Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-05-08
Daily EVENING STAR
boGAL INTELbIGENCE-

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ora,H sns meeting was over. the n,ace NO,
Iueu ey a largs and int rested audience :
oeeedtngs commenced hy n sbor, I.e
sfe rom Prof Owen of Nav VII, -,
showed that bis knowledge of scr;ntr-s w W..
~. 10y deep. by beginning wi b opotino the
:. 'fd D Q, Jesus Christ, which he attributed ts
aui He then pitched into the clergy
Iar;,aaa on Into remarks upon the /" Nj Il.
Hno were not so much out of reekonin,
as 10 me time, as they were as to the mode in
"hNh sae second coming of the Messiah would
maoe known very plainly intimating that
SPilituailsm was the imme Hate furerupner of
iuIt e:sht. He then ran into .pan5hei SIN y
MAINTAINING that God was in everything. and
!ne essence OF the divinity in every human be .
fsychoiogy was then treated upon, which
ne commended, although it had been brought
as an evidence ngain.t the Spiritualis.s. would
osf<und TO be a weapon in their hands Ha
taen mentioned that p Mrs Green. who was
formerly medium, but now deceased. had in
formed hIu that the spirit of Shelly. the noel
had great affinity for the lesturer's shirt
and had IN consequence dict lted poetry TO him
speclmens OF which he read to the audience
~ the enc OF the discourse, the lecturer chal-
lenged public discussion upon the sub;sct a.
soon as the words were ont of his month M
Curran jumped up from his seat, and said that
ne Wishei to propose three questions but he
was interrupted by Prof Owen, Who said that
IL would be first in order to appoint a chair.
man, and, IN consequence, proposed Mr. Gun.
ningnam, who was duly installed. and who
addressed the audience, hoping that they would
preserve that order which always character
lied the citizens of Washington. Mr. Curran
then got up, and made some remarks upon the
contradictory doctrines of Spiritualism, and
MS little reliance upon the knowledge of its
professors to guide the rest of mankind.
uwas, however, impossible to hear we'll what
was said bysthe last speaker, as much con-
fuslon prevailed. The Spiritualists, who were
assembled in considerable force, insisting that
ne sheuld limit him elf to the thres questions.
wnlcn ne bad originally proposed to make
10 THIS, however, Mr. Curran demurred, saw
ing that he should ask hundred if he chose
or some words to that effect. He was, how
ever, stopped by the Spiritualists, who hush cd
hlm very peremptorily with the exclamation,
that m sdium was about to speak. In conse-
quenoe, one Of the mediums jumped up, con-
tteuere onsnes. and began a long harangue in
the defence of Spiritualism. This was dictated
by spirit, ard at the conclusion the chair
man rose up AMI enquired in a sharp. hurried
manner, " What is his name?" what is his
name Meaning that of the spirit The
lockers on appeared rather astonished at thjs
question, which hc explained by saving that
he wished TO know the spirits name, as he
heard distinctly the raps when the spirit wishei
the medium to speak, as also when he wished
linn TO conclude. Who the spirit mi sht be was
not however made known.
Mr.. Williams then opposed the spir;tualis,,
and strongly objected to one remark made by
the Medium, which appeared to imply that
mind was matter He laid down s,me of the
leading properties Of matter, aud defei the
spiritua lists to prove that tho soul or mind
possessed any of them. His rsmsrks were
much aPplauded by tho audience, which drew
reproof from the chairman, on the character
OF the day on which they were assembled, OBJ
serving, likewise, that the Va.iets for that
evening was the property of the lecturer, and
that they were entitled to observe the same
decorum rs il they were in the lecturers pri
yate house
The medium, who spoke under spiritual in
fuence, now jumped up to ans er their last
opponent, but in answer to an inquiry from
Mr.. williams whether the medium was about
to reply under the influence of a spirit, he was
told not, but merely as an individual. There
was no hing striking in his reply. Mr. Will
hans began by expressing Jempt for the
mediums scientih; knowledge, but the latter
IN ide his exit before he could hear the personal
remarks. MIR. Williams then continued, obsery.
ing, that If mind was matter, he wou.d wish to
know why it could not be weighed?
Professor Owen, in reply, wished to know if
he could weigh electricity?
Mr.. Williams. No; certainly not
Prof Owen Is not electricity matter
Mr.. Williams. No. it is not.
Prof Owen. What then, 10 it?
Mr.. Williams attempted to explain what it
was, but had eviden ly g1t involved in a diff
Guilty. There wis. besides, such a Confusion
among the disputants, and such a vfanyling
going on, some MALT dozen dispu,ants each try.
ing to be heard, that the chairman hurIiedly
vacated bis seat and declared the meeting ai-
iourned un,il that day week.
There were several fIuitless attempts TO con-
tinue the meeting under the spices of mother
chairman; but as it was getting late, the au-
dience did hot seem disposed to larry
BALLOON AscESsIoN.-Saturday afternoon
presented 4 gay scene in Judiciary Square to
witness the ascension Of the balloon which,
however, turned ouf. as all are pretty we'll
aware, n complete failure. The causes Of this
disapponi ment, We shall not attempt to dis
cuss; whether it proceeded from deficiency of
gas, it being observed by a gentleman present
tina, Congress was wanted to be present TO
make up the deficiency or whether il was pre-
vented by the high wind, in which case Con-
gress would not be required to be present as
they are liable to bow very hard likewise at
times. At all events, it was failure, without
any blame to the 9ronaut, Sir. Elliott, who
did all in his power to get aloft, but in vain
One OF our City papers Ut yesterday, in its
local columns, makes grand aff,ir of the as
censiOn of the balloon so much so that we
should infer that he viewed the attempt rather
with his Imagination than with his eye sight
The writer tells US 1.-The &c ronaut took his seat
in the balloon the cords which bound it to
terra frma was cut loose and away it went
on a voyage alOft." In which account allow,
Us to say, there is great deal of exaggera-
ton. In the first place when the arOnaut
took his seat in the balloon" The cords which
bound il to terra frBr0 were not cut loose,
from the simple fact that i. was not bound by
any. 1t was held by several persons by the
net work, and there was not much effort ne
cessary for that purpose
With regard to its going son voyage aloft, y
the .'alofl'' was not very high, for no attempts
could for long time, get it over the enclO-
sure, the balloon jumping and humping about
inside, few feet from the ground, much 10
the discomfort and personal danger of the
eronaut in the car. The writer says, ''this
was the bright side Of the exhibtIon''-not
ve-y bright truly We are next advised that
after the balloon had assembled to the height of
the City Hall, it returned to old mother earth.
In our estimation, il returned to old mother
earth before it had even got to the height of
the City Hall, and never got up so high Ii
was brought back for another trial. but ii was
'.no 90, and Mr.. Elliot was obliged TO give il
up as bad job One very green in iividual
beside US inquired if his twenty Eve cents
would not be returned, and few hard in-
digiduals expOstulated with the 8ronaut, in