13 civfcriv fflj
B1 MEIERS & BEIFORD.
WHOLE NO. 2774. VOL 53.
Political.
BENTON ON HI H HRLNI V.
WASHINGTON, C. STREET, NOV. 15, 1557.
To the Editors of the National Intelligencer :
GENTLEMEN - Many papeis, desirous of the
establishment of a National Bank, are quoting
what General Jackson said in favor of such an
institution at the beginning of his presidency.
J have to remind all such papers that what was
so said was said before Gen. Jackson saw a pros
pect of restoring the currency of the Constitu
tion, and that, after he saw that prospect, he
.said nothing more in favor of Banks, National
or State, but the contrary, and labored during
the remainder of his public life to restore and
preserve the hard money currency which the
founders ofour Government had secured (as they
believed) for ns. The plan of that restoration
and preservation consisted of five parts, namely:
1. To revive the gold currency by correcting
the erroneous standard of 1791. 2. To create
a demand for haul money by making it the
exclusive currency of the Federal Treasury.
3. To make sure of this money by keeping it in
itsown treasures. 4. To suppress all paper
currency under twenty dollars by a stamp duty.
5. To wind up alt defaulting banks by a bank
rupt law against delinquents.
The first three of these five parts were accom
plished, and to these we are indebted for twenty
years exemption —from 1831 to 185/—front
hank suspensions and depreciated currency;
also, for carrying the country through a foreign
war—the Mexican without paper money, and
with the public securities above par; also, for
fiavino' in the country at this time full fifteen
times as much hard money as we had in the
time ot ttie late Bank of the United States ; and
we are indebted to tb" want ot the two latter
parts of the plan lor what we now see: nearly
two thousand banks in the country, a great part
of them frauds from the beginning, and the bad
governing the good : a general suspension in a
season of peace and prosperity; people are for
ced to use depreciated paper when there is more
hard moriev in the country than its business
could employ; men and women begging for
work, and unable to obtain it, when the coun
try needs all they can do, and has the means to
•pav for it: families crying for bread, when a
bountiful Providence has given the most exu
berant crops that ever were seen; the business of
itwenly five millions of people deranged, disor
dered and thrown out of joint ; and all this the
work of the base part of ttie banks, falling down
of themselves for want ot foundations, and drag
ging the solid ones after them. For it is in this
case of bank suspensions as it is with a ship
.sinking at sea, where those who cannot swim
drag down those who can. A stamp duty on
their notes, and a bankrupt process against
themselves would have saved the country from
;the caiimatiesit now endures; for many of the
base order of banks would have been unable to
-'■ make currency for want of money to pay for
slam) son their notes, and others would have
been proper subjects for the bankrupt process
in the first few days of their existance.
The restoration of the gold currency was
♦/Tecled under General Jackson's Administration
the establishment ol the hard money currency
tor (he Federal Government and the keeping of
its own money iri itsown treasuries, was accom
plished under Mr. Van Bnren, both of which
Presidents took the toll responsibility of recom
mending these three measures, and also the
two others—the two for the imposition of a
stamp duly on ali paper money under twenty
dollars, and lor a bankrupt act against defaul
ting banks. Bills were repeatedly brought into
Congress lor both purposes, but were always
defeated by (he defection of the paper-money
wing of the Democratic partv.
The most plausible of the open objections
made against the stamp duty was in the expense
and the extensive machinery for its collection.
I hat was answered by providing a cheap ami
simple procew fo r both purposes—a clerk in the
lieasury Department for a superintendent of the
business, and the clerks of the Federal courts
to deliver out the stamps which they received
from the treasury. The amount of the duty,
and hether it should apply to all notes or only
to those intended to be suppressed, were ques
tions on which there was room for some diver
sity ot opinion.—The pre-dominant opinion
was that th re should be a duty upon all n >tes i--
sued as a currency, (for what more fit to be taxed
than the moneyed powers) the duty being the
same on all notes, and such as the large one
could easily carry and the small ones not. The
amount ol the duty was held necessary to be
large—far greater than in Great Britain : for
there no note is re-issued; no one goes 'out of
the bank a second tune, so that the dntv in
England is paid every time the bank issues a note.
