwoop in the editorial management of the Madison Journal. Mr. RenLes was for any years the leading writer on that paper, md_, $ by Llis industry, literary ability, and ‘political sagacity, he won his way to a lead- mtg Position amorzg the isfluential men :b lui‘_ Party and State. Al through C,heaj or of “the Rebellion he was o Tman of the Republican State Central mn:mxllee, 2od the stendiness with which . ‘Lm;‘)' adherad o the cause of the Tnion i e field, in the Legisiature, and at fhe oL-bcfx Was much of it dus to the infln- ence which he exerted upon popular senti- ;nent: He s Loen absent from the State OF SIX years serving as Alinister to Switzer- land, sud he now returns to it at a ti when his services as a discreet journalist :: Yery mach in demand. It is no secret that t}m a'hle?t and most widely-cireulated Repub- liean daily newspsper in Wisconsin iy o en@}; with nearly every leading Republican p?lmcmn in the State, sud has lost* casta withthem, and thet the party never needad a clear Liead and steady hand at the helm more than now. In saying all this in Mr, BroLee’s favor, we do not forget that he has always been the firm and consistent personal + and nobiticsl fricud angd. supporter of Senator Howz, nor are we aware of his opinion as to the Senator's recent ill-advised course in at- tacking the President. We do know, how- ever, what is sufficient for our present pur- pose, that Mr. RunLee is 2 hopeful advocate of the Southern policy of Mr. Haves, and will give the present Administration a vigor- ous and consistent support. Assassination, the bugbear of sll mon- archs, came very near the Emperor of Germany yesterday afternoon. As he was riding in his carringe along the famous avenue, Unter den Linden, in Berlin, several shots from a revolver were fired at him. isnow in order for his Imperial Majesty, Fravcis JosepE of Austria, to re- turn the congratulations which Kaiser ‘WoreLy extended to him some years ago when a like circumstance . and an equally narrow escape befell him in the parade-ground on the Ring-strasse in Vienna. The Austrian Emperor erected a church on the spot in commemoration of his escape from deat] ‘The English papers are so seldom success- ful in discussing American affairs that when they do happen to strike a key-note the ac- cident is worthy of sttention. The Com- munistic sensation in Chicago is just now being talked about in Loundon. The Lon- don Times of yesterdny contained an edito- rial upon the subject,” pointing out that, while it might be the weak- ness of nuations like America to tol- erate all sorts of experiments in political organization, it was their strength to be able to survive them, to profit by their success, and to be little the worse for their foilure. There is undoubtedly much solid truth in this conclusion. It is not probable that Communism will ever break out into open violence, but, even "if it should, what conld it sccomplish? The wave would pass over the land, and, beyond s temporary damage to property, there could be no important results from the inundation. There is nothing to break down, nothing to improve, no tyranny to be overthrown, no free government to be established. As the Ttmes well says: ‘‘The fabric of American society is so strong that it can sustain with litidle or no. injury shocks which would be fatal fo weaker and more offete constitutions.” Communism at the worst conld only succeed in destroying a few lives, in burning a few houses, aud in obstructing for a time the ordinary course of business in the cities. It could effect no radical or lasting changes, could accomplish no great reform, could not, in short, rise to the level of s revolution. THE CITY SCRIP. The meeting at the Council-Room on Fri- day afternoon had forits purpose a8 most de- sirable end. It was to promote the circula- tion of the cily scrip, that the city might experience- financinl relief, and that the payees of this scrip, mostly persons in needy circumstances, might have some means of supporting themselves and familigs. The validity of the scrip has now been affirmed by two Courts: first, by the decision of Circuit- Judges WrinLians, McALLISTER, Boorn, and Rocees; and, second, by the Appellate Court of three Judges. The con- current opinion of these seven Judges, who are esteemed the equals in all respects of any similar number of Judges in the State, (ought to be sufficient to warraut any person of means in taking this scrip in payment of debts and in exchange for merchandise. ‘The city bas been unable to pay out much of this paper yet, and, with the exception of a few thousand dollars turned over to a few of the police and the firemen, the entire ex- penditures of the city since the Ist of January last remain unliquidated. About 1,500 persons—teachers, policemen, firemen, clerks, mechanics, laborers, and dealers —have had nothing for their services since New-Year's Day. They are necessarily in debt. for coal, rent, or board, clothes, groceries, meats, vegetables, medi- cines, gas or oil, and such other articles es are necessary for themselves and families. Not one dollar have they had; everything they need they bave to obtain on credit, with the inevitable addition of price because of that fact. For four months they have been living in this way, ond credit at the retail stores is nearly, if not wholly, exhausted, because, if for no other reason, of the inability of the retailers to carry such an aggregate of debt. If whole- sale grocers will aceept scrip from retailers