Year: 1866

PICSuRE SALEs-THxR Usn AND "a sos1'-
There has been q great impetus given to INT
sale Of pictures Of late. There have probably
been more pictures sold at auction within the
last three or four months than within a. many
years before. OF course, as might be expected,
many Of these so-called works Of art are mere
trash, and do not sell for the price of the frames
and In some cases, where tho names OF old
masters appear in the catalogues. they are
frauds. Still, art education receives some ad-
vantages even from this immoral phase Of our
picture auctions. People learn by experience.
and by comparison Of the good and the bad,
who would never learn In any other way.
There are men Of wealth and taste for pictures,
men who take pride in adorning their homes
with works Of real merit, but many of them have
been debarred through their business habits
from acquiring knowledge of pictures. They
may often purchase works possessing no merit
at all; but when their purchases come to be
viewed by their friends, and criticised by con-
noisseurs, the owners will soon discover
the difference between the good and the
bad, and in course Of time the bad pic
lures will be weeded out In this man
ner, while we are not disposed to encour-
age the Wholesale importations of trashy
pictures which are daily exposed for sale in the
auction rooms, we see grain of comfort for
art in the familiarity with pictures which is en-
grated upon the public through the medium
Of these large sales and exhibitions. BY degrees
people will learn to discriminate, and in the
course of few years we may expect to see
dozen or two of really good private galleries
in the country. Our native artists who have
any reputation have their hands always full.
Their works command highly remunerative
prices, so that many Of them have grown rich,
and are rather delicate upon the subject of who
they shall paint picture for. Proud of their
professional reputation they look beyond the
mere price of their works. This is as 1t should
be, if art is to be elevated to its proper stand
ard. 1t would be well for those who are making
collections and have no knowledge Of pictures
themselves either to entrust the purchase to
some one who is judge or take friend with
them who knows something about them. We
would then have fewer daubs sold at high
prices, and charlatanism at picture auctions
would soon find its own level.


The CIVIL RIGHTS BML-PRoBABLE ACTION
OF THE House TO-DAY.-Mr. Wilson, of Iowa,
chairman on the Judiciary Committee of the
House Of Representatives, gave notice in the
course of last Saturdays miscellaneous debate
that on Monday (to-day), at the close Of the
morning hour, he should call up the Civil
hko vN;prp fhok tho viI
have been received from the Senate. Mr..
Wilson said:-"I shall ask to have the Veto
message taken up, and after its reading
I shall move the previous question on the
passage OF the bill, Notwithstanding the
objections of the President In order to bring
the House to an immediate vote" 1t is
probable, therefore. that the bill will be passed
by the two-thlrds vote required to give 1t effect
over the veto, and that thus it will become a
law before this days adjournment.


And what next! Having secured their great
object Of placing all races and colors in oil the
States and Territories of the Union as citizens
on footing Of equality in regard to their civil
rights, and having placed the Southern blacks
under the protection of the President, the
Freedmen's Bureau, and the judicial and mill
tary authorities of the United States, DC, may
we not conclude that the radicals will be pre-
pared to consider the claims Of the excluded
Southern States to hearing In Congress! II is
high time, at all events, for report from the
Reconstruction Committee as to how far, in
their judgment, the excluded States are salts
fac,orily reconstructed, and how tar they need


reconstructing in order to be qualified for
readmission into the national councils. If Mr..
Stevens and his committee have not been able


to reach any conclusion On the subject they


ought so 10 report, and ask to be discharged J,
as unequal to the task assigned them. The
civil rights of the blacks being amply secured,


something Is now due in regard to the consti-
tutional rights Of the excluded States.