Not so in (he United Slates. Here a note is
re-issued until it is worn out : until it "has be
< otiie too ragged to hold together, or too filthy
!•<> be handled, or too defaced to be deciphered.
A small duty is, therejore, sufficient in Great
Britain : it would require a very heavy one to
he its equivalent in the United States. Among
he penalties for violating the act, either by
issuing, receiving, or passing the unstamped
paper, should be a disqualification to retain or
receive a federal appointment ; for the pursuit
o otfice is so general at this time in our country
and so ardent, that, in arraying a class so large,
so influential, and active against the unstamped
notes, their circulation would be effectually
check-mated.
Ihe paper-money wing of the Democracy
uas still more against the bankrupt ac t against
'an-vrupt banks than against the stamp tax on
notes ; arid, acting with the habitual opponents
° the party to which they professed to belong,
easi \ debated all the brtis. The open objec
tion came Iroin the lawyers, with their profess
ional idea, drawn chiefly from British statutes,
iat merchants and traders were the proper
subjects of the bankrupt law,* although every
late British statue on the subject includes banks,
(the Bank of England excepted :) and in a single
season of suspension (that ot 1813-'l4-'ls)
ninety-two of these banks had been subjected to
commissions of bankiuptcy. But (his remedy
was not of English, but of Roman origin, as its
name would show, (" bancus and U rupfus")
and bankers were the original objects of the
law, as the same name also shows. "Broken
Bench" is the English of the Latin name, and
was so called because the bankers (money chang
ers of that time, as now in the east) half their
benches in public places, on which they sat and
did business ; and when any one became delin
quent, or criminal, he was driven away and his
bench was broken. And thus, in its origin,
bankruptcy was a process against banks and
bankers, and still is in Great Britian : and hence
retains its original name of Broken-Bench—the
bench so broken being the sign and warning to
the public that the banker himself was insolvent
and deprived his place ol doing business.
Banking in the United States is the most un
restrained and unsafe that there is in the world ;
unsafe even lor solid and well conducted banks
there being enough of the tinsolid and badly
conducted to fall down of themselves every few
years, and to drag down the rest with them.
The laws put few restraints or penalties upon
them : and these restraints and penalties are
regularly repealed just as often as the communi
ty needs the benefit, ol them. It is by name in
some places, and by fact in others, a system of
"free banking," which the hard-money Dem
ocracy was accustomed to call "free swindling."
Anybody becomes banker that pleases, and iss
ues small notes and sends them offto a distance
to be circulated and lost, and to sink upon the
heads of the laboring people.f A favorite plan
is to issue notes at one place payable at another
far off, out of the way, and difficult to begot at,
so as to compel the holder to submit to a shave.
That mole of doing business was invented by a
Scotchman of Aberdeen in 1806; hut he was
in Great Britain, not in the United States : and
the British Ministry and the British Parliament
immediately took cognizance of the inventor
and his imitators, and placed them all iri the
category of swindlers, and so [>ut an end to
their operations. No stamp duty, no bankrupt
act, and no requisition to keep any proportionate
amount of hard money on hand completes the
license and unbounded freedom, arid the perfect
title to periodical explosions, which belong to
American banking.
This last requisition, that of keeping on hand
an amount of hard money proportionate to their
liabilities, seems to be unknown (even in name)
in the United States: yet that requisite is a legal
and fundamental condition of the Bank of Eng
land ; and the proportion of one-third in gold
of the total amount of its liabilities in circulation
and deposits is the rate enforced ; and below
that proportion the Bank of England does not
deem itself safe. Thus swore Mr. Horsley
Palmer, Governor of the Bank of England, be
fore Lord A Ithorpe's committee, in 1832 : "The
average proportion, as already observed, of coin
and bullion which the, bank deems it prudent to
keep on hand, is at the rate of a third of the
total amount of all her liabilities, including
deposits us well us issues." And thus swore
Mr. George Ward Norman, a director of the
Bank : " For a full state of the circulation and
deposits, say twenty-one millions of notes and
six millions of deposits, making in the whole
Iwenfy-seven tuitions of liabilities, the proper
*The American lawyer seldom looks beyond the
statute ot Elizabeth, which was the first to confine
the bankrupt process to merchants and traders : it
they would look a tittle further hack—look into the
reign of that Queen's father—they would find a stat
ute sufficiently comprehensive to include others be
sides merchants and traders; and the preamble to
which is an accurate description ol many ol those
who in our country, and at this day, follow the pur
suit of issuing "currency" lor the American people.
