The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-01-23
.,ar;aee the Colored Actor.


Tho dramatic critic of Wilkes Spirit Of
the Times has the following account OF Ira
Aldridge, the celebrated colored actor
About thirty years ago, being youth OF
twenty, Aldridge went to England Win tne
elder Wallack, in the humble capacity Oh
body servant but so great was MS aptituoe
for the dramatic art that, without any IN
struction, by mere association ana contace
with that great actor, he Inhaled and ao-
sorbed sufficient skill to come out as an ac-
tor himself. in Othello, in the slave, and IN
several other parts with which he was iden-
tilted by his color. For many years ne strug-
oiled on in England in the arduous endeavor
To win fame and. fortune upon the stage.
At times he was in the greatest poverty ana
distress hut he held on biavely, and at last
his reward came. But he did not reap his
success till he went upon the continent IN
1859. There his victory was complete and
overwhelming.
In Austria, Germany, France, and pre-em-
inently in Russia, he has ever since mad the
most stupendous triumphs. In Moscow and
St. Petersburg so great is his popularity that
the students have often Embarrassed the nor
ses of his chariot and drawn him home from
the theatre as conqueror. An extraoreiln-
arv fact about his success is that ne does
not know the continental languages well
enough to employ them upon the stage, and
that from the very outset he has spoken his
own parts in English. 1t is high evidence
of his ability that in language utterly
strange to his audiences. by sheer force of
acting, by look, tone, gesture, attitude,move-
ment. he should electrify and delight the
most cultivated nations of Europe. And
from the deep poverty of his early years he
has risen to opulence. Nobility and royalty
have sllowered upon him their favors. He
has been knighted, and bears the title of
chevalier. He wears rings given him by
bv kings and queens, and he could load his
breast with the decorations and medals of
the different orders he has received.
His wife is Swedish baroness, and his
residence is splendid mansion in the sub
uras of London, near the Crystal Palace, and
and he owns not only the house which he
occupies, but five villas of equal proportions.
There is not alive more successful man
than Chevalier Ira Aldridge, K. s., thirty
wears ago Wallack's body servant. WHAT
are the practical bearings of his career p
They are essentially to this effect they
show what the negro can do if you will only
give him chance. Had Ira Aldridge re-
NAMED in America, amid the cruelties of old
and social customs, he would have probably
remained boot-black and hair-dresser.-
He has had chance And see what he has
become not only very rich-a man of rank,
title, and high consideration-but as refined
and elegant gentleman as walks in Piccad-
lily or drives in Hyde Park. Yet he is a
pure black has the thick lip, the fiat nose,
and the curly hair. Give the whole race the
same open, untrammelled field in America
which Ira Aldridge has had in Europe, and
who shall say that they will not prove their
fitness for every utility and for every duty
ANNIHIATIoN.-It is ascertained, and is
capable of the clearest proofs, that the sim
pie elements of which all substance is com
posed, can not, by any conceivable means
be destroyed. They may indeed be so chang
ed as to previous form they may be so min
gled with other bodies that their identity
can not be traced they may be dissipatcd
into visible vapor, and be apparently ami
hilated but we learn from the science o
chemistry that in every shape, the same ell
ements remain inextinguishable and unalter
ed. The phenomena of solutions affort
some of the most obvious illustrations o
complete change produced in bodies with
out causing humiliation. If a piece of sill
yer is immersed in diluted nitre, in shor
time the silver will be entirely dissolved
Its hardness, its lustre, its tenacity, its spec
ific gravity, all the characteristics which dis
tinguish it as metal, are gone. Its very form
has vanished, and the hard, splendid, ponder
Gus opaque metal, which a few minutes be
fore, was immersed in the mixture, is appar
emily annihilated. The liquid, however, re
mains as limpid as before; it presents N
difference in appearance to indicate change
What, then, has become of the solid piece O
1 silver which was placed in the liquid Mus
we conclude that it is annihilated Pu
some pieces of copper into the solution, ant
the silver will reappear, and fall to the bot
tom of the glass in small brilliant metalli
chrystals. Though solution is one of tn
simplest processes ofnature, the limited facul
ties of man will not permit him to compre
bend the mode in which it operates. Their
is not one phenomenon of nature that til
mind of man can fully comprehend, and, al
ter pursuing the inquiry as far as the men
tai capacity will admit, he is obliged to cor
fess that there is an operating power beyon
the reach of his comprehension.