the holders of the scrip can find ready dis- position of the paper in paying their indebt- edness. If wholesale dry-goods houses, and druggists, and shoe dealers will do the same there will be an immediate market crepted for the scrip. Land-owners who lisve taxes to pay can use this scrip Decem- ber next for thet purpose, and they should accept it in payment of rent from all city officers. A number of gentlemen have imi- tated the creditable example of ex-Ald. Kmx, and have each agreed to cash the scrip of a certain number of firemen. Others have done the ssme thing in the case of police- men; but these actions, howevercommenda- ble, are but partial expedients. What is needed is such gencral acceptance of the paper as will give it a current market value in exchange for commodities es well gs in cash. The scrip must be adopted in busi- ness 50 85 to pass currently at a substantial value, that the city may not only be sble to discharge its indebtedness, but the receivers of the serip have an opportunity to use their scanty earnings. There are four months’ wages or selaries due these people ; they have no other means of living save their monthly earnings. In January nest the city taxes will be payable, for which purpose these orders will be available. - It is not an appeal of pauperism ; theso men and women have enrned their wages; they bave no other source of income. What is asked is that those who have taxes to pay mext January will take now as much of this scrip as will poy those taxes, and thus give relief toa large number of persons who, mn spite of their fidelity and labor, are subjected to an enforced poverty which is oppressive. We trust the movement begun on Fridsy even- ing will be continzed, and that all classes of persons who have the means will so0 combine and uniteas to give 1o this scrip a current marketable value, and enable the city to relieve itself of its obligations to those Who serve it and supply it with lsbor and ‘ma- terials. ‘We need not again present the reasoning why the city has the legal power to issue this serip. The decisions of the two Courts, acting separately, and the unsnimity of the several Judges, should be considered coqclns'\-e, especially as every holder of the serip may relieve himself of it at any time flfw-f I_)ecember in payment of his taxes. While commending all efforis to give this SCTIp a current value, we consider it no less adutyon the part of the Mayor, the City Council, and _every citizen having a per- manent inw in our financial credit, to begin taking steps to relieve this It city from any repetition of the present em- barrassing state of circomstances. Our trouble is, that we cannot enforce the collec- tion of any year's taxes until ten months after the fiscal year has expired. Our fiscal year, for which taxes are levied, begins twenty- ono months before the city can collect tho tax necessary to pay that year's current ex- penses! Without money, serip is necessary ; but scrip not bearing interest becomes dis- credited in the market. Whatever may be the result of the attempt to float the scrip this year, it is certain’ that it can never bo done sgain. People will not again take scrip, and therefore none can be issued. There must be something done to bring the beginning of the fiscal year and the collection of taxes, now twenty-one months apart, much closer together. The tax of each year must be wholly collected within the year. To bring this sbout, the beginuing of the fiscal year must be advanced on the one band, and the date when the collec- tion of taxes can be enforced must be brought forward on the other. 'I'he present condition of affairs can no longer be sustained. If the fiscal year were madeto be- gin in April, then the taxes of that year could, by legislation, be mado collectable be- fore the mext April. The Legislature will meet in January next ; and if a half-dozen in- telligent 2nd -competent men could be in- duced to serve in that body they could ac- complish much to enable the city to escape from the wretched entanglement in which it must remain bound while attempting to do an exclusively cash business on credit, with- out having any credit. The City Council, which seems after all to ‘be within the control of prudent, sensible, and conservative men, can do much to bring about a change. Infact, it is no longer a matter of discretion or o question of choice of policy. It is one of imperative necessity, demanding firm, intelligent, and decisive ac- tion; and the Council should have the courage to meet the emergency with what- ever measures may be required by the cir- cumstances and condition of the city. THE ONLY DANGER OF COMMUNISM, 1t is useless to disguise the fact that the business men of Chicago are considerably alarmed at the possibility of trouble with the Communists this coming summer or fall. ‘This is probably astrue of every other large city in the country as itis of Chicago. There are about the same grounds of apprehension in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Balti- more,Cleveland, Indianapolis, Louisville, Mil- waukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati as here. If the leaders and spokesmen of the discon- tented classes can find any gratification in having produced this uneasiness they must temper their joy with the knowledge that this condition disturbs trade. and that every new disturbance only postpones a revival of business, which alone can furnish .relief to the unemployed. The apprebension