Thr I<turiertican.:trLkbvirrian
-s e w Series, Vol. VI; No.
Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3.
Postage 20ots, to be paid where delivered. j
Cliilion. and the Martyr of Bonivard
!Lines. Men and Women in California
Che Sunday Law in Pittsburg
.\.SHMAN, versus LINCOLN
LAST POE M
Opposition to the Dogma of Infallibility
THE TOURIST IN SWITZERLAND.
From the Note-Rook of our Foreign Correepon.
dent.]
[lie Prison of Chillon, Unromantic surround.
ings, Illusions of the Ppeui sadly dissipated,
The truth about the Prisoner.
From the Hotel Byron, a walk of half a mile
; bog the edge of this beautiful lake of Geneva,
brines us to the world-renowned castle of
and who that has read Byron's choicest
iew has not longed to enter Bonivard's famous
II ? We use to consider the " Prisoner of
',Won " the most pure, and beautiful, and at
,e same time touching and melancholy of all
f:yron's works. The impression it made upon
or mind in boyhood was entirely unlike that
anything else we ever read, and although
had not s.en the poem for twenty years, its
iaiu features were fresh in our minds. With
whit bounding hearts then, we made our way
ong the narrow path, and among the oak and
.Ic4tout trees in the grounds of this pretty Hotel
kron, thence along the road skirting the water,
with the walls and towers of the castle in full
~ew. We pass a small factory on the road,
• ipplied with water power from the mountain,
nut rises a little way
,back from the lake;—" Fa
:i,ine de Chocolate " is on the signboard.
It startled us quite out of the reverie that
was fast absorbing our minds, to think that in
Bch a place, with the enchanting grounds we had
Ibt left on one hand, the castle on the other and
;he lovely expanse of the lake spread out in front,
:Lien should set up a chocolate factory. few
arils further, a small tannery was being oarried
~u ; hides lying about—an old warehouse at the
water's edge. We pass the e, but have our poetic
feelings again disturbed by the thundering along
, f a railway train, for the iron track now skirts
,long the entire northern shore of the lake.
What horror would overwhelm the spirit of one
, f the Dukes of Savoy, if it were to come back
to the castle, and looking out over the parapet
should see the iron horse come snorting towards
him, In his day, men traveled on foot, or on
mule-back, or if in great haste on a good horse
—a skiff upon the lake or at most a sail before
:1 stiff breeze were the fastest things they knew,
when the Dukes of Savoy inhabited the castle
Now, how changed ! But we are already in
front of the castle. It is built a few yards out
from the shore, and connected with it by a bridge.
The castle consists of a number of towers, built
irregularly, and at differents periods, connected
t,+g•et her by walls surrounding the main enclosure.
Three of the towers are round, with conical tops,
the roofs being covered with red tile, and the walls
grey stone, all dressed to a smooth surface.
These three round towers and their connecting
wall run parallel to to the edge of the lake, about
:1 feet agent from the shore. The wall and
towers are about 50 feet high, the conical roofs
t Tering 20 feet higher. This face is about 200
fett, long. Back of the wall, and in the centre
of the pile, stands a tower about 30 feet square
and 120 feet high, with steep, tapering roof. At
each end of the pile is another square tower, with
iimilar tapering roof, covered with tile, and
about as high as the round towers. The whole
castle rises from the water's edge, making an ir
regular quadrangle about 100 feet by 200, with a
Central court yard in which stands the high
tower. The tower and wall are pierced with
narrow loop holes.
We enter the bridge, nod a familiar "How do
you do" to the guard, cross the draw, and are in
,Ede an open court. A guide with us, a young man,
ooks like a German, but speaks his French sen
tnces lowly and with distinctness. We will
lirst go to the subterrain —he says—and down a
'ope we follow him to a sort of cellar, the wide
dior standing open. He leads us through a large
Sad nearly dark room; then swinging open a
heavy oaken door says, " Here is the hall of the
condemned. The night before execution, the
prisoners slept in this room." There was a shelf
of rock, filling one side of the dungeon—cold,
hard, horrid—not a window, nor opening of any
kind to relieve the darkness. Swinging open
another heavy, oaken door,. he says, " led la salle
d' execution." " Here is the hall of execution."
