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(Previous
Page) The picture is a "composition," like the
Heart of
the Andes. That is to say, it represents Switzerland, and no particular
scene in Switzerland; so that whoever has seen the cliffs, the lakes, the mighty
mountains, and the cold gleam of glaciers among sunny clouds, will sit and sit
before this picture, and look and look, until all the beauty and the grandeur of
that land, all its sublimity and terror, all its tenderness and romance, fill
his mind once more, as when, long ago, he leaned upon his Alpen-stock, and,
listening to some echoing jodel among the heights, gazed down upon Luzerne or
the Four Cantons.
The fore-ground of the picture is a projecting point of the cliffs which
overhang a lake, by the side of which we see the meadows far below us. The
placid water fills the middle distance; and beyond it, on the opposite shore,
the castellated precipices rise and catch the earliest sunlight on their tops.
But the whole depth and distance are filled with the mountains tossed up to the
sky and mingled with the clouds—a mass of infinite shadowy depth and variety,
swelling vast and dark and mysterious from the lake up to shining fields of
eternal snow. Whoever has looked from the Weissenstein in the Jura across the
valley of the Aar to the Bernese Alps has seen this marvelous spectacle. It was
Switzerland at a glance. It is the Switzerland that lives in memory forever.
Mr. Gignoux has reproduced the Swiss landscape with a freshness, freedom, and
fidelity that justify and enhance his high reputation as one of our chief
masters of landscape.
POLICY AND RIGHT.
IN his late speech in Parliament Mr.
Cobden shows England very clearly what risk she runs in provoking a war:
"How many of the ships which float upon the salt water
belong to British capitalists? The lowest estimate I have heard formed
of the number of these
vessels, as entered through the insurance offices in the city and other
quarters, shows that we have upon
an average from
£100,000,000 to £120,000,000 sterling worth of the property
of British capitalists on the
seas. Rest assured
no other country has
£30,000,000 worth, and that you have
as much property at stake upon the ocean as all the rest
of the world put together. You have, moreover, 10,000,000
people
in the year to feed upon food brought from foreign
countries. You get three-fourths of the tea and four-fifths
of the silk from China; more than one half of the tallow
and hemp from Russia; there is more cotton, more wheat,
more Indian corn brought to us than to any other country. You are so
powerful here in your island home that
you can set the world at defiance; but the moment you
begin a war of reprisals your commerce is the most vulnerable of any.
["No, no!"] Honorable gentlemen who
deny the truth of that statement do
not understand the position of the commerce of England."
To these risks observers upon our side of the sea add the probable loss of
Canada and troubles in Ireland.
But we must remember that wars are not waged or prevented by considerations of
policy alone. The wisest statesman in England, Edmund Burke, was opposed to the
American war simply upon the ground of expediency. "I am not here going into the
discussion of rights, nor attempting to mark their boundaries."
"My consideration is wholly limited to the policy of the question." These
were his words. He thought the war inexpedient, but Britain went to war. So now
the shrewdest statesman in England may show the impolicy of war as conclusively
as Burke, and we may calculate the harm our privateers will inflict upon British
commerce; but, for all that, Britain may still be willing to go to war.
If, then, whatever may be the right between us, we think a war is now
inexpedient, it is our duty to refrain from provoking it. Such a course can not
dishonor us. No man with both hands engaged is dishonored by declining another
fight. Of course whoever tempts him to it opens an account for future
settlement.
LITERARY.
"Grape Culture, Wine and Wine-making, with notes upon Agriculture and
Horticulture," by A. Haraszthy, Commissioner to report on the improvement and
culture of the vine in California, is the title of a very interesting and
valuable book, a Cyclopedia of Wines and Wine-making, just published by the
Harpers. Mr. Haraszthy is a Hungarian by birth, but a naturalized American
citizen, and was sent out under admirable auspices, both individual and
national, to make a tour of examination in Europe. The results of his travel and
study are in this work.
"The American Publishers' Circular" in a new form, Vol. I., No. 1, to be
published on the 1st and 15th of each month, is issued by G. W. Childs,
Philadelphia. This is a most convenient and attractive literary gazette, and
will be invaluable to all who wish to know exactly what new books there are, by
whom they are published, what
their character is, and what is the current gossip of literary circles.