which has been exaited by the public utterances of avowed Communists, by the rumors of secret arming and drilling, and by the continned distress among the poorer classes, must not be confounded with any doubt or fear a8 to the result of any violent demon- stration of the Communists. There is mot an intelhgent man in Chicago who does not feel confident that, in case of riot, the Communists will be put down far more summarily than they were last fall. Indeed, there are few citizens that expect that there will be any condlict invelving a ser1ous loss of life or destruction of property. The dread, suggested by the experience of last year, is that there will be sufficient trouble to further impair confidence and interrupt business. The evil effects of last year's riots outlived the riots themsclves, and for many weeks there was a business and social depression that involved serious losses, and especially increased the hardships of the unemployed classes. ‘Wae think no violence need be anticipated from the Chicago Comrnunists without some special temptation. We do not believe that any number of men are organizing with the purpose of opening war upon property rights, though such a waris the aim of all men who are Communists in principle. But the number of these is limited to some foreigners who, in this city atleast, are rather blowhards and blatherskites than menof des- perate and fanatical courage. We do not believe there is good reason to apprehend that a certain number of armed loafers will rendezvous at a certain time and place with the purpose of attacking, or even threatening, property. To do this, the Com- ‘munists would be obliged to enlist the crim- inal classes, and the very first demonstration would encounter an overwhelming opposition from city and State, from civil and ‘military forces, and lead first tosevere suppression and afterwards to vigorous prosecution and pun- ishment. We scarcely think there will be a re- sort to meetings or processions of a formida- ble nature. The ounly serious danger will arise through a general strike, or a series of strikes, which would afford the Communists and vicious classes the same opportunity given them by the railrond strike of lest There is little doubt that the des- perate and vicious classes are more reckless, and the Communists them- selves are better organized and armed to take advantage of such a situation than they were last year. It is the knowl- edge of these facts that should promote the exercise of all ressoneble restraint against the precipitation of strikes and Iabor troubles, and at the samo time teach the necessity of making every preparation by the police, by the Courts, by the Governor of the State, and by the militia for the prompt suppression of any riot that may occur, and the condign punishment of the leaders thereof. If our conclusions about this matter be correct, then the situation is in the hands— not of the Communists nor the roughs, but of the workingmen themselves. The past year has not brought as much relief to the hard times s was expected. Neither prop- erty-values, nor business affairs, nor public confidence warrants any demand for better wages or more general employment during the coming summer. Such being the fact, strikes and labor demonstrations of every description will only make matters worse. They will be equivalent, in the present con- dition of things, to & menace of Communism. If they shall lead up to an actual conflict, that conflict will leave matters more depressed than they are now, just as the riots of last year seriously retarded business and impaired confidence. Any new distress that may grow out of riots will fall most heavily upon the labor classes, and the working- men who are now earning a scenty living. 1t is of no avail to appeal to the judgment of fanatics who believe in the common distri- bution of property, or to the moral sense of the loafers, tramps, roughs, and thieves who live in idleness or by plunder. But this statement of the case is not addressed to either of these two classes. They stand reedy, under all circumstances, to take ad- vantsge of any ocondition that will afford them an qpportunity to revel, riot, murder. year. steal, and destroy. But the Communists and vagabonds will have no opportunity they will dare to improve—because they are neither numerous nor courageons enough to open a war by themsolves on socicty—unless the men who honestly work for their living and are willing to workshall give them such an opportunity by joining in strikes, processions, or demonstrations that cannot possibly benefit their own condition. The laboring classes, after last year’s experience, con scarcely imagine that auything is to be gained by giving countenance to a mob, and they ere the people whoshould first set their faces against the Communists and roughs; the laboring classes should refuse to give the vicious and idle classes the slightest excuse for an outbreak. The dangers of Communism are, essen- tially local. No man with a grain of sense, noman with the smallest knowledge of the bistory of civilization, no man who has been &n observer of human nature in any walle of life, can believe for s moment that the theories of Communism can over be formu- lated into Government. It is not reasonable to suppose that there are a fraction of men among all who rank ss Communistic leaders that have the smallest hope of an ultimate renlization of their professed scheme of ‘confiscation, of common property, com- mon