The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-09-27
New York Correspondence.
Catharins Hayes's First Conesrt-Largs ArripaIs of
Bmtgranis-E quinocfal StoJm-A FaiIlRe-DIest-
ing Of Literary Men 10 Honor Cooper-In Incident of
COoP9's Early Life The Money Market

Catharins Hayes's First Concert-Large Arrivals of
Bmigrants- EquinocfiaI Storm Failure Meat
ing Of Literary Men 10 Honor Cooper Incident of
COoP1's Early Life The Money Market.
New YORK, September 25, 1851.
"Revery and dance and show do not "suffer a
syncope or solemn pause in New York, because
money is slight" in Wall street. and stocks fall in
price. The great business of amusement suffers
no contraction but goes in troubles in the world
of finance On Tuesday night the Irish prima
donna, Catharine Hayes, made her first courtesy 10
| an American audience in Tripler Hall, before the
most densely packed mass OF humanity have yet
seen inside that magnificent concert-room. But il
was very queer audience, the elements of which
it WAS composed seemed to have been stirred up
for the occasion; the mustachioed and bare shou-
dered habitUss of the opera nowhere visible;
there was lack of white gloves Of lOrgnsttss
but there was lacking the countenance of the fash
ionable world, which hesitated to smile on the adj
vent of such an anomaly an Irish prima donna.
But there no lack of people who were deter
mined to be pleased and if their applause was not
very discriminating it very hearty and we'll
intentioned. | do not remember ever Seeing so
many of the and daughters of Erin congre-
gated together before, even in New York. and some
Of them gave vent to their enthusiasm in whoop
that would have done credit to Donnybrook Fair
when the Swan first made her appearance. She
was greeted by shower Of cheap bouquets of sus-
picious profusion, and somebody was guilty of the
premeditated niaseie of attempting TO crown her
with wreath of sham shamrocks, which she had
the good sense to decline. Apart from all the clap
traps and machinery of the claque that have been
iniudiciously pressed into her service, Miss Hayes
is truly great singer and worthy of all the praise
that has been bestowed upon her. She cannot be
compared with Jenny Lind, because her style and
manner are totally different; her voice 10 a pure
soprano of great compass, and fuller and clearer in
the lower notes than Jennys. She sings with great
leeling, and in her Irish ballads appears TO aban
don herself to strong national impulse, which is
80 characteristic of all her countrymen, when Ire
land is the theme of song speech. Her Ia
ra's Halls excited degree Of wild enthusiasm that
is not often witnessed in concert-roo The ar
tists who have come over to assist in her concerts
not of the highest order. Herr Mengis ia but
an ordinary baritone, and he paid his hearers the
compliment OF singing to them one of those squeal-
ing Swiss airs that CRATE upon the ear like the
sharpening of saw, and his audience compliment
ed him, matter of course, by encoring his
scrannel performance. Augustus Braham, son of the
great Braham, ID very pleasing tenor singer of
no great powers, but well educated and respecta.
BILE. He ia tall, slender, and inconcevably awlr
white, and very ingeniously disfgured by artifi-
cial flowers, which, together with two powerful
gas lights placed at her back so as to cast her face
in deep shadow, SO obscured her that it was not
very easy to guess how she really looked The
London Spectator, short time Since said that the
"foiblesse of the English was taste; and, if we
were to form opinion that subject from the
manner that English women dress when they fret
come over, should say that the Spectator was quite
correct in its view of the national weak point of
Queen Victora's subjects.
Apropos of Queen Yictoria's subiects-there
were nearly five thousand of them added to our
population this morning, change of wind having
brought in nine passenger ships, some of them
having eight hundred souls on board.
Our equinoctial storm this year has been com
plete failure. II threatened fcrcely during two
days, and the'clouds seemed full Of tornadoes and
water -spouts, but the barometer did not second
these symptoms, and the crossed the line with
out INDUCING in the customary blow out. Yester
day the clouds all disappeared and left us with as
bright and blue sky we have seen this fall
We had slght shower but great disappointment
was felt in the country at not being visited by a
good soaking rain for the streams all low, and
the fields parched for the showers that were due
last month.
The meeting Of literary men for the purpose of
paying mark of respect to the memory of
Cooper, took place yesterday, according oappoint-
ment in the City Hall, but nothing of importance
was done beyond the appointment of a committee
to make arrangements for another and larger meet
ing at some future time Mr. Irving presided on
the occasion, and Mr.. Halleck acted as secretary
but Mr. Bryant and Mr.. Bancroft were out of town
The precise shape of the testimonial of respect to
be paid to the memory of our great novelist has
not been determined upon. Some talk of monu-
ment and some of an Grafton. 1t is the first at
tempt of the kind, believe, that has been made TO
pay honors to the memory Of an American author,
for we are young in literature, that all our lite
rary men Of distinction yet among the llustrious
living, and the proc eedings of the friends Of Mr.
Cooper will probably serve as precedent on some.
future occasion. How young we yet are in litera
ture! II was in brief notice of the first produc.
ton of Washington Irving, who presided at this
meeting, that Sydney Smith, in the Edinburgh
Rerieto, blurted out that sneerng interrogation,
"Who reads American book" There are peo-
pile enough now who read American books; but
there would be good many more, and more
books, and better, for them to read, if there were
an international copyright law to put own
authors an equal footing with British writer's
"The Men of Manhattan" Cooper's last work.
which has been advertised by Putnam, was finished
just before the authors DEATH and will soon be pub
lished. observe that, in all the biographical no.
tccs of Mr. Cooper, they say he left college and en-
tered the navy as midshipman; but, before he
entered the navy, he learned the art of seaman
ship before the mast in a merchant vessel. The
details of his first voyage given in the nara
tive of Ned Myers, the actual history of sailor
and one of the most interesting of Mr.. Coopcr's
works, although it lacks the fascination Of plot
and the charm of fiction, which, as Lord Bacon
says, has that advantage over history that it can
shape events as they should be instead of having
to take them as they happen.
There was another turn given this morning to
the invisible that produces the tightness in
the money market, and gloomier feeling impart-
ed to Wall street. in spite Of the favorable intelIi-
gence from Europe and California, and prudent
men say that the worst is to come yet. General
business is very good, however, and there is no
thing like panic among commercial men.
S. K. S.
Incident i'm the Railroad Celebration.
writer in the Boston Courier says there was an
ADDroDriate ilustraton and exhibition in the