New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-09
NEV-YORR LITERARY NOTES.


THE MARCH sCRIBNER-soMETHING ABOUT TIE
GRAND JURY BY A JUROR-N0 SANCTION
FOR PoLYGAMY-oDDS AND ENDS.
In the March number Of Seribner Col
Thomas W. Knox plays the current historian OF
the Grand Jury before whose inqustorli
wisdom the unsavory odors Of tho New-York Govern
ment are rapidly exhalng Col. Knox oblgngy solves
that riddle the difference between Grand Jury anu
Petit Jury and sketches the duties and methods OF the
former as one who knows He details number othe more
or less unimporant brought before the present
Grand Jury and tantaliznglyend his article with
mere taste Of the neutrality-suspicious. nc oouo's any
Grand Jury the State of NewYork ever performed as
much work as this, and observes regretuy In closing
that some Of the offenders viii escape nehammcrng
Justice for the reason that the law doesn't specify any
ofense which they have committed. And III
several Instances the cunning of the robbers has peen
such that legal proof Of their viLainies can
not be obtained so tnat If brought to tral they
will be about safe from conviction az the
most honest Of their fellows would be II accused of the
same crime. Unless laws altered to meet the eS
tremely original crimes o. these political Huns Col.
Knox predicts indefinite series OF frauds ana losses III
the future. DR.. G. W. Samson declares in 1.-THE False
Claim of Mormonis" that the facts Of history show that
the Mormon poygamy is opposed to the customs OF
every age and nation; that it is contrary to the
spirit and letter Of Mosaic os we'll American law
and that even the religious statutes Of the Nor
mon Bible forbid the practice. He calls the
polygamic community an absurdity and infamy
never dreamed of by the Orientals, among
whom polygamy as the exception Is allowed as the
special privilege Of official rank the plurality OF wives
being a part Of the "oficial equipage like the
mighty diamond OF the viruous Tweed, for instance or
the bales of red tape at the English Foreign Onco Tho
pous patrarchs trod their serious and solemn ways
before the days of Moses Dr. Samson assers wero not
polygamists. The lof Jacob he notes as the
only one of the kind occurring during 1900
years and he, poor man. hecame'a poygamist "by the
fraud Of heather fathern-law. There is NOT the
Doctor says, single Asiatic code OF laws ancient or
modern that does not make monogamy the rule according
to which ought TO ve while 1t only legsates about
divorce and poygamy abuses to be guarded by law
since the public morals of the day could not wholly
vhem" That Mohammed himself departed from
his laws enjoning wife, and no not
in eyes of DIR. Samson alter the fact that
tho moral sentiment Asiatics has
always regarded divorce as well as poygamy
violations Of the rights OF both mon and women The
! practices of David Solomon, and other He
| brew Kings, he cbaracterizes as being "just
| like tho exceptional vices Of a few truly Chris
| tian men in day." and punished by much
bitterness and humiliation. That most ancient code Of
India, the Laws OF Menu he finds does not recognize
polygamy, and tho book OF Mormon the
clerical romance Of the Rev. Mr. spaldng,
positively forbids IL. Thus carrying the war into the
eneys mclean camp Dr. Samson closes his article In
| an orthodox reformatOry and objurgatory manner.
Mr. Noah Brooks tells in the Cruise of the Balboa"
an exciting story of the Pacific seas, of Cooe muneers
and q drifting ship; how the poor creatures, half man,
| half animal, in their misery and ignorance rose
and murdered all the white men, with exception.
on board the trim Balboa aud how for year they drift
about in blind search for China, through crushing ice
beres ard wild storms, things interesting alike IN
their telling and in the fact that they are founded
truth. Tie otter stories of this number "Wilfrid
~ O1t,NpV % .
| Gates" and ain the Brook" Of the sentimental
| and unpleasant commonplace Of fiction. Mr.. Bayard
| Taylor contributes an illustrated article. The
| Heart Of Arabia" George Alfred Towns
| end several pages Of gentle ecstasy On the
| Chesapeake Peninsula, and ID. O'C Townleys
sketches of Page and Bierstadt, from which We learn
that little VIII Page at the age OF eleven, prize
| for O drawing Of the head of Louis XVIII, while
| tie young Bierstadt showed no leauings toward
| Art mot even far in the decoration
| OF fences with those startling pictures in chalk
and the pre- Rapbaelte style much affected by the bud
ding genius. In the Statistics Of Statira,"
Mrs. NJ E. W. Sherwood reviews the Ques-
ton Of servants, question which will never
be suffered 10 rest while woman holds pen and Mr.
Charles d. Warner pursues his quietly -comca ana crit
ical way through the Backlog Studies" in which one
hears the cracke Of the hosptabe fame. the classical
music of the Young Lady, the cOntented yawns the
host and the gentle housewife whose fair presence
mellow the medtaOns and tweeten the fun OF
this modern Ello Mr. Warner is called by certain
soaring critic. Seribner will publish long dra-
matte poem by George Macdonald entitled without and
Within" 1t is the ancient story OF monk who
lady fair from great danger, flies with her TO q
strange country. falls in love with her OF
cOeo' uf' aks his vows msrries her, gets Jealous is
oescfNu under suspicious circumstances, and there
"ltor uoos rot meet her again until they both get
10 hHaven where everything explained In mystical
but satisfactory manner
The Putnams will bring ont on Feb 25 volume NJ
Lectures on Instinct" by 7. A. Chadbouroe the
author OF Natural Theology" and late Pres
ident OF tue University OF Wisconsin They will
also soon reprint from the English edition the
Life and Travels Of Dr. Livingstone recounted for the
DEDICATION OF young people, those necessary and moon
venient beings who are the torments and the profits
OF their elders. Another reprint by the same
mousse Is Prof. schele de Vere's LEAVES from
Inc Book Of Nature" volume which has
oeen out Of print for seventeen years
, io Williams are preparing TO issue an edition OF
Notes on England" with a biogr aplcal sketch
OF the clever Frenchmap
HuPe' basar viii shortly begin the publication OF
so" oo, Wy fSi)eon, called LOndons Heart" II ia
70 en nun the advance Sheets and will proh. |
~ -" ,oi year. To the Bitter End" a new serial
Wy MISE sraooon the Inexhaustible. will also AEON an
pear In TIE Basar. wan "''' eooh up |