lsbor, common and universal equal- ity in condition and authority, in social, and business, and Government relations. The delusion is kept before ignorant and weak-minded people 2s a means for securing their co.operation in politics, or a tacit consent to local and temporary mob- rule. All the combined efforts of all the Communists of all the large “cities of the world do mnot constitute a force which sny Government msy not laugh at, as far as ultimate success is concerned. The only danger is that common to all mobs— destruction of life and property, and subse- quent depression of business and industry in places where they occur. Every community must rely mainly upon its own resources for battling with such a mob. The Geueral Go¥- ernment does nothing in the way of repres- sion, and can do nothing so long as it main- tains on scant rations a mere skeleton of an army. The State Governments, as a rule, are not prepared to offer the immediate assist- ance necessary, because fhey do not mein- tain militia forces large enough to terrify the mob forces. Yet nothing is more certain on carth than that every mob will be dispersed ; that any attack on property will be success- fully resisted; and that the non-property- owning classes will be the groatest and the longest sufferers from any violence which they may incite. . There is no community in the land where the mob element is not the weaker, even though ostensibly and tempo- rerily countenanced by the laboring classes. No new demonstration of this certainty ought to be necessary to deter the working- men from inciting or approving any out- break in their name. The knowledge of certain defeat, and tho possibility of pun- ishment or death, will not restrain the roughs and thieves of large cities, for, hav- ing nothing to lose, they will take their chances in order to revel for a day or two in a carpival of violence and plun- der; but the honest poor—the people who work and expect to work for & living—bave nothing to hope from such an outbreek except increased hardship and suffering. It is in tho power of this class to prevent a mob demonsiration in Chicago and elsewhere by mere self-restraint. If they shall fail to do so, they will suffer more severely, and the mob-classes will be punished more summarily, than last year. If it shall be necessary to again establish personal and property nghts by opposing force to violence, the responsible classes hero and elsewhere will demand and assert retribution for their terror and their losses. VERA SASSULITCH. “The history of Vema Sassurrrch, the would-be Russian Caarrorze Corbay, is full of ‘romance, and at the same time indicates a remarkable change in popular sentiment in that Empire. Going back as far as 1867, a conspiracy was discovered at Moscow, in which a student by the name of NETCHATEFF had been one of theleaders, After shooting the man who had betrayed him, NeTomATEFF fled to Switzerland. The police arrested his supposed accomphices in every direction, among them his sister. VERa Sassunrren, then a school-girl of 17, was an intimate friexd of this sistei:, and for no other reason than because she was an intimate friend she was thrown into prison aund kept there for two years. She was released in 1569, but a few days afterward she was again arrested upon no charge and reincarcerated. She was released again, and was again arrested, and this time was hurried off into Eastern Russia, nearly perishing with cold on the way. From time to time her place of im- prisonwent was changed, and in the nine years of her captivity “she traveled all over the Eastern part of the Empire. At last, in 1876, she was sot free. She had been ar- rested as o school-girl. She was now a ‘woman of 26, and the very flower of her life had been spent withm prison walls, with no charge against her.. She was the victini'of an absolute and cruel caprice. For a year she lived in retirement, nursing her wrongs and brooding over plans of revenge. Last July she read in the pnpers that o political prisoner, named BogcoLiNmorr, had been sentenced by Gen. Trerorr, the Chief .of Police of St. Petersburg, to receive twenty- five lashes for some trifling nct of insubordi- nation, and that the punishment had been administered in an unnecessarily cruel man- ner. As the unfortunate man was already under sentence of perpetual banishment to Siberia, with hard labor in the mines, the barberity of Trerore aroused wide-sprend indignation. To VEra Sassunircm, who had already suffered nine years without offense, or even legal cliargo sgninst her, his case scemed but an echo of her own, snd ske made it persenal. She saw no possibility of redress for Boco- 1INBoFF, who was slready civilly dead. His offense was so slight—merely the failure to salute Gen. Treporr—that she determined to avenge herself and him at one blow. Through the medium of a friend, she pro- cured a revolver, sought an interview with Trerorr upon the pretense of presenting a petition, visited him in bis reception-room, and shot him, inflicting a wound that nearly proved mortel. After accomplishing her purpose, Veza Sassvrrrce made no cffort to escape. She .was arrested and brought to trial, and she made no pretense of denying the facts. She dd not deny that she shot Trerorr, but, after considerable inducement by her coun- sel, she partially sssented to their plea that her object was not so much to Kill Trerorr as to call public attention to his bratalities. At the same time she modified that plen with the personal