The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-12-30
The st. Georges Society Ball at Niblo's,
Last Night.

The st. Georges Society Ball at Niblo's,
| Last Night.
This was decidedly one of the most magnificent
affairs of the kind this The entire arrange
ments were in excellent style, and did honor to
the judgment, taste, and refinement of the mana
gers. Nlbo's splendid saloon never appeared to
| better advantage, decorated as it was with ever
green's and flowers, beautifully arranged, and the
front of the gallery, round being occupied with
great number OF classical figures, well executed in
Plaster of Paris, whilst splendid transparency
representing the arms Of Victoria and of the Prince
OF Wales, occupied the prominent places at the end
of the saloon.
The room was well filed and amongst
the brilliant company noticed many of
the most distinguished of our city bellies.
1t were decidedly invidious, however to par
ticularize, and we must therefore be excused in
refralning from attempting any description of the
ladies' who attracted most attention. All were
dressed in admirable taste. Throughout the whole
evening the greatest gaety pervaded the company;
1t had indeed more the appearance of delightful
private party than public entertainment.
The supper room and the Hobbies leading TO it,,
were decorated In style of unique and striking
elegance, the magnificent flags of the new ship,
the Yorkshire, being very prominently displayed.
That the wines and viands were of the most re-
cherche quality will readily be granted. After sup
per, dancing was resumed, and kept up with great
spirit till three in the morning.
This is the second ball given by this benevolent
society We are much gratified in finding that
this mode of uniting pleasure and refined enjoy
ment with the sacred cause of charity has so we'll
answered the anticipations of the officers Of the
society, and we very heartily wish them still more
success in their very laudable efforts to relieve the
suffering and distressed.
| Mr.. WEBsTER's SPEECH.-Our friend, who told
us the other day that he had seen friend whose
| friend told him that the Courier e. Enquirer had
copied our verbatim report of Mr.. Websers speech,
hasjust made us acquainted witha singular and I'M
looked for Improvement in the of that most
respectable journal. 1t consists in having Withdrawn
the word lie, in reference to assertion that 1t
had plfered our report of the speech This is some
thing gained; and, for part, glad TO hear
there signs of even the smallest Improvement
either the manners the language of the Courier.
The Courier says, that as both reports purported
to be uerbatin, no great difference need be looked
for between them, but, with charming consistency,
gives three passages from the two to show conclu-
|
from the Herald. With regard to the first of these
passages, we have to say, that in the hurry of pre-
pairing our report, the punctuation certainly er-
roneous, and the Courier has very ingeniously
made the quotation worse by breaking off in the
| middle of the sentence. The error as to names is
| a mere misprint which must have been obvious TO
every one who knows anything of American histo-
ry. AS to the second citation, our contempt
Il h.. ~
is referred to- it will be seen that the verbal varia-
ton between the two is not sinful the passage
quoted would lead the reader to expect. With re-
ference to the third our honest contemporary has
done US gross and manifest injustice. The pas
sage, as'given in the Herald and in the Courier,
coincide as nearly possible; but, in order to
make the most of nothing, the Courier has dishon-
estly left half dozen lines, which could not but
glare in his eyes as he read and used our report.
Says the Courier " these citations are sufficient
for our purpose" They are not sufficient for his
purpose which was to prove that every line of his
report was prepared from his own notes, and this
we will demonstrate. The dinner took place on
Friday night, Mr.. Webster's speech was delivered
at eleven o'clock, and at two on Saturday morn
ing we had it in type. The Courier's report
when was that published' On Saturday. the morn
that ,cas impossible, but on Monday, thus giving
time for copy of the Herald to be bought, used,
and the corrections of few unimportant literal
errors to be made. Then our contemporary mag
unanimously submits the comparative accuracy OF
the two reports to every one who heard the speech
So do we, even with the disadvantages under
which we abored of pressure for timeiand the i'm
peratve necessity for going to press with large
| impression at very early hour. We submit, then,
that these circumstances, independent of internal
evidence supplied by close examination of the
two reports, do furnish what the Courier clas-
sically calls presumptuous evidence that was
copied from the other.
| The simple facts of the case, however, are
these-our report was taken, submitted to
| Mr.. Webster himself for alteration and en-
argement, and having undergone that process with
about as good effect as his Bunker Hill oraton it
was publishedi in the Courier, two days after it was
delivered. And this is the miserable humbugging
system of allowing speakers to report their own
speeches, which the Herald has broken down so eff
fectualy. We give reports with unequalled &C
curacy and despatch, and Mr.. " ebster, or Mr.. any
body else, may patch up their speeches for publ
cation in the Courier or any other equally energet
ic journal, but the public know which is which
and somehow or.other run naturally to the Her
aid for full, early, and accurate accounts of al
public proceedings as the hart to the pure wa
ter brooks for refreshmcnt in the burning summe
day.
The truth is, in this business the Courier has per
petrated compound or quadruple imposition on the
public. 1t is Just such another imposition that Of
the Express which palmed off Mr.. Choate's manu-
scrint conv of his grafton az an original yerita BILE