Dr. Draper's "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe" is a treatise
upon the law of progress in civilization, soon to be issued by the Harpers. The
scope of the work is necessarily not unlike that of Buckle's History of
Civilization; but it was nearly completed when Buckle's book appeared. Such a
work is like an egg. It must be excellent or it is worthless. But Dr. Draper has
already established his position as a scholar and thinker, and his history will
be a remarkable contribution to literature.
At last Englishmen begin to see how humiliating for them Kinglake's "History of
the Crimean War" is. That the brilliancy of the book should have blinded them at
first to what is conspicuous in it to all the rest of the world is surprising.
But the Edinburgh Review
opens upon him fiercely. It is pained to think how he has traduced the noble
Gallic cock which is so fraternally allied to the British lion. And certainly
Kinglake has
brought the present wearer of that gorgeous plumage to the bar of the world. But
he does not traduce France. He exposes what he thinks the conspiracy which has
stolen the name of France, and by murdering, imprisoning, and exiling leading
soldiers and statesmen, by absolutely controlling the press, and by a perfect
system of espionage, succeeds in holding France subject to its will. Louis
Napoleon was said to have muttered, "C'est
ignoble," when he had read it; and no copy of the work, and no notice of
it or extract from it, is permitted in France. If it is true, it is, indeed, a
portrait of the celebrated British lion which makes him ignoble indeed.
Mr. Edmund Kirke, a mask of which the secret has been well kept, has written
another work upon Southern life, "My Southern Friends," published by Carleton.
His previous book, "Among the Pines," is one of the most vivid pictures ever
drawn of the melancholy
condition of a society founded in the nineteenth century upon principles and
systems which even the eighteenth century had long outgrown, and which Christian
civilization repudiates. "My Southern Friends" is a supplementary sketch of the
same interest of subject and vigor of treatment.
NEW MUSIC.
MR. WALTER RUSSELL JOHNSTON, the
young organist at St. Paul's
Methodist Episcopal Church in New York, has composed a very pleasing and
richly-harmonized "Ave Maria," published by Pond & Co., which we cordially
commend to our readers who are looking for a new and interesting "piece."
HUMORS OF THE DAY.
A NICE SPRING BONNET.
CUTLETS and other forms of meat are
sometimes dressed
a la Jardiniere. So
are bonnets, according to the ensuing
entry in Le Follet:
"An elegant Leghorn bonnet was edged
with green ribbon. On this
ribbon, which was quite flat, were placed
here and there cherries, fastened together two by two, and
falling so as to form a bunch. At the edge of the front a
large bouquet of real corn."
The idea of this elegant bonnet suggests various reflections. If the cherries
adorning it were real, as well as the
corn, the fair wearer would be much run after; chiefly,
however, by pursuers whom she might not much care about—the boys.
Decorated with real fruits and vegetables,
the bonnet a la
Jardiniere, might suggest the
inquiry:
"Mary, Mary,
Quite contrary,
How does your bonnet grow?"
There would be no difficulty in trimming
a bonnet with
mustard and cress, grown
in a strip of moist flannel,
or
plush; and thus this new thing in bonnets might be nicely
fringed all round the front with a border of salad. It would
look sweetly pretty, and the trimming would be soon fit to
cut; and then some days would have to elapse before another
could be grown. In the mean time a new bonnet
would be immediately necessary; which would be just the
thing for the majority of young ladies.
BOYISH FREAK.—The other day a
carpenter's son, aged six years, who
had been left alone in his father's work-shop,
was disturbed while engaged
in the painful operation of screwing up his eyes. He was immediately
taken to a surgeon.
CURIOUS METAMORPHOSIS.—Wonders will never cease!
the other day we heard that
"a horse was turned into a
stable!" and this is the boasted Nineteenth Century.
"Was your son engaged before he went to the war?" asked Mrs. Rugg of a neighbor.
"No, but he has had several engagements since," she replied.
Among the addresses presented upon the accession of
James I. was one from the ancient town of Shrewsbury,
wishing his Majesty might reign as long as the sun, moon,
and stars endured. "Faith, men," said the King to the person
who presented it, "if
I do, my son then must
reign by candle-light."
Why didn't the last dove return to the ark?—Because
she had sufficient ground for
remaining.
"Good-morning, Mr. Jenkins! Where have you kept yourself this long time?"
"Kept myself! I don't keep myself—I board on credit!"