declaration that it would have made no difference to her if she hod killed him. Her cose was heard before a large crowd. The jury was not made up from the ignorant classes, who would have been under the control of the * Government, but represented men of educa- tion and position. Half of the jurors were Government functionaries, and there were two merchants, a nobleman, and a student in : the panel. That jury decided that she was not guilty of having fired at Treporr, evi- dently fecling that if they declared her guilty she would suffer new tortures at the bands of her former -persecutors. The crowd in the court-room burst out in demon- strations of enthusiasm, which the Court could not check. The multitudes in the streets of St. Petersburg answered with jubi- lant shouts, and Vena SasspriTcE and her advocate were carried to their homes in triumph. She is now in concenlment among her friends, and will probably have to leave Russia, as her acguittal cannot save her from being hurried into exile, as she was before, upon an ‘‘ administrative order,” which may be issued et any time without cause. The history of this case presents one astonishing feature. Itis hardly yet pos- sible to comprehend that a jury could be found in Raussia who would unsnimously and without discussion acquit a person who had attempted to assassinate s tyrannical Gov- ernment functionary, and that the police should be afraid to rearrest her on nccount of popular sentiment, which might bresk out into revolution. It shows, however, that the Nihilist spirit of Russis, which in France would be called the Revolutionary Iden, has rapidly gained ground, and that it has taken hold not only of the lower but also of the upper classes, until it has imbued them with a positive hatred of tyranny and an equally positive sympathy for the victims of that tyranny. It is & warning to the Russian oligarchy that tyranny and cruelty to indi- viduals may be carried so far as to produce a revolution, which at the present time would be a fatal blow to the Empire. More than all else, the case of Vera Sassurrren shows the progress of reform and free institutions in Russia. There never has been a time be- fore when VeRa Sassurrrcn could have been tried by a jury. She would have been exe- cuted or hurried to Siberia without irial, and the world ‘would never have heard of her again. The verdict of acquittal was the first blow which absolutism, in the form of an irresponsible personal tyranny, has received in Russia, and it is 8 warning which, it may well be believed, the Government will con- sider. THE CENTENARY OF VOLTAIRE. The one-hundreth anniversary of thedeath of VorraIre is to be celebrated in Pans on the 30th of this month. Pains have been taken to make the celebration distinct and aggressive by excluding from it all mention of RoussEAv, who died within a month of Vor- TARE, but who was less conspicuous for hostility to the Church, though more en- veloped in the reputation of an immoral life. The design is to make an issue between the Clgrical and anti-Clerical parties in France. Tho fact that the name of VorTame should be used as a watchword iu such a strife aptly illustrates his place in history. His work is not - completed, but his influence is still potent. His disciples are now a great political party, and the principal of secalar- ism which he advocated has obtained lodg- ment, if not recognition, in the Govern- ment. Vorrame's lifo was divided into three epochs,—the residence in England, the visit to Berlin, and the life at Ferney. English influence was strong upon him after his exile. He owed, and posterity owes, a great deal to the Ch evalier pE Ronax for that En- glish residence, History records how young Romax, meeting VoLTare at a great honse, and being annoyed by the attention he re- ceived, cried out: ‘“Who is the young man who talks so loud?” “ My Lord,” responded the young man for himself, *he is one who does not carry about a great name, but wins respect for the name he has.” For this bit of impertinence DE RomaxN caused VoLTARE to be caned. VorLTarRE practiced with the small-sword, and chellenged his persecutor. He was sent to the Bastille and finally exiled, to save the dignity or life of the illustrions De Romax. In England he applied himself with unremitting industry to study. Hs mastered the language so thoroughly that he was able to write' fair English poetry. He dived deep into the Newtonian mathematies and the Lockian philosophy, and drew inspiration from the school of En- glish deists. ** BoLINGBROEE,” says Mr. Jomx Morrey, “ was the direct progenitor of Vorraine's opinions in religion, and ‘nearly every one of the positive articles in Vor- raree's rather moderately-sized creed was held and inculeated by that brilliant and dis- ordered genus.” But BoLINGBROKE'S revolt was distinctly against the rigidity of Prot- estant dogma and the intolerance of Pa- ritan discipling; hence Vorrarme was largely indebted to the errors of Protestant England for the weapons he used against Catholic France. Moreover, English politi- cal changes produced the Lockian rational- ism of the end of the seventeenth century, which was intended to justify the title of ‘Winriax and Many, aid which almost in- stantaneonsly extended from the region of metaphysics into the region of theology. In Berlin VoLTAm:E got coufirmation of his views, and a bitter personal experience which taught him to distrust humanity. The Great FrEDERICE Was irreligious from motives