Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-04-12
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
WASHINGTON. Apr

cious fansies, suddenly rebutted reversed, un-
settled, overturned, scattered, and set at naught
Such an utter and unlooked-tor revolution has
been wrought in my mind by the reading OF
an able article in the last number of the West
minister Repiei0, on Mary Stuart / confess
hitherto to have been one Of the blindest and
wilfullest worshippers of this fair, sad-fated
princess-sovereign not of Scots alone, but the
queen universal of love and beauty, trebly
crowned by royalty, loneliness and mistor-
tune--this regal sorceress, who bewtched the
world, laid her spells on time, and sent her
weird charms down enchanted ages, never
voluntarily read anything in her disfavor OF pa
tiently heard anything to her disparagement' !
swore by Walter Scott, Agnes Strickland, and
the royal lady's French biographers and poetlcal
adorers. With an unsophistlcated trustiulness
an innocent faith in virtuous mpossibillties, only
to be surpassed by that displayed by the sturdy
Puritan champions OF Lola Montez the > re-
spectablen school commissioners of Boston, i
looked upon her beheaded majesty as deeply
injured and contaminated woman--one
who, it may be, had been "wild and hayward,
but not wicked y to quote from the tender and
touching appeal of the houri-eyed danSeuSe
above referred to- But this time was in for it,
before was aware; and captivated by the
calm strength, the lucid argument, the totally
conclusive reasoning of the paper, | read on
and on, grieving, but not, alas, dissenting. And
then the proof contained in private letters I'm
der the perfdious Queens own hand-letters OF
"damning import" and of whose authenticity
there can be no reasonable doubt. They were
not discredited at the time, in the tribunals of
church and state or by the people, though they
were afterwards arbitrarily set aside, but are
now brought forward, and their claims to gen.
uineness strongly urged.
In ali her errors, Mary's friends have de-
Tended her on the ground that she acted not
for and Of herself, but was merely the inno-.
cent, helpless tool, in INSCRIPTIONS hands.
These letters prove her to have had q clear,
scheming head, and bold, pitiless heart, of
her own
Well, surely it is strange how things come
round and come out May we not imagine it
possible that at some distant future day, some
casket of letters may be discovered, some curl
GUS private papers may be brought forward, to
prove to the descendants of the Lola Montana
party of our time, that the dancing divinity of
their " respectable forefathers was, after all,
q long way from being the wisest, virtuous-
est, discreetest best, Y of all her sex. "Let her
that thinketh she standeth, take heed lest she
fall Especially when she pirouetteS.
So, tits past-my pleasant early, long guard
ed, carefully -nursed faith, not alone in the
proud purity of the welded Queen, but in her
warm, impulsive earnest though often erring
womanliness That generous, impressible, sut-
fering heart, in which we have believed, seeing
that death itself could not still it, but that it
has throbbed on, and on, in the song and sor-
row and glory of Scotland, in the life of the
world-was, she herself affirmed, as hard as
diamondD All, she herselfw was the diamond
cold, sharp, costly and shining giving out light
without warmth-bringing peril, temptation,
4 - har
his heart, and wounded to the death the foot
that trod upon her; and not that glorious
crushed flower of royal womanhood, crimson
ing with its soft appealing beauty the hand of
tyrannous power, and sending its sorrowful fra
GRANGE through all countries and down all time.
She now stands before me- this half mythic
creature of my early romantic dreams, as
magnificent incarnation of unholy passlons-as
the very splendor of sin--as the fair ideal both
of subtle intrigue and defiant crime. The ques-
tion arises, what has blinded us to evidences of
guilt and shame we could hardly for moment
dispute if brought against another than Mary
Stuarta Not her royalty nor her misfortunes;
for other Queens as unfortunate have sorrowed
suffered, and been forgotten, since she laid
down her head at Fotheringay. Her wondrous
beauty was the spell with which she glamoured
the world. Those splendid eyes are dust and
darkness these two hundred and sixty years,
yet their deathless fash blinds the gaze that
would peer too curiously into that stormy pr-
vate history-the impartial biographer hears
on his paper the dropping of tears which have
marked their pteous course down those cheeks
of immortal bloom; and To- his stern judg-
ment is blotted out forever the stout heart
of the grave historian is shaken with the sobs
that once heaved that lovely bosom, and so he
touches with fatherly tenderness on the faults
of the beautiful sinner-but to ease his con-
science, gives to those of poor Queen Elizabeth,
who had red hair an angular grenadierish
figure and was an old maid, the full measure
of his righteous Reproduction.
The performances of Miss Cushman at the
National Theatre in our city, have been SUBJ
jects of much interest for the week past. She
has been playing farewell engagement. To
you, know need say nothing of the merits of
this truly great actress. can tell you little in
that regard which you know not already by
heart; yet, for mine own pleasure, | will in
dulge myself in few words. To me, it seems
that to all lovers of the histrionic art the act
ing OF Miss Cushman must be not alone rare
pleasure, but for the time an absorbing study
IL takes such a WIDE free, fearless sweep, and
yet in artistic detail, combination, balance and
symmetry, is so exquisitely true. And then
there is about it that captivating indescribable,
IrIesistipie spirlt Oh uOdnd0n; tne ever-neW, ex-
haustless enthusiasm Of the genuine artist No
true feeling ever loses its truth in her utter
ance-no great passion is ever dwarfed in her
conception. She may exaggerate, but she never
be-littles-she may over-pass the idea of the
poet, or our own, but she never falls behind it,
Her genius is wonderfully strong and individ-
ual-full of glowing vitality, palpitating with
rich, vigorous life Her power in high tragedy
has much of regal sway and consciousness
somewhat too much, it may be, of arroganc,