The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOND )1‘.3 THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 28, 1868.

ARGUING.

We are told that every man has implanted
in him a craving after truth, and that the food
of the intellect, after which men are ever hun-

gering, is that which keeps the mind in a
sound and healthy state. We are by no means

thinking of combating this generally received
view of man's mentafappetite. We fully be-
lieve that the good, the beautiful, and the
true form a triplex fanus quod non, facile rum-

Titan and that in Proportion as he earnestly,
seriously, and conscientiously perseveres in
making these his own, man will become more
and more mentally good, beautiful, and true
himself. The image of his Maker will be
brought out into fuller and brighter relief, and
the likeness to God will daily become more
striking to those who come into contact with
the intelligence thus illuminated.
But this, like every other case of the mani-
festation of the human and highest element in
the complex being man, presents its difficulties.
There is a question, which is not so easy of
solution, as to whether some more powerful
love than the love for the good, beautiful, and
true, may not take the place of those three,
and take control of the human mind, using them
as agents or slaves. At all events, it cannot
be denied that the various habits, likings, and
dislikings in a man act and react upon each
other, and produce a result by their joint ac-
tion which is very curious to contemplate. For
instance, granted men love truth and have
within them a propelling power moving them
ever on to grasp and make truth their own,
it cannot be denied that they have another
abiding craving, which is certainly seldom
sleeping, and acts in the affairs of men with
enormous - power—we mean that self-love,
as it is called, or that intense individuality,
which is ever asserting itself, and endeavour-
ing to make self domineer and take the first
place in everything. The fact of human life,
of being able to say " Ego," and the intensity
of the feeling a man experiences when he shuts
his eyes and contemplates the soul's centre,
with the faculties it possesses, in part, at least,
may open our eyes to the secret of that self-
assertion which is ever claiming an intense