vastly different from those which controlled Vor- wame. His infidelity was a product of self- ishness and absolutism. He had the morali- ty of a gross cynic and the vanity of a coxcomb, united with a genius for command which made him a General and a statesman. He believed in himself so fully that he counld not believe in anything else. Vorrazs, on the other hard, believed in a broad hunan- ity which excluded obedience to any special authority. Conclusions arrived af by such different roads had nothing in common but their name, and could not long hold together natures so diverse. They separated with feelings of relief and settled hatred on both sides ; and each perhaps was justified in holding a lower opinion of the other after the personal ac- quaintance than befora it. Ferney was the quiet asylum that received VorraIrg, aud he lived there almost without a bresk for twenty years. There the famous altar was erected with the inscription; * Deo erexit VorTame.” There also was an intel- lectual altar, still more notable, which smoked continually with the sacrifices of devout worshipers. His correspondence from Ferney was voluminous even foran age which delighted in letter-writing. Ho worked inces- santly during his whole residence there, some- times et the Encyclopedia, sometimes in main- taining the various controversies which his fame brought upon him. Hence originated the celebrated defense of Caras, who had been broken on the wheel for heresy, and whose family fled to Ferney for refuge, and the’defense of Lis Barge, who was burned at the stake. Ezre, also, was maintained the warfare on Rousseav. Is it any wonder that a place thus distingnished should be, in the opinion of modern Voltarians, corse- crated ground, or that the project of & pil- grimage thers should now be seriously entertained? The Voltarinn religion will never be fully understood until it is perceived how largely it ran into polities. Vorrame's shafts were aimed not at the Church, as we understand it, butat ihe errors of the Catholic Church, snd not at the Catholic Church as a whole, but at the Catholic Church in France. He lived to see his followers surpass him in bitterness of invective, and to be called a bigot because Le wes & Deist. It is highly important, in forming an estimate of his character, to remember that he was a Deist. He did believe in one God. He attacked the abuses of the Church, and the ignorance and super- stition of the people; but he 2iso held toa certain private belief which, in our day, would be esteemed, by comparison with the scientific vagaries of INGERrsorr, HuxLEY, or Darwiy, comporatively tame. His warfare on the Church was not unprovoked, and did not result wholly in wrong. Though he did much to destroy belief in the inspiration of the Secriptures and the divine mission of Jesus, he also Thelped to Ilift the people of France out of a slough of despondency, into which they had been thrown by spiritual tyranny and falsehood. He vindicated the idens of religions liberty which Jememy Tavron advocated in England; and, so far as he took common grouad with that great divine, did a useful work. He did not mock at Holy Living or Dying. He wrote a pane- gyric of the English Quakers. What he at- tacked distinctly there was too often good resson to attack. The miracles of the Jan- senists, the breaking of Caras on the wheel, and the burning alive of La Barre were acts which he did right to protest against—in pro- testing against which he was fulilling s mis- sion as sacred as that of any of his detract- .ors. We do not attempt to condéal the characteristics which limited and impaired Vorraze’s usefulness. He was a scoffer. Cynicism had clsimed him for its own. ‘e cast a blight,” as one critic has well said, ‘“on the soriousness as well as on the 'superstitions of France.” He was impious and licentious, and he degraded the standard of life among the French by his affectation of refinement and his bold advocncy of free- dom from moral restraint. His habitual ir- reverence has tainted the Fremch people to the present day. These faults ought neither to be forgotten nor glazed over ; but, while they are remembered, the student must remember too that Vorramme found a France in which he was forbidden to announce the pgreat dis- covery of the lnw of gravitation, and left one just about to inaugurate that immense revo- Iution in political, moral, and religious idess, the beneficent effects of which are felt to- day throughout the civilized world. “HER VOICE WAS EVEE SOFT.” Is it true that American women have ‘“bad voices”? The Rev. E. E. Hire declares that ‘“‘most American women talk with a shrill voice”; that to gain power they seek it by *‘ sharpening the note or screaming, rather than by giving more volume.” His letter on the subject, addressed to Mrs. Axxte D. C. Harpy at Boston, read by her regently at a meeting of the Ladies’ Physio- logical Institute of that city, and reproduced in TeE TrIBUNE of a late date, is very amus- ing. We quote the following passages: 1 remember at the great dining-saloon of the Bauer 3u Lac Hotel in Zurich, both the largest and finest dining-ball I ever saw, when 500 people were dining ot once at their diJerent tables, [ could sin- gle out my own countrywomen in all parts of the hall, no matter what their distunce, by the shrill yell. more or less nasal, with whicl moned the waiters, ordered mmr, o Kin, or passed {rom pastry to ice-cre the general roar of the buzz-buzz-buzz of 500 voices in conversation, you