That preamble says; ""Whereas divers and sundry
persons craftily obtained into their hand* great snb
* tan re of other men's good*: do suddenly flee, to partit
unknown, or keep their houses, not minding to pay or
restore, to any of their creditors their debts and duties,
hut at their ou-n wills and own pleasures consume the
substance obtained by credit of other men for their own.
adornment and dainty living, against all reason,
equity, and good conscience." Anno >4, Henry \ 111.
fA specimen of modern banking in the United
States is seen in one ofthe latest ol these institutions,
duly chartered to issue "currency"—lhe " Granite
Itauk of Voluntown," Connecticut: whereol the
Hartford (Connecticut) Times gives this brief and
no doubt, veracious account:
"1 he charter was passed, and tor four or five
months it was not heard of again. But suddenly,
on or about the first of November instant, the bills ot
the Granite Bank of Voluntown appeared in the mar
ket. The bank commissioners were in this city at
the time, arid though having their hands full of busi
ness in various parts ofthe State, they repaired at
once to Voluntown. There a very rich scene was o
pened to them. They found, we understand, the lol
lowing state of affairs.
"The managers of Ihe bank, on or about the first
instant, procured (i. e. borrowed for the occasion) a
package of bills, or a package of something which
they calleds3o,ooo. This was the paid in capital
of the bank, and upon this they commenced business,
though on Saturday last they sent this same package
back to New York, as they clatm, to procure specie
for it.
They have issued $17,000 in bills and had circula
ted them in various parts ofthe country.
"Five thousand dollars in bills were taken by a rr.an
who was to circulate them in Ohio. I his man leit a
receipt for them,and verbally promised to send on a
note when he arrived in Ohio.
"The assets were between three and four hundred
dollars in coin, a one dollar bill on Windham County
Bank, and a second-hand iron safe, not yet paid lor.
Also ihe receipt of the Ohio man lor $5,000 in the
Granite bills."
This is a sample of a recent chartered bank in one
of Ihe oldest Slates. Here is another recent sample
from one of the youngest Territories:
"The Legislature of Kansas at its last winter ses
sion (1850-'57) chartered a number ol Banks to is
sue currency, one of which at Lecomplon was re
quired to have $50,000 in specie, before it could be
gin work. In the late Convention, while providing
for a new bank of three millions, the (act came out
in debate that the Lecompton bank, without a dollar
in hard money, obtained its certificate from Ihe Gov
ernor this summer past in this wise: It borrowed
$2,000, and, putting SI,OOO into two bags, and, while
the Governor counted one bag at a time, the other
was carried out and brought in again: and this was
done until SSO,QQO were counted, and the certificate
obtained."
BEDFORD, PA., FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 11,1857.
sum in coin and bullion for the bank to retain
is nine millions." And to the same effect
swore other directors. But in Great Britain it
is not sufficient that this proportion of one-third
is required to be on hand, but it must be show n
and that continually, that it is there.* This
is accomplished by the publication of the quar
terly weekly average of the liabilities and assets
ol the bank, lrom which the public can always
see when the bank has crossed the line ofsafetv.
How different this from banking in the United
States, where no proportionable rate of specie
to the liabilities is even prescribed; and when
five, ten, fifty, and hundred paper dollars
for one hard one in the vault, are Irequently
issued.
But one thing was wanting to complete the
title of our banking system to utter unworthi
ness, and that one thing has been discovered—it
is the dispensation of the specie basis! Through
out the world, so far as papei money is known,
a specie basis is deemed necessary to an institu
tion which issues promises to pay specie. Not
so in the United States. Paper upon paper has
become the vogue with us. Stocks, and the
notes of other banks, are the tl sandy" founda
tion upon which a large propoition of our banks
are built.