life, and an intense individuality, which is ever
separating itself from others, and from things,
and living in the consciousness of its own per-
sonality. Anything that would seem to aspire,
to surmount, or surpass that personality, is
looked upon, or rather felt, as an attack upon
it. Each is ever striving upwards, struggling
to the top, with the hope of breathing more
freely, and looking down from an eminence of
its own individuality, upon the multitude
below. A certain living vis, or force, seems,
like a spiritual spark, to push the human
spirit to high things, and to bear it up by a
natural law into heights above itself, where it
seems to hold out a repose to itself, which is
never realized. The striving after fame, the
aspirations of authors, of statesmen, of soldiers,
even the unhealthy and diseased craving in
the felon's breast to get his name printed in the
papers, seem to flow from a kindred source.
And so if the human " Ego" is ever swimming
to the top, ever swimming faster and further,
if it could do so, than its fellows, it stands
to reason that there, where its interests are most
concernecl, it would strive the hardest and the
longest to hold its own. Now this is the point
that dwells in our minds. If goodness, beauty,
truth, as we fully hold, are three attractions
which, in proportion as the mind is healthy
hold sway over it and give it cause to hunger
for further and further possession of them-
selves, in that very same proportion will the
human "Ego," assert either possession of them,
or at all events when others make a claim
of possessing them, which implies an exclusion
of its possession, will violently strive for the
mastery, and will be most stubborn in main-
taining that it possesses them as most precious
treasures. If the " Ego " once admit that it
does not hold that which is the thing which it
feels to be most specially its own, and which
is as the air it breathes, it is the same almost
as self annihilation. We are far from say-
ing or thinking that the human consciousness
knows, when it thus acts, the reasons of its
operations. They are instinctive. The lion
defends her young, the bird decoys away the
decoyer with not more unconsciousness—but
all act in the way we say. So that the crav-
ing for truth, and the craving of individuality,
are two opposing and,, powerful forces, which in
their concussion giVe men a different appear-
ance when they are searching after truth than
they would have were they influenced by the
simple desire—without any opposing passion—
after what was good, or beautiful, or true.
What is more muddy than the generality of
minds which argue, if one may judge by their
method in conversation ? The "Ego" seems
generally uppermost, the love of individual
eminence is the stronger passion. Veritas
loves the truth, and argues violently for the
truth, but it is his truth, and as he sees it. His
mind is warm with the glow of his own
thought, with the child of his own birth, and
it matters little .to him what fallacy he makes
use of, or what trick (very often), so that he
can silence his adversary, and push his child
forward, as the pink of perfection. Bonitas,
on the other hand, is no less brimful of his
side of the question. He meets his opponent,
but meets him with a thrust or a blow, his
truth is truth, Veritas's truth is falsehood.
The two " Ego's" are merely playing a broad-
sword or single stick with each other, and are
making use of the good, the beautiful, and the
true, as the occasion for their quarrelling.
Each still professes but one thing, each loves
truth, and only truth, and each protests the
proof of that affection lies in the earnestness
and even violence with which he pushes his
own falsehood or half truth into the mind of
his neighbour. The " Ego" hates to be beaten,
especially in argument, for the intelligence is
the stronghold of the " Ego," its centre-point.
The " Ego," even when it is very glaringly
wrong, feels a great effort in acknowledging
it, for it thus is establishing a kind of prece-
dent against itself: The " Ego " requires
much discipline, moral discipline and train-
ing, before it can be subdued into that calm-
ness and that inprejudice which will allow the
form of truth clearly to reflect itself in it as in
a mirror. This is done by religion, with some
philosophers it has been partially achieved by
truth itself and a moral life, but religion alone
can calm the human individuality into a patient
listener, into a hearty receiver, into a servant
of truth. The subjection of the " Ego," as
the servant of truth, as being swayed by truth,
as being attracted by it—this seems like a
form of true humility. The man whose mind
really loved truth in very deed best, and the
" Ego " merely as the precious vase in which
it is to be received—only beautiful and good
in proportion as it is filled with it—he would
never argue to defend the wrong, however
much it would be to his seeming monetary in-
terests to do so. To him to get rid of the false
would be the most glorious achievement ; he
would thank, as a kindest friend, any man,
the humblest, the poorest, who would remove
his darkness, and let into his mind the tiniest
ray of light. He would prize everything in
relation to truth, and would exhibit a splendid
nature, even in his common intercourse with
his kind.
If the true, the beautiful, the good, were
really loved and not made stalking-horses of,
the world would not have so many broad
shadows across it as at present—so many dark
spots one hardly likes to think of, which are
broadening and becoming desolate tracts. Man
would honour man more, and the intercom-
ould bring forth largeness
are
esesss
toaimno
ndesboofefatuhttheyea,
tdbtarryieba,u,dttiehns
andnafnnt tciheennp datoecrfriutneye: sIT minds:
w
o
religion, politics, morality, even finance, would
then find an easier solution, and we should
not be stunned so by the blatant babble
of clapping tongues, which are prostituting
truth to the service of overweening imlividu-
ality.—Westminster Gazette.

LONGEVITY.—A woman named Elizabeth Sin-
clair died at Crieff last week at the remarkable age of 102
years

PISCICULTURE IN AMERICA.