could war-cry of these eight or ten American women, as you distinguish signal rockets at night above a long and dark hine of intrenchments. A casual observer would have no difficulty in telling, at the end of the day, how much pastry these women ate, or how often their plates were changed. We are so used to it ina Sound steamer here, or other hall where women are together, that we do not notice 1t here. You need to be in another land to know what it is. Some pcople, as I say. ascribe this to climate. Ido not. If it were climate, yon and Mrs, Ssivrit would epeak with this clamor cry, as Sou do pot. There may be o tendency that way in tie climate, but the Indian woinen donot have this shrick: and such iack women from the Sonth as T bave known have been apt to speak in what we should call a subdued contralto. ‘The general babit is 10 use the di festa voice almost wholly. The joke is bad, but the cystom is detestable, The Reverend Doctor, it will be observed, is'politic. He takes occasion to convey very delicately, by implication, that the voice of his fair friend Mrs. Harpy is Gentle and low, an excellent thing in swomap, — and on the strength of this fact combatsa certain theory of ‘‘some people” that the ““ bad voices " of American women are ascrib- able to climatic influences. Had the learned Doctor made no excepiion in favor of Mrs. Haznpy's ‘“soft voice,” his interesting letter mighthave slumbered forever in that estima- ble lady’s porifolio. But he adduces other evidence in contravention to the . climatic theory. He declares that ‘* Indian women do not have this shriek,” and puts in a dis- claimer on behalf of the * black women from the South,” who, he affirms, are “apt to speak in what we should call a subdued con- tralto.,” Really, tae Doctor’s tribute to In- dian women, black women from the South, and—>Mrs. Hurpy, is. touchingly beautiful. They, and they alone, are the CorpELIAs of America. All the rest have “‘bad voices,” They ** shriek ” with a sound like ¢ signal rockets”; they “yell” in o tone ©more or less mnasal.” To launch such a thunderbolt of condemnation against the quality of voica in use, 50 to speak, by all the women of the Great Repubiic, without pointing out the cause and suggesting a remedy, would ba cruel. But the Reverend Doctor is not crucl. He points to the cause, namely : the compulsion which little girls— seyear-olds—are under, in the Grammar School, to “read up.” The child at school, he declares, should not read any louder than she talks natarally; for instance, as she speaks to her mother in church. Then the Reverend Doctor points to an example—the “ gentle and low " voices of Mrs. Haror and her friend Mrs. Syuta; and Mrs. Harpy has kindly given publicity to the Doctor's sug-" gestion by reading his letter to the Boston Physiological Institute in her owa * gentle andlow ” voice. Thers may be ‘some diffi- culty in finding Mrs. Syata, but tke voice of Mrs. Hanox may donbtless be heard on ap- plication to the President of thé Imstitute aforesaid. ‘Wo entirely agree with the Rev. Dr. Hare that the voices of a gocd many American women are “bad,” quite loud and shrill, strongly resembling & * yell,” and we fondly believed while reading his charming letter, with its delicate and touching eulogy of the voices of Mrs. Haror and Mrs. Saurs, that he was opening up the way of reform. We hoped tirough the mfluence of the example of Mrs. Hzepy and Mrs. Sanry that the voices of Americen women would shortly be graph of the Reverend Doctor's letter, hoy. ever, caused us to reflect less jnbx'lnnu,y It is as follows : ’ 1 do not write In the intcrests of publj Tsbould have no tears if 1 never horey P ;::‘,L n make a spcech. But in the interests of asload, of school-rooms, and of talk, wiiidilz probably the thing which does 'm‘olslzkio;’,"k“,”“}: Luppyg, 1 bid you and yours godspeed, Clearly, the Reverend Doctor hag 10 con. ception of the advaunce made by the duclring‘ of the new evangel on the subject ,,; woman's sphere. Doubtless his fair friend with the soft voice has made Mauy publip speealies. Doubtless she would have mag, tears if she hod not the hops of he:\n‘nj many other women make speeches, DgubE less Mrs. Hagpy takes small interest in the subject of *‘ reading aloud,” less in regard to the small-talk of women where the “ gently and low ” voice tells most Powerfully, ang none at all in “school-rooms,” excay’t a8 they tend to make little 3.year-olq gitls “rendup”in order to fit themselyeg for woman’s public’ mission. The new evange] teaches that it is the province of womep to be selfrelinnt and independent. Bpt selfe relinnce is not evinced by the tones of 2 soft Voice, nor is independence often maintained without the aid of a *shriek” o a ‘“yell” The new evangel teaches that women should become lawyers, doctors, min. isters of the Gospel, merchants, and E’pecn_ lators; that they should enter the politieal arens, becomo legisletors, and contend for the honors of statesmanship. Tt commends them to throw off the shackles of dependencs upon the tyrant man, emerge from the ob- scurity in which they have hitherto moved, modulated to the new-fashioned key, and that they would assimilate the tone of the *contralto™” of *the black women from the South” and the soft lisp of the “squaw” of the prairies. The last pars. ond battls for equality in every public ang private avoeation. P The soft voice which Dr. Herr so eloguent. ly eulogizes is the voice of Ppersuasion, of entreaty, of emotion, of