John A.Weir
" That beam near the ceiling, the prisoners were
hang to, and out this door the bodies were thrown
into the Lake, which is 800 feet deep, just out
side this wall." The door oat of which the
bodies were thrown, was a low archway, about a
yard and a half broad and high—but it had been
walled up. We looked at the beam and then at
the door, and then around us at the walls of the
gloomy cell, not more than 12 or 15 feet square,
and about as high, and we shuddered all over.,
The door stood open to the next room—the door
way being five or six feet broad, with arched ti p.
" Ici le Souterrain de Bonivard," said the guide
"(This is the dungeon of Bonivard,") and we
were within'the chamber where Bonivard was
confined for four long years. We found it quite
a large foom, some forty feet long and 36 broad,
we should guess; the ceiling high, supported by
cut stone arches of fine architectural construction, '
rising from round stone pillars, four or five in
number. ',Cop holes, a yard long and as broad;
as your hand, admitted the light from the direc-'
Lion of the Lake. On one of the stone pillars
was carved , the name BYRON. The guide said
that Byron cut itbut it was so distinct and large,
the letters over an inch long and so well formed,
that we doubted it.' Near by was the name V.
HIYOO, which he also pointed out al cut by Hugo
himself; but when we noticed the similarity of
the letters, showing that they had been done by
the same instranient, *e doubted the genuineness
of both. On the next column he showed us the
staple, fast in the stone; to which Bonivard had
been chained. It was low down, near the ground
and on the dark side of the column, just where
we expected to find it. Bat when we looked for
the pathway worn in the stone floor, a semicircle,
which the length of his chain allowed him to
tramp in the long years of his imprisonthent,
imagine our disappointment in finding a floor of
earth—worn hard and smooth, to be sure, but
not the stone floor which had been vividly paint
ed in our fancy 20 years before, and had remain
ed on memory's , tablet in clear outline ever since
—the' trick he walked in, worn down at least
half an inch below the general level. We got
down in the darkness and felt it, to be certain
that our' eyes did not deceive us ; bat truly it '
was Only a dirt'floor. 117 srp we did feel at
not finding exactly that•whitair when' we first
read the poem, long years ago, we had resolved
to see for ourselves " some day."
History tells us that Bonivard was confined in
the prison some six years, four of which he passed
in this dungeon. We had expected to find it a
dark, rayless;cheerless place; but the long, nar
row loop-holes were on the side toward the sun,
admitting beams of light which entirely took
away the gloom we had anticipated. It is said
that Byron knew but little of his history when he
wrote the poem. We propose to hunt it up—
we will find it mostly in D'Aubigne—and then
we shall examine the poem, and see how it fits
the history and the place. •
He was a young man of noble soul, highly
educated, fearless, bold, witty; he had been
many years the prior of the
. smaßprovince and
monastery of St. Victor, located on the edge of
the city of Geneva; was educated a strict Roman
Catholic, and conformed to all the requirements
of the order. There always had been in the at
mosphere of Geneva a large admixture of inde
pendence, of liberty, of high-souled freedom, and
Bonivard inhaled it more freely than many around
him. He was disgusted with the irregularity of
the lives of many of the priests, and ridiculed
them with many a witty sarcasm. He sided
openly with the party of freedom, which opposed
the plots of the wicked Bishop to give over the
liberties of their free city into the hands of the
Duke of Savoy. The Duke's provinces sur
rounded Geneva, and for many years he had co
veted the wealthy, thrifty, little place, using every
artifice which an unscrupulous, wicked and pow
erful ruler could invent to enslave the
. city and
make it a part of his domain. It was in those
stormy days, at the opening of the 16th century,
when all Europe was beginning to rub its eyes
after the ten centuries' sleep of the Dark
Ages.
Bonivard's ancestors had, been loyal servants
of the house of Savoy, men of high station and
influence, and the Duke expected the young prior
to render him important assistance in his schemes
of enslavement.. Be knew him to have been an
intelligent youth, a skilful swordsman, and ready
for any deed of daring, and adventure. Honors
and riches in abundance were offered to him by
the Duke, but he preferred poverty and a dun
geon, without once halting, that he might aid the
cause of liberty and right. He has been called
the Erasmus of Geneva—loving learning, philo
sophy, liberty and right, more than religion.