"Prevention is better than cure," as the pig said when
it ran away with all its might to escape the killing attentions
of the butcher.
"Too big for his business," as the lady said to the sweep
who stuck in the chimney.
When a fiddler poisons himself with laudanum he may
be said to have had too much of the
base vial.
BAD ENGLISH.—Swearing.
An Irishman recently handed in to the Telegraph Office
a dispatch intended to inform another Emeralder, employed
upon the public works in a neighboring town, of the decease
of a friend. It reads thus: "Barney, come home; I died last night."
A leading maxim with almost every politician is always
to keep his countenance, and never to keep his word.
CONSOLING. — Losing a small
fortune
in an unlucky
speculation, and all your friends wondering how you could
have been such a fool.
A gentleman at table remarked that
he could not endure
fish unless it was well cooked. "This," said the waiter
(as he handed him a plate of the desired dish), "is, I hope,
suf-fish-ciently cooked to suit, Sir?" "Well, yes," replied
the gentleman, as he tasted it,
"it is done a good eel better
than I anticipated it would be."
"Who is that with Miss Flint?" "Oh, that is a spark which she has struck," said
a wag.
"Why don't your father take a newspaper?" said a
gentleman to a little urchin, whom he caught in the act
of pilfering one from his door-step. "'Cause he sends me to take it."
A philosopher being asked what was the first thing necessary
toward winning the love of a woman, answered,
"An opportunity."
"Boy, what is your name?" "Robert, Sir." "Yes, that is your Christian name; but
what is your other name?" "Bob,
Sir."
"Sally," said a swain to his intended, "give me a kiss,
will you?" "No, I sha'n't,"
said Sally, "help yourself."
A consumptive man has a hollow cough, but a bankrupt
merchant has a hollow coffer.
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
THE CAPTURE OF JACKSON.
THE capture of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, by
the Union army of General Grant, is fully confirmed by the
admission of the Vicksburg and Jackson papers, and by dispatches from
Mobile and Chattanooga. General Hurlbut
telegraphs from
Cairo to
General Halleck that this fact is
stated by the above authorities. The rebel General Gregg
abandoned Raymond on Tuesday, the 12th. On the next
day he was reinforced by General Walker, of Georgia, at
Mississippi Springs; but their combined forces were driven
back to Jackson on Thursday. Our troops then followed
and took possession of the city from the east.
General Joe
Johnston arrived at Jackson the day previous, but pushed
on with three brigades toward Vicksburg. General Grant
at last accounts had struck the railroad at Edward's Station, about eighteen
miles from Vicksburg.
TELEGRAMS FROM GENERAL GRANT,
General Grant, under date of May 11, telegraphed to
General Halleck as follows:
"My force will be this evening as far advanced along
Fourteen Mile Creek, the left near Black River, and extending
in a line nearly east and west, as they can get without bringing on a general
engagement.
"I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more, except
it becomes necessary to send a train with a heavy escort.
"You may not hear from me again for several days."
General Grant also telegraphed General Halleck, from
Raymond, Mississippi, on the 14th instant, as follows:
"McPherson took this place on the 12th inst., after a
brisk fight of more than two hours.
"Our loss was fifty-one killed and one hundred and
eighty wounded. The enemy's loss was seventy-five killed
(buried by us) and one hundred and eighty-six prisoners
captured, besides the wounded.
"McPherson is now at Clinton.
General Sherman is on
the direct Jackson road, and
General McClernand is bringing
up the rear.
"I will attack the State capital to-day."
RUMORED EVACUATION OF VICKSBURG.
The following is a telegram from General Hurlbut, dated
Memphis, and received at Washington on 19th:
General Grant has taken Jackson. The Capitol is burned.
From five to ten thousand mounted men are concentrated
near Okolona, threatening an advance in the direction of the Memphis
Railroad.
A citizen just up from Jackson reports that the enemy
abandoned Vicksburg on Sunday, marching on the ridge
northeast to Livingston, which is twenty miles northwest
of Jackson.
COLONEL GRIERSON'S CAVALRY RAID.
The cavalry raid of Colonel Grierson with his gallant
Illinois cavalry was a magnificent success. He cut his way through the
enemy's country with two regiments of
cavalry, destroying on his route four millions of rebel
property, capturing over a thousand men and twelve hundred
horses, demolishing a camp of instruction with all its
equipments, cutting the communication on the Great
Northern and New Orleans and Jackson railroads, and destroying a large
number of cars, telegraph-wire, water-tanks,
and army stores. After passing through many
dangers and working terrible damage he arrived at
Baton
Rouge on the 1st inst., to the great surprise of the inhabitants.
