Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1862-10-18

OfFlCE-In Barnes S building corner OF Main
and First streets, near the steamboat landing.
CASTLES IN THE AlR-A writer in Phila.
delphia Press, after abiding to Prescott's His.
tory of the Conquest Of Mexico, wherein that
city is spoken Of as being at the time of con.
quest by Cortrz, enc of unparalleled splendor
says:
Judge Wilson, however, has gone near
enough to the places. and dived deep enough
into the archives to discover that this mag
nifcent pictures was painted for Spanish mar
krt, with all the exagrration necessary to make
it palatablc to Moorish taste, while in reality,
these palaces were but mud castles, and even
Montezuna was ouly an Indian chief! What
a beautiful delusion has faded away What "A
castle in the air has Prescott reared TO
be dissipated by the touch of latter
historian of the conquest Of Mexico! But
how was Prescott SD imposed upon! you
ask. Hc relied upon the testimony of
such men as Brrnal Diaz--a name assumed
by Interested parties, or perhaps myth. and
whose writings arc in ne way reliable.
Mr.. Wilson's theory is, that all the aborigines
on this continent have family type, and
point to common but remote time and
place. The Aztecs were thoroughly aud rs
s,ntiay Indian, and their cultivation simply
exhib Is further advancc!nents of those pri-
mary IDEAS of civil and social life that were
common to the Indian family. The testimony
drawn from the very nature OF true Indian
institutions denies that tho Aztec Govern
mcnt was monarchy; that Monteznma, so
FIR from being the Emperor Of the Aztecs,
was only one of a large number or sachcms
who equally, by their joint authority in coun-
Gil, administered the affairs of commonwealth.
AS the leading sachem, therefore, and resid-
ing in metropolitan city, he was first brought
into contact with the Spaniards, aud the splcn-
dor and power of the AzteSs, as set forth in
their own rccitals. tended TO magnify their
own exploits. His dsquisiton on the most
engrossing topic of the present age, namely, the
extinct nationality of tho ancient civilization
in Central A,nprica-is intensely interesting.
In fact, the wreck of an extinct Southern en-
pire is the grand enigma Of our continent.
The remains of ancient cities homogeneous in
character extend the whole length of Yucatan,
and reappear in Honduras and Tehauntepec.
In their solidity they are like the Egyptians,
nor do they appear less venerable; yet the
Central Americans, at the time of Cortez'
conquest, ,ccre not Egytians. although the ves-
tig-s of the ancient civilization are proven
beyond dispute to be Of Egyptian or PhGni.
clan origin. What field for the antiquarian
What is Caius Marius on the ruins of Car
thage to a philosopher meditating among these
remains of nation whose very name is lost
"Who by scratching can find out God," even
on the earth.
WHAT JOHN JAccB Asr0R SAvs.-We
find in an exchange the following reference
to John Jocob Astor, tho only son Of the well
thiest man in America:
Ths milIio IS Of John Jacob Astor place him
above any selfish considerations such as gov
ern MANY of the "pntriots" and ''statesmen"
Of the Simmons Morgan stamp. He Joined
McClellan's staff several months ago through
a desire to serve his country and risk his lite
in it's defense. He was with Mcclellan
through a., ::he battles before Richmond and
returned to New York a few days since. The
Tribune gives US bis opinion of the treatment
Mcclellan has received through the medium
of Stanton. 1t says: 1--WE are well assured
that an aid of Gen. Mcclellan, fresh from that
.retreat-we mean John Jacob Astor-hns
been proclaming through our city that the
army was deliberately sacrificed by a politi-
cal intrigue aimed at Gen. McClellan!"
FIR REPREsENTATIvEs.-H Greeley
says in the course Of an article in the N. Y.
Independent:
Jefferson Davis. liberally educated at the
public expense. nearly ever since in tho re.
csipt of a comfortable income from the Federal
Treasury. aud enriched by the unpaid indus
try of scores of benighted, squalid slaves. and
Abraham Lincoln, the poor widows son,
kept from school to earn by rugged labor the
living Of the family, and qualifying himself
for the positions successfully Of land surveyor
and lawyer by solitary studies after the close
Of his daily toll. are the fit representatives OF
the respective systems now gfapplsd in fierce
hostility and struggling for the victory which
must necessary prove final.
y No fun is honest which is not fun for
both parties