The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-01-31

adjournment of this" For some time past
we have entertained this opinion; and, con.
s,derng now that the, bulk of the annual appro-
priatons have still TO be acted upon-that there
are but four weeks and three days of the
session remainiDg-that in both houses, upon
every measure, great and small, there is nothing
but doubt and uncertainty-and that upon the
paramount issue of the treasury necessities the
democratic majority of the Senate have resolved
to do nothing-we may safely conclude that
an extra session of the new Congress is inevita-
BILE. In view of this contingency, then, what are
the prospects of the democracy?
In shutting off their present responsibilities
upon the indefensible plea of expediency, what
will they gain? They will still have to face the
music, and under the pressure of an opposition
force in the House Of Representatives, which will
compel the democracy of the Senate to act.
The administration has done and will do its
duty. 1t has made known the wants of the
government to the party now controlling both
houses of Congress- They have the power, and
10 them belongs the responsibility of providing
the ways and means demanded. Ii they fail
to meet this responsibility the failure will attach
to the party; and from the adjournment of this
Congress the prosecution against the party OF
the political law of bankruptcy will be in the
hands of the opposition. Imperative duty may
require the President to call an extra session;
but an extra session will afford the best occasion
for a practical union of the opposition, and the
practical dissolution of the democracy in refe-
renee to 1860 Let us wait and see.
The Burns Observation-Disclosures Honors.
Now that we have got over the aroma of the
usquebaugh which, with great deal of bad poetry
and numberless orations of all sorts, was used
to celebrate the centennial anniversary Of the
birthday of Robert Burns it may be we'll enough
to look little into the causes which melted such
an overwhelming outburst of admiration for man
whose personal character was not certainly such
as should produce the feeling of alteration.
While we recognise, to o certain extent, the pro-
priety of the maxim "of the dead let nothing but
good be spoken" we cannot permit living hum
bugs to shelter themselves and their shams be-
hind it. Let the bones of Burns rest with his
frailties, say we but if they are to be disinter
red at this late date, washed in whiskey and
canonized in couplets, let ascertain distinctly
the why and the wherefore.
The career of Burns is too well known to need
more than q mere outline. He came into the
world at period when his country had not
emerged from the barbarian inseparable from
heightened and bloody intestine connections
Drinking, carousing and debauchery were COM
mon among high and low. Men who were called
respectable reeled to drunken bed, night after
night, and lost no caste by 80 doing. Burns was
victim to the circumstances by which he was
surrounded. Indeed, he rather sought than
avoided temptation. Weak, irresolute and i'm
pulsive, he vacillated between the fumes of the
whiskey shop and the fires of poetic inspiration
His life and death, if properly read, teach a
great moral lesson. With grand natural gifts, a
sensuous organization, out Of which song flowed
as freely as perfume from the flowers or carols
from the nightingale; with powerful friends, and
physical health such as the athlete of our day
can have but faint conception of, this man led
an unhappy life, and died an early and miserable
death. The sad fate Of some of the children of
genius, such as Chattcrton and Keats, justly
entities them to our respectful sympathy and sim
cere regrets; but in the case Of Burns, his mis-
fortunes we're of his own making. His low birth
initiated not against him in that republic of let
tiers, Edinburg in fact, it was rather in bis favor
But he would be ploughman and an exciseman;
to live that life and to die that death. The
worlds riches
And that which should accompany old age,
AS honor, love, obedience, troops OF friends,
were within his grasp; but he would not stretch
forth his hand for them.
Now this man has been dead sixty years, and
we find his memory brought ostentatiously be-
fore public which is presumed to have at least
ordinary common sense. Grand celebrations are
arranged in the principal cities. Fashionable
clergymen, Fifth avenue poets, and high official
personages unite to sing the praises of the dead
lion, whom they would have all Stunned in
his lifetime. Do these persons really admire
Burns? No: the fact is patent that they admire
no one but themselves. The real, sincere, ho-
nest admirers of the poet are to be found in the
Scottish drinking clubs, who love their poet,
perhaps little more because his songs give them
license to become drunken, deifying whiskey,
and enwreathing the foul iend of debauchery
with the loveliest flowers. The sensation parson,
who showers eternal damnation upon the poor
player, finds an excuse for the drunken rhymer,
who, according to the parsons doctrine, could
have no opportunity even to plead at the bar Of
God. The abolition poet, whose mission it is
to elevate the black man over his cruel task
master, and whose strong point is the awful
immortality of the Southern stakeholder, can find
| an apology for Burns, who held all the CON-
mandments very lightly. This is done, not be-
cause the poet and the parson revere the
| memory of the Scottish bard, but because they
desire to bring their personality before the pub
lie and gain credit for an eloquent speech or a
pleasant versical jingle Some Of them ignore
Burns altogether only Of themselves.