New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-26


because we are yourg. Where there are so nsay
th;rq, 10 do and so few to do them, it is inevitable
but tha, some of them shsll be done badly. Among
| these is Journalism.
If not necessity, !. is certainly = fact which We
cannot cesse to deplore and must strive to mend.
tina, Ibis youngest of thu professions fass 80
often smore us into TIE hards Of men who hsVe not
,ven ollmmerDg sense OF l.s dignity and respon-
sibil;t, and who cannot be made 20 utderstsnd
| thai TIE enorence. impudeuce and recksssne's
which they mistake for cleye'uess, independents
spd spirit, are 90 many disauihhcatlons Tor t1e
poet they usurp. The public, II IS true, Is parity
70 blame for this, and so long IS It accepts tor ITO
teachers men wanting in private worth, IN suthcem
culture, and proper consideration OF their Pnofc
responsibility, so long will i. be led by toe q1acSs
of Journalism. There is more than enc newspaper
in this city By which We might illustrate these
truths; but we refer at this moment, only to Har-
prs Journal Of Civilization.
This weekly sheet, whose pous proPrietors steal
their only pointed illustrations ffom M. Punch, and
WHO make sensation numbers By the biography OF
that gentleman" aud " statesman VINO can ma
in repeated public horse whippngs no other sug-
oestcn than an immediate issue of an extra OF his
own paper, and who wins bis yacht race through
"Pum Gut"-this weekly sheet, in late publ
cation, undertakes, in a characteristic manner, to
eulighiea its readers with statement IN regard 70
the pending difficulties in the Dudley Observatory.
To the discussion of controversy of this sort, in
volvng so largely the Of Science in this coun-
try, and touching the nte rests Of institution in
whose welfare the best and most Gu tivsted minds
among us are warmly engaged, there should be
brought at least something better and more digni-
fled than the appant pertness Of penny alinsr, the
blatant profession of impertinent ignorance, and
coarse and ill-bred impeachment of the motives Of
men whom the world honors for their scientific at
taibments, and oD whose private characters the
shadow Of reproach has never rested. But ex-
ceptipg the fact that the observatory was organ
lied two years age and that now the Trustees
have made "a clean sweep of all the scientific men
in it. the article has hardly, by accident, stated
single truth from beginning to end. We cannot
undertake 10 decide whether these msstatements
Srse from an ncapacty on the part Of the writer
10 understand the merits If The controversy, or
ueelect TO inform himssf or-which is a more
COMMON Gaze with journalists Of this clasS-irom
teprsyed proc yity TO abus,, ard that n,tuctve
cislhe for things and persons, either great or
coed, which aws]s felt BY the vie aud the foolish,
or from determination, for some selfish purpose,
20 deliberately fasfy the facts and keep the truth
from the public. But either through ignorance,
objectionable under the circumstances, or wiIlful
peIverson Of the truth still more unpardonsble,
The Journal deals with the subject in such a way
tina! al uniformed reader would be utterly unable
to gather ro m It aDy idea OF the nature of the con-
troversy. The Director Of the Observatory, who is
acknowledged as their peer by the most distin.
guished living astronomers, is coptemptuously al.
luded to as "a young man whose name is Could"
only heard Of as beggr Of funds for an institution
the connection with which freed him from the neces-
siy ofwoISi for living, and who though convicted
OF incspacity and indocihty as hired officer met
the gentlemen who are " msnsgcrs, directors, and
"qussi proprietors" with menace and defiance"
when they attempted 10 remove him from the
comfortable berth which be occupied" The OBJ
.erystory is declared to be institution thoroughly
equipped ard furnished with every possible appliance
| for astiopomica purposes, aud in complete work
Dg oIter, but hsvlrs ss yet been msde 10 DO moth
| iDg for the cause Of science; and the Council are
represented as men holding merely honorary posi-
toDs, without rights aud duties except TO inform
| the Director Z" that two ard two made four and
rot FIVE, asd that Saturn was larger than Mer.
cuIy," but whose /" countenaBce Dr. Gould had
- secured fer bis controversy with the "auasi
| "propr.etcrs" How fake unjust and ungenerous
| these mputations are, how completely they cover
| up the real grouncs Of dispute, and how even they
place the Trustees themselves in position
which they hare not assumed, sad which
| they viii thank D ore for forcing them TO
defend TIE readers Of IHE TRIBUNE. who
ore familiar with the main poiots of the accusation
on one noe, ard OF the defence on the other, will
rot need 10 be told. The actual position of DIR.
Gond in the scies'ifc world tie fact that his ser
vices to the observatory are entirely gratutous,
aid bave invoked hin in an unrequited expenditure
OF some Thousands Of dollars in addition TO two
years Of devoted and console ntous labor; that the
observatory is stiI in al unfinished state aud that
IL entire scientific direction was deliberately and
formally gwen up by the Trustees to him aud his
sssocates, and that TIE interests Of science have
alone conitrained them to enter upon controversy
they would Otherwise gladly have avoided; these,
and other facts Of Ike weight, are studiously kept
out Of sight. But, or the other hand, the Tiutees
are represented ss inofensiye and much. abused
eebilemen, who have been bued by = sharp AID
self lfteeking youth, whom, later repeated attempts
." to bring bin to reason, they we're compelled to
dItmiss With bis ssst cistee the most eminent A.
iroLonlers Of this country, that the Observatory
might be saved from becoming mere uussefy Of
i - snif khr nr;soi.tn I"