Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-05-19
Letter from Paris.

The following extracts from a letter written
by Philadelphia lady, now sojournng in Paris,
will be read with interest. The writer is dra-
matte artistic Of much merit, and well known to
the American public. The time has come, as
she Justly remarks, when the American people
have begun to form their own estimate of genius,
talent, and worth, without yielding their judg-
ments to previous European reputation. Our
people are better educated than those Of any
foreign nation, and are better qualified to arrive
at Just conclusion in all matters that require in
telligence and refined taste:
Rachel is announced to leave here for New
York in the summer months. | have seen her.
She is truly great, grand, indeed, goes far be-
yond her reputation. She cannot be described
but il must be remembered that to the French
people she owes one-half of her popularity. They
have made her Just to suit themselves, and she
does that exactly. But the question is, will she
suit the Americans' This is problem that will
take time to solve. People get tired of looking
do not understand the language, are nothing
more; pictures, very beautiful pictures, which
charm the eye, but never touch the heart.
al have seen Camille, and played in very fine
and charming style, II is the most popular piece
now played in Paris, and draws crowds where
Rachel herself would fail to fill a house.
"Grcat alarm is expressed by the musical
journals relative to the failure of the New York
Opera House, and all artists warned against
going to America, unless first secured against all
losses which might ensue, arising out of the
whims of the Americans, who are believed here
not to know their minds two weeks at a
time. This grows out of the Grsi and Mario
affair The artists and the public on this side of
the world are of the opinion that when wild un-
prncipled specuhtor writes to engage an actress
or an opera singer, that is as much demand
from the American people. Large inducements
are held out to them, which not being realized
throws odium upon the nation, not the individual
"The day IS e. hand, indeed it is come, when
foreign reputation shall stand for just as much
as it is worth, and nothing more. Barnum en-
gagged Jenny Lind, never having seen or heard
her. and staked the loss or gain of Sl00, 900 sim
ply on her fame; and so he might, for he had
good raw material TO work out his plans upon,
and he did work them out, and well, toos Anne
RIGA is fast, and is grown old enough now to
think for itself. ltseyes are open, and it has cut
its teeth; and in point of activity, energy, and
usefulness, bears precisely the same relation TO
old, decrepid, infrrn, mbecilo England, that any
other offspring does TO its grandmother
"But am growing prosy, and will leave this
matter in the hands of the Know-nothngs, who,
if they manage the future importation of Euro
pean audacity and presumption as well as they
have begun with Gris and Mario, will, ere long,
establish the fact that artists must first pass the
ordeal of an American audience, and who, by
merit, its appreciation, before counting over, in
their London bankers account, the dollars which
a silly public has prepaid fer being bamboozled.
"Belicve me, very truly yours, H."