I do not expatiate upon the evils of small pa
per money ; they are palpable to every observer,
and only require enumeration .1. It drives
away all hard money of equal denominations ;
for, in a competition between two currencies,
the meanest is always the conqueror and chases
the other out of the field. r~2. It is the great
source of the crime of counterfeiting : for the
mass of the counterfeits consist of small notes.
3. It demoralizes the community : for people,
not being willing to lose a note for which they
have given value, instead of burning it when
rejected by a knowing one as counterfeit, put
it back in the pocket and offer it again to an
ignorant person, who receives it, and who goes
through the same process when rejected in his
hands. 4. Small notes make the panic and
bring or. the runs which break down good banks:
for these small notes being in the hands of the
masses, when they get alarmed, thev assemble
by thousands at the doors of the institution
which issued the notes, demand the money,
break the banks, and propagate the alarm which
they themselves feel until it becomes general;
for nothing is more contagious than a monied
panic, nor anything more unmanageable. 5. It
pillages the poor and the ignorant ; fir every
base note, every one that is counterfeit, or on
a broken hank, or on a bank that never existed,
although it will run for a while, must stop
somewhere: and when it does, is sure to stop
in the hands of the poor and uninformed, upon
that class least able to bear the loss, who have
no advantage lrom banks while in operation,
and who bear the loss when they stop. 6. It
excites to swindling ; for knaves, with nothing
but brass tor their capital, and that in their
faces instead of their coffers, are induced to set
up manufactories of small paper, to be sent
abroad and sunk upon the hands of those among
whom it is scattered ; all that is so sunk being
clear gains to the manufacturer. 7. It induces
and even compels people to he wasteful of their
money ; for such is the natural honest and just
contempt and distrust of small notes, that he or
she that receives one, hurries oil'to lav it out for
something not needed, while a piece of gold of
the same amount would be valued and cherish
ed, and iaidjby and added to, until enough ac
cumulated to make a purchase of something
needed and useful. 8. It subjects the paver to
be cheated or worsted in change; for, giving
paper in payment, he must receive the change
in other paper, and lor this purpose, the meanest
most ragged, dirfv, and worthless will always
be picked out and shoved upon him. In short,
such are the evils, the crimes the demoralization
and cheating of small paper mony, that all na
tions, except the United States, place it in the
category of a criminal agent, and suppress it
accordingly.
Twenty-odd years ago, when we were la
boring to restore the constitutional currency to
the Government and the people, the ready ob
jection, repeated by all the friends of paper
money, was, that there was not gold and silver
in the world to carry on the business of the
United States ; and the ready answer to that
objection was, that the<-e was precisely enough!
and that exactly enough would come to the
United States if we would only create a demand
lor it by correcting the gold standard, make it
the Government currency, and suppressing
small paper. Only a part of these things have I
been done, and there have flowed into the Uni- !
ted States, or been obtained from our own mines,
about four or five times as much gold as the bu- i
siness of thp United States could employ. The :
supply has been nearly a thousand millions ol
dollars, and the business of the United States
would only employ about two hundred millions.
This is not guess work, but bottomed upon au
thentic data ; for the statistics of political econ
omy show that nations can only use certain j
amounts of money, some more, some less accor- j
ding to their pursuits. Thus, a highly manu- ;
factuiing country, where the employer needs j
monev incessantly to carry on his business in !
the purchase of raw materials, and the payment j
j of operatives, and in the construction or repair j
of buildings and machinery, and where the op- ;
! eratives themselves need money daily for the;
support of their families, the quantity of money j
| required is lar greater than in an agricultural
and planting country, where the farmer raisrs
his own supplies, and has his crops and produce J
to pay large demands. And therefore England, j
•Every three month* you may see in the leadiig
London newspaper* a notice in about these words:
i.Quarterly average of the weekly liabilities aid
assets of the Bank of England, from the 12th day of
i December, 1847, to the Gth of March 1848, both in
clusive, published pursuant to the act 3d ot William
, IV., cap. 98:
LIABILITIES. ASSETTS.