He was the man of the Renaissance as Calvin
was of the &formation.
Being full of grace, simplicity, poetry and
ljanio
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1869.
imagination, he became very popular among the
young men of Geneva. He often dined among
them, scattering his brilliant thoughts and
kindling among them a love of liberty, as a light
never to be extinguished. He had been warned
a hundred times that he would lose his fine be
nefice; his priory, if he persevered in this course
in opposition to the schemes of the Duke on, one
hand and the Bishop on the other, both of whom
worked together to . keep the city in the sold dark
ness And degradation. He went to,• Rome some
six years after Luther's famous visit, his object
being to obtain an appointment. Ile was aston
ished at the open wickedness and shameless,im.
morality of priests, monks, bishops and cardinals,
and at finding that the Pope, Leo X., was no
better than, the rest, and that if he wanted to be
popular with them, he must be as ballas they,
join them in their revels, their gambling, etc.;
must become a ruffian and a libertine. He heard
iheth abuse Luther and his religion; but he
thought any thing would be bettertban what he
saw . abot him.. He bad not the' Omplaisavoe
necessary for a Roman Bishop, and seeing he had
no chance for, success, after a thorough canvass,
he returned to Geneva.' , On, the way back, be
barely escaped with his life. The Bishop of.
Geneva had ordered his arrest and imprisonment
as a dangerous. agitator. Once arrested, he de
clared he should not retain his head 'many weeks.
:G. W. M.
JOHN CHINAMAN.
What are we to do with him?' 'Or rather;
what is he is going to do with himself?—
A. M. Stewart's Mirth Letter.
Hitherto there has been a very manifest, even
radical difference between. him and other . •
emi
grations to our shores. Almost every nation,
civilized and uncivilized; Christian or heathen,
has contributed its quota to our vast conglomer
ate as a people. The large mass of this emigration
has come expecting to be identified with , us;
has come to better its worldly condition ; to
find homes and employment with freedom from
political, social and moral evils endured in na
tive lands. Their descendants are becoming in
distinguishably amalgamated with_oi4L American
nationality. _Exceptions to this %.1, be—lbw:ad
among the Africans, Irish Catholics, Jews and.
Quakers. Nor are these wholly resisting the
great assimilation.
John, however, comes, and -stays, and goes,
and remains a Chinaman unchanged. He brings
with him no family and seeks none here. He
looks not for, nor has a home—he only stays.
He desires not nor asks for our citizenship, or
access to our ballot boxes. He wants none of
our offices, covets none of our honors; craves none
of our friendships. China is still his home; and
he . thinks of none other. No imaginary calamity
so great can befal him as that of not getting
back, dead or alive, to the Celestial . Empire.
Generations of local pride, ignorance and selfish
teaching, have fixed deep in his sluggish mind
the belief, that if his bones lie out of China, his
soul stays out of Paradise. They come
,to us to
make money, and when gotten, to send or carry
it back.
Nor is this coming, getting and returning, the
work of agents entirely free. The conditions of
their being here are not easily, understood by us
outside barbarians. Exported and imported are
probably the fittest terms. A few wealthy Chi
nanien in different companies, under control or
patronage of the Imperial Government, send
them here like merchandise, and let them out to
labor under a system apparently, but little re
moved from slavery. The thousands of their
miserable women, already here, are not only all .
commercial, but sent over as such—let, relet,
sold, bought, bartered and exchanged for the
vilest purposes. Our Government should have
longsince interfered in this matter; by either
sending back every female cargo, or throwing
them into the Pacific.
No marvel, under such conditions, if our
government and the State of California have
granted but few privileges to these intruders—
these corners and goers, who envy to, have even
their bones moulder in our soil of liberty. They
ask no favors, but to toil and apparently to suf
fer. Both of which by common consent—by un
written law, have been ace ifded them.
