, 1863-01-17

iAe caluest m0luent, ol Int Iesu1G ol lue mo-
ton.
Mr. Tasistro,s Lecture-A Literary
=. Plagiarism.
The lecture delivered last ereniug at Bryan |
Hall By: Mr: Tasistro upon "Thc Giants and |
Figmies Of Amcrics'' was not very fiatter-
ing SUCCESS. The ball WAS thinly filed with |
an enthusiastic audience, who made up In zeal
What they lacked in numbers.
The lecturer stated he was not prone to cx-
aggerate the relative power Of individual
minds over the collective mind Of their time
Few among the great men Of any epoch are,
after nj, much In advance Of their age. # the
mountain summit is the first to catch the 1i-
rect rny, there is already, ercn then, consider
able light diHusing itself through . common
and a1l-pervnding atmosphere, over the hum
b1est depth Of the valley, and presently the
full flood Of the heavenly radiance will be
poured orer al alike. It is nevertheless true,
however, TINT when nation las, at any peri
cd Of It's existence, made itself remarkable for
want Of power and action in the creation Of
those towering intellectualities whose ingress
mould Of the times, the moral Intelligence Of
the age, instead Of working strongly npwdrds,
becomes stinted in its growth, and tic cause
Of progressive humanity remains at stand
still. That this is partially the case
In our own day and generation we
heayings and commissions Of the body polite.
There have been other periods In our national
history, when the pillars Of the Temple Of
Liberty have been mnae to shake-to tremble
rs if by the force of an earthquake; bnt then
VIC had an intellectual giant in the forum,
u$4 II
OF the stormy elements to cease, and the tot
terlnE editice to resume Its Honted attitude Of
stability and strength.
The question then naturally presents
itse1t-how IS it that In 4 fearful crisis like
this, through which our bleeding country
s now passing,-that in the awful presence Of
the grand and sublime uprising Of the people
Of this nation, no master spirit has yet risen
capable to stay the up1lfted hand, and break
the strong surge Of rebellion, and gifted with
| that peculiar sagacity which employs the ac-
| quired light OF yesterday, in the selection of
| 3 path for Tomorrow? Hns the standard Of
| intellectual worth dcteriorated amongst us,
| or patriotism become cxtincts He believed
| not; 1t was his impression that there is rs
| great an abundance Of mental wealth scattered
| about the land at this moment as ever adorned
the Senate chamber III its paluicst days; only
| that talent even Of the highest order, is now
| made to flow into different channels. Men in
| the learned professions, especially wien con-
| EE1Qu5 u AlGUk 4uLC24EEtui4 RESOURCES. KNOW
that Oh entering public life they must aban-
don professional cmolumcnts md domestic
| comforts.
Tile speaker alluded to the chase for wealth.
| It was the npas tree, whose poison is para1y-
sing the ltt Of the soul an d whitening every
green hope for the futnrr- II this infatuation
continues, tho history Of tho Republic will
ere long have been written.
He alluded to the progcrbial ingratituae OF
the Republic In this country the statesman
who gaine ascendancy for policy or party,
may add rast augmentation to the wcafth Of
Gus accusations while living, and In death but
doubtful cn1ogy. The speaker mentioned
Daniel Webster us IN instance Of this -
He further deprecated the Introduction Of
politicians into the Congress Of the nation.
In former time the Senate of the United
ence the hydra Of rebellion could never have
ventnred tn raise its snaky head. The idea OF
disunion except among the crazy nullifers ot
South Carolina Eas considered Monstrous and
unnatural. To have spoken of secession then
wou1d have provoked for the offender the In
dignation Of the house where 1t WAS uttered
He alluded to the rcbukc administered to Iy:
1cr By Dayton, when the former spoke Of his
allegiance to his State. Had such men been
IN power at the breaking out Of this rebellion,
1T would have been MS cftctually crushed
as Old Jackson crushed it by his famous
panacea-the Force Bill.
Tic nborc includes what was really tht
only original part Of the Lecture Tht
speakers descriptions Of the men Of his tint
werc simply plagarisns, and those Of th'
baldest description from March's tt 'Reminis
cenccs Of Congress p book familiar to ever.
! lover Of biographical sketches. Wc therefor
, omit any notice Of his personal illusions, pre-
t terring to let our readers read for Themselves
, While Mr. Tasistro told many anecdotes I'M
douhtedly original, still the main body of Iii
+ descriptions belong to Mr. March,
We submit, that if people pay thei
half dollars for lecture, they should a
least be treated to something original and no
!. to whole pages extracted bodily from curren
literature, and palned Oft ns true coin. To
many lecturers in the field are practising thes
literary plagiarisms, and thereby lining thci
a | pockets with little or no labor upon their ow
: part. It is time this wholesale literary larcen
= is stopped, before lecturing is entirely dit
=, gsaced.