In continuation of the remarks in our last, we
give the following from the Agriculturist of the
exact results determined by I.lst year's experiments
with reference to shad culture :—" First. Ti►e eggs
need river water to hatch in. Seth Green first tried his
experiment in a brook, where the water was 13 deg.
too cold, and failed. Second. In the river, where
the temperature was about 70 deg., the eggs hatched
in 60 hours. Eggs have been hatched in a bottle,
in a warmer temperature, in 48 hours. Third. By
tilting his boxes, so as to expose only the wire gauze
bottom to the current, he hatched almost every
egg, only seven failing to hatch in one lot of 10,000.
Fourth. With the utmost care, he could batch
on the natural river bed only two per cent, of the
eggs—a fact most significant of the enormous
loss in the natural method. Fifth. The young
fry make directly for the main current of the river.
Young trout, much more hardy than shad in after
life, skulk under rocks and banks, helpless and
almost too weak to move for 40 days. Sixth.
Young shad are armed with teeth and devour one
another, although the adults have smooth jaws.
This fact has been relied upon to prove that ' sea
shad', a fish caught with the hook along the mouths
of creeks and coves of L. I. Sound, in the fall, are
a distinct variety. They weigh from one to three
pounds, and, to the careless observer, look like
the river fish. Are they the yearling shad ?
Who can tell us ? The brief period of incu-
bation required fcr the eggs of this fish
would indicate its rapid development and early
decay. It is disputed at what age the shad
matures its spawn, and returns to the rivers to
breed. If the ' sea shad,' that take the hook, are
identical with the river species, they are probably
the fish in their second year, about half grown. At
two years old they reach maturity, and begin to
breed. With the interest that is awakened by these
experiments, it cannot be long before these ques-
tions are settled. These facts, established in the
operations of last year, demonstrate the entire suc-
cess and economy of the efforts made in New Eng-
land to restock their rivers with fish. Fish of any
variety can be artificially bred in any desirable
quantity, and turned into the streams where they
are to grow. Man has in a measure control of these
migratory flab, and with suitable legislation can
make their enormous fecundity tributary to his
support. The economy of the artificial over the
natural method is much greater than we had sup-
posed. It is nearly as fifty to one. Every river
can be stocked with fish, at a small cost, to the ex-
treme limit of its capacity to nourish them. It will
not cost so much to hatch a million of salmon in the
upper waters of the Connecticut as it does to raise
a single calf upon its banks. The finest varieties of
fish ought to be the cheapest food in the market,
and cannot fail to be, if all the States will follow
the example of the New England States, and en-
courage artificial breeding." It is now confidently
stated that Seth Green will at once resume his ex-
periments in artificial propagation at South Hadley
Falls.—Anglo-American Times.

111 E POSI7ION AT WASHINGTON.

-

(From the Anglo-American Times)
It is passing strange to compare the action of the
English Legislature with that of the United States ;
the Executive in each country being in opposition
to the majority. At Washington Mr. JOHNSON is
opposed by four-fifths of both Houses of Congress, /
maintaining a policy directly in variance. Not only
does he set aside, but he infringes the laws passed
by the Legislature. Not only does he dismiss a
Minister Congress earnestly desires to retain, but he
replaces him with one Congress indignantly refuses
to recognize. Yet when the Legislature takes the
only constitutional means of putting a stop to this
dead-lock byremoving the obstruction it had borne for
three years most of the English papers decry the
action as revolutionary, as subversive of the Consti-
tution, and as destructive of rightful authority.
But how does Parliament act when it tastes of a
similar cup? Mr. DISRAELI, defeated by a narrow
majority on a great question which many think
infringes on the rights of the Crown, desires that the
subject should temporarily be dropped till the urgent
business of the nation has been transacted, the
Reform Bill for Scotland and Ireland passed, when
the appeal could be made to the enlarged constituen-
cies, and the nation be called on to decide the dis-
establishment of the Irish Church. Every rea-
son is in Mr. DISRAELI'S favour, but Constitu-
tionally a Ministry has no right to retain office
in the face of a hostile majority. So jealous
is Parliament of this privilege, that, notwithstanding
the reasonable programme proposed by the Pre-
mier, he has been subjected to the most bitter at-
tacks, and combined efforts have been made to
drive him out. The extreme measure was even
threatened to stop the supplies ; and Mr. REARDEN,
representative of Athlone borough, has placed a
notice on the table to ask the First Lord of the
Treasury whether it would not be for every one's
interest to advise her MAJESTY to abdicate in favour
of his Royal Highness the Prince of WALES, or to
introduce a bill for the purpose of establishing a Re-
gency, that the duties incumbent on the Sovereign
might be performed during her absence. This is the ac-
tion of those, under small provocation, who condemn
the proceedings at Washington under great provoca-
tion. The Congressional majority, too, contends for
interests far more important than those espoused by
the Parliamentary majority. From the strong
action of the Opposition benches, when Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S followers found they could defeat the Tory
party, it is apparent to what lengths they are pre.
pared to go in crushing opposition. What a spec-
tacle would be presented if Mr. DlSRAELldenounced
both Houses as a Rump Parliament hanging on to
the verge of Government, which he would take an
early opportunity of kicking out, and follow this up
by setting aside a law passed by an overwhelming
majority, and despatching the most subservient
soldier at hand with an order to the War-office for
the Minister sanctioned by Parliament immediately
to turn out, handing over possession to the bearer.
When such intelligence is announced in the Eng-
lish House of Commons, may we be there to see
what happens! But it is only, though the cir-
cumstances are dissimilar, by bringing them home
that the English people can compare, and in their
mind's eye see the position at Washington. Taking
all the circumstances into consideration, however
intemperate the Representatives may have been in
speech, their action has been marked by modera-
tion, while that of the Senate has been bminently
characterized by dignity and equity. After a
careful reading of American papers of the
9th instant, both Republican and Democratic, we
see no reason to modify the opinion given in the
preceding article, which was written on the receipt
of the vote on the eleventh charge. The general
belief is, that a verdict of Guilty will be returned
ou some of the counts, though none looked for a
conviction on all. Mr. JOHNSON by every account
is the one man in Washington who appears to care
least what happens. For so many months he has
been the centre round which the war has raged
that it would be a relief to him to be out of the
crush and able again to breathe freely in the open
air. He sees his enemy, Mr. WADE, rapidly becom-
ing the centre, and the shafts of malice flying
thickly at " glorious old BEN.'S " head, who is
the sabject of all sorts of stories. Some say that
he has consented to resign his Presidency of the
Senate in favour of Speaker COLFAX, and in con-
sideration of a written promise from Messrs. COL-
FAX and WILSON to decline the Vice-Presidential
nomination, Mr. WADE being placed on the ticket
with GRANT. Rumours have been circulated through
the New England States that Senator WILSON is
doubtful on the Impeachment question; that he
cannot make up his mind to give a vote which will
aid in placing his rival, BEN. WADE, in a position
to use against him so vast a patronage. BUT-
LER, who is in turn put down for all the chief
posts, is now named for Secretary of State, and
THOU AS J. DURANT, of Louisiana, for Attorney-
General. But if the Tenure-of-Office Act is to
stand and be effective, the Cabinet Ministers may
refuse to resign, and hold their places under its
provisions for a month after the expiration of the
present Presidential term, setting " Glorious BEN "
at defiance. In case of ANDREW JOHNSON'S
acquittal, a rumour is abroad that many changes