Against this Asiatic invasion, there have ex
isted, and still linger various antipathies; which
occasionally break out in acts of cruel, unpro
voked violence, against those patient, imbecile
toilers. This, however, has no doubt been exag
'gerated. Our General Assembly acted wisely at
its May meeting, in not passing resolutions of
strong censure against Pacific-side society and
governments for cruelties practiced against Chi
namen. The Protestant element here, the social
feeling, as well as leading political sentiments,
are all favorable to John's coming and employ-
ment. This is under the impression that he is
needed, and hence, there is a disposition to treat
him fairly. Outrages against them there have
been too:many and may be repeated. These,
hOwever, come almost entirely from one source
—Catholic Irishmen , and women. Patrick and
Bridget hate nagers with cordial animosity.
They hate Chinamen also with a cruel hatred;
and would, no doubt, flay and roast them every
one, were it bat within their power. The seat
of this deep antiiiiihy may, no doubt, be found,
in Pat's consciousness of his own low scale in
civilised life. Hence, his and Bridgec'S dread
that both shovel and kitchen' may ere long be
wrested from them by these intruders. No mar
vel, therefore, if John's meek, shaved, pig tailed
head now and then feels the weight of the shills
lah.
It should, moreover, in connection with this
matter, be borne in mind, that Patrick kicks up
rows in 'other places besides, on the Pacific
coast; and in them. breaks heads, not Chinese.
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Balti
more
,hid better not be too lavish in syMpathy
for Chinanien, nor too ready with wholesale de
.
nunciations against San Francisco, until able to
preserve their own citizens fromthe violence of
those papal mercenaries.
The social pkoblem, for generations to come,
concerning the millions of Asiatics who may
crowd our shores, will have but few difficulties,
and hence, need create but little uneasiness
Not soon, if ever, will they aspire to social
equality; claim the right of citizenship, scram
ble
, for office and break opposing heads at the
ballot boxes. The scarecrow, by which anxious
mothers so long helped to bind the fetters upon
the black man, was, that if free he might solicit
the hands of, their daughters in marriage. Trou
bled dames need hardly vex themselves- impa
tiently about Chinese ambition. When Sohn
wants a wife she will most likely be sought in
China. A. M. STEWAR.T.
OUR ROCHESTER CORRESPONDENT.
NIAGARA PRESBYTERY
This Presbytery held its annual meeting this
week in Albion; a goodly number being- presint,,
the eldership, especially, being well represented.
Rev. Charles -Merwin, of Lewiston, was elected.
Moderator, for whom a good deal of sympathy
was enlisted, as he has been called to a very great
and sudden affliction, in the death of his wife.
They were newly established in a beautiful house,
the gift of a wealthy bachelor brother to Mrs.
Merwin, and looking forward to happy days in
this field of labor, to which Mr. Merwin has re
cently come. But suddenly, and with great suf
fering, Mrs. Merwin was called to the higher
sphere and her husband has to do his work alone.
The Presbytery adopted a plan of visitation,
the brethren to go, two and two, to visit church
es to which they are designated, hoping thereby
to do each other good.
Rev. L. B. Rogers, of Somerset, and. Elder
E. P. Healy, of Medina, were appointed Com
missioners to the next General Assembly; Rev.
R. S. Egleston, and elder L. W. Bingham, al
ternates. Rev. Edwin Hall, Jr., of Youngstown,
was elected Commissioner to Auburn Seminary.
The elders of this- Presbytery recently met in
convention at Lockport, some twenty-five in num
ber, and formed an organization for mutual im
provement in the work to which they are called
as officers of the Church of Christ. They would
have invited the elders of the late-Old School
connection to join them, if there had been any
within their bounds. They are just as much in
favor of union, however, as if they were not all
of the late N. S. bran Ch.
THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS
Rev. Henry Fowler, of Auburn, has been
`•preaching' an able and excellent sermon to his
people on the subject above named. He contends
that the Bible should not be banished from the
schools, and puts the ease well. He first answers
the flimsy pretenses by which the enemies of the
Bible are trying to cast it out, and then makes a
strong argument for retaining it.
1. It is the best of books, and ought to be
read.
2. If it is banished it will alienate the best
friends of the public schools.
3. Moral training is inseparable from a good
education, and the Bible is the best book of
morals.
4. If we banish the Bible, we must banish other
books.
5. If we banish the Bible, we displease its Au
thor, the .God of nations, whose favor. alone se
cures our prosperity.
