The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-07-20
Scare Of Epistoiary jumping Jacks
aud un Imperial Jackbox.


the jumping jack, TO leap out Of its box when
its appearance is least expected. There are
men exactly like this wicked little wretch of
the playhouse. Ia every cabinet of curiosities
there is some memento Of these chaps, and
even an imperial jackbox cannot be opened
without displaying their ugly and grinning
countenances. Take for example the notable
and worthy General James Watson Webb,
an old man and travelled man, who would
call with the grandest formality upon wash
erwoman if she passed herself Off for queen
He is ubiquitous in personal sense and
omnipresent in the epistolary way. There is
not a bundle of old letters in existence which
does not contain some contributions from his
pen. And then there is the immortal
Judah p. Benjamin, who was formerly
a Secretary of State somewhere. No
collection is complete without q few
specimens of his bold and beautiful copper
plate. Them again. there is firm known as
Mason & Slidell, having some connection, it is
generally understood, with the older house Of
Mason & Dixon, the partners of which have
been in the habit Of sending their business let
tiers all over the world, for the honor of having
them filed away with those Of the Count
Joannes and other distinguished and titled
aristocrats Indeed, there are about score of
people who are always writing ridiculous let
tiers that the world may laugh at them.
We are moved to these reflections by the
batch of curiosties recently extracted from
''the cabinet of the Emperor" which we place
before the readers of the HERALD this morn
ing. Nobody, except very young children,
cries when The jumping jack energies from his
box-nobody need lament very sorely at the
temperance of these American jacks from
the imperial jackbox. They are the same
crowd of ridiculous old mountebanks who are
always turning up when they are least ex-
pected, and the show to-day is very like the
one they have been advertising for the last
forty years.
The correspondence written by Mr. Harry
P. Seymour, of No. Is Canal street, New
York. to ellis Majesty, Louis Napoleon, En-
peror, has nothing so funny as the superscrip-
ton; but we have no space to refer to this
idle talk about Masonry while the rich fields
opened up by Sldel, Mason, Benjamin, Gene
raj Webb and the Count Joannes are waiting
for us. The latter are the great masters of the
epistolary jumping jack business, and they
demand our exclusive attention.
Slidell always was a wonderful sort Of
person, and his habit of constantly referring to
himself as ''the Undersigned" reminds us of a
most modest gentleman who always spoke of
his achievements as if they were the achieve
ments of somebody else. Bnt Slidell did not
let the Emperor off so easily, but tortured
that venerable potentate as ''the illustrious
historian of Caesar" and bored him with a
very superior map on large scale Of Virgil
MIA" because His Imperial Majesty had con-
fessed to not having ''good map of the seat of
war; John was too astute, however, for even
''the sagacious and comprehensive mind of the
Emperor" and he failed to get more than
''marks of good will" from His Majesty.
| But it was the literary aud newspaper peo-
! Pile who got off the best things in this wonder
full correspondence. General Webb reminded
| the Emperor that it was at Webbs table Mr.
Bonaparte had dined on the evening Of his
arrival III new OTk, WHcu the dIOFcSd1u DOnu-
parte was probably very much in need of a
dinner; and then be proceeded to inform His
Majesty that he had cannon to sell-and a
newspaper The gun wouldn't go off. and the
newspaper was not worth buying, SO the Cen
eral had to be satisfied with "a letter in an
amiable way" from the Emperor, which Napo-
leon signed in place of check. But there
were other newspaper fools besides Webb
Mr.. Hiram Fuller, not unknown in New York,
wanted pap for his London journal, the COsm0-
politon, to ''keep it from falling into the hands
| of the Orleanists; :" and Mr.. George W. Searle,
his editorial article in the Post of December
| l6, lS63-ior what purpose is not stated And
then Woodruff & Claflin, two ladies who ap-
pear to have had sinister designs upon His
Imperial Highness, sent him few copies of
''our WeekIy" hoping he ''would be good
enough to read aud Judge them" They inform
the Emperor that they are ''making great
step forward and ''would like to secure uni
versal appreciation" There can be no doubt
whatever that the Emperor did read and judge
the great journal of womans enfranchisement,
| and it is more than probable that it was the
fear of Mr. Stephen Pearl Andrews Pantarchy
which drove him into the war with Prussia. 1t
will be observed that the Woodruff 4 Clafin let
ter was dated June I6, 1870, and as IL was re-
ceived only few days before hostilities began
the war can only be attributed to natural de-
sire on the part of Napoleon to iorestall An
drews as Pantarch of the Universe. In case
Of success he would have provided for Vic.
aud Tennie as he provided for Miss Montijo
when he became Emperor of the French.
The aristocratic as well as the literary class is
represented, and, we add, well represented, by
n. Coorra JoDos Ua caIIs huaajf Coupt