The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-09

shdue, IhdI WHICH gives lilc anu Bio" "AN NA0
tinctness to the whole mustSbe the work OF
hundred hands, each bringing;to his own share
of the task loving heart and reverent mind.
Irving guides graceful but firm and truthful
pencil, and Washington stands before us, "God-
like erect, in native honor clad" Stuart traces
the noble form of Nathan Hale, the Martyr
Spy while Kapp delights in the rugged out
line of the Teutonic hero Each throws a well
come light on the circle of which his subject is
the centre. and all work together for good. So
let it be till our galleries are fulfill every
-" simple great one gone
Forever and ever by,p
shall stand out on the canvas. for the reverent
study of the generations that are to come.
The work before is evidently written CON
am0re; yet while il cannot lie open to the OBJ
lection of damning with faint praise, it is equal
ly far from presenting its hero in the guise of
an angel Of light. 1t is a very brave honest.
large-hearted, generous, and affectionate, but
withal very quick-tempered, violent, and i'm
pulsive man that we called upon to admire
a man strong in his prejudices, terrible in an
ger, unmeasured in invectiye impatient of in.
gratitude and injustice, very decidedly Of the
earth, earthly, but man who won the love as
well as the fear Of his soldiers, who triumphed
over the calumnies Of narrow-minded foes, and
commanded the respect and admiration of the
great and good, even though their eyes were
not blinded to his faults.
This volume is particularly valuable as bring
ing before us a man whose services in our army,
though beyond price, were not Of that brilliant
nature which captivates the popular eye and
heart, and who consequently never received his
full need of praise. Without Baron Steuben's
Efficient and thorough organization, the Ameri
can army might never have been able TO do and
to suffer as it did in the cause Of American lib
erty.
The portrait of Lafayette which Mr. Kapp
exhibits is very different from that which is
limned in the hearts ola grateful and admiring
people, who, we fancy, will be slow to believe
that they have been bowling before an ideal
shrine.
By the way, we should be glad to be informed
what was the meaning Of the treatment which
Mr.. Kapp received from the State Department
III his pursuit of materials for his book As
the case stands in his prelace--and we have
never seen it contradicted-it is certainly a
very remarkable instance of official discourtesy.
When the whole civilized world is confidently
hoping and expecting that the armies of Eu-
rope will throw open the treasures of the Vati-
cam it is surely ill-timed to turn the key on our
own archives. If we have anything in our
hot 10 e l.
to anybody, pray let him have the benefit of it.
Mr.. Kapp attributes it TO jealousy of himself as
foreigner. We could hop, that there was no
individual in our land, out of'pinafores who was
so inefaby bullet-headed a. not TO be aware of
the selfevident proposition thai genius knows
no nationality-that the tr7ternity Of science
and literature is an open 81 Id to all who have
brains enough to enter IT, sacred precincts.
But if, as Lady Mary Wo-ley Montague re.
marks, the fools are nine q. of every ten of
ones acquaintance, it is ud-fmpossible that a
fool may have crept into our State Department,
and be now developing it,ef ia the form Of
some petG upstar under lg-even with an
Administration so pure, we, and eclectic, as
that under which We now h We the privilege 10
! live.
! The Boys Book Of Modern Travel and Adventure By
Meredith Jones, author OF" The hdrens Bible Picurr
Book, With ght iIIus,rati by William Harvey
New York: Appleton * Co.. 10 and b. Broadway
1859 For sale by Taylor Msqry Washington, d Z
If you are not boy, en- to you are
not, but still have a " han<enng after what
used to delight you when you tcere a boy, as
twenty to one you have-yg for instance, you
would like to eat sour milkw the Reykjayi-
kers; or boil an egg in tn great Geyser or
creep out of the one bundled and fifty tons of
crashing over the decks Of the Agamemnon ;
or angle on the sunny S iranac for trout
weight ten pounds-and CO ch him or tumble
down a Rocky mountain ravine, light on your
back, and spring up again she next minute as
| good as new; or gaze with Commodore Perry
on the bewitching black teeth of the lovely
Japanese danes or stand in front of the guns
of the Chinese army, the only place we are as
sured from which you can observe them with
safety or delve with Mr. Layard among the
ruins of Nineveh after winged bulls "and such
small deer we wonder, by the way, why Mr..
Layard should take so much trouble, when he
could get plenty of them nearer home, at least,
Judging by the number of Irish bulls that have
been flying about the world from period be-
yond the memory Of the Oldest inhabitant or
shoot rhinoceros Oh the banks Of the Nile
or be shot by Mexican ragamuffin in the
gorges of Amatitlan or bag an eider-duck on
the fords of Norway; or harpoon whale in
the North Pacific or fry into a mailman on the
Irrawaddi; or squat like toad " in the pres
ence-chamber of his majesty of Ava; if you
would like to do any all of these things, but are
not of nomadic turn, and if You are too lazy
to wade through the books of travel, wherein
such things are done-as you probably are
during this warm weather, if you have well
regulated mind-why, you can buy this book,
ostensiby for the children but we have no
doubt you will dispatch it Yourself from to
lizard before it leaves your phands.
To Cuba end Back. A Vacation Voyage. By Richard
Henry Dana Jun, author of two Years Before the
Mast" etc, Boston Tcknor q Fields 1889
For sale by Taylor 4 Maury
Since, in addition to our own domestic
troubles, we have had Cuba foisted upon us.
everything relating to her has peculiar interest.
Mr.. Dana, already favorably known in the
literary world, gives us, in this unpretending
little volume, the results of a few months per.
sonal inspection. The testimony Of an inteli-
gent unprejudiced, and reliable eyewitness is
OF more value than reams Of conjecture or in
Il