The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-09-24

Mr.. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIs-the 'IX0acadjT'-
is very pleasant gentleman. He is PHILOSOPHER
of the school, not of HERACLITUs but of Demo-
cRITUs. He keeps up his spirits and has his laugh
even under the gravest circumstances, and upon
occasions, which to ordinary observers may ap-
pear anything but mirthful. He can Jest both in
season. and out of season-can be merry when
others are sad, and possesses the happy faculty
of finding food for laughter in that which has
moved Others to tears. OF this fortunate DISPOSE
ton of Mr.. CURTIS the New York journals have
furnished US a recent illustration There was a
meeting held on Staten Island, Monday last
for the purpose of approving and jusdfyng the
Quarantine arson and rebellion. Mr.. CURTIS was
present at this meeting, and made speech. At
this we were not surprised. After Mr.. CURTIS
previous performances at Women's Rights meet
ings, and Free Love conventions, we were pre-
pared to find him in any disreputaJle company
and doing any foolish thing of which more SEN
sible men might be ashamed Mr.. CURTIS highly
applauded the action of the rioters He said: at
lis right to remove the malaria weeds whether
''they be dug up, or pulled up, or burned
''where they stand" This is not surpris-
ing either. It is only another instance
has betrayed Mr. CURTIS into the advocacy of even
worse doctrines, and more pernicous forms of
error. That which has slightly astonished US,
his speech. There is vein of aeqRgaise 07aiSgj1
ter1e running through the whole of his remarks.
than which, nothing more entirely mistimed and
misplaced or more utterly offensive 10 good taste
can possibly be imagined. 1t is in singular con-
trast, too, with the earnest and almost fanatical
tone OF the other speakers, who treated the estab-
hshment OF the Quarantine Hospital on their island
as a great public grievance, and its destruction as
righteous act of public rctrhuton Mr.. CURTIS.
on the contrary, while adopting the same general
sentiments, seems disposed to regard the burning OF
the Hospital simply a sort of practical Joke on
large scale, and chuckles hugely over its success
full accomplishment. Laughter" "Great Laugh
ter" Tremendous Laughter 'Cheers and
Shouts of Laughter" are freely bracketed in
through the whole of his brief speech The
plea of 'Not Guilty." urged in behalf
of the Staten Islanders, by other speakers,
with all the warmth and fervor of men
who sincerely believed that they were in the right
and felt deeply hurt and aggrieved at the denun-
Citations which have been heaped upon their heads,
is facetousy amended by Mr.. CURTIS to 'sNot
Guilty and sarved em right" Whom he means
to say were rightly "servcd,' whether the physi-
clans, whose houses were destroyed, and whose
families were turned out of DOORS for no fault of
their own or the patients who were carried out of
he burning hospital into the inclement night. and
aid upon the damp ground, amid the falling sparks,
and kept there under the drenching rains-our HUI
morous orator fails to inform US. So, by way Of
the utter futility of any attempt on the
part of the Government of the State to conquer the
stubborn determination Of the rioters, Mr. CURTIS
tells story of Yankee, on Broadway, on a
windy day, who spat against the wind, and whose
spittle was blown into the face of a very pompous
gentleman behind him, to whose indignant COM
plant, the only response of the Yankee was ''Why
l guess ye run right agin it. didn't YEP This
piece of vulgar pleasantly, Mr.. CURTIS finds exactly
applicable to the position of Governor KING,
and his Indignation at the little respect with
which the authority of the State has been treated
by the rebellious citizens of Richmond county
Should the Mayor of New York persist in his de-
termination to rebuild the Hospital upon the site
Of the old one Mr.. CURTIS confidently wagers that
IN the race which will follow, ''the mare will not
prove the better horse" Such is the spirit in
which he undertakes to justify act of infamous
rebellion and outrage. That we may not be thought
nypercritical for thus quarrelling more with the
manner of Mr.. Curtis Speech than with the mat
ter-we will take occasion to say that for the
honest mistakes of sincere but misguided ZEAL we
may have certain degree of respect and even toll
eration, but with the levity which can thus
est and trifle with grave question of public right
social order, and common humanity-we have no
patience. We unhesitatingly condemn the Ian
guage Of the other speakers who participated in the
Meeting, as we condemned a while since the out
age which they assumed to defend. We deplore
he fact that men of responsibility and private
worth, as we are informed, should be found thus |
occupying the position of sympathisers with riot
md apologists for crime. But we experience even
greater modification at the spectacle of scholar
md man of letters an author of no mean celeb |
ity or limited popularity, degrading himself in the
manner we have described. OF all the unworthy
hings that Mr.. CURTIS has lately said or done, we
hink his Staten Island speech, the most damaging
o his reputation-the least credtabe to his intel
ect and his heart