The sermon was preached to a great crowd, and
is published in full in the Auburn Daily Adver
tiser.
Genesee Evangelist, No. 1232.
Rev. Dr. Ileacock, of Buffalo, occupied his
own pulpit all day last Sabbath. It being under
derstood that he, would give his impressions of
California in the evening, his house was crowded
long before the time of service, some being oh.
liged to stand. His text was, " Fear Not, 0 land,
be glad and rejoice; for the Lord will do great
things." He spoke of the rapid growth of the
golden state, almost miraculous; of the character
of the inhabitants, as vigorous, earnest and en
terprising;•and of the climate as delightful. He
has evidently brought back pleasant impressions
of the Pacific slope.
Rev. Charles Furman, of our city, bas been
invited. to take pastoral charge of the church of
Clarkson, of which be was pastor from 1830 to
1835. " After an absence of thirty-four years he
is called back again. He was pastor there in the
great revival of 1830-31, when there were one
hundred conversions.
The first church of Watertown, after having
been - Closed for a long time for repairs and im
pro"'i'''ernents, was opened again last Sabbath, op
which occasion the pastor, Rev. J. J. Porter,
D.D , preached a discourse on the early religious
history of Watertown.
The'Prekbyterian church of Cazenovia, having
undertone a similar transformation, at a cost of
$12,000, was dedicated last week. It is made
very beautiful, a perfect gem in its interior finish.
The First Presbyterian church of this city
have at last concluded to sell . their present
a
church property, and try to find more desirable
location. We trust they will be successful in se
curing a good site, in goon erecting a first class
church edifice, and obtaining just such a pastor
as they need to insure prosperity in the future.
It - was the first church organized in this place,
has an interesting history, and all good Presby
terians hope that it is still to shine as a bright
light in all this region.
Rev. Samuel Jessup, of Dansville, has been
preaching an earnest, practical sermon to his
people on the subject of benevolence. He is try
ing to elevate their standard of giving. In this
he has already been somewhat successful, for his
church hasbeeri yeal:lty year in this
regard. The sermon is published, "by request
of many ladies," in the Dansville Express.
The Plymouth church Sunday-sehool of this
city had quite a . festival on the evening of the
22d, in honor of the Landing of the Pilgrims.
There was singing by the scholars, prayer and
address ,by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Bartlett, address
by Dr. Shaw, tableaux and supper, in which all
seemed to participate with much pleasure. One
of the teachers remarked that the children of the
Plymouth church were the most highly favored
of any in the city, they being the only ones that
have fore (four) fathers. After that we left.
Rochester, Dec. 25, 1869
THE MAYOR OF PITTSBURG.
I noticed with pleasure in a recent number of
your paper, a reference to the efforts of Mayor
Brush of this city to suppress the Sunday
traffic in liquor. Where a worthy officer is
honestly striving to.do his duty in such matters,
it is . well for-the religious press especially to
notice and commend his conduct. This morning
it has come to my knowledge, that, on yesterday
morning-4. e., Sabbath morning, his Honor had
before him forty-seven prisoners (47).. This,
Monday morning, only three (3.) What could
be a stronger illustration of the operations of
our Sunday law against selling liquor ? It
must be now some nine or ten months since pub
lic attention here was specially called to this sub
ject in the press and in the pulpit—so that I
suppose, this morning and yesterday, may be
taken as fair average days. If this be so, what
fair-minded citizens can resist the force of the
'argument in favor of absolute prohibition ?
Every one kilows that the mass of the cases
coming before our municipal authorities and our
Criminal Courts are directly connected with
this miserable traffic. What better illustrations
could there be that if the temptations to drink
wereremoved anthe officers sustained by a vigor
ous public sentiment against these licensed rum
holes, these gateways to perdition, that the evil
would very soon be almost extinguished,
Pittsburg, Dec. 13, 1869
--The American Presbyterians have more
missionaries in China than any other society, and
their missions were lately pronounced by one of
the best missionaries of another Board, as " the
best organized in China." They number twenty
four of the one hundred and twenty-nine Pro
testant missionaries in China.
f Home & Foreip Miss. $2OO.
Address:-1334 Chestnut Street.
DR. HEACOCK AT HOME.
IT EMS,
GENESEE
J. S. T