will be effected, at least two of the PRESIDENT'
Counsel being brought into the Cabinet ; EVA RTS
as Secretary of State and GROESBECK to the Trea-
sury; General Cox, of Ohio, is named as Secretary
of War; Admiral PORTER for the Navy ; Mr.
CLAYTON, of Illinois, for the Interior ; REVERDY
JOHNSON, of Maryland, Attorney-General. On the
7th instant, in a secret Session of the Senate Court,
which lasted six hours, it was decided to adjourn
till Monday, the 11th. The rules of impeachment
were to be debated. The S‘mators who desire to record
their opinions were to file them within two days
after the vote, to be printed with the proceedings.
The discussion mainly turned upon the form of
question to be put to each Senator in his final vote ;
and Mr. SUMNER'S proposal, made on the 10th of
April, came up for discussion, that—

"On taking the votes of the Senate on the Articles of
Impeachment, the presiding officer shall call each Senator
by his name, and upon each Article propose the following
question in the manner following : ' Mr. —, how say
you ? Is this respondent, —, guilty or not guilty, as
charged in the— Article of Impeachment ?'—whereupon
each Senator shall rise in his place and answer Guilty or
not Guilty."

Mr. WADE's friends give him the credit of having
determined not to make up Lis Cabinet till after
the Chicago Convention, but the Senate has effec-
tually settled that matter by leaving Mr. WADE
out in the cold---at least for the present. If the
vote for next Tuesday acquits ANDREW JOIINSON
great will be the disappointment in some quarters
at Washington. But we doubt whether the coun-
try on the whole will not rejoice at the result. To
throw the power into the hands of the extreme
Radicals is opposed to the general wish of the
nation, and it will be one of the strongest charges
made against ANDREW JOHNSON by moderate men
if the end of his policy be the domination of an
extreme and an unpopular faction.