| Circulation £ 18,600,000 Securities £22,792000 |
| Deposit? 11,535,000 Bul'n & coin 10,015000
£30,135,000 £32,807000
Freedom of Thought and Opinion.
j the forrnost manufacturing country, requires the
| greatest amount of money : and has it, to wit :
j about eleven dollars a head : and Russia, so
largely agricultural, requires the least amount
I of money, and can employ but about four dollars
a hetd. So the United States, in small part
| manufacturing and largely agricultural and
planting, would find her maximum demand for
money somewhere half way between the two—
say, eight dollars a head ; which, at the present
amount of the white population, (sav twenty
five millions,) would give two hundred millons
as the rational demand ; always remenbering
! that the great payments are made with crops
I and bilfi*p# exchange founded on the proceeds
iof industry. And thus it becomes a proposition
! demonstrated t hat the United States, since the
correcffon of the gold standard twenty-three
years ago, have received a supply of gold to
: four or five times the amount which the busi
i nessoperations of the people could employ. Of
1 that amount the leading banks estimated two
i hundred and ninety millions to be remaining in
the country at the commencement of the pres-
I ent panic ; and since that time more than twelve
j millions have arrived, and verv little gone ; so
i that three hundred millions would be the pres
ent estimate of the amount of gold and silver
lin the country ; being one hundred millions
more than the business of the country would
I employ. 'I hree hundred millions is exactly
fifteen times as much as the United States pos
sessed in the timeofthe late Bank of the United
I States. Twenty millions was the whole amount
• at that time, and that all in silver—not a par
| ticle of gold being then in circulation. And it
is exactly thirty times as much as the whole
j I niori possessed at the time of the termination
iof the first National Bank: the whole supply
being then hut ten millions, and that all silver,
i Under these circumstances, ($300,000,000
!in gold in the country, peace and prosperity
| throughout Europe and America, great crops
and good health,) there was nothing in the
state of the country to justify the suspension, or
anything to justify its continuance. The only
'solution of such a catastrophe is the obvious
one, to wit, the failure of had hanks and the
I consequent run which their failure made upon
j the good ones. The insolvent pulled down the
| solvent: and the Legislatures of several States
; have put all on an equality ; but the solvent
| should repulse the association. The living body
| should not be tied to the dead one. The sol
vent should recommence their payments, and
i make visible the broad line between the sound
I and the rotten, which the Legislatures have
: covered up; and public sentiment would then
: sig<i2a^'®l )OS< -' the latter in spite of legislative
ftnomget%w?*~—■ ■ ———- - i, i„ „
The solvent banks can and will resume, and
! that will satisfy those who do not look bevond
the evil of the day ; but those who look ahead
and see new evils in the perspective, and to
| the legislative power whose duty it is to pro
( vide against evils before they happen, something
j more will be seen to be necessary. A recur
i rence of such calamities, in the view of all such,
should be guarded against, and can effectually
b- done by two acts of Federal legislation—a
i stamp-duty on paper currency, and a bank
rupt law against bankrupt banks.
There is not a monaich in Europe who would
treat his subjects, or surfer them to be treated,
:as the people of the United States are treated
jby the base part of their own banks, and the
indulgent Legislatures which legalize their vio
lations of law, promises and contracts. The
| issue of currency and its regulation is an attrib
ute of sovereignly, and everywhere is exercised
jby the sovereign power, except in the United
States. Here, also, it was intended to be an
attribute of sovereignty, and was placed in the
hands of Congress, and limited to the. issue of
Hold and silver, and the regulation of its value.
\ For our present government was formed by
hard-money men, who had seen and felt the
1 disastrous and demoralizing effects of paper
j money, and were anxious to save their posterity
j from such calamities as they had suffered.—
They did their part to save us. Shall we be
false to ourselves and to them ?
Respectfully THOMASH. BENTON.
SPECULATORS AND CAPITALISTS. —This hit
will fit other latitudes than that ot Paris—a
"good thing" of a Parisian gamin, (urchin,
loafer boy.) It is lively, energetic, character
istic and effect ive :
Two gentlemen chatting on the Boule
vard. One was a great speculator, developing
the plan ola magnificent project, the other a
dazzled capitalist, ready to snap at the bait.