love. Bt it js only at the voice of command evoked from the hardening processes of toil and perseverance that the gates of these sterner avenuesof life’s battle swing back upon their hingeg, The black women of the South have been slaves for generations. Their voces ars attuned to obedience, to servility, The Ip. dian women are something lower than slaves, They are the bond servants of their hus. bands, and their voices are ‘“‘gentls and low ” from abject fear. The Reverend Doctor conld not (to the ape prehension of the American woman) havs cited a more inapt illustration of that “ex. cellent thing in woman,” a voice “* gentleand low.” 1t is the soft voice that indicates sub. ordination, and for her who submits the American woman feels only contempt. Itis bardly too much to say that from the founds. tion of this Republic the women of America have been more respected and more cherished than the women of any other conntry on the face of the earth. The German householder sends his wife ‘and his daughters into the field and makes them bear the coarsest burdecs of life. The English. man’s house is his castle, and he commands there as absolutely as a cisil monarch, But in America the hosband and father has ever borne a divided sway even in his own household. This division of authority was an experiment, and the result hes been to ““harden” the voices of women, to make them shrill,—fit, in a word, for pub- lic speaking. In the schools the little 5 year-old girls have been told to “recd up,® to “spealk up,” and so fit themselves for every variety of contest with their brothers of the sterner sex. The experiment is still in progress, and the Rev. Dr. Harr's fond anticipation of hearing American women spesk in the black woman’s ** subdued con- tralto” is doubtless far from realization. As the sands of the political life of the Hon. W. P. Lx~pE, of Wisconsin, have sbout run out, it has occurred to that gentleman that probably his constituents would like to hear from him. Accordingly, he has intro- duced a bill in the House to reimburse the City of Milwaukee for the money expendsd on the improvement of that part of the har. bor known and deseribed as the *Straight Cut.” There is no denying but that the “Cut " is a great benefit to the city and fo' marine interests generally, but the claim is not a new one, nor is there mach reason for Mr. Ly~pE to hope that the money expend- ed will ever be forthcomirg from the Na- tional Treasury. If our memory is nob at foult, Gen. Harserr E. PAINE, who so ably represented the Milwaukee Distnet in Congress for two terms, introdnced 8 bill to refund this money, and Sen- ator CARPENTER nlso tried to obtain it at a time when such disbursements were much more popular than now ; but the Houss would never consent to the passage of such a bill. Besides, the statute of limitation has run ‘on this claim, and it mey be said to be ontlawed. The work was com- pleted in 1838, and if there is any justice in the claim it is found in the fact that the General Government authorized, supervised, and accepted the work. Bat if our Milwao- kee neighbors really think that the debtis an honest one and ought to be paid, they &re amazingly patient to let the matter rua for twenty years without adjustment and :m-'l- out making any special efforts to obtam it. At this late day in the session it may possibly - serve Mr. Lyxpr's purposo to bring himself prominently before his constituents, & ° pecinlly as it is understood that he is a can- didate for re-election. . As his course on the Electoral Commission business, and his vot8 for tho Confed.rate FieLp in preference to the Union Gen. Sorerps, were decidedly dis- tasteful to his constituents, his presest move is a lame attempt to nentralize some of his official mistakes. If Lyspe serionsly contemplated doing anything for his cor- stituonts in the direction indicated, bo would not have deferred it until the after- noon of the last day of the last session of his term. The solar cclipse of July 29, the line of total obscuration of which, crossing from Asis ¢ Behriog’s Straits, passes down the continent 3l most parallet with the Rocky Mountaius, enters the Guif of Mexico ncar Galvestom i attracting no little attention in England. - Tht White Star steamships will carry properly-quat iffied observers from Liverpool to New York and. Dback for $97.20, and the Peunsylvania Railway will make rates of $68.0¢ for passage from the Alantic scaboard to Denver and retarn. JIf J. NorMAN LOCKYER, the English astronomer says of this in a lctter to the New York Tima: 1 belleve all friends of scicnce in this coustey will share the pleasure I feel at becoming 8¢q0! :n_ ed with sch a noblw matance of the privale €00 dowment uf an noremunerative branch of scientlt inquiry, especially when, nain the present casey te araiit of pablic woney would, I hold, bz ou! place. e ——— A Russian man-of-war saluted the Irish 822 in the harbor of San Francisco ten days aZ0- The Knights of the Red Dranch had been hav- ing a picnic down the bay, and the excursion- steamer on her return trip passed 3 Russla: corvette. The green flag was run up. the bao! played a2 Russian anthem, and the {rishmen cheered lustily. Quite unexpectedly thecorvese dipped its flag and fired a salute of tw:n'.i‘““; gruns, while the crew rushed to the deck 8D eartily cheered the pienic-party. The Irishmed Were overcome Wwith enthusiasm, and crack their throats io returning the compliment- Avropos of this anti-English feeling, Luck bas,