The New York herald., 1870-03-03
Fisk in the Character Of CataIlne.

Fisk In tho Character Of Cataiano.
Commend US to the report Of a Congressional
committee nowadays for poesy II has been
thrown in the American teeth, since the days
of Martin Chuzzlewlt, that w took no tune
from the almighty aciiar to read poetry or eas
dinpes but when Fisk, Jr., gracefully anu
poetically testified to certain gold y.s.,ure
having gone "where tho wooaela0 .sae.hyp
- ~ - ~ -
We felt tbs.s the days Of leisure, when We
might afford to study the graces and the arts
of life, had come. And that they have come
is confirmed even by the Congressional COM
mittee that was trying to get its fingers on
Fisk's throat when he uttered that beautiful
saying. They. too, utter gems Of grandilo-
quence. They liken Fisk, Jr., on Black Fri
day, to Cataline leading the young rabble OF
Rome to deluge the streets IN blood for the
purpose Of enriching those who were to apply
the torch and WELD the dagger. Indeed, they
liken the whole gold movement to that great
conspiracy to lay Rome In ashes, and, as a
matter of circumstantial evidence to prove the
case, we remember that Fisk, Jr., about the
time of the gold panic, spoke OF making
Rome howl. Circumstantial evidence, how
ever, Is not essential to poetizing. License,
poetical or otherwise, is the one thing needful,
and both Fisk and the gold committee have
enough Of that.
We can imagine the magnificent Fisk on the
day Of the gold panic, followed by the Thugs
Of Erie and the debauchees of the Opera
House," his Roman toga floating in graceful
folds behind him, and his gold-headed
cane reeking with blood, like Catalne's 8
dagger, sweeping into the Gold Room
and in his operatic tones mildly defy
ing ''the street and the Treasury" and,
we may add, John Morrissey. (We must
ignore the fact Of Fisk and Gould slipping out
the back door of their banking house, because,
as Fisk said, ''it was too hot on the street for
them," and look only to the force of the
Catalinian paralley. We can picture to our
Imagination ''the Thugs of Erie" garbed as
young Roman lords, in the anachronistic cos
TUNES of the Opera House wardrobe, carrying
blazing torches in their hands, bright as the
diamond scarf pin in Fisk's capacions shirt
front, and carried away by the 'force of his
magnetic and infectious enthusiasm" bringing
terror and dismay to the pockets and homes OF
the bulls and bears of the Roman Senate cham
Der. And, further, we can imagine the Gar
feldian Cicero of the Congressional Committee
demanding ''How long, 0, Cataline, wilt thou
abuse our patience 2" Altogether, the poetic
fervor of tho committee has treated us to a
gem that we would look for in vain in the
pages Of Martin Tupper or Walt Whitman.
It is some consolation to know that poesy
can be evoked even from Congressional re-
cords nowadays, that the fine language of our
assembled wisdom at the Capital Is not to be
given over entirely to Mungen's Glo5s pro-
ductions, and that the magnificent Fisk,
although he does not allow injunctions or
other minor matters 10 interfere with his
legitimate business, is yet willing to give up
some of his valuable time to oultivating the
graces, and has even instilled commendable
ambition for poetry into the hard Gradgrindian
brains of an investigating committee.