He hesitated a little ; but was not unyielding,
merely making a few objections for conscience
sake.
Near these two passed a couple of young
sters, of ten or twelve years. They were look
ing into a tobacco shop close by, and one cries
out to the other :
"By the piper ! I'd like to smoke a sous worth
of tobacco."
"Well," said the other, "buy a sous worth." j
"Ah ! as luck will have it, I haven't a sou."
"Hold on, I've got two sous."
"That's the ticket, just the thing—one for the
pipe, and one for the tobacco."
"Oh, yes ! but what am I to do?"
"You ? Oh, you shall be a stockholder ; you i
can spit !"
It was a flash of light. The capitalist thrust
his hand into his pocket and fled. Ttie specula
tor cast a furious look at the two urchins, and
turned down the street.
A CANDIDATE IN A FlX. —The Detroit Free l
Press avers that the Republican candidate for
Mayor in that City visited the Detroit Locomo
tive Works to palaver the workmen. While
doing the usual shaking of hands his coat tail
was caught in the machinery and he was whirled
up to the ceiling amjdst frantic kicks and strug
gles on his part. While in this picturesque atti
tude it is said that he insisted on shaking hands
with several of "the boys,' who crowded around
to see the fun. Getting red in the face, and hav
ing kicked himself out of breath, he was lower
ed away, after which he speedily "disbursed,"
SLEEP.
"GOD bless the man who first invented sleep !"
So Sancho Panza said, and so say I:
And bless him, also, that he didn't keep
His great discovery to himself; or try
To make it—as the lucky fellow might—
A close monopoly by "patent right!"
Yes—bless the man who firt invented sleep*
(I really can't avoid the iteration);
But blast the man, with curses loud and deep,
Whate'er the rascal's name, or nge, or station,
Who first invented, and went round advising,
That artificial cut-off—early rising!
"Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed,"
Observes some sentimental owl—
Maxims like these are very cheaply said;
But ere you make yourself a fool, or fowl,
Pray just inquire about their rise—and fall,
And whether larks have any beds at all !
The "time for honest folks to be abed,"
Is in the morning, if I reason right;
And he who cannot keep his precious head
Upon his pillow till it's fairly light,
And so enjoy his forty morning winks,
Is up—to knavery; or else—he drinks!
Thomson, who sung about the "Seasons," said,
It was a glorious thing to rise in season ;
But then he said it—lying—in his bed
At ten o'clock A. M.—the very reason
He wrote so charmingly. The simple fact is,
His preaching wasn't sanctioned by his practice.
Tie, doubtless, well to be sometimes awake—
Awake to duty and awake to truth—
But when. Ala ! a nice review we take
Of our best deeds and days, we find, in sooth,
The hours, that leave the slightest cause to weep,
Are those we passed in childhood, or—asleep !
'Tis beautiful to leave the world a while
For the soft visions of the gentle night;
And free, at last, from mortal care or guiie,
To live, as only in the angels' sight,
In sleep's sweet realms so cosily shut in,
Where, at the worst, we only dream of sin!
So let us sleep, and give the Maker praise ;
I like the lad who, when his lather thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase
Of vagrant worm by eariy songster caught,
Cried, "Served him right!—it's not atall surprising—
The worm was punished, sir, for early rising !"
THOMAS DICK AND EUGENE SEE.
The same mail lrom Europe which brought
intelligence ol the death of EUGENE SUE also
bore tidings of the demise of Dr. THOMAS DICK,
author of "The Christian Philosopher,'' and
many other works written in vindication of the
sacred andsublune truths of Revelation—works
which, particularly in Scotland, have been cir
culated most extensively, consoling, teaching,
and elevating the minds of millions. He ran
his earthly course in pain and poverty. He j
did not sii at rich men's tables. He was not !
