The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-10-20

4" W"'c~ me Wortd 81 New York Expert
e,aces an Earthquake. fsAai
There had been ruinors Of It, upon Change,
the day previous. II had been mentioned a,
the central police stations; men who were ssbe-
hind the scenes" bad undoubtedly been aware
of 1t before "the board closed, and Its extent,
causes, and consequences, had been pretty thor
oughly discussed in Z" well.ipformed circles
But it is unquestionable that, in its ensemble as
a world, our great New York had walked up
this morning in a stale Of most pitiable igno-
rance concerning 1t; this world had even
dressed itsclf, and gone down stairs to its
breakfasts as it is wont to do three hundred
and sixty-fye days in each year, before the fact
of 1t went abroad. Unconscious world, intent
only upon thy coffee, thy buttered rolls thy
glance at the mornings psperl Notfa glance
ma ger anticipation, either, for there is moth
morniug's news. Ihe steamer arrived yesteir-
day eonsols down; slight decline in cotton ;
war r,mors; my Lord Doodle resigned--noth-
ing more. Rather favorable to the "bears,"
perhaps, but of little interest to us of the
world, since we indulge neither in "push-
ing " nor in banging And there were no
elections to come off yesterday; Congress- is
not il session. California is tranquil; and if
there should be a revolution In Mexico, it would
neither startle nor hurt Us we are not bond
holders. So of course we butter our rolls and
stir cur coffee first; what need to hurry in un-
folding the damp sheet !? News Pshaw-
some drunken beast maybe has beat his wife
to dsath the telegraph recounts a destructive
confhgration somewhere, in provincial re-
giom we never before heard of; laborers " on a
strife" here or there some one is running
away with some one else'a wife; q poor devil of
cl,rk is caught with his fingers in the till, or
his pen to forgery. Passons. What concern
have we, the great World of New York, with
TRIES SO utterly Insignificant? Unconscious
World Thou reckst not Of the shock thy high
melted morality is about to experienced I'm
conscious World Knowest thou not that editors
have taken an extra demitasse of brandy, the
better to launch their furious charge of edito-
ria? Knowest thou not that records have been
searched, brides lavished, history and fable ran
sadsed, the more thoroughly to startle thee with
items collateral bearing upon, or in some sup
paed fashion related to, the" Great Event? r"
At totally unaware, then, that reporters have
wtrn out their pencils and their shoes, that tel
egams have been flying to and fro, high Off
ciils besieged, low officials "gutted,' private
HOSES invaded, private words caught up, and
private griefs ruthlessly intruded upon-all to
| mike the shock of this moral earthquake fall
mbre terribly upon thee, to impress thee more
painfully, oh unheeding World Of New York
Not long unheeding, not long unconscious,
however. AS through the murmuring pines of
a brest comes the first inarticulate moaning Of
thu tempest, then the darkness Of the lowering
cltud and she hot breath of Euroclydon, lord of
thu tornado, and the deeper peal Of the thunder,
and the swaying, crashing, shrieking of the
branches, the wild, dust!fraught whirl of the
blast, the patter of the large drops, the quick
lurid lash, till, with bound, and howl, and
a roai the storm dashes over us and rules-so
the ntws of 1t overcame the World of New York
on tlAt morning, and the World of New York
grewwhite with terror. No wonder. Such a
shocl it was, such q gaping assure opening
bereAt our very feet, might not the next tremor
carr, US also down into that fathomless abyss
VAST the fall only of Sejanns-did not Rome
hersaf totter to her base? No wonder, indeed,
for tie papers that morning announced the rot
tennss, the fall, the crumbling to infnitesimal
filth dust, which men would scorn to tread in,
of aGrand Idol, bronze-fashioned, pedestalled
highbefore the eyes of men, crowned, thought
uncfruptible as fine gold, firm as the living
rock Ian Idol everywhere worsbipped, our God,
Dagn, in fact And he had falleni Nc won
der pr our terror, truly, for the news that MORN
ing fas Of the fraud and forgery of Beale Lloyd,
the tanker, and of his flight,
Nevertheless, let this world Of New York not
takdcredit to itself for this terror fort was the
terHr of q sel6shness almost sublime, Q terror
in yhich all looked at their own ceilings ex-
clusvely. SO they did not crack nor tumble
from the shock, the country was safe. Let the
GRAZING columns Of the temple block up never
so hany highways, 80 they do not beat in our
doob, nor smash our windows, nor ahut up
ouIway TO market we will not care. What
co4ern have we Becky Sharps with any
Waerloo Of Christendom, so the diamonds are
saH sewed in our petticoats, and our horses
really for fight? Balls may patter there, friends
NAL die there, empires may fall there, but we,
in he hard extremity, may smile at the win
doJ still, and plan new campaigns. And, in
spih of the noise 1t made, the Indignation it
Ia ~khAd tho acorv, "a hurfod f,v4h xk,s ~ree che