From thence he pushed on to
New Orleans, where
he was received with great eclat. The whole movement
only occupied seventeen days.
ANOTHER CAVALRY DASH.
A dispatch received from the commandant of the Tennessee
division of the Mississippi squadron—S. L. Phelps
—states that Colonel Breckinridge, of the First West Tennessee
cavalry, with fifty-five men, dashed across the
country from the Tennessee River to Linden, on the 12th
inst., and surprised a rebel force more than twice his number,
capturing Lieutenant-Colonel Frierson, a captain, one
surgeon, four lieutenants, thirty rebel soldiers, ten conscripts,
fifty horses, two army wagons, arms, etc. The
court-house, which was the rebel depot, was burned, with
a quantity of army supplies. The troops, with their prisoners,
returned on board the gun-boats.
CAPTURE OF ALEXANDRIA.
We have accounts of the capture of Alexandria, on the
Red River, by Admiral Porter.
REBEL DEMONSTRATION IN KENTUCKY.
The rebels are making a demonstration in
Kentucky.
Dispatches from Cincinnati, dated 18th, say that the rebel
force in Wayne and Clinton counties is increasing. They
are said to have seventeen thousand men and fourteen
pieces of artillery. Four rebel regiments of infantry have
passed through Jamestown, and twenty-four more regiments
are reported at Morristown, East Tennessee. General Buckner is said to be
at Clinton. There are rebel pickets
on the Cumberland River at every available point.
A letter from Richmond, Kentucky, says that the rebels
have crossed the Cumberland, which is rapidly falling.
These movements are regarded as indications of an attempt to outflank
General Rosecrans at Murfreesboro.
A REBEL RAID.
Time movements of the rebel General Mosby, with his
cavalry, in Virginia, continue to create some solicitude.
It is said that he has descended the valley of the Shenandoah
with a force of 800 men, and is making forays through
the country northward, probably with a view to cut the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At last accounts he was in
the mountain, in Loudon County, in the vicinity of Lovettsville, and his
movements tending toward Leesburg.
HOW OUR PRISONERS FARE IN DIXIE.
That brute, Captain Turner, a few days ago had charge
of some of our prisoners from Richmond to City Point, and
caused a man of the 119th Pennsylvania to be bayoneted
because he could proceed no further. The villain would
not give the poor fellow even a drink of water. A soldier
of an Ohio regiment, taken at Rome, Georgia, was shot on
Wednesday while reaching for a cracker at
Belle Isle Prison. Our
prisoners were compelled to walk from their
places of capture at
Fredericksburg to
Richmond, thence
to City Point. Some gave out on the march. A member
of the 20th New York regiment died on the route.
DOINGS OF THE REBEL CONGRESS.
The first rebel Congress went out of existence at Richmond
at ten o'clock on the night of the 1st instant. The
most important measures passed during the session were a
Taxation act for the support of the Government, the army,
and the navy; a Currency act, to promote the funding of
Confederate notes in Confederate Bonds; the Impressment
act, to authorize the seizure of all produce for army use;
an act to organize a general staff for the army; the formation of a new flag,
and the adoption of a new seal. The
bill making it a penal offense to buy, sell, or circulate
United States bonds and Treasury notes, or "greenbacks,"
was rejected in the Senate on the ground that the Constitution did not authorize
Congress to provide any punishment
for the crime which the House bill created. The
acts providing for the election of members of Congress by
general ticket, to authorize the conscription of resident
foreigners, and for the repeal of all naturalization laws,
were alto rejected. The joint resolutions offering terms
of peace to the Northwestern loyal States were defeated in
both Houses.
A BLACK ARMY CORPS.
General Banks has issued an order proposing the formation
of an entire army corps of blacks, to be called the Corps d'Afrique.
THE SENTENCE OF VALLANDIGHAM.
Mr. Vallandigham has been sentenced to close imprisonment
during the war in Fort Warren. This is the decision
of the Court-Martial, as approved by
General Burnside,
but is, of course, subject to the judgment of the President.
MEETINGS TO PROTEST AGAINST IT.