clothed in purple and fine linen. He had scanty,
simple lare, and knew no luxurvbut that ol do- I
ing his duty. In the fullest and most beneficent j
manner he was a Teacher ol the People ; devo
ted to scientific studies, and had the art—so rare
and so valuable—of writing on these difficult
and abstruse subjects so plainly, that even the
peasantry of his native land could 'understand
him. Nor was his character unknown, unap
preciated, or unhonored in this country. His
numerous works (moral, religious, and scien
tific) were largely reprinted and circulated all
over the Uniou. His name was even as a
household word among hosts of serious-minded,
thoughtful, religious people. American travel
lers who visited Scotland often went out of
their way to visit him at his humble cottage, in
the village of Broughty Ferry, on the hanks ol ;
the silvery Tav. There they found an aged
man, infirm of body but strong of mind, acute,
and learned; poor in worldly riches, but whose
life had indeed been devoted to laying up lor j
himself treasures in heaven. Ttie American •
heart warmly sympathized with this fine old !
man, and, a few years ago, sonte benevolent
and wealthy citizens of Philadelphia practically
illustrated their sentiment toward him, by pre
senting hirn with a handsome pecuniary gilt, as
some provision for his closing days. Strangely
enough, this American liberality led to Dr.
DICK'S receiving somejustice, tardy and small
enough, from the hands ot the British Govern
ment. He was the recipient of a small pension,
(£SO a year,) and limited as this dole was, it
sufficed for his humble wants. He died, a
fortnight ago, at Broughty Ferry, at the ripe age
of eighty-five.
About the same time there passed away, into
the far Hereafter, the French novelist, EUGENE
SUM, one <>f the most popular and mischievous
writers ever produced by a country which,
though it gave the world such men as FEMCLON,
PASCAL, BOSSUET, and MASSILLON, also casi up,
on the scum of its society, such men as VOL
TAIRE, ROUSSEAU, PAUL DE KocK.and ALEXAN
DER DUMAS. Infidels, scoflers at all religious
belief, socialists, and steeped in the very foul
est obscurity, were the writers w ho, for seveial
years, corrupted ttie mind of France. Chief
among these ministers of evil was EUGENE SUE.
Nor was the mischief he did confined to his own
country. He wrote so remarkably well that
his works got translated into almost every liv
ing language of Europe. They circulated
widely in England, and here in America they
commanded a sale so large that we should prob
ably be considered romancing if we stated it.
But, even at this risk, we will add that over a
million of copies of" The Mysteries of Paris,"
"The Wandering Jew," and "The Seven Cap
ital Sins," have been sold in the Tlnitpd States,
at a price and in a form calculated to throw
them into the hands of the masses. They fig
ured largely among the infamous "yellow-cover
literature," for some years a disgrace to our
country, and they demoralized the public mind
to a greater extent than can readily be calcu
lated.
Communism and Socialism, with the strongest
infusion of impiety and indecency, were the
staple of EUGENE SUE'S popular fictions. He
painted vice in the most attractive manner, so
that, looking at her gorgeous habiliments, the
spectator scarcely heeded her laidly features.
He was sensuous in his descriptions, and,
even while sometimes pretending to condemn
TERHS, s 3 PER YEAR.
NEW SERIES VOL 1, NO. 19.
s>n, drew its semblance ao attractively that the
opposite of repulsion was the effect produced.
He was constant and consistent in insinuating
and declaring that Reason, (as he called it, in
the slang of the old Encyclopedists) was a surer
and better guide than Revelation. All through
his works there is a ruling doubt of God's good
ness and merciful justice, of man's honor, of
woman's chastity. >UE had no faith in Virtue.
He professed to champion popular rights, and,
while he lived in luxury which an epicurean
might havp envied, invariably turned a deaf
ear to all personal appeals from Poverty. He
was returned as a member of the National
Assembly, between the last French Revolution
and the re-organization of the Empire, but
made a very remarkable failure in public life.
Finally, suspected of complicity in some of the
plots against what is called 'The State' in Paris,
lie became an exile. Once ofl'his own soil, it
seemed as it his skill as a writer had vanished.
He commenced a Socialist novel, called "Lei
Mysteries du Peuple;" the publication of which
was prevented by the Government—a needless
prohibition, for his iormer admirers, the work
men contemptuously pronounced that he had
written himself out. He died, in exile, at the
age of fifty-two.
