New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-04-05
BROTHERLY I0IE.

a g0Odly ana pleasant Guy Is lnat Oh DIo'H'
crly Love. An excellent place to live in, the
absence of superfuous enterprise would make
it the most comfortable Of towns to die in. 1t
is an elderly city with the mustiness and rust
and flavor of old time independence, yet re-
tanning all the verdure of its Quaker tradition
of "a greene countre towne.n Travellers speak
of it's brick gentilty and cobbled respecta-
bility and its colleges. hospitals, and asylums
are known beyond the State of Pennsylvania.
People wonder that the public life of such a
multitudinous, rectangular city should be, we
will not say stupid, but dull. Why Is 1t that
Independence Hall is so far in the rear OF
Faneiiil HALF A city Boosting the cracked
bell which rang out liberty to the land and
" TO the inhabitants thereof" ought to be, IN
this day of the Fifteenth Amendment, the
very headquarters of Ideas.
inst here, however, is the difficulty. Phil
adelphia--and we say it with subdued ven
eratiOn--is nOt,-nOt to put too fine point on
it,-a city of Ideas Never was so extensive
collection of admirable homes, OF charming
middle-class intelligence, of neat arlst0cracy,
of honest artisans. with so poor and dull
public life. Honest Mr.. PumblechOok sits IN
her chair of state and presides at her dinners
No men 80 genial at a repast as her City
Fathers. Her great men about town are par
ticularly fond of terrapin. Her speakers are
post-prandial; her journalists-well her journal
lists are a noble band of brethren, who wonder in
their hearts what it is that keeps this goodllest
of cities from being the true Athens OF America,
the home of painters. sculptors, book-wrlters,
poets, and leaders of all kinds. Delicacy forbids
that we should answer so abstruse question
Can we forget, however, that Philadelphia was
the home of BrOckden Brown 2-Of such painters
as Sully and Neagle 7-of such lawyers as Bnney
and Sergeanti Does not Hamilton still paint
for it sunrise and sunset Is not Carey its
philosopher and Boxer its bardi Is it not the
city of the Union Lacquer All the more shame
for it, then, since it also boasts an Academy
of Music, which is at discOrd with the ideas OF
the Nineteenth Century. and which teaches
that the music of the Union still needs the
clang of chains to give effect TO its orchestra
The Directors of the Philadelphia Academy
of Music will spare us any further trouble of
illustrating how the public life of that noble
city is stupid. Will it be believed that in this
year of grace the twelve gentlemen having
charge of that favOrite institution of the city
of benevolence, independence, religion, the
Union League, and Brotherly Love, refused to
allow Senator of the United States to lecture
there because he is blackf The very Capitol
might be accorded him, but not this Academy
The nations Senators might hear him, but not
the conscript stockholders of Philadelphia
Doors that have opened to the admir-
ers of tho nude ballet and the OBJ
scene opera bou1e have been shut against
Senator Revels. Another Academy OF Phla-
dephia gave from its Professors United
States Minister to Hayti; but this Academy
turns away a Senator from Mississippi. All that
these Republican, not Democratic, directors
care to say for themselves is that to do other
wise would be "inexpedient." Thus is the Fiji
teenth Amendment celebrated in the city of
Independence, among the men who urged to
the war the heroes of Olustee and Wagner,
and in the community which sent Ebenezer
Bassett to Hayti. Will somebody have the
goodness to pinch its Rip Van Wrinkles
Are we quite sure, now, that negro
can ride in Philadelphia cart Who knows
but that, one of these fine days, wandering
colored man may be suddenly arrested and
sent South by some venerable Philadelphia
who has forgotten all about the Proclamation
of Freedom7 Who can tell 7 The thin minded
people who gave their verdict against Senator
Revels, and then sank back to inanty, really
forgot the Fifteenth Amendment or, if they
knew it, they forgot themselves. In no large
sense have they managed to exclude Mr.. Rev
els. for their act has given him broader stage
and a greater audience but they have shut
out themselves effectually from the respect OF
men of common sense. Here are the names OF
them
Presdent-JAMEs c. HAND.
Treasurer and Secretary-JAMES FARQUHAR.
FERDISASD j. DRIER, THOMAS SPARKS,
JONI y. STEINER JAMES L. CLAGH0RS,
GEORGE 3. PEPPER, DANIEL HADDOCk, JR,
ca