A meeting to protest against the condemnation and sentence
of Mr. Vallandigham was held at
Albany on 16th.
Some very strong speeches were made, and resolutions
were adopted denouncing the arrest as an unwarrantable
assumption of military power.
Governor Seymour sent a
letter to the meeting characterizing the arrest as "an act
which has brought dishonor upon our country, which is
full of danger to our persons and our hones, and which
bears upon its front conscious violation of law and justice."
A similar meeting was held here on 18th under the auspices
of
Fernando Wood. It proved a fizzle.
FOREIGN NEWS.
ENGLAND.
MR. ADAMS'S SPEECH TO THE TRADE UNIONS.
ON the 2d instant a deputation of the Trades Unionists
waited upon Mr. Adams, the American Minister, to present the address recently
adopted at a public meeting of
that body, sympathizing with the North, and applauding
President Lincoln for his Emancipation policy. Mr.
Bright introduced the deputation and made a few remarks.
Speeches were also made by several members of the deputation.
Mr. Adams having expressed the pleasure he felt at seeing
so numerous a deputation of working-men before him,
said: "Gentlemen, I accept with pleasure the duty you have imposed upon me in
receiving your address to
Mr.
Lincoln. Representing, as I do, my country in England,
you must be aware that I stand outside all local questions;
therefore it is not my province to express dissatisfaction or
satisfaction with those persons in England who express
their opinions upon America. If there are any in this country
who put a harsh construction on the conduct of the American Government, it is
not my place to find fault or
my right to criticise. It is my duty, however, to accept from the
representatives of any body of Englishmen the
favorable sentiments toward the Government I represent,
and to reciprocate the frank, manly, and independent spirit in which they have
been tendered. I understand,
gentlemen, you attend here as representing large bodies of
working-men, who advocate and uphold the rights of labor;
and it is, therefore, but natural you should look with dislike
upon any parties, in whatever countries they may exist,
who infringe on those rights. You perceive that in the struggle now going
on an attempt is made to establish
a Government on the destruction of the rights of labor—a
Government of physical power to take away the rights of
labor. It is a question above all local right; it is a general
principle, and therefore, though taking place in a foreign
country, you have a right to express your opinion thereon.
I accept the duty you impose on me with great pleasure,
the more so as you have taken advantage of the occasion
to speak on the question of war. I agree with your views.
With two nations of the same race, of the same high spirit,
both feeling proud of their superiority on the ocean,
under present circumstances it would be indeed surprising
if something should not spring up on that ocean which
might occasion collision. I concur with you, gentlemen,
as to the great forbearance which ought to be exhibited by
both countries in construing the actions of each other. I
trust that, in spite of all that has occurred, there is in the
Government of each country a sufficient sense of responsibility,
which will induce them to maintain friendly relations
with each other. There must naturally be a feeling
of pride, of fear lest one nation should appear to refrain
from properly resenting what it might deem to be an offense,
and in this lies the great danger. I feel confident,
however, that if the two peoples of the two Governments
would speak together in the same sense, in the same frank
and unreserved terms as you have spoken to me this evening,
all fear of any collision would be at an end. [Hear,
hear.] I can assure you that, notwithstanding the speeches
of some of my countrymen, notwithstanding the writings
in some American journals, there is no nation under the
sun for which America entertains a greater regard than
England; and if the real sentiments of the people of each country can be clearly
established to each other, I
shall have no fear of their coming into collision. [Cheers.]
I believe, gentlemen, you have taken the right course to
produce this desirable understanding, and I shall undertake
with great pleasure the duty of at once transmitting
your address to President Lincoln." [Cheers.]
RUSSIA.
THE POLISH QUESTION.
The Russian replies to the notes of England, France, Spain, Italy, and Sweden,
on the Polish question, had been received. Prince Gortchakoff defines the
position of the Czar, both toward Poland and all her western
friends, substantially in the state-papers addressed to England and
France. In both of those countries the reply gave satisfaction; but the London
press was of opinion that the one
forwarded to the Cabinet of St. James was
not just is explicit with respect to promises of reforms for
Poland as was desired. The Paris Moniteur of the 5th instant says: "It is
easy to be convinced, upon reading
these documents, that they open a path to projects
of conciliation, and that
they contain the bases of negotiations
likely to lead to a common understanding between the
different Courts now seeking the means of upholding the legitimate
interests of Poland."
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