Such, and so contrasted, were THOMAS HICK
and EUGENE SUE, the believer and the infidel.
Unauestionably, large intellectual gifts Mere
bestowed upon each. How one used, and how
the other misused them, we have briefly indi
; cated. These nrm might almost stand as repre
sentatives, among modern writers, of Good and
Evil. One felt that his mission was to teach, to
Look through Nature up to Nature' 9 God,
and the other acted as if he were convinced
that his allotted work was to defile the purest
and holiest decencies of life, and impress dsrk
doubts, of a world beyond the grave upon the
minds of all who read his works. The Chris
tian philosopher to whom, at the age of eighty,
a pension of J£so a year was comparative wealth
lived in privation, self-denial, and frequent pov
erty. The popular novelist was surrounded
with all that wealth can supply, and with the
flattery and adulation of millions. Yet who,
life's fitful fever ended, would prefer a career
like SUE'S? With indignant truth has the poet
said:
" I'd rather be
One of those hinds that round me tread,
With just enough of sense to see
The noonday's sun tnat's o'er bis head,
Than thus, with high-built genius curst.
That hath no heart for its foundation—
Be all, at once, that's brightest, worst,
Sublimest, meanest in creation."
[Fornty'sPrest.
When I lived up in Maine," said Uncle
Ned," I helped to break up a piece of ground: ,
we got off the wood in the winter, and earlv in
the spring we began ploughing on't. It was 33
consarned rocky that we had to get dorty yoke
of oxen to one plough, we did, faith, and I held
the plough more'r. a week—l tbo't I should die.
Jt e'ena' most killed me, I vow. Why, one day
I was holdin', the plough hit a gtump which
measured just nine feet and a half through—
hard and sound white oak : the plough split it,
and I was going straight through the stump,
when I happened to think it might snap togeth
er again ; so T threw my feet out, and no sooner
done so than it snapped together, taking a smart
hold of the seat ot mv pantaloons. Of course
I was tight, but 1 held on to the plough handle,
and though the teamsters did all they could, the
i team ofSO oxen couldn't tear my pantaloons,
nor cause me to t let go my grip. At last, though,
after letting the cattle breathe, they gave anoth
er strong pull together, and the old stump came
out about the quickest. It had monstrous long
roots, too, let me tell you. My wife made the
cloth for them pantaloons, aud I hain't worn
any other since." The only reply made to
this was—"l should have thought it would have
come hard upon your suspenders." "Powerful
hard:"
[Cp-Qld Lucre lives near Union Square.—
He was applied to for a contribution to the
Washington bronze monument, but declined.
"I do not see." he said, " what benefit this stat
ue will be to me -. and five hundred dollars is
a great deal ot money to pay for the gratifica
tion of other people." "Benefit to you? why,
sir, it will benefit you more than anybody else.
The statue can be seen from every window of
your house ; it will be an ornament and add
dignity to the whole neighborhood, and it will
perpetually remind you of the Father of his
Country —the immortal Washington!" "Ah!"
answered old Lucre, "] do not require a statue
to remind me of him, for I always carry Wash
ington here," and he placed his hand upon his
heart. "Then, let me tell you," replied the
applicant, "if that is so, all I have to say is, that
you have got Washington in a very tight place!"
. is said that the kind mothers of the
East have got so good, that they give their
children chloroform previous to whipping them.
1
[LP*A hospitable man is never ashamed of
his dinner, when you come to dine with him.
young man who cast his pye on a
vonng lady coming out of church, has had it
replaced, and now sees as well as ever.
IP""Did you ever see such a mechanical
genius as my son ?" said an old lady ; "be has
i made a fiddle out of his head, and has wood
enough left to make another."
To the Memory of a Miser.
Here lies old thirty-tbree per cent,
The more be got the more he lent ;
The more he had the more he craved.—
Great God, can such a soul be saved !
OP~The man who "retraced" the past is sup
posed to be a harness maker.
[LP*Blessed are the orphan children; for they
have no mothers to spank them.
—lt is said that Forrest receives $5,000 for
